A Productive Olive Tree

“In this manner all Israel will be saved.”​—ROMANS 11:26.

1. What can be said about olive trees?

OLIVE trees are known to grow for hundreds of years. Even when the aged, often hollow, trunk finally dies, new stems sometimes spring from the roots, producing one or more new olive trees. Be that as it may, there exists an olive tree that was planted nearly 4,000 years ago and that is still alive and producing fruit today!

2. In connection with what promise does Paul speak of the olive tree, and what does it illustrate?

² In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul uses the olive tree as an illustration of the wonderful manner in which Jehovah fulfills part of a promise He made to Abraham centuries before:

“I shall surely bless you and I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore; and your seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies. And by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves due to the fact that you have listened to my voice.”​—Genesis 22:16-18.

The Abrahamic Covenant

3, 4. (a) How had Abraham just proved his faith? (b) What was prefigured by this episode?

³ Abraham had just proved that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his only son by his first wife, Sarah. (Hebrews 11:17-19; please read Genesis 22:1-18.) From earliest times Christians have seen in this episode a prefiguration of Jehovah’s sacrificing his Son and then receiving him back by means of the resurrection. Yes, “God loved the world [of mankind] so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.”​—John 3:16.

⁴ So in this prophetic picture Abraham prefigured Jehovah God, and Isaac​—a young man who could have resisted his 125-year-old father—​pictured Jesus Christ, who willingly laid down his human life as the ransom sacrifice.​—Hebrews 7:27; 10:12.

5. Regarding the promised seed of Genesis 3:15, what was revealed in God’s covenant with Abraham?

⁵ Because of Abraham’s great faith, Jehovah had earlier made with him a covenant that took effect in 1943 B.C.E. (Genesis 12:4, 7; Galatians 3:17) Some 50 years later, after having seen the tested quality of Abraham’s faith, even in connection with Isaac, Jehovah repeated and enlarged upon this covenant promise, as recorded in Genesis chapter 22. This fully expressed Abrahamic covenant supplied details as to the outworking of God’s wonderful purposes. It showed that the seed of deliverance promised in Eden would appear on earth as a descendant of Abraham, that it would be a multiple seed (the precise number not being revealed at that time), that it would vanquish its enemies and, finally, that by means of that seed all nations of the earth would get blessings for themselves.​—Genesis 3:15.

Identifying the Seed of Abraham

6, 7. (a) Scripturally, who is the primary Seed of Abraham? (b) How do we know that there was to be a secondary seed of Abraham? (c) When was the exact number revealed, and what was it?

⁶ Every detail of that promise is of interest to persons who share Abraham’s faith and who want to be blessed by Jehovah. (Romans 4:16) Who, primarily, was the seed of Abraham, by means of whom all nations of the earth would eventually bless themselves? The apostle Paul identifies this primary Seed as being Christ.​—Galatians 3:16.

⁷ Further, since Jehovah promised Abraham that he would multiply his seed, what persons would make up the secondary part of Abraham’s seed? Who would be the “heirs with reference to a promise,” “joint heirs” with the primary Seed, Christ? (Galatians 3:29; Romans 8:17) For some 2,000 years even the number of those who would make up this secondary ‘seed of Abraham’ remained unknown to humans, like “the stars of the heavens” or “the grains of sand that are on the seashore.” Then, toward the end of the first century C.E., the apostle John heard “the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.”​—Genesis 22:17; Revelation 7:4.

8. What special opportunity did the circumcised Jews have?

⁸ Still, from among whom would these 144,000 “sons of Israel” be chosen and sealed? If sufficient fleshly Israelites had followed the Law covenant as a “tutor leading to Christ [the primary Seed of Abraham],” they could have supplied the entire 144,000 members of the secondary seed of Abraham and thus become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” for the blessing of all nations of the earth. (Galatians 3:24; Exodus 19:5, 6) But did enough prove themselves to be true children of Abraham, “the father of all those having faith”?​—Romans 4:11.

9. How did John the Baptizer show that the spiritual seed of Abraham would not necessarily be composed exclusively of Jews?

⁹ Even before Jesus began his earthly ministry John the Baptizer warned Jewish religious leaders: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘As a father we have Abraham.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:9, 10) By Paul’s time the wonderfully wise manner in which Jehovah would raise up the full number of the secondary seed of Abraham had been revealed. (Romans 16:25-27) Paul explains this in detail in his letter to the Romans.

Paul’s Letter to the Romans

10. What did the fleshly Jews erroneously believe?

¹⁰ The Jews were very conscious of being God’s chosen people. Regarding the expression “chosen people,” The Concise Jewish Encyclopedia states: “A designation expressing the belief that the Jews have a special relationship with God. The concept is based on the covenant with Abraham.” Proud of being Abraham’s offspring, the Jews thought they were the seed whereby all other nations would be blessed, and that they could justify themselves before God by works carried out under the Law covenant.​—John 8:33, 39; Romans 9:31, 32; 10:3, 4; 11:7.

11, 12. (a) At the time Paul wrote to the Romans, what was the situation in the congregation in Rome? (b) Why did Paul write to Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome?

¹¹ It was against this background that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in Rome. Some of the Jews in Rome had become Christians, but by far the majority of them refused to put faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The Christian congregation in Rome was made up also of many non-Jewish Christians.

¹² For different reasons both Jews and Gentiles had feelings of superiority​—the Jews because they came from the original Abrahamic stock—​the Gentiles because they had been admitted into special Abrahamic-covenant privileges as a result of lack of faith on the part of the unbelieving Jews. Paul sought to convince Christians of Jewish and non-Jewish origin that both groups owed their righteous standing before God to their faith in Christ rather than to works. (Romans 3:21-27) In writing his letter, Paul’s aim was Christian unity and productivity, to the glory of Jehovah for the wonderful manner in which he moves forward in fulfilling the promises of the Abrahamic covenant.

A Symbolic Olive Tree

13. Why did Paul express grief, and what did he illustrate by means of a cultivated olive tree?

¹³ The apostle Paul expresses grief that “not all who spring from Israel are really ‘Israel,’” and states: “Neither because they are Abraham’s seed are they all children [part of Abraham’s spiritual seed].” Then he goes on to illustrate how Jehovah ‘raises up children to Abraham.’ (Romans 9:1, 2, 6, 7) To describe how the Abrahamic covenant produces the full number of members of the spiritual seed of promise, he uses the symbol of a specially cultivated olive tree.​—Please read Romans 11:13-26.

14. Who is the root of the symbolic olive tree, and what scriptures show this?

¹⁴ Paul mentions the root before speaking of the tree itself, and he says “the root is holy.” (Romans 11:16) Jehovah God is the “Most Holy One.” (Hosea 11:12) He is frequently called “the Holy One of Israel,” particularly in the book of Isaiah. (Isaiah 10:20; 29:19; 60:9) The apostle Peter counsels anointed Christians, saying: “In accord with the Holy One who called you, do you also become holy yourselves in all your conduct.” (1 Peter 1:15, 16) Jehovah God, the Greater Abraham, is the root of the symbolic olive tree.

15. (a) In what ways is Jehovah the root of spiritual Israel? (b) Who is the trunk of the symbolic olive tree? Why?

¹⁵ As the patriarch Abraham was the root of the nation of Israel, so Jehovah gives life to spiritual Israel. As the 12 tribes of Israel stemmed from Abraham through his son Isaac, through Jacob and the 12 patriarchs, the 12 symbolic tribes of spiritual Israel stem from Jehovah through the Greater Isaac, Christ Jesus. He, as the primary Seed of Abraham, is symbolized by the olive tree’s stock, or trunk. (Galatians 3:16) Jehovah, the root, produces the full number of members of the secondary seed through his Son, Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:29) But how or in what manner does Jehovah produce the required number of symbolic branches?

Some Branches Lopped Off, Others Grafted In

16. What is the “sacred secret” mentioned by Paul in Romans 11:25 and Ephesians 3:3-6?

¹⁶ Paul goes on to explain this wonderful arrangement. He writes: “For I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant of this sacred secret, in order for you not to be discreet in your own eyes: that a dulling of sensibilities has happened in part to Israel until the full number of people of the nations has come in, and in this manner [Greek, kai houʹtosa] all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25, 26; compare Ephesians 3:3-6.) Jehovah would “raise up children to Abraham” by admitting into the secondary seed of Abraham the required number, or “full number of people of the nations [Gentiles].” By showing “the faith of Abraham” this limited number of non-Jews would prove to be spiritual Jews, part of spiritual Israel, “the Israel of God.”​—Romans 4:16; 2:28, 29; Galatians 6:15, 16.

17. (a) What unusual procedure did Paul describe? (b) Who were pictured by the lopped-off branches and by the grafted-in shoots from a wild olive tree? (c) What exposure did this illustration make of the proud and haughty Jews?

¹⁷ Paul illustrated the outworking of this “sacred secret” by an unusual horticultural procedure. The normal procedure is to graft shoots from a cultivated tree onto a wild stock, in order to make it productive, as Paul was well aware. He told the Gentile Christians that they had been “grafted contrary to nature into the garden olive tree.” (Romans 11:24) He thus likened the non-Jews who would be admitted into the Abrahamic covenant to scions, or shoots, from a wild olive that would be grafted onto the trunk of a “garden olive tree.” They would replace the natural branches that had been lopped off, these representing the fleshly Jews who had been rejected because of their lack of faith. (Romans 11:17, 19, 20, 24) This unusual illustration served as a forceful exposure of the proud and haughty unbelieving Jews, who considered the Gentiles to be as lifeless as stones or as incapable of producing fine fruit as wild olive branches. It confirmed that Jehovah had “power to raise up children to Abraham,” even as John the Baptist had forewarned.​—Luke 3:8.

18. (a) What occurred in 36 C.E., but were any lopped-off branches grafted back into the Abrahamic-covenant tree? (b) How did Paul promote unity within the Christian congregation?

¹⁸ Nevertheless, non-Jewish Christians who had been “grafted contrary to nature” into the Abrahamic-covenant tree as part of the spiritual seed had no reason to feel superior to the Jews. Paul explained: “They also [Jews], if they do not remain in their lack of faith, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:23) A small remnant of natural Jews accepted the primary Seed and became permanent branches in the symbolic tree. (Romans 9:27; 11:5) But the majority of the Jews had been broken off the Abrahamic-covenant tree in 36 C.E., at the end of the 70th week of years foretold by Daniel. (Daniel 9:27)b After that, however, some Jews had been grafted back “into their own olive tree” by putting faith in the Messiah, Jesus, the primary Seed of Abraham. (Romans 11:24; Acts 13:5, 42, 43; 14:1) By pointing these things out Paul promoted unity among the anointed Christians, for all had become ‘sharers in the olive’s root of fatness’ through “God’s kindness.”​—Romans 11:17, 22.

A Fully Productive Olive Tree

19. How has the Abrahamic covenant gradually produced the spiritual seed, to the saving of “all Israel”?

¹⁹ Throughout the centuries, and particularly in the favorable part of this time of the end, other Jews and non-Jews were grafted into the symbolic olive tree. Thus the Abrahamic covenant produces the “full number” of Jews and Gentiles needed to complete the spiritual seed. “In this manner all Israel will be saved,” not fleshly Israel, but those who are “really ‘Israel,’” the 144,000 members of spiritual Israel.​—Romans 11:12, 25, 26; 9:6-8; Revelation 7:4.

20, 21. (a) What reaction should the fulfillment of this most important part of the Abrahamic covenant produce in us? (b) What will be examined in the following article?

²⁰ The wonderful manner in which Jehovah has fulfilled this most important part of the Abrahamic covenant, by producing the trunk and the full number of branches of this symbolic tree should fill us with wonder. Like Paul, we exclaim: “O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are and past tracing out his ways are! For ‘who has come to know Jehovah’s mind, or who has become his counselor?’ Or, ‘Who has first given to him, so that it must be repaid to him?’ Because from him and by him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”​—Romans 11:33-36.

²¹ But what practical lessons can be drawn from the illustration of the grafted olive tree, both for the symbolic branches (anointed Christians) and others who may now bless themselves by means of the seed produced by the Abrahamic covenant tree? These aspects will be covered in the following article.

[Footnotes]

6. How do the illustrations of the barren fig tree and the grafted olive tree highlight God’s kindness and severity?

⁶ Just as the parable of the barren fig tree shows there are limits to Jehovah’s patience, Paul’s illustration of the olive tree, while highlighting Jehovah’s kindness, also shows his severity. In his kindness Jehovah had sent John the Baptizer to the Jewish “natural branches” to tell them to “produce fruit that befits repentance” and to believe in Jesus. (Matthew 3:8; Acts 19:4) Because of their lack of faith they were “broken off.” This decrease in the number of Jewish “natural branches” meant “riches to people of the nations,” inasmuch as Gentile ‘wild olive branches’ were grafted onto the Abrahamic-covenant tree to become part of the spiritual seed of Abraham.​—Romans 11:12, 17, 20, 21.

7. What warning did Paul add?

⁷ But Paul adds a warning. Addressing himself to non-Jewish anointed Christians, he says: “For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. See, therefore, God’s kindness and severity. Toward those [Jews] who fell there is severity, but toward you [Gentiles] there is God’s kindness, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise, you also will be lopped off.” (Romans 11:21, 22) To remain in Jehovah’s kindness, Gentile Christians grafted into the Abrahamic-covenant tree had to show strong faith in the primary Seed of Abraham. They were “standing by faith,” which faith they had to prove by Christian fruitage, ‘presenting their bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service.’​—Romans 11:20; 12:1.

8. What other practical lesson did Paul draw from his illustration of the olive tree?

⁸ Paul drew another practical lesson from the wonderful manner in which Jehovah enables the Abrahamic-covenant tree to produce the full number of 144,000 Jewish and Gentile “branches.” He goes on to say to both kinds of “branches”: “I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think; but to think so as to have a sound mind, each one as God has distributed to him a measure of faith. For just as we have in one body many members, but the members do not all have the same function, so we, although many, are one body in union with Christ.” (Romans 12:3-5) Both Jewish and non-Jewish Christians had been admitted into the spiritual seed of Abraham by “God’s kindness.” Paul reminded them: “It is not you that bear the root [Jehovah], but the root bears you.” (Romans 11:18) To avoid being “lopped off” they would have to remain in God’s kindness by preserving their unity as “one body in union with Christ.”​—Romans 11:22.

9. This contains what lesson for the “other sheep,” so what must they be careful to do?

⁹ Does this warning to anointed Christians contain a lesson for Christians today who are not spiritual Israelites? It most certainly does. Although they are not a part of the spiritual seed produced by the Abrahamic covenant and therefore are “not of this fold,” these “other sheep” are definitely a part of the “nations of the earth” who can bless themselves by means of the seed. (John 10:16a; Genesis 22:18) It follows that they must have faith like Abraham, whose life prospects also are earthly, and “walk orderly in the footsteps of that faith.” (Romans 4:11, 12, 16) They must show their subjection to the Fine Shepherd, Christ, the primary Seed of Abraham. They must also cooperate with the remnant of the secondary seed of Abraham, becoming with them “one flock” under “one shepherd.” (John 10:14, 16b) If anointed Christians who do not remain in God’s kindness risk being “lopped off” the Abrahamic-covenant tree, should not the “other sheep” also be very careful to do nothing that might cause them to lose Jehovah’s goodwill?​—Romans 11:22.

“If They Do Not Remain” Faithless

10. What could occur if a Jew did not remain in his lack of faith, and what would this mean for him?

¹⁰ The illustration of the olive tree contains yet another general lesson that can apply to anointed Christians and to the “other sheep.” We find it in Romans 11:23, which reads: “They also [faithless Jews], if they do not remain in their lack of faith, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.” Here we see another aspect of God’s kindness. When Paul wrote this letter (about 56 C.E.), the Jewish nation as such had long since been cut down as an unfruitful “fig tree.” Or, to come back to the olive-tree illustration, most of the “natural branches” had been “lopped off” because of their lack of faith in Jesus, the Messiah. Yet if any individual Jew did not remain in his lack of faith, Jehovah God was willing to graft him back into the symbolic olive tree and make him a member of the spiritual seed of Abraham. For such a repentant Jew, Jehovah’s receiving him back would mean “life from the dead.”​—Romans 11:14, 15.

11. What has happened to some of the “other sheep,” but what should they do?

¹¹ Today, some of the “other sheep” have become complacent and, through lack of faith, have stopped serving Jehovah. They have cut themselves off from active association with his people. Some of them have got into sore straits, and the warnings contained in God’s Word have ‘found them out.’ Should they feel irretrievably lost? God’s Word states: “If you do look for Jehovah your God from there [outside the “land” of God’s people], you will also certainly find him, because you will inquire for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in sore straits and all these words [of warning] have found you out at the close of the days, then you will have to return to Jehovah your God and to listen to his voice. For Jehovah your God is a merciful God.”​—Deuteronomy 4:29-31.

12. (a) How has the ‘faithful slave’ shown concern for such strayed “other sheep”? (b) What examples can you relate to show that some have gratefully returned to the flock?

¹² As a united group of fruit-bearing branches within the Abrahamic-covenant tree, “the faithful and discreet slave,” the remaining ones of Christ’s anointed brothers on earth, is very conscious of the vital need for some of the “other sheep” to awaken from complacency and to become once again fruit-bearing Christians. (Matthew 24:45-47) To that end, the “slave” arranges for the publishing of such articles as “‘Return to the Shepherd of Your Souls,’” appearing in The Watchtower of May 1, 1982. Beginning in January 1982, Our Kingdom Ministry published a series of articles on that same theme. Has this firm lead from the Master’s “slave” produced fruitful results? Have some returned to Jehovah their God? Many have. Note the typical examples on page 22.

“Keep Bearing Much Fruit”

13. What should any who have become complacent now do, as shown by what words of Jesus?

¹³ Yes, any anointed Christians or their companions of the “other sheep” who have become complacent and unproductive should heed the warning, respond to Jehovah’s kindness and accept help so as to become fruitful Christians once again. In an illustration that differs in several respects from those of the olive tree and of the barren fig tree, Jesus likened himself to a vinestock, or vine stem, and his anointed disciples to the branches of a vine. He stated: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. . . . My Father is glorified in this, that you keep bearing much fruit and prove yourselves my disciples.”​—John 15:1-8.

14. (a) In what two ways must all Christians “keep bearing much fruit”? (b) What other requirement for anointed Christians is shown in the illustration of the “true vine”?

¹⁴ While the “other sheep” are not branches of the Abrahamic-covenant “olive tree” or of “the true vine,” Christ Jesus, they must prove themselves to be Christ’s disciples. Like all the anointed Christian “branches,” they must “keep bearing much fruit.” This they do by producing Christlike qualities of the new personality, including “the fruitage of the spirit.” (Galatians 5:22, 23; Matthew 28:19, 20; Colossians 3:5-14) But to be really fruitful they give active expression to such qualities by sharing in the work of preaching “this good news.” (Matthew 24:14) Just as the anointed “branches” of the “true vine” must remain in union with Christ, the “other sheep” must remain in close union with “the faithful and discreet slave,” Christ’s anointed “brothers.” Only thus can they hope to ‘inherit the Kingdom prepared for them from the founding of the world.’​—Matthew 25:31-40.

“Nations of the Earth” Already Blessing Themselves

15. As the Abrahamic covenant finishes producing the promised “seed,” what added meaning does Romans 11:12 take on?

¹⁵ As the Abrahamic-covenant olive tree, with its holy “root of fatness” (Jehovah) and its solid trunk (Christ), finishes producing the full number of Jewish and Gentile “branches,” rich blessings are already ensuing to “people of the nations” who are not spiritual Israelites. Paul foresaw this and wrote: “Now if their [the natural Jews’] false step means riches to the world, and their decrease means riches to people of the nations, how much more will the full number of them [Jewish anointed Christians] mean it!”​—Romans 11:12.

16. (a) How did the “false step” of the Jews mean “riches to people of the nations”? (b) At what stage is the grafting work?

¹⁶ We have already seen that the “false step” of the Jewish nation as a whole meant great spiritual riches to Gentiles. But these wild olive branches’ becoming members of the spiritual seed of Abraham did not exclude from the symbolic olive tree the natural branches​—faithful Jewish Christians—​who were either left on the tree or ‘grafted in again’ after 36 C.E. So the 144,000 branches include a “full number” of Jews and a “full number” of non-Jews. (Romans 11:12, 25) The facts indicate that this grafting in went on until the mid-1930’s. Today, at this late date, there is good reason to believe that the “full number” of both Jewish and Gentile branches has been grafted in. Any branches grafted in since 1935 would reasonably be replacements for Jewish or non-Jewish branches lopped off through unfruitfulness.

17. In what way does the completing of the membership of the seed mean further riches for “people of the nations”?

¹⁷ Now, Paul says that this completing of the membership of the seed of Abraham “means riches to people of the nations.” How much more is this so because such spiritual riches and blessings affect not just a few tens of thousands of non-Jewish anointed Christians (as in the fulfillment of the first part of Romans 11:12) but literally millions of “people of the nations” who are not of the symbolic olive tree.

18. What can be said about the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, so what part of it must have begun to be fulfilled?

¹⁸ This brings us back to the Abrahamic covenant. The primary Seed, Christ Jesus, is now enthroned in the heavens. He has gathered the members of the secondary seed into the Abrahamic-covenant family. He is about to “take possession of the gate of his enemies,” by the destruction of the world empire of false religion, Babylon the Great, and of the rest of Satan’s visible organization. (Genesis 22:17, 18) It is not surprising, therefore, that the concluding part of the Abrahamic promise is already beginning to be fulfilled: “By means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.”