“And if some of the branches bee broken off, and thou being a wilde oliue tree wert graffed in amongst them, and with them partakest of the roote and fatnesse of the Oliue tree:”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
11:17 Thou - O gentile. Being a wild olive tree - Had the graft been nobler than the stock, yet its dependance on it for life and nourishment would leave it no room to boast against it. How much less, when, contrary to what is practised among men, the wild olive tree is engrafted on the good!
Ro 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off. To understand Ro 11:17-24, we must have a clear idea of what is meant by the olive tree. That it means the chosen family of Abraham, not his children merely of the flesh, but his believing children, the heirs of the promise, is clear. The Jewish nation inherited the temporal promises as Abraham's children; we become heirs of the promise when we become his children by faith. See Ga 3:28,29. The Jews, the natural branches of this olive tree, "were broken off" by unbelief. The root is Abraham. Thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in. When the Jews, the natural branches, were broken off by their unbelief, the Gentile Christians, not natural branches, not of the seed of Abraham, but wild olive, "were grafted in"; that is, were adopted into God's family, and became Abraham's children. With them partakest of the root. With Jewish Christians, these Gentile Christians became partakers of all the blessings belonging to Abraham's seed.