03/15/2026
The Root That Holds Us: The Olive Tree and the Tree of Life
When the Apostle Paul wanted to explain the mystery of salvation, he used a picture that people understood. He used the image of an olive tree.
In Romans chapter 11 Paul writes, “If the root be holy, so are the branches… and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree.” (Romans 11:16–17)
This olive tree represents the covenant plan of God. It began when God called Abraham and made a promise that would echo through history.
God said to Abraham, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
That promise became the root of the olive tree. The covenant with Abraham is the root. The descendants of Abraham are the natural branches. And we, the Gentile believers, are the wild branches that were grafted in through Jesus Christ.
Paul reminds us of something very important. We do not support the root. The root supports us.
Romans 11:18 says, “Thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”
That means Christianity did not create God’s promises. We were grafted into God’s promises. We were outsiders brought into something ancient and holy through the mercy of God.
Before Christ, the Gentiles were strangers to the covenants of promise. Ephesians 2:12 says we were “having no hope, and without God in the world.”
But everything changed when Jesus came.
Through His blood and resurrection, the door of salvation was opened to the nations. Wild branches were grafted into the olive tree.
There is not one tree for Israel and another tree for the Church. There is one redemptive tree. One covenant story unfolding through history.
The Jewish people are the natural branches of that tree. Paul says in Romans 9:4 that to Israel belong the covenants, the promises, and the glory. Even Jesus declared, “Salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22)
The Messiah came through the covenant line of Abraham.
But Paul also explains that some natural branches were broken off because of unbelief. Heritage alone cannot save anyone. Salvation has always required faith.
Yet when some branches were broken off, God did not destroy the tree.
Instead, He grafted wild branches into it.
That is us.
We were brought into the covenant blessing of God by grace. We became partakers of the root and the fatness of the olive tree.
But Paul gives a warning. He says do not boast against the natural branches. Romans 11:20 says, “Be not highminded, but fear.”
Why? Because salvation is not something we achieved. It is something we were grafted into by the mercy of God.
If God revoked the root of the covenant, the entire tree would collapse. There would be no salvation for anyone.
But the glory of the Gospel is that God keeps His promises. Romans 11:29 says, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
God does not abandon His covenant. The root still stands.
But the olive tree points us to something even deeper in Scripture.
From the very beginning of the Bible we see another tree. In the Garden of Eden there was the Tree of Life.
Genesis 2:9 says, “The tree of life also in the midst of the garden.”
The Tree of Life represented eternal life in the presence of God. But when sin entered the world, humanity was cut off from that tree. Genesis 3 tells us that Adam and Eve were driven from the garden so they could not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in their fallen state.
Humanity was separated from the life of God.
But the story does not end there.
The entire plan of redemption is about restoring access to the Tree of Life.
And here is the powerful truth.
Jesus Christ Himself becomes the way back to that tree.
Through the cross, through His blood, through His resurrection, Christ reopens the path to eternal life that was lost in Eden.
The olive tree of Romans 11 represents the covenant story through which the Messiah came. The Tree of Life represents the eternal life that the Messiah restores.
And in the end of the Bible these two themes meet again.
Revelation 22:2 says, “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life… and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Notice what Scripture says.
The Tree of Life brings healing to the nations.
That was the promise given to Abraham from the beginning. Through his seed all nations would be blessed.
Through Christ the nations are grafted into the covenant olive tree. And through Christ the nations are restored to the life that was lost in Eden.
The story begins with a tree in Genesis.
It ends with a tree in Revelation.
And right in the middle of history stands another tree.
The cross of Jesus Christ.
Because it was on that tree that the Son of God carried the sin of the world so that fallen humanity could be restored to the life of God.
Galatians 3:13 says, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
Jesus took the curse upon Himself on the tree of the cross so that we could receive the blessing of Abraham and the promise of eternal life.
So the olive tree shows us how God’s covenant plan brought salvation to the nations.
The Tree of Life shows us the eternal life that salvation restores.
And the cross is the bridge between them.
Through Jesus Christ the wild branches are grafted in.
Through Jesus Christ the covenant promises stand.
Through Jesus Christ access to the Tree of Life is restored.
And the root that holds us is the unchanging faithfulness of God.
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