a twig or bough (as if broken off) · noun — nominative plural masculine
off
ἐξεκλάσθησανexeklasthēsan
G1575
to exscind · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural
that
ἵναina
G2443
compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
I
ἐγὼegō
G1473
I · personal pronoun — 1st person nominative singular
in
ἐγκεντρισθῶ.egkentristhō
G1461
to prick in · verb — aorist passive subjunctive, 1st person singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 11:23-24 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Romans 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the roo…
Romans 11:11-12 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Romans 11:1-32
The apostle proposes here a plausible objection, which might be urged against the divine conduct in casting off the Jewish nation (Rom 11:1): "Hath God cast away his people? Is the rejection total and final? Are they all abandoned to wrath and ruin, and that eternal? Is the extent of the sentence so large as to be without reserve, or the continuance of it so long as to be without repeal? Will he have no more a peculiar people to himself?" In opposition to this, he shows that there was a great deal of goodness and mercy expressed along with this seeming severity, particularly he insists upon three things: - 1. That, though some of the Jews were cast off, yet they were not all so. 2. That, tho…
Thou wilt say then--as a plea for boasting.
The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
Adam Clarke on Romans 11:19
Thou wilt say then, etc. - You may think that you have reason to exult over them; because it is a fact that God has been displeased with them, and therefore has broken them off; has cast them out of the Church, and taken you into it in their place.
John Gill on Romans 11:19
Thou wilt say then,.... This is an objection which the apostle foresaw the Gentiles would make against what he had said, and in favour of their boasting;
the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. The sense of which is, that the Jews were rejected and left out of the Gospel church, on purpose to make way for the Gentiles, that they might be put in their room; and consequently the Jews must be more vile and unworthy, and the Gentiles more deserving of such favours and privileges, or God would never have taken such a step, to leave out one to make room for the other.
John Calvin on Romans 11:16-21
Romans 11:16-21
16. For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
16. Quod si primitiae sanctae, etiam conspersio; et si radix sancta etiam rami:
17. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
17. Si vero ex ramis quidam defracti sunt, tu vero oleaster quum esses, insitus es pro ipsis, et particeps factus es radicis et pinguedinis oleae;
18. Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
18. Ne contra ramos glorieris: quod si gloriaris, non tu radicem port…
The Church Fathers
When you were stripped you were anointed with exorcised olive oil, from the topmost hairs of your head to the soles of your feet, and became partakers of the good olive tree, Jesus Christ. Cuttings from the wild olive tree, you were grafted into the good olive tree and became partakers of the richness of the true olive tree.
A believing Gentile says that he can rejoice that the Jews did not believe, saying that their condemnation made room for the Gentiles. But the Jews were not condemned by God in order to let the Gentiles in. They condemned themselves by rejecting God's gift, and by doing that they gave the Gentiles an opportunity to be saved. Paul wants to stop this boasting, so that we might rejoice in our salvation rather than insult the weak. For the man who insults a sinner is easily deceived.
"Thou wilt say then," he goes on, "The branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Again he establishes, by way of objection, the opposite to the former position, to show that what he said before, he had not said as directly belonging to the subject, but to draw them to him. For it was no longer by their fall that salvation came to the Gentiles, nor was it their fall that was the riches of the world. Nor was it by this that we were saved, because they had fallen, but the reverse. And he shows that the providence in regard to the Gentiles was a main object, even though he seems to put what he says into another form. And the whole passage is a tissue of objections, in which he clears himself of the suspicion of hatred, and makes his language such as will be acceptable.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Church — Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia,…
Goodness of God — A perfection of his character which he exercises towards his creatures according to their various circumstances and relations (Ps. 145:8, 9; 103:8; 1 John 4:8). Viewed generally, it is benevolence;…
Graft — The process of inoculating fruit-trees (Rom. 11:17-24). It is peculiarly appropriate to olive-trees. The union thus of branches to a stem is used to illustrate the union of true believers to the true…
Olive — The fruit of the olive-tree. This tree yielded oil which was highly valued. The best oil was from olives that were plucked before being fully ripe, and then beaten or squeezed (Deut. 24:20; Isa.…
You are just a branch, not the root: By the time Paul wrote to the church in Rome, it was composed mainly of Gentiles, a common situation in the early Christian communities. This dominant role led many Gentile Christians to brag about their status, while treating Jews and their religious heritage with disdain. Paul reminds the Gentile believers that they enjoy God’s blessings only because they have been included in the one people of God, who are rooted in God’s promises to Israel.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
