Romans 11:22

if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off: Scripture often teaches that those who remain faithful to the end will be saved. Paul’s warning here has led to different views about what he means.

Some understand Paul to be saying that true believers can stop trusting God and therefore fail to be saved in the end. Others think Paul is using the image as a warning and should not be understood in a strict or literal way. From this view, Paul is speaking about people who appear to believe for a time, but whose lack of genuine faith later becomes clear.

In Paul’s extended metaphor, God’s special olive tree represents the people of God. This image would have been familiar to his readers. The olive tree was the most common fruit tree in the Mediterranean region. It was also already used as a symbol for Israel in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:5–6).

Paul describes non-Jewish (gentile) Christians as branches from a wild olive tree because they were not originally part of God's people.

n this section, Paul addresses a serious question. Many Jews did not believe in Jesus. If God had promised salvation to Israel, how could Jesus truly fulfill God’s plan when so few Jews believed (9:1–5)? In response, Paul uses the Old Testament to show that God always planned to save only a remnant, that is, a smaller group within Israel (9:6–29). Paul also explains that many Jews did not accept Christ because they refused to trust in him (9:30–10:21).

Paul then makes clear that God has not rejected Israel. Some Jews have already believed in Christ (11:1–10). Many more will trust in Christ in the future (11:12–26).