¹⁶ If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

Metaphors are common in Scripture. Paul employs two of them now in order to explain Israel’s future in relation to the Gospel. A metaphor clarifies a point by showing the truth in a different context that is familiar to the audience. In this case, Paul appeals to the OT concept of firstfruits being offered to God as holy. To a first-time reader of the NT, many things, including metaphors like this one, are difficult to understand apart from a familiarity of the OT. So understanding the old is crucial to a fuller understanding of the new.

Some translations render this verse, “If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy …” (NIV, ESV) to clarify the reference to the first portion of the harvest being given to the Lord (Lev 23:10, 17; Num 15:18–21). Dough represents the end product of the wheat harvest. That which was given to God became holy, in the basic concept of the word, as being set aside for God’s use. The OT doesn’t specifically indicate that the rest of the harvest was “holy.” However, the implication is clear that the offering of firstfruits was tacit acknowledgement that the entire harvest came from God. Therefore, the entire harvest is God’s and therefore holy. Paul clarifies this in his metaphor.

Now the question is, to what do the firstfruits and the lump refer? Some suggest that Abraham and the patriarchs were the firstfruits, and the rest of Israel is therefore also set apart for God as holy. However, that doesn’t seem to be the issue Paul is dealing with. He had been talking about the remnant who, in this case, are those Jews who believed the Gospel, and what the Gospel means for the rest of the Jews who have not believed. Paul used the actual term “firstfruits” elsewhere to refer to the first believers of the Gospel (Rom. 8:23; 16:5; 1 Cor. 15:20, 23; 16:15). The idea, then, is that since there was in Paul’s time a remnant of Jews who believed the Gospel (the first believers of the Gospel, including Paul and the apostles, referred to here as “the first piece of dough” and “holy”), then Israel as a whole (pictured here as “the lump”) was still in God’s sights for special treatment (lit. “holy”). If God saved the few believing Jews, He had a plan to save the rest of the Jews.

The second metaphor gives a similar perspective. If the root of a plant is set apart for a special purpose, then the entire plant is set apart, including the branches. Whether Abraham is the root or the remnant of believers, the idea is the same. All Israel continues to be special in God’s eyes and plan.

Lord, I pray for the salvation of Israel, Your chosen people.