In Romans 11:16 Paul said: "... if the root be holy, so are the branches." What is he speaking of? The context will show that he is discussing how man, Jew or gentile, is made holy before God. Because of some things Paul has said, some might conclude that God had just discarded the Jew (11:1). No - he says in the next verse this is not the case. Another outgrowth of what he has said was the danger of the gentile being high minded, thinking that God had cast aside the Jew only to make room for him. No - that is not the case either.

Beginning in verse 17, Paul starts to speak of two trees. One he refers to as the "wild olive tree" (v. 17), and the other the "natural tree" (v. 21). Trees have two things to be considered - they have branches and they have roots. Upon what basis could the gentile be acceptable to God? He must stand "by faith" (v. 20). Upon what basis was the Jew cast off? In that he was in a state of unbelief (ibid.). But what was the "root" of which Paul speaks? Roots go to the beginning of a thing. The root of which he speaks here is God's promise to Abraham that he would make of him and his seed a great nation (Gen. 12:1ff), and that in him all nations would be blessed. So at the "root" of the Jewish tree" was God's promise to Abraham. But this root involved more than only the Jew. It had universal implications; men of "all nations" (Isa. 2:2-3) would be a part of God's spiritual kingdom under Christ.

There was no such "root" at the base of the gentile tree; God never made promises to the gentile as nastions as he did to Abraham. The Jew also became high minded because he thought he was a special person just because he was of Abraham's seed. "No," says Paul, "that is not the case." What made the Jew a child of God under the New Covenant was not his Abrahamic descent, but his faith in Christ, the ultimate seed of Abraham. Conversely, one's gentile ancestry did not preclude him from being a child of God, for the promise to Abraham involved all men. Yet Paul warns the gentile that since God did not spare the "natural branch" (Jews) because of their unbelief, he would not spare them either should they abid ein unbelief (v. 21).

He shows that if the gentiles, who were of the "wild olive tree" could be grafted into the "natural tree" because of their faith, so could the Jews, for "God is able to graft them in again" (v. 23).

Next, Paul calls upon them to consider the "goodness and severity of God" (v. 22). The severity was directed toward those who fell; i.e. the unbeliving Jews. On the other hand, God's goodness was demonstrated toward the gentiles because they "continue in his goodness;" i.e. those who remain faithful. Should they fail in that, they too would be cast off. But it would not be because they were gentiles, but because of their unbelief.

In verse 26 Paul says, "and so all Israe shall be saved ..." Some have concluded from this a universal salvation of all Jews. No, for stress must be laid upon the adverb of manner, "so." How were the gentiles saved? By faith. And so verse 26 is merely saying that just as the gentiles were saved by faith, "so" would the Jews be. Yet this is not speaking of every Jew on the face of the earth any more than it is speaking of every gentile in the world.

God's plan for the salvation of all men is to be found squarely at the root of the Abrahamic tree. But only as Christ came through the lineal descent of Abraham; only as his gospel was preached to "every creature" (Jew or gentile), would all men be saved. Nationality is not a criteria for the salvation of the soul. If one would be holy, he must partake of the tree with the holy root - God's great promise to Abraham which was fulfilled in Christ who was born 2,000 years after the promise was made.  - Bill Moseley