Romans 11:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then, as is his custom, the Apostle passes to a new praise, not a real one but only an apparent one. He imitates the most skillful physicians, who also encourage the sick as far as the nature of the illness allows. What then does he say? “If the firstfruit is holy, so also is the lump; and if the root is holy, so also are the branches.” Here by the firstfruit and the root he means Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, the patriarchs, and all who were glorified in the Old Testament. By the branches he means those of their descendants who believed.

By the firstfruit and the root he means the patriarchs, and by the whole and the branches he means those of their descendants who believed. Thus he consoles the unbelieving Jews, saying: you also will be holy if you believe. For the whole and the branches must be like the firstfruit, the one like the firstfruit and the others like the root. If you have not become like them, this is a sign of great depravity.

If the firstfruit of the fruits, the flour, was holy, then the dough also will be holy. And when the root is holy, so are the branches.

It is clear that they constitute the whole, because they are of one substance. A part cannot be holy while the substance is unclean, because that part is from the same substance. Thus Paul shows that those whose ancestors believed cannot be regarded as unworthy of attaining faith. If part of the Jews believed, why not say that the rest also can believe?

The Apostle calls the Master Christ the firstfruit according to His human nature, and the patriarch Abraham the root.

Here Paul calls Christ the firstfruit, and the whole is the Hebrew people, from whom Christ comes according to the flesh. “And if the root is holy, so are the branches.” In this place the root signifies Abraham, since he is called the father of many nations according to faith. The branches are his descendants, who likewise held the faith of Abraham.

Paul calls the Master Christ the “firstfruit,” since He was born from the Jews according to the flesh and, through His resurrection, established the beginning of adoption.

“If the firstfruit is holy, so also is the lump,” in the Russian text, “the whole.” The image is taken from the dedication to God of the firstfruits. The firstfruit means the first disciples of Christ and those converted to Christ from among the Jews. Some, however, understand the firstfruit and the root to mean the patriarchs of the Old Testament.

Having spoken of the future great destiny of the Hebrews who were rejected for a time, the Apostle exhorts the Gentiles not to boast before them at all.

For they too can fall away from their gracious state if they weaken in faith and virtue, while the Hebrews may turn and be saved.

"If the firstfruits," for example from the harvest or the dough, "are holy, so also is the whole," that is, the whole harvest and all the dough; see Num 15:17-21.

"And if the root is holy," meaning the patriarchs and forefathers of the Hebrews, "so also are the branches" (Rom 11:16). That is, the Hebrew people in its fullness may still be recognized as sacred and holy (Chrysostom).

Having spoken earlier of the holiness of the remnant from the Hebrews, the Apostle now presents this remnant under the image of the root of a tree beloved by the Hebrews, the cultivated olive. In comparison with it the Gentiles were a wild olive.

The mixture, phyrama, is kneaded dough. When dough is kneaded for bread, first a base is laid down. On this depend both good kneading and good rising, or leavening, of the dough.

Then flour is added and kneaded until the dough reaches its proper measure. If the base is laid as it should be, the bread will come out good. But if something is wrong in the base, the bread will also be defective.

The Apostle calls this the firstfruits and says that, if it is holy, then the whole mixture, or the whole kneading, is holy. The firstfruits are to the bread dough what the root is to the branches.