But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.
Parallel translations
- WEB don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
- KJV Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
- BSB do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
- NKJV do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
- NASB do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Grafted-in Gentiles must not boast over the broken branches, since the root supports them, not the reverse.
Overview
Paul warns Gentile believers against arrogance toward Israel. They do not sustain the covenant root; rather, they are sustained by it. This humbling reminder guards the church against anti-Jewish pride and keeps the focus on God's gracious promises as the source of all spiritual life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Cor 10:12Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.
- Rom 11:20True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;
- Rom 3:27Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
- Eph 2:19–20So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
- Prov 16:18Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- John 10:16I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
- Rom 4:16For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
- Matt 26:33But Peter answered him, “Even if all will be made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.”
- Gal 3:29If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
- Zech 8:20–23Yahweh of Armies says: “Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come;
- Luke 18:9–11He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.
- 1 Kgs 20:11The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’”
- John 4:22You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 11:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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