and Paul, our difficulty about the believing branches of the olive tree will be resolved.

Doctrinal standing is not in view in Rom. 11:  The grafting in of the unbelieving

branches into their own olive tree at the end represents the restoration of Israel's national

position "in that day". The rest of the natural branches that were left standing in the olive

tree manifested the same unbelief that had caused the removal of so many before them--

so that at the close of the Acts, we have a believing remnant of Jews and Gentiles,

already being prepared for their higher position as the Bride, and also the unbelieving

nation which, having resisted all the overtures of grace, is set aside. At the present time

the Jew is not first. Neither in Paul's Epistles of the Mystery, nor in John's Gospel for

the "world", can the olive tree be discovered. The New Covenant and the hope of Israel

are in abeyance, and not until God's good time will they be put into operation. Hosea,

speaking of the day of Israel's restoration, uses the same figures as we have been

considering--the restoration of the separated wife (Hosea 2:, 3:), and the spreading

branches of the olive (Hosea 14:). Any difficulties we may have as to the fate of the

believing remnant during the Acts, or of the branches representing believers, are solved if

we distinguish between the dispensational terms of Rom. 9:-11: and the doctrinal terms

of Rom. 1:-8:

We have more to consider, but as this article is already longer than usual, we must

close, realizing only too well how little we can do in so vast a field.

Most of our time was occupied in the last article in discussing the purpose behind

Paul's illustration of the olive tree. We saw that the grafting in of the wild olive was with

the intention of provoking the flagging tree to new fruitfulness. The salvation and

blessing of the Gentiles during the Acts, before the nation of Israel were saved and ready

for their great mission to the families of the earth, were "contrary to nature", and intended

to "provoke Israel to jealousy". We must now return to the opening verses of this section

to give a little closer attention to the blessings that accrued to the Gentiles as a result of

Israel's hope.

The Apostle here uses an argument which may be described as a minori ad majus:

The failure of Israel is expressed in the following terms: the "fall" (paraptomai:

verse 11);  the "diminishing" (hettema: verse 12);  the "casting away" (apobole:

verse 15);  "broken off" (ekklao: verse 17);  "spared not" (pheidomai: verse 21);

"blindness" (porosis: verse 25); "enemies" (echthros: verse 28); and "concluded in

unbelief" (sugkleio: verse 32).  In these eight terms, we behold the "severity" of God

(verse 22).