Universalist Christians robotically quote Romans 11 where Paul illustrates who can be saved with the Parable of the Olive Tree — and they literally salivate when Paul mentions the “Gentiles” being “grafted in” — erroneously believing that a “gentile” is literally anyone and everyone on the planet who is not a “Jew”.
In the New Testament, context is everything — and acknowledging the context of any verse is something that Universalist Christians never do — and cannot do — otherwise their fuzzy feel-good doctrines will never work.
CONTEXT OF ROMANS 11
Romans 11 indeed has a context — and Paul gives us that context right from the very first lines where he asserts that God has not forgotten any of His people whom he “foreknew”:
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.”
–Romans 11:1-2
And who are these people whom God “foreknew”? The Israelite prophet Amos tell us exactly who they are:
“You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
–Amos 3:2
We know that right from the start of Romans 11, Paul is affirming the promises of God to Israel that not one single Israelite will be lost — that they will all be found and regathered:
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
–Amos 9:9
Paul is very specific about gathering a “remnant” back into the body of Israel:
“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
–Romans 11:5
This remnant does not refer to some generic group of people — or generic “gentiles” — rather the term “remnant” is always reserved for the Israelite people, as we see in Micah:
“I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture. They will be noisy with men.”
Micah 2:12
In the Gospel of John, Jesus echoes these words from Micah — when He refers to that “remnant” of lost Israelite “sheep” who are not found among the believing remnant in Judea:
“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
–John 10:16
And Paul is acutely aware of the long-standing hostilities between the Israelites in Judea who remained faithful to their God — and those “lost” Israelites of the 10 northern tribes whom God had divorced.
In their Assyrian captivity, they had not kept the faith — or the rituals such as circumcision — yet they were still Israelites by blood.
From the perspective of the faithful Israelites in Judea, any Israelite who was uncircumcised and did not follow the faith was a “Gentile” — including even those from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
In Romans 11, Paul is trying to convince the faithful remnant of Israel to set aside those hostilities with the 10 northern tribes and accept them into the “fold” of Christ’s sheep.
And we know that these 10 northern tribes will be regathered because the prophet Jeremiah said this regathering of all Israel would happen:
“Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will return here.”
–Jeremiah 31:8
But we are also told that among the Israelite faithful in Judea — lead by the Pharisees — there were many who rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel — Paul refers to these Israelites as branches that have been “broken off” the tree of Israel.
PAUL’S MISSION TO GATHER THE LOST ISRAELITE “GENTILES”
So Paul’s mission is two-fold — to convert those Israelites in Judea who have initially rejected Jesus — and to also bring the Gospel of Salvation to the 10 lost tribes of the northern kingdom — so that “all Israel” can be saved.
Another part of Paul’s mission — aside from the reunification of all Israel — is to bring the Gospel to the living, unmixed descendants of the original Genesis 10 Nations — as we have previously written about — who are also counted among the “gentiles”.
As Paul points out, it is his hope that by converting these 10 lost tribes of Israel to Jesus — and offering them the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven through salvation — he will provoke those Israelites in Judea who rejected Christ into finally accepting Him:
“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?“
–Romans 11:11-12
Of course, Universalist Christians falsely believe that the “fullness of the Gentiles” means that time when all peoples of “the world” magically convert to Christianity, but that can’t possibly be what Paul means by “fulness” here — especially when we understand what Paul meant when he used the term “the world”.
According to Strong’s Concordance, “fulness” is translated from the Greek pléróma (Strong’s 4138), and specifically in the context of Romans, it means
“…fulfilling….full number….repletion or completion…”
So the “fulness” of the “Gentiles” first and foremost refers to the fulfilling of prophecy that all Israel would be regathered (Romans 11:26] — all of them, the full number — a full completion of this prophecy and covenant — and Paul’s mission.
It is crucial to understand that from the perspective of these “Jews” — Israelites like Paul in the southern kingdom — that is, any Israelite “not of this fold” in Judea such as those from the northern ten tribes of Israel — the “uncircumcised” — were referred to as “Gentiles”.
Then Paul directly addresses these Israelites from the 10 lost northern tribes — the so-called “Gentiles”
“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.”
–Romans 11:13-16
Paul refers to those Israelite Judeans who accepted Christ and converted as the holy “firstfruit” [see Strong’s 536: aparché] — while those who didn’t convert, including the 10 lost tribes of the northern kingdom — as an formed lump of dough or clay, but also holy because they are Israelites.
PARABLE OF THE OLIVE TREE
At this point, Paul introduces the parable of the Olive Tree — which represents Israel — with Jesus Christ as the root — and how certain “wild olive branches” can be grafted onto that tree:
“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”
–Romans 11:17-18
In the Bible, only Israelites are referred to as olive trees — or associated with them — and Jeremiah specifically addresses the House of Judah and the House of Israel in those terms:
“The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.”
–Jeremiah 11:16
And it’s hardly a coincidence that both Jeremiah 11:16 and Romans 11:16-17 compare Israelites to olive branches that have been broken.
As we’ve said, in Romans 11 the “branches” that were broken off the Olive Tree of Israel were those Judean Israelites of the southern kingdom who initially rejected Christ as the Messiah.
The “wild olive tree” refers to the 10 lost northern tribes of Israel whom God divorced [see Jeremiah 3:8-11] and sent into Assyrian captivity — those whom Paul also refers to as “Gentiles”.
Contrary to what the universalist Christians claim, the “wild olive tree” does not refer to anyone who is “not a Jew” or to literally everyone else on the planet.
GRAFTING
The grafting of olive trees is a very precise art — and has been practiced for thousands of years. Grafting was done because some olive trees had strong roots but bore little fruit, while other olive trees had weak roots but bore plentiful fruit. Grafting allowed growers to get the best of both types — which is why Paul chose this apt metaphor.
Grafting of olive trees can be done only with trees that are very closely related, as this expert on the subject explains,
“You should never graft outside of the varieties of olive trees. Most olive varieties can coexist. However, you cannot graft an olive scion or lemon rootstock onto an olive scion because only plants with similar genetic makeup may be effectively grafted. Of course, you can try grafting different species but don’t expect any results.”
So there we have it — any “wild olive branch” that can be grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel must be closely related with a similar genetic makeup. You cannot graft different types of trees — or even distantly related olive trees — onto most olive trees.
All Christian Universalists ignore this scientific reality — and claim that anyone, from any race or species of tree, can be “grafted” into Israel as long as they merely “believe in Jesus.”
Their “proof” is that other types of trees can be grafted onto each other — pears onto apples — limes onto orange trees — but these kinds of disparate graftings cannot be done with olive trees, and that’s what Paul is talking about — because Olive Trees represent Israel.
And those who have tried to “graft” non-Adamic, non-Israelite peoples into the body of Christ have not produced any “viable” fruit — as we have shown repeatedly in other articles on the subject [see our series on Logos And Africa]:
“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?”
–Matthew 7:16
Kind after kind — Paul tells us quite correctly that those Israelite Judeans who rejected Christ can be grafted back into the Olive Tree of Israel if they accept Christ:
“And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”
–Romans 11:23
Then Paul addresses the “wild olive branches” from the 10 lost northern tribes of Israel,
“For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
–Romans 11:24
All grafting is technically “contrary to nature” here — but Paul isn’t opening the door to any sort of universalism that allows for just anyone from any race or species to be grafted into the Olive Tree — which would not only be contrary to nature, but would be impossible without God breaking His covenant with Israel.
The word “nature” here comes from the Greek phusis [Strong’s 5449], which means,
“…inherent nature, origin, or birth”
By the time Paul is writing Romans, the 10 “lost” northern tribes of Israel had indeed grown wild in the intervening 600 years since they were “broken off” and sent into Assyrian captivity — yet they were still a very similar species of Israelite as the original Olive Tree — and it is that close similarity that allows them to be grafted back in.
Paul warns these Israelite “gentiles” who are being grafted in through accepting Christ,
“For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery— so that you will not be wise in your own estimation— that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”
–Romans 11:25
Note that Paul here says there’s been only a “partial” hardening to the Judean Israelites — meaning that a small remnant of them, under the influence of some of the Pharisees, did not accept Jesus Christ — and this partial hardening is confirmed by John who tells us,
“He came unto his own, but his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
–John 1:11-12
Yet universalist Christians would have us believe that “the Jews” collectively rejected Jesus, so God changed His mind and created a new covenant with literally anyone on the planet who was willing to “believe in Jesus.”
Both John and Paul tell us that only a small remnant of Judean Israelites rejected Christ — and despite that rejection, they were still eligible to be “grafted” back into Israel once they accepted Christ.
Paul then tells us that the purpose of this grafting in of all Israelites according to the flesh who believe in Jesus Christ,
“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”
–Romans 11:26-27
The purpose of the “grafting in” of the wild olive branches is not to convert every person on the planet to Christ — but rather to fulfill the covenant that God made with Israel — all 12 tribes of Israel, as described in Jeremiah:
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
–Jeremiah 31:31-33
So we can see that Paul’s missionary work to the “gentiles” — the lost Israelites of the 10 northern tribes — does not conflict with what Jesus Christ said His purpose was:
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
–Matthew 15:24
And that is why in Revelation we are told that there are 12 gates to the Kingdom of Heaven:
“It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”
–Revelation 21:12
So how do the universalists squeeze non-Israelites through any of those 12 gates? Where are the gates to Heaven for those who are not descended from the 12 tribes of Israel?
The only way universalists can continue to make their claims is by cherry-picking verses out of context to make them appear to support their position, such as
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
–Galatians 3:28
But in a previous essay, we have shown how this verse is not a call for universalism — that within the context of both Galatians and the entirety of the Gospels, this verse is completely consistent with what Paul is writing in Romans 11 — the grafting in of the “wild branches” of Israel.
We would like to point out one caveat — depending on the context, the term “gentiles” most certainly can include those non-Israelites who are pure, unmixed Adamic descendants of the original Genesis 10 Nations — as these peoples would be genetically the same “kind” as their Israelite cousins.
See our essays on this subject — Who Are The Gentiles In The Bible — And Who They Are Not.
So has the “fullness of the Gentiles” been accomplished?
If you ask a Christian Universalist, they will emphatically say “No!” — as they hop on planes to Africa and Asia to bring the gospel to these non-Adamic peoples.
However, if you believe that the White European peoples are the living descendants of the 12 Israelite Tribes, then the Great Commission has been completed — the Gospel has reached those people for whom it was intended — and all Israel has now been offered salvation through Jesus Christ.
However, in the last 150 years we have seen a great falling away from the faith among the European Israelite people.
In 1870, the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky — who was most assuredly a believing Christian — wrote the following warning,
“The West has lost Christ, and that is why it is dying — that is the only reason.”
–Fyodor Dostoevsky, from Notebooks for “The Possessed”
Indeed, under the influence of the false promises of Marxism and atheistic Jews, the European peoples have become “possessed” with the demonic Jewish revolutionary spirit — and once again these “branches” — these nations of kindred Israelite peoples — have once again rejected Christ and been “broken off” the Tree of Israel.
However, now that our Christian nations have been flooded with heathen from the Third World — and many of our churches are now being led by non-white pastors — we are seeing a reawakening of our racial and spiritual identity, as Revelation 2:9 foretold,
“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”
–Revelation 2:9
Our preservation will happen when the European people reunify — when the scales fall from our eyes — and we finally come to the realization that we, as a kindred people, are the true Israel of the Bible, and we turn back to our God and Savior:
“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
–Revelation 5:9
Our European Israelite race — our extended family — our nation of common origin — cannot be separated from our faith — and when that reunification comes — and it most surely will — that fullness, that completion is inevitable — and Mystery Babylon will fall, and we will be delivered.
