First Fruits and First Born

Romans 11:14-21 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15 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? 16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Romans 11:14-21 17 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; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

Romans 11:14-21 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

 Paul makes it clear that the tree is made Holy by the root, the loaf is made Holy by the lump. It is the source of one’s existence that makes them Holy, not what they can do to be Holy.  Paul makes it clear here that the branches should not presume to boast in the fact that they are, by nature, who they are.  Here, he is illustrating to the Jews that being mere Jews alone does not make them more of a deserving people than anyone else.

 The fact is that the Jews, in their religious pride, thought themselves to be a better class of people than the Gentiles, based on their pedigree.  As many believers, do they focus more on what they see rather than the source or the root of their existence which determines whether they are in right standing with God?  Paul says that if the root is holy then it is the reason why the tree is Holy; the branches can’t boast in themselves that all their life nutrients come from the roots.

 He uses the same illustration from the Old Testament, making it clear that the loaf is made Holy because of the lump.  Notice that he says that the Jews’ unbelief caused them to be broken off from the source of the tree.  By faith, the wild olive tree branches were grafted in and became attached to the root, transforming its very nature to that of the roots.

 The first fruits of Israel’s harvest were the initial investment made, which made their crops Holy.  When they brought and released their first fruits, they released the blessing over the rest of what they had.

Deuteronomy 26:10-13 10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD , hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God: 11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

Deuteronomy 26:10-13 12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;

Deuteronomy 26:10-13 13 Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:

Proverbs 3:9-12 9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. 11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD ; neither be weary of his correction: 12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Colossians 1:15-19 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Colossians 1:15-19 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Luke 12:1 1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, .

Matthew 13:33 33 Another parable spake he unto them; .