Warning to the Gentiles
Paul now invites his readers to reflect on the twofold implication of what he has just said about God. For Gentiles, Paul’s description of God is to serve as the grounds for fear (verse 20)—or more appropriately, “reverent awe”—but for Israel it is also the basis of hope.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
In this paragraph Paul calls attention to two noticeably different attributes of God. He is a just and holy God who, to be true to himself, must necessarily punish all sin and wickedness. God is at the same time, however, also a loving and gracious God moved by his merciful heart to give every benefit and blessing to undeserving sinners.
In writing to his Roman readers, the apostle here uses shorthand terms to speak of these two qualities in God. He says, “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God.” Like every faithful spokesperson for this just yet merciful God, Paul needs to proclaim both qualities clearly. He needs to proclaim both law and gospel, as Christ did when he said,
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
Paul considers this either-or status before a just yet merciful God when he describes the contrasting states of unfaithful Jews and believing Gentiles. Referring to their quite different situations, he speaks of “sternness to those who fell [Jews], but kindness for you [Gentiles], provided that you continue in his kindness.”
The last clause is critical. God’s kindness, not Gentile merit, is the sole basis for the Gentiles’ blessedness. If they ever lose sight of that and begin to boast in themselves, then they too will be cut off. Such is the sternness of him who is currently showing them his unlimited kindness.
Conversely, the holy and righteous God who presently is showing his sternness toward Jewish stubbornness and unbelief is also the loving and gracious God who dearly wants them to be saved. He would like nothing better than to shower his kindness on them. Paul can continue, “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”
The thing keeping Jews separate from God’s blessings is their own unbelief—not a lack of kindness on God’s part. If Jews will in faith accept the Messiah whom God has sent in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, he will “graft them in again.”
God is both willing and able to do that. In fact, he is not only able, but it would be easy for him to save Jews—easier, Paul hints, than it was to save Gentiles. Paul supports this rather bold way of speaking by noting what is standard practice in the horticultural world. “After all, if you [Gentiles] were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these [Jews], the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!”
The standard practice is to take hardy, wild rootstock and graft good, domestic, fruit-bearing branches onto it. But God did it the other way. To bring Gentiles to salvation, he took these wild branches and grafted them into a cultivated olive tree. If God can go “contrary to nature” and accomplish the salvation of “wild” Gentiles by grafting them in, “how much more readily will these [Jews], the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree” and be brought back to salvation.