Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 11:18
Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
18. boast not against, &c.] i.e. against the branches that were broken off; as if in a better position than theirs might have been, and as if better in yourself, and so (as regards any virtue of your own) better able to hold your place. Every insulting thought, word, or act, of professing Christians towards Jews, as Jews, from that day to this, is an illustration of this verse. Too often such slights are also offered, in one form or another, to the re-ingrafted branches converted Jews.
thou bearest not, &c.] i.e. Divine mercy has reached thee through Abraham and his sons, not them through thee.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Boast not … – The tendency of people is to triumph over one that is fallen and rejected. The danger of pride and boasting on account of privileges is not less in the church than elsewhere. Paul saw that some of the Gentiles might be in danger of exultation over the fallen Jews, and therefore cautions them against it. The ingrafted shoot, deriving all its vigor and fruitfulness from the stock of another tree, ought not to boast against the branches.
But if thou boast – If thou art so inconsiderate and wicked, so devoid of humility, and lifted up with pride, as to boast, yet know that there is no occasion for it. If there were occasion for boasting, it would rather be in the root or stock which sustains the branches; least of all can it be in those which were grafted in, having been before wholly unfruitful.
Thou bearest not the root – The source of all your blessings is in the ancient stock. It is clear from this, that the apostle regarded the church as one; and that the Christian economy was only a prolongation of the ancient dispensation. The tree, even with a part of the branches removed. and others ingrafted, retains its identity, and is never regarded as a different tree.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Boast not against the branches.] While you are ready to acknowledge that you were included in the covenant made with Abraham, and are now partakers of the same blessings with him, do not exult over, much less insult, the branches, his present descendants, whose place you now fill up, according to the election of grace: for remember, ye are not the root, nor do ye bear the root, but the root bears you. You have not been the means of deriving any blessing on the Jewish people; but through that very people, which you may be tempted to despise, all the blessing and excellencies which you enjoy have been communicated to you.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Boast not against the branches; i.e. against the Jews, who, because of their unbelief, are broken off; as if by nature thou wert better than they, or more worthy of that grace which is bestowed on thee. The word signifies: Throw not up thy neck, do not carry thyself scornfully and insultingly.
But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee: q.d. If any will needs be so insolent, let them know and consider, that as the root is not beholden to the branches, but the branches to the root; so the good things that the Gentiles have, they received from the Jews, and not the Jews from them: the Gentile church is incorporated into the Jewish, and not the Jewish into the Gentile. Or else the meaning is: Despise not the Jews, for they are the natural branches of the root that bears them. If thou insultest over the branches, thou dost in a manner lift up thyself against the root, that once bore them, and now bears thee; even Abraham, who is the father of all them that believe. Abraham is not the root, simply and absolutely, but relatively, or by way of relation to his posterity and offspring.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Boast not against therejected
branches. But if thou“do”
boastremember that
thou bearest not“itis not thou that bearest”
the root, but the rootthee“If the branches may not boast over the root thatbears them, then may not the Gentile boast over the seed of Abraham;for what is thy standing, O Gentile, in relation to Israel, but thatof a branch in relation to the root? From Israel hath come all thatthou art and hast in the family of God; for “salvation is of theJews” (Joh 4:22).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Boast not against the branches,…. Those that were broken off: the apostle would not have them vaunt it over them, despise them, and trample upon them; but pity them, and pray for and be abundantly thankful and humbled before God, under a sense of Ida sovereign and distinguishing grace, who had settled them in a Gospel church state, who were before comparable to a wild olive tree; and much less should they glory over the believing Jews, among whom they were, there being no difference between them, for they were all one in Christ Jesus:
but if thou boast; but if such a vain temper of mind should prevail, he suggests they would do well to sit down and consider what little reason they had on their side to glory; and if such glorying and boasting, one against another was lawful, the Jews had the greatest reason for it; for, adds the apostle,
thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. The Jews received no advantages from the Gentiles, but on the contrary the Gentiles from the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and by whom they were faithfully kept and transmitted to the Gentiles; the Gospel itself came out first from among them; the first preachers of it were Jews, who carried it into the Gentile world, where it was greatly succeeded to the conversion of many, who by this means were brought into a Gospel church state, and so enjoyed all the privileges they did: yea, Christ himself, according to the flesh, came of them, was sent unto them, was the minister of them, lived and died among them, and wrought out the great salvation for his people; hence “salvation” itself is said to be “of the Jews”, Joh 4:22, so that the root and foundation of all their enjoyments were from the Jews, and not those of the Jews from them; hence there was no room, nor reason, for boasting against them, and vaunting it over them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Glory not over the branches ( ). Genitive case after . Present middle imperative second person singular of with negative , “stop glorying” or “do not have the habit of glorying over the branches.” The conclusion of the preceding condition.
Gloriest (). Late form – retaining .
Not thou ( ). Very emphatic position. The graft was upon the stock and root, though each affected the other.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The branches, Of the olive – tree generally, Jewish Christians and unbelieving Jews. Not those that are broken off, who are specially indicated in ver. 19.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “Boast not against the branches,” (me katakaucho ton kladon) “boast not against or (of) the branches”; against the branches that have been taken off — that had been severed from positions of Divine Religious trust and service.
2) “But if thou boast,” (ei de katakauchasai) “But if thou boastest;- you are only a branch, supported by the root for “Salvation is (exists) of (originating of) the Jews,” Joh 4:22.
3) “Thou bearest not the root,” (ou su ten hrizan Bastazeis) Thou bearest (bringest forth) not the root”; you are not the cause, occasion, or originator of your own salvation, position of service, or rewards. Israel (national) is the root that brought forth the savior of all and head and founder of the church, Joh 4:22; Mat 16:18; Act 20:28; Eph 1:21-23.
4) “But the root thee,” (alla he hriza se) “But the root didst give birth or life existence to thee;” Rom 4:16. Life of the new olive branch comes from the root and vine of the old; without vital faith, heart belief in Jesus, one may do nothing for God, Joh 15:5; He that has or holds Jesus (by faith), has life eternal, Joh 5:12.
As a branch may be on the vine, draw physical life from the vine, but bear no fruit because it is a water-branch, (sucker) with no heart-connections, therefore not abide in the vine; even so, many of Israel had natural connections with Israel, but no vital heart connection, like that of believing Abraham; Rom 4:1-8; Rom 4:14; Gal 3:6-8; Joh 15:1-27.
One may rejoice in his salvation but not boast about it, for he neither receives it or retains it by personal merit of his being or his words, Rom 3:27-28; Tit 3:5; Eph 2:8-10.
THE WILD OLIVE OF PALESTINE
There is a counterfeit olive-tree in Palestine. It is called the wild olive, or the oleaster. It is in all points like the genuine tree, except that it yields no fruit. Are there not many such in the Church? When I see one taking up a large space in Christ’s spiritual orchard, absorbing a vast deal of sunlight and soil, pruned by chastisement and enriched by privilege, yet yielding no real fruit, “Ah,” I say, “there is an oleaster.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. But if thou gloriest, thou bearest not the root, etc. The Gentiles could not contend with the Jews respecting the excellency of their race without contending with Abraham himself; which would have been extremely unbecoming, since he was like a root by which they were borne and nourished. As unreasonable as it would be for the branches to boast against the root, so unreasonable would it have been for the Gentiles to glory against the Jews, that is, with respect to the excellency of their race; for Paul would have them ever to consider whence was the origin of their salvation. And we know that after Christ by his coming has pulled down the partition-wall, the whole world partook of the favor which God had previously conferred on the chosen people. It hence follows, that the calling of the Gentiles was like an ingrafting, and that they did not otherwise grow up as God’s people than as they were grafted in the stock of Abraham.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Thou bearest not the root.There can be no boasting, for the privileges which the Gentiles possess are derived, and not original.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Against the branches Yet Christendom has boasted terribly against the branches! With such a warning from this Jewish apostle of the Gentiles in behalf of his kinsmen according to the flesh, how wonderful it is that the Christian ages have been so cruel and bloody to the Jew. This has been one of our crimes, and doubtless it has brought its penalties.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Do not glory over the branches. But if you do glory, it is not you who bears the root, but the root you.’
The assumption here might be that Gentile Christians in Rome have been gloating over the situation as regards unbelieving Israel. It may, however, simply be that Paul foresees the danger of that happening (having seen it elsewhere) and is simply trying to prevent it. But that there were differences between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome comes out in chapters 14-15. Whichever way it is, his point is that they should not so glory in themselves, but should rather remember what they owe to Israel as the producer of the Messiah (Rom 9:5), and the preserver of God’s oracles (Rom 3:2). They owe what they now are to the root. Let them rejoice in what their salvation has brought. But let them not despise those who already had the word of God, even though they did hold it in unbelief. For their blessing has come from the root of Israel in one way or another. It is significant that the branches are seen as being borne by the root rather than the tree, for this closely connects the root with the tree and therefore connects with Rom 11:16, ‘and if the root be holy so are the branches’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 11:18. Boast not against the branches Though the great fault which most disordered the church, and principally exercised the Apostle’scare in this Epistle, was from the Jews pressing the necessity of legal observances, and not brooking that the Gentiles, though converts to Christianity, should be admitted into their communion without being circumcised; yet it is plain from this verse, as well as from ch. Rom 14:3; Rom 14:10 that the convert Gentiles were not wholly without fault on their side, in treating the Jews with disesteem and contempt. To this also, as it comes in his way, he applies fit remedies, particularly in this chapter, and in ch. 14. See Locke.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 11:18 . . .] Boast thyself not against (comp. Jas 2:13 ; Jas 3:14 ; also in the LXX., not in classical Greek) the branches . These are not the broken-off branches, of which he has just been speaking (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Erasmus, Calovius, and many others, including de Wette, Rckert, Ewald), but, according to Rom 11:16-17 , the branches of the olive tree generally (of which some have been broken off); without figure, therefore: the people Israel , but by no means merely those now composing the non-Christian Israel (Hofmann). The latter , because the Christian Israelites also still belonged to the branches of the olive tree, must, as well as the broken-off , have been more precisely designated (against which Hofmann urges subtleties); moreover, the following warning would not be suitable to the broken-off ones, because they no longer stand in any connection with the root. The standing on the root of the patriarchs are the Israelites , whether believing or unbelieving; but under the broken-off ones, which are therefore no longer borne by the root, we are to think not generally of all those Jews who at the time had not yet become believers in Christ (Rom 11:13-14 ) otherwise the apostolic mission to the Jews would in truth have no meaning (in opposition to Hofmann’s denial of this distinction) but only of those who had rejected the Christ preached to them (Act 28:23-24 ), and therefore were already no longer in living communion with the patriarchal root, excluded in God’s judgment from the theocracy borne by this root (Rom 9:7-8 ). Hence, too, we are not, with Fritzsche, to think in merely of the converted Jews , as indeed to give a particular warning against pride towards Jewish- Christians was foreign here to the object of the apostle.
. . . .] But if the case occur, that thou boastest against them , then know, reflect: it is not thou who bearest , etc.; without figure: Thy theocratic position is not the original theocratic one, but only a derived one, proceeding from the patriarchs and imparted to thee, conditioned by the relation into which thou hast entered towards them; thou therefore standest likewise only in the relation of a branch to the root, which is borne by the latter, and not the converse, and which may not therefore bear itself proudly towards its fellow-branches, as though it were something better. In these words there lies a warning hint beforehand of the possibility which Paul afterwards, Rom 11:21-22 , definitely expresses.
The . . . . . is to be taken declaratively . See Winer, p. 575 [E. T. 773]; Buttmann, p. 338. Comp. on 1Co 11:16 . The fact itself is quite independent of the case supposed in . . ., but it is brought to mind .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Ver. 18. Boast not ] Gr. throw not up thy neck, in a scornful insulting way, but rather pity and pray for them. (Isidor. Solil.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18. ] do not boast against the branches (which were broken off): but if thou boastest against them (know that or let this consideration humble thee, that Similarly 1Co 11:16 , , , . . . See Winer, edn. 6, 66.1 a) it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee . The ground of humiliation is “Thou partakest of thy blessings solely by union with God’s spiritual church, which church has for its root that Father of the faithful, from whom they are descended. Regard them not therefore with scorn.” This is expanded further in Rom 11:20 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 11:18 . : for the genitive see Buttm., 185. Between “if thou boastest,” and “thou bearest not the root,” there is no formal connection: for such breviloquence, which requires us to supply “consider” or “remember,” see Winer, p. 773. The sense is, You owe all you are proud of to an (artificially formed) relation to the race you would despise.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Boast. Greek. katakauchaomai. Only here, Jam 2:13; Jam 3:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] do not boast against the branches (which were broken off): but if thou boastest against them (know that or let this consideration humble thee, that Similarly 1Co 11:16, , , … See Winer, edn. 6, 66.1 a) it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. The ground of humiliation is-Thou partakest of thy blessings solely by union with Gods spiritual church, which church has for its root that Father of the faithful, from whom they are descended. Regard them not therefore with scorn. This is expanded further in Rom 11:20.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 11:18. , Boast not against) Let them, who deny the [possibility of the] conversion of the Jews, take care, that they boast not against them.- , it is not thou that) supply know or remember that; know, or remember that it is not thou that bearest the root, but, etc.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 11:18
Rom 11:18
glory not over the branches:-This is an exhortation to those among the Gentiles who had been grafted into the tame olive not to boast against the natural branches, the Jews, which had been broken off. Their whole duty was to learn what God tells them to do, and in the spirit of confiding trust in him do it in the way he directs, being careful to go no farther and leave the results with him. When they did this, it was God working in and through them. It should be the highest ambition of every child of God to let God so use him that his success is Gods success. God only fails when man refuses to let God work through him. (2Ch 16:9).
but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee.-If they boasted, they were to remember that the Jews had long been in the favor of God, and, as the root, bore the branches of the wild olive that had been grafted into the root. [We do not do justice to this place if we narrow it to the reception of the Gentiles among the spiritual seed of Abraham; it seems rather to mean that the whole scheme of redemption had its foundation in the Jewish economy. Not only was Abraham the spiritual father of all the faithful; not only was the Redeemer a Jew and all the apostles and first teachers of the gospel of Christ Jews, but all the books of the Scriptures, both of the Old and the New Testament, were written by Jews.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Boast not: Rom 11:20, Rom 3:27, 1Ki 20:11, Pro 16:18, Mat 26:33, Luk 18:9-11, 1Co 10:12
thou bearest: Rom 4:16, Zec 8:20-23, Joh 10:16, Gal 3:29, Eph 2:19, Eph 2:20
Reciprocal: Jdg 7:2 – Israel Isa 32:15 – wilderness Act 26:20 – and then Rom 11:24 – General Col 2:7 – Rooted 2Ti 3:2 – boasters
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rom 11:18. Boast not against, or, exult not over, the branches, i.e., the people of Israel, not the branches which had been broken off. In Rom 11:19 the latter are specifically indicated. The warning has never been without an application to us Gentile Christians.
But if thou boast; the verb is the same as before, and is unusual. We may supply in thought against them.
Thou bearest not the root, etc. This is the fact which should prevent this disdainful attitude to the Jews. The Gentiles had been brought into fellowship with the patriarchs, not the patriarchs with them. Salvation was from the Jews (Hodge).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Rom 11:18. Boast not against the branches Attribute not thy being ingrafted into the good olive to thy own merits, as if thou wert worthy of the blessing. But if thou boast To humble thy pride, consider, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee The Jewish church is not ingrafted into the Gentile, but the Gentile into the Jewish; the members thereof being by faith made children of Abraham, who was constituted by Gods covenant the father of all believers, receiving on their behalf the promises. The apostles meaning is, that Abraham and his posterity derived no advantage from any covenant which God made with any of the Gentile nations: but the Gentiles have derived many benefits from the covenants which God made with Abraham and the Jews. Because the converted Gentiles began very early to despise and hate the unbelieving Jews, on account of their opposition to the gospel, and because the apostle foresaw that in after-times the Jews would be treated with great cruelty and contempt by Christians of all denominations, he wrote this passage; in which, by mentioning the great obligations which the Gentiles are under to the Jews, he shows it to be injustice, ingratitude, and impiety, to despise and hate this people; and much more to plunder, persecute, and kill them. They were the original church and people of God. They preserved the knowledge of God when all the world was sunk in idolatry. To them we owe the Scriptures of the New Testament, as well as those of the Old; for the holy and honourable fellowship of the prophets and apostles were Jews. Of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ, the Saviour of the world, came. All the knowledge of religion, therefore, which we enjoy, is derived from them. And surely something of kindness and gratitude is due for such obligations. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 18. If it is so, Christians of Gentile origin have no cause to indulge pride as against the natural branches. The true translation would perhaps be: Do not despise the branches. But if, nevertheless, thou despisest…Must we understand by the branches those broken off? Certainly, for it is on them that the look of disdain might most easily be cast by those who had been called to fill their place. Do we not see Christians at the present day often treating with supreme contempt the members of the Jewish nation who dwell among them? But this contempt might easily extend even to Judeo-Christians; and this, perhaps, is the reason why Paul says simply the branches, without adding the epithet: broken off. It is all that bears the name of Jew which he wished to put under the protection of this warning. As to the idea Fritzsche had of applying this word branches to Christians of Jewish origin solely, it does not deserve refutation.
Yet the apostle supposes that the presumption of the Gentile-Christian continues, in spite of this warning. This is why he adds: But if, notwithstanding, thou despisest…We have not to understand a verb such as: know that or think that. The idea understood, if there is one, is to this effect: Be it! despise! But this, nevertheless, remains the fact. And what is the fact that nothing can change, and with which such a feeling conflicts? It is, that the salvation enjoyed by this believer has been prepared by a divine history which is one with that of Israel, and that the Christian of Gentile origin enters into possession of a blessing already existing and inherent in this people. As Hodge says: It is the Jews who are the channel of blessings to the Gentiles, and not inversely. The Gentiles become God’s people by means of the Jews, not the Jews by the instrumentality of the Gentiles. In view of this fact, the contempt of the latter becomes absurd and even perilous.
Not only, indeed, should Gentile believers not despise the Jews; but if they understand their position rightly, the sight of this rejected people should lead them to tremble for themselves.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest [remember], it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. [“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Pro 16:18). Religious pride had proved the undoing of the Jews. It made them despise and reject an unregal Messiah; it caused them to spurn a gospel preached to the poor; it moved them to reject a salvation in which the unclean Gentile might freely share. As Paul opens before his Gentile readers the high estate into which they had come, he anticipates the religious pride which the contemplation of their good fortune was so soon to beget in them, hence he at once sounds the timely note of warning. As to the Jew they had no reason to boast, for they were debtor to him, not he to them, for “salvation is from the Jew” (Joh 4:22). As to themselves they could not speak proudly, for the depression of the Jew was due to God’s severity, and the exaltation of the Gentile was due to his goodness, The Gentile church was incorporated into a previously existing Jewish church, and their new Theocracy had its root in the old, so that in neither case were these privileges original, but wholly secondary and derived from the Jews. Moreover, “such presumption toward the branches,” says Tholuck, “could not be without presumption toward the root.” Would that the Gentiles, who to-day boast of their Christianity and despise the Jew from whence it was derived, could comprehend the folly of their course. How great is the sin of Christendom! “In its pride,” says Godet, “it tramples underfoot the very nation of that grace which has made it what it is. It moves on, therefore, to a judgment of rejection like that of Israel, but which shall not have to soften it a promise [of final restoration] like that which accompanied the fall of the Jews.”]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 18
Thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. The meaning is, that the Christian church, to which the Gentile convert was admitted, being built upon the foundation of the Jewish church, the Gentile should not cherish feelings of pride and superiority in respect to his Jewish brother.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
11:18 {s} Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
(s) We may rejoice in the Lord, but in such a way that we do not despise the Jews, whom we ought rather to encourage to join in the good battle with us.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Gentile believers should not feel superior to Jewish unbelievers, the branches that God has broken off the tree (Israel; Rom 11:17; Rom 11:19). Gentile believers might conclude that their salvation is what was responsible for the continuing existence of Israel (cf. Rom 11:14). Really it is God’s faithfulness in honoring the Abrahamic Covenant that is responsible for that.