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11:16 The fruitful olive tree is a frequent image in the Old Testament for the relationship between God and Israel (see Hosea 14:7). Here, Paul envisions Israel as the holy root of the tree, and the Gentile Christians as wild olive branches grafted onto the “rich root” (11:17). One day, in God’s time, the branches that have been cut away will be grafted in again, and will ourish once more.
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j. [11:11] Acts 13:46; 18:6; 28:28 / Rom 10:19; Dt 32:21.
k. [11:13] 1:5.
l. [11:16] Nm 15:17–21; Ez 44:30;
Neh 10:36–38.
m. [11:17] Eph 2:11–19.
n. [11:18] 1 Cor 1:31.
o. [11:20] 12:16.
p. [11:21] 1 Cor 10:12.
q. [11:22] Jn 15:2, 4; Heb 3:14.
r. [11:23] 2 Cor 3:16.
ROMANS 
The Gentiles’ Salvation. 11* Hence I ask, did they stumble so as to fall? Of course not! But through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous.j 12Now if their transgression is enrichment for the world, and if their diminished number is enrichment for the Gentiles, how much more their full number.
13Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministryk 14in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them. 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16* If the rstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch of dough; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.l
17But if some of the branches were broken o , and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree,m 18do not boast against the branches. If you
do boast, consider that you do not support the root; the root supports you.n 19Indeed you will say, “Branches were broken o so that I might be grafted in.” 20That is so. They were broken o because of unbelief, but you are there because of faith. So do not become haughty, but stand in awe.o 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, [perhaps] he will not spare you either.p 22See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut o .q 23And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.r 24For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated one, how much more will they who belong to it by nature be grafted back into their own olive tree.
..* [11:11–15] The unbelief of the Jews has paved the way for the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles and for their easier acceptance of it outside the context of Jewish culture. Through his mission to the Gentiles Paul also hopes to ll his fellow Jews with jealousy. Hence he hastens to ll the entire Mediterranean world with the gospel. Once all the Gentile nations have heard the gospel, Israel as a whole is expected to embrace it. This will be tantamount to resurrection of the dead, that is, the reappearance of Jesus Christ with all the believers at the end of time.
* [11:16–24] Israel remains holy in the eyes of God and stands as a witness to the faith described in the Old Testament because of the rstfruits (or the rst piece baked) (Rom 11:16), that is, the converted remnant, and the root that is holy, that is, the patriarchs (Rom 11:16). The Jews’ failure to believe in Christ is a warning to Gentile Christians to be on guard against any semblance of anti-Jewish arrogance, that is, failure to recognize their total dependence on divine grace.