You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
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Romans 11:19-21 sits inside this longer paragraph.
I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
Parallel Translations
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You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;
for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
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Thou wilt saye then: the brauches are broken of that I myght be grafte in.
Thou sayest well: because of vnbeleve they are broken of and thou stondest stedfast in fayth. Be not hye mynded but feare
seynge that God spared not the naturall braunches lest haply he also spare not the.
Show all 3 translations
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Thou wilt say then, The branches are broken off, that I might be graft in.
Well: through vnbeliefe they are broken off, and thou standest by faith: bee not hie minded, but feare.
For if God spared not the naturall branches, take heede, least he also spare not thee.
Cross-references (50)
- Romans 12:16 (v20) Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own…
- 2 Corinthians 1:24 (v20) We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.
- 1 Corinthians 10:12 (v20) Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.
- Philippians 2:12 (v20) So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation…
- 1 Peter 1:17 (v20) If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as…
Show all 49 cross-references
- Romans 11:17 (vv19, 21) But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the…
- Habakkuk 2:4 (v20) Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
- Romans 5:1-2 (v20) Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom we also have our access by faith…
- Romans 11:18 (v20) don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
- Colossians 2:7 (v20) rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
- 1 Timothy 6:17 (v20) Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the…
- Hebrews 3:12 (v20) Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
- Proverbs 28:14 (v20) Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
- Isaiah 66:2 (v20) For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is…
- Jeremiah 25:29 (v21) For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished;…
- Jeremiah 49:12 (v21) For Yahweh says: “Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup will certainly drink; and are you he who will altogether go…
- Romans 11:11-12 (v19) I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them…
- Romans 11:23-24 (v19) They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of…
- 2 Corinthians 10:5 (v20) throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to…
- 2 Timothy 3:3-5 (v20) without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited,…
- 2 Peter 2:4-9 (v21) For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for…
- Psalms 138:6 (v20) For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar.
- Proverbs 28:26 (v20) One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe.
- Isaiah 2:11 (v20) The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 2:17 (v20) The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 7:9 (v20) The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’ ”
- Zephaniah 3:11 (v20) In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out from…
- Luke 18:14 (v20) I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who…
- John 4:17-18 (v20) The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands; and he…
- Acts 13:46-47 (v20) Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it…
- Acts 18:6 (v20) When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now…
- Romans 3:3 (v20) For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
- Romans 8:32 (v21) He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- Romans 11:19 (v21) You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
- 1 Corinthians 16:13 (v20) Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (v20) he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting…
- Hebrews 3:19–4:1 (v20) We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief. Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come…
- Hebrews 4:6 (v20) Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was preached before failed to enter in because…
- Hebrews 4:11 (v20) Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
- James 4:6 (v20) But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- 1 Peter 5:5-6 (v20) Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;…
- 1 Peter 5:9 (v20) Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
- 1 Peter 5:12 (v20) Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true…
- Jude 1:5 (v21) Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward…
- Revelation 3:17 (v20) Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable,…
- Revelation 18:7 (v20) However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen,…
- 2 Chronicles 20:20 (v20) They rose early in the morning, and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me,…
- 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (v21) Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all…
- James 2:19 (v20) You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
49 distinct cross-references across this passage (50 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 19. Thou wilt then say, etc. In the person…
19. Thou wilt then say, etc. In the person of the Gentiles he brings forward what they might have pleaded for themselves; but that was of such a nature as ought not to have filled them with pride, but, on the contrary, to have made them humble. For if the cutting off of the Jews was through unbelief, and if the ingrafting of the Gentiles was by faith, what was their duty but to acknowledge the favor of God, and also to cherish modesty and humbleness of mind? For it is the nature of faith, and what properly belongs to it, to generate humility and fear. But by fear understand that which is in no way inconsistent with the assurance of faith; for Paul would not have our faith to vacillate or to alternate with doubt, much less would he have us to be frightened or to quake with fear.
Of what kind then is this fear? As the Lord bids us to take into our consideration two things, so two kinds of feeling must thereby be produced. For he would have us ever to bear in mind the miserable condition of our nature; and this can produce nothing but dread, weariness, anxiety, and despair; and it is indeed expedient that we should thus be thoroughly laid prostrate and broken down, that we may at length groan to him; but this dread, derived from the knowledge of ourselves, keeps not our minds while relying on his goodness, from continuing calm; this weariness hinders us not from enjoying full consolation in him; this anxiety, this despair, does not prevent us from obtaining in him real joy and hope. Hence the fear, of which he speaks, is set up as an antidote to proud contempt; for as every one claims for himself more than what is right, and becomes too secure and at length insolent towards others, we ought then so far to fear, that our heart may not swell with pride and elate itself.
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But it seems that he throws in a doubt as to salvation, since he reminds them to beware lest they also should not be spared. To this I answer, — that as this exhortation refers to the subduing of the flesh, which is ever insolent even in the children of God, he derogates nothing from the certainty of faith. And we must especially notice and remember what I have before said, — that Paul’s address is not so much to individuals as to the whole body of the Gentiles, among whom there might have been many, who were vainly inflated, professing rather than having faith. On account of these Paul threatens the Gentiles, not without reason, with excision, as we shall hereafter find again.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv20–21 See that thou stand in awe of God modestly…
See that thou stand in awe of God modestly and carefully.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–21 19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken…
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Ver. 19. Thou wilt say] Carnal reason will have ever somewhat to say, and is not easily set down. (Greg. Moral.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 Ver. 19,20. Here he brings in the Gentiles, alleging…
Ver. 19,20. Here he brings in the Gentiles, alleging a reason for their insulting over the Jews; because the Jews were broken off, that they might give place, or make way, for them; and the less worthy do always give place to the more worthy. To this he answers, first, by way of concession: Well, (saith he), it is true, and I do not deny it, that the Jews
were broken off, that the Gentiles might be grafted in. But then he further adds, by way of correction or negation, that the worthiness of the Gentiles was not the cause why the Jews were broken off; but it was because of their own unbelief; they would not accept of Christ, Joh 1:11; they went about to establish their own righteousness, and would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God, as it is in Rom 10:3. Therefore, if you Gentiles shall reason after this manner, you plainly put a fallacy upon yourselves, and take that for a cause which is none: you do not distinguish between the cause and the event; it fell out, indeed, that the Jews, being cast off, the Gentiles were received in, but this was not the cause of that.
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And thou standest by faith: q.d. Neither is thy worthiness the cause of thy present standing in the room of the Jews, or of having thy station in the church of Christ; but it is thy believing in that Christ whom the Jews rejected. By faith thou wast first ingrafted, and still continuest in the good olive tree.
Be not high-minded, but fear: q.d. Be advised, and take heed of being self-conceited and secure; if thou fall into their fault, thou mayst expect the same fate. Therefore stand in awe, and sin not; thou art subject to unbelief and apostacy, as well as they.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Thou wilt say then,.... This is an objection which…
Thou wilt say then,.... This is an objection which the apostle foresaw the Gentiles would make against what he had said, and in favour of their boasting;
the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. The sense of which is, that the Jews were rejected and left out of the Gospel church, on purpose to make way for the Gentiles, that they might be put in their room; and consequently the Jews must be more vile and unworthy, and the Gentiles more deserving of such favours and privileges, or God would never have taken such a step, to leave out one to make room for the other.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv20–21 They were broken off for unbelief, and thou standest…
They were broken off for unbelief, and thou standest by faith - Both conditionally, not absolutely: if absolutely, there might have been room to boast. By faith - The free gift of God, which therefore ought to humble thee.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Verse 19. Thou wilt say then, c.] You may…
Verse 19. Thou wilt say then, c.] You may think that you have reason to exult over them because it is a fact that God has been displeased with them, and therefore has broken them off; has cast them out of the Church, and taken you into it in their place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v19 Rom 11:19-21. Thou wilt say — Thou wilt object;…
Rom 11:19-21. Thou wilt say — Thou wilt object; The branches were broken off — For their infidelity and rejection of Jesus and his gospel; that I might be graffed in — And therefore we may glory over them as they once did over us. Well; take this thought at least along with thee, Because of unbelief they were broken off — It was not undeservedly, by an act of absolute sovereignty and prerogative, but because of unbelief: by which it appears, it is possible for whole churches, as well as individuals, that have long stood by faith, to fall into such a state of infidelity as may prove their ruin. Now thou art liable to the same infirmity and corruption that they fell by. For thou standest — Hast a place in God’s favour and family; by faith — A grace which, in the very nature of it, implies dependance on God, and is itself the free, undeserved gift of God. Thou dost not stand in or by any strength of thy own, of which thou mightest be confident: thou art only what the free grace of God makes thee; and his grace is his own, which he gives or withholds at pleasure. Therefore be not high-minded, but fear — Be not too confident of thy own strength. A holy fear is an excellent preservative against high-mindedness; happy is the man that thus feareth always. We need not fear lest God should not be true to his word; all the danger is, lest we should be false to our own: let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left, to persevering believers, of entering into his rest, we should come short of it, through not continuing in the faith, grounded and settled; but being moved therefrom, and from the hope of the gospel, Col 1:23. If God spared not the natural branches — Of the good olive-tree, namely, the Jews, so called because they sprang from Abraham, the root of that tree, and consequently by their descent from him were naturally members of the Jewish Church; if God proceeded with so much severity against them, take heed lest he spare not thee — Or, as the Syriac translates the clause, perhaps neither will he spare thee. They, observe, were natural branches, and as such had a peculiar interest in Abraham’s covenant, and in the promises, being descended from his loins; and yet, when they sunk into unbelief, neither prescription, nor long usage, nor the faithfulness of their ancestors, could secure them, but God cast them off. Take heed, therefore, lest thy unbelief and barrenness expose thee, who art not a natural branch, but a scion from a foreign stock, to the punishment of excision, after all the great obligations which he hath laid thee under by his unparalleled goodness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Thou wilt say then - Thou who art a…
Thou wilt say then - Thou who art a Gentile.
The branches were broken off ... - The Jews were rejected in order that the gospel might be preached to the Gentiles. This would seem to follow from what the apostle had said in Rom 11:11-12. Perhaps it might be said that there was some ground of exultation from the fact that God had rejected his ancient people for the sake of making a way open to admit the Gentiles to the church. The objection is, that the branches were broken off in order that others might be grafted in. To this Paul replies in the next verse, that this was not the reason why they were rejected, but their unbelief was the cause.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Thou wilt say then--as a plea for boasting.
Thou wilt say then--as a plea for boasting.
The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv20–21 20. Unbelief… faith—These two words, expressing the conditions, negative…
20. Unbelief… faith—These two words, expressing the conditions, negative and positive, in regard to salvation, explain why either the Jew or Gentile is called.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–21 19. then] therefore; i.e. in order to meet my…
19. then] therefore; i.e. in order to meet my reasoning.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 (19, 20) It might be possible for the Gentile…
(19, 20) It might be possible for the Gentile to claim a special providence in his substitution for the Jew. He should rather be reminded that there is a condition—faith—which is attached to this substitution; this he must be careful to observe, or else he will lose all that he has gained.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19–20 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off,…
Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Though I might not beast against the original branches that remain, and among whom I have been grafted, yet I may against those which, for their unworthiness, have been broken off to make room for me: though not boasting against the faithful Jews, I surely may against the unfaithful and rejected ones.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv19–21 19. Thou wilt say. Perhaps the Gentile believer might…
19. Thou wilt say. Perhaps the Gentile believer might boast over the Jews: “The Jewish branches were broken off, that we Gentiles might be grafted in. Is not this a preference of the Gentile?”
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v21 21. “If God spared not the natural branches, neither…
21. “If God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.”
Hence we see the same awful fate awaiting the Gentile dispensation, and as Jesus says, “A time of trouble such as this world never saw,” i. e., the great tribulation (Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13). Not only is all this prophetical, but the unprecedented magnitude of God’s righteous retributive judgments coming on the apostate Gentile Church will not be local, as in the case of the Jews, but universal, co-extensive with Christendom. “God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” The fearfully rapid apostasy of the Protestant churches is an awful omen of the rapidly approaching end of the Gentile age, and the terrible retributive judgments predicted in both Testaments.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that…
Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in . [The apostle here puts in the mouth of a representative Gentile the cause or justification of the pride. Was it not ground for self-esteem and self-gratulation when God cast off his covenanted people to receive strangers? -- Eph_2:19 ]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v19 Branches were broken off
Branches were broken off
Here "branches" refers to the Jews who rejected Jesus and whom God has now rejected. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "God broke branches off" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
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I might be grafted in
Paul uses this phrase to refer to the Gentile believers whom God has accepted. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "he might attach me in" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
their ... they
The pronouns "their" and "they" refer to the Jewish people who did not believe.
but you stand firm because of your faith
Paul speaks of the Gentile believers remaining faithful as if they were standing firm and no one could move them. AT: "but you remain because of your faith" (See: Metaphor)
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you
Here the "natural branches" refers to the Jewish people who rejected Jesus. AT: "Since God did not spare those unbelieving Jews, who grew up like a tree's natural branches that came from the root, then know, if you do not believe, he will not spare you either (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
true
believe
faith
fear
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v20 11:20 fear what could happen: In Scripture, fear often…
11:20 fear what could happen: In Scripture, fear often means a reverential awe of God that includes the recognition that we must one day stand before him in judgment (see 2 Cor 5:11; 7:1, 11, 15; Phil 2:12; Col 3:22).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.