Paul is going to compare Israel to a cultivated olive tree and the Gentiles to a wild olive tree.
"If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches." (Romans 11:16) The firstfruits of the grain were to be presented to God each year, making the entire grain crop holy. Those of Israel who had already accepted Christ were like those firstfruits. There was a greater harvest to come. Also, a tree with healthy roots will have healthy branches, so Paul compares Israel to a tree whose roots (the patriarchs) were holy, meaning there are going to be branches coming out of the tree that are holy.
"If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you." (Romans 11:17-18) The Gentiles are like branches of a wild olive tree that have been grafted in. Some of the original branches did not believe, but many of the Gentiles did, so they were grafted in. But this does not make the Gentiles superior to the Jews. The Gentile branches could not even live if they were not connected to the root, which is Israel.
"You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.' Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either." (Romans 11:19-21) A farmer would remove dead branches from an olive tree so that new shoots might have room to come out or so that he might have room to graft new branches in. These removed branches may represent those who rejected Christ and continued to reject Him. The fact that persecution arose from those who so fiercely rejected Christ caused the gospel to go to the Gentiles, who were then grafted in. But Paul warns the Gentiles not to think they are better than the Jews. It is faith alone that has allowed them to be grafted in. If they do not remain faithful to Christ, they will become dead branches that the Lord has the right to remove.
"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." (Romans 11:22-23) Amen! If a person has rejected God, he is like a withered olive branch, but if that person turns to God and appeals to Him, God will not say, "Sorry, you had your chance." No, God will welcome with open arms the one who turns to Him in faith, no matter how many times that person was hard-hearted in the past.
"After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!" (Romans 11:24) Paul warns his readers, "Don't think for one minute that God is unable to graft back in the branches that were removed. Which is more difficult: to graft cultivated branches into a cultivated tree or to graft wild branches into a cultivated tree? If God was able to take you Gentiles, who are wild branches, and graft you into a cultivated tree, how much easier would it be for Him to graft back in the cultivated branches? So don't count Israel out. Don't harbor a spirit of condemnation toward the Jews. The Jews are those God called long ago to be a special people to Him. He gave them the ten commandments, the law, the patriarchs, the prophets, the temple. God is by no means finished with Israel, even if a great number of them have so far rejected Christ. Will it take a great miracle of God to turn them to Christ? Perhaps so, but it was an even greater miracle of God to turn you idolatrous Gentiles to Christ."
There's a song they occasionally sing at my church called "The Greatest Of All Miracles". It mentions the various miracles Christ performed when He walked the earth, then it says, "But the greatest of all miracles was when my Jesus saved me." Amen! I believe it takes more power to save a soul than to create the universe and everything in it, for we humans are stubborn and willful and selfish. We are the only thing God created that does not do exactly what He told it to do. But by His grace and mercy, and through the greatest miracle of all, we who believe in Christ have been grafted in to God's beautiful olive tree. We have become His children and He has become our Father. The stunning intricacy of the universe, the planets, the stars, the variety of life forms on the earth---these are nothing compared to the miracle of salvation.
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