when the book of the Acts is expounded? One can say with truth, practically never and so a divine key in exposition

is thrown away.

In order to explain this further and enforce it, the apostle Paul gives the illustration of the olive tree and its grafts

in Romans 11:16-24. We have before mentioned that Israel is often likened to trees in the Word of God. The nation

is likened to a vine which God brought out of Egypt (Psa. 80:8), but a vine that failed to produce fruit (Jer. 2:21; Isa.

In the same way it was likened to a barren fig tree (Luke 13:6-9) and also an olive tree:

`The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit ...' (Jer. 11:16).

This was the Lord's intention for this nation, but it became completely unfruitful through its backsliding and

unfaithfulness. Yet God's great longsuffering still held for Israel even after they had crucified Christ as we have

seen. They were still the Lord's `olive tree' and could have borne fruit for Him had they turned back to Him and

truly repented. Because of this, Paul does not hesitate to use this illustration of what was actually happening during

the Acts and why the Gentile believer was admitted at this time.

As Paul travelled in his missionary journeys to fresh fields, he first of all took the gospel to the chosen people,

the people of Israel and made this known to them and their hope. In every case the Jew opposed and often violently.

Paul then told them they had had their opportunity and that he would turn to the Gentile as a result of their (Israel's)

rejection. In parabolic language the Apostle describes this in Romans 11 as `some of the branches being broken off'

(verses 17, 20) because of their unbelief. This happened at Antioch and Corinth among other places. In their stead,

the Gentile believer was `grafted in' as `a wild olive' grafted in to the true, to partake of the `root and fatness of the

olive tree' (verse 17).

Some have smiled on what they think to be Paul's ignorance of gardening, for normally, the `choice' is grafted in

to the `wild'. However, they are ignorant of the fact the reverse practice is used in olive culture and even about A.D.

40, Lucius Columella, a Latin writer in agriculture, speaks of this very practice obtaining at that time. But the

apostle Paul gives a warning to the Gentile believer who stood `by faith' (verse 20):

`... Be not high minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not

thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee,

goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off' (Rom. 11:20-22).

These verses present an unsurmountable difficulty to the average evangelical expositor, for it appears to contradict

what has been revealed in Romans 1 to 8, especially the closing verses of the last chapter of this section where the

Apostle clearly states that nothing can undo the justification of the believer or separate him from the love of Christ:

`For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor

things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Rom. 8:38,39).

If all this is true, and it certainly is, what is it from which the believer at the time of writing Romans could have been

cut off? There can be only one Scriptural answer and that is dispensational privilege. These privileges gave the

Jew, as the chosen of God much advantage in every way (Rom. 3:1,2) and some of these privileges were listed by

the Apostle in the 9th chapter (verses 3-6) and an imposing list they are. The privilege of sharing these with Israel,

or in the symbolic words `partaking of the root and fatness of the olive tree (Israel)' (11:17) is what the unfaithful

Gentile believer could and would forfeit. Once this is understood, there is no conflict with the previous chapters.

Since the nation of Israel has been temporarily laid aside in unbelief and is unusable by the Lord in the present age,

there are no Scriptural grounds for trying to make the olive tree position reflect the calling and constitution of the

Body of Christ as revealed in Ephesians and Colossians, for this is an impossible task.

In the church of the Acts period, the Jew was still first and the Gentile believer partook of the nation's covenant

blessings. This is certainly not a true description of the Body of Christ as revealed in Ephesians and Colossians

written after Acts 28 when Israel was laid aside in unbelief and became unusable by God. Gentile members of the

Body of Christ are not grafted into the olive tree of Israel with its earthly hope, for their's is not only a heavenly