I say to you with my tongue, "You, believers from the Gentiles, I mean, when I say this, to teach you, I want to give you a warning. What he intends to impress upon them will begin later in verse 17. But in order to better adapt himself to this suggestion and make it more acceptable and impressionable, he repeats beforehand what he has previously said about the significance of current events in the conversion of some and the obstinacy of others (verses 13-16). The course of his speech is as follows: As an Apostle of the Gentiles, I place your conversion so highly; but at the same time I do not dwell on you alone, but I also have in mind my relatives, so that through your conversion I may also convert them, which I very much desire, not only because I love them as my own flesh, but especially because, as soon as they are converted, there will be a universal resurrection, and the radiant Kingdom of God will come. And that it will be so, that in fact all the Jews will be converted, there can be no doubt; for if the root is holy, that is, their progenitors, then the branches, that is, their descendants, these same unbelieving Jews, will also become holy. But since this cannot come to pass otherwise than by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord, then there can be no doubt that they will finally turn to the Lord with faith. Having come to this: "If the root is holy, then the branches will also be holy," the Apostle then builds on this his intended suggestion to the Gentile believers (verse 17 ff.). St. Chrysostom speaks of this separation (verses 13-16): "The Apostle goes over to the pagans and places an introductory speech about them, wishing to show that all this is said in order to teach them modesty."

Verse 13, 2nd half. Since I am an Apostle with my tongue, I glorify my service.

I glorify the service means that he cares in every way about the conversion of the Gentiles, or that he places such a high value on this conversion and attaches so great importance to it, that the conversion of the Jews, and then the transformation of the whole world, depends on him. The first is expressed by Blessed Theodoret: "Since God has appointed me to be a preacher for the Gentiles, then of necessity I seek the salvation of the Gentiles, and for them I speak and prove that the divine Prophets have foretold this from of old." The second is St. Chrysostom: "I praise (your conversion and) you (those who have converted), says the Apostle, for two reasons: first, because I have need of it, as one who was sent to serve you; secondly, that through you I may save others."

Verse 14. If I provoke my flesh and save some from them.

By increasing the number of Gentile believers and exalting the significance of their conversion, the Apostle indirectly intends "at least to stir up the Jews to emulation and to make some of them partakers of salvation" (Blessed Theodoret).

The Apostle called the Jews his flesh because, although they were stagnant in unbelief and disliked him, he did not cease to love them as they love their own flesh. Blessed Theophylact writes: "By the word, flesh, he showed his tender love for the Jews." And perhaps because he called them so, because since they differed from him in convictions, in the rules of life and feelings, he remained close to them only in the flesh. St. Chrysostom says: "The Apostle did not say, 'My brethren, my kinsmen,' but, 'Flesh.'" Explaining this, Blessed Theodoret adds: "He calls the Jews his flesh, as alien to him in their way of thinking, but having communion with him by carnal affinity alone."

"Then, revealing their obstinacy, he does not say, 'Shall I not be persuaded by them?' but, 'If I provoke them and save them; And again he does not say, "All," but, "Some of them." So hard-hearted were the Jews!" (St. Chrysostom). "What obstinacy the Jews have! It was impossible to hope to attract them to the faith except by an excessive pressure, and then not all, but only some" (Ecumenios).

Comparing what is said in these texts (verses 13-14) about the pagans and the Jews, St. Chrysostom says: "And in this again he reveals the superiority of the pagans. Although Jews and Gentiles mutually serve each other in the matter of salvation, they are not in the same way. The Jews bring good to the Gentiles by their unbelief, and the Gentiles to the Jews by their faith. From this it can be seen that the pagans are equal to the Jews, even surpass them. For what say thou, O Jew? If you hadn't been rejected, wouldn't you have been called up so soon? The Gentile will say the same: If I had not been saved, jealousy would not have been aroused in you. And if you want to know in what way we are superior, then I save you by believing, and you, stumbling, gave me the opportunity to come before you."

Verse 15. For the postponement of their reconciliation to the world: what is the reception of life from the dead?

The reason for St. Paul's concern for the salvation of the Jews is presented here. Someone is supposed to ask: "Why do you, Saint Paul, care so much about the Jews, saying: If I can provoke and save someone from them?" Why such a feat? It is impossible, he says, otherwise, it is impossible not to care and strive for them; I am compelled by the fact that if they are postponed, reconciled to the world, and so on. That is, if the fact that they rejected the faith and were rejected for this reason served to reconcile the (pagan) world to Himself and destroyed the center of ancient enmity, then how much good, and good, will happen when they are added to the faith and are saved? If their stumbling has served for the salvation of the world, what will happen, tell me, who can, when they arise, turn to the faith, and are received by God into their former mercy? What else, he says, is the resurrection from the dead? (see: Photius in Ecumenia). One can add to this what Blessed Theodoret said: "If," says the Apostle, "and when they did not believe, the Gentiles were received and freed from their former ignorance; then it is evident that if they had all wished to believe, there would have been nothing else to come to pass than the resurrection of the dead. This also the Lord said: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed among all nations for a witness to them. and then will come the end (cf. Matt. 24:14)."

St. Chrysostom draws attention to the fact that the unbelief of the Jews is not the cause of the faith of the Gentiles, but only the pretext, just as the faith of all the Gentiles will not be the reason for the acceptance of the Jews, but only the pretext: the cause of all is faith. If the Gentiles did not have faith, no matter how much the Jews were rejected, it would not be of any use to them, and vice versa. He says: "Do not be amazed that the Apostle ascribes to the Jews what happened out of necessity (that is, the acceptance of the Gentiles, against the will of the Jews). For he speaks in such a way as to humble some, and give advice to others. But if the Jews had been rejected a thousand times, and the Gentiles had not shown faith, the latter would never have been saved. What the Apostle said means: if God, being angry with the Jews, showed so much mercy to others, then what does He not grant when He is reconciled to them? But just as the resurrection of the dead does not come from receiving them, so our present salvation is not from them. On the contrary, they are rejected for their unbelief, and we are saved by our faith and grace from above. And all this cannot bring them the slightest benefit if they do not show proper faith."

Verse 16. If the firstfruits are holy, so is the mixture: and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Mixing, φύραμα, is kneaded dough. When the dough for bread is kneaded, first the base is taken, on which both good kneading and good emergence or souring of the dough depend. Then add flour and knead until the dough comes to the proper measure. If the foundation is laid properly, then the bread will be good, and if something in the base is defective, the bread will also be defective. The Apostle calls it the firstfruits and says that if it is holy, then all the admixture, or all the mixture, is holy. The beginning for bread kneading is the same as the root for the branches. Whom does the Apostle mean here, and why did he say this? By the beginning and root of the founders of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and by the mixture and branches, he means the whole nation of Israel, and asserts that if the ancestors are holy, as indeed holy and in glory are with God in heaven, then the whole mass of the people is holy. The Apostle said this in order to inspire: the entire mass of the people must be holy, — such is the way it is laid down in the ancestors, and so it is destined and capable. Why, when you now see the unbelieving Jews, do not think that they will remain so; the time will come, and they too will believe and become holy. And such a testimony he presents in confirmation that his expectation expressed before this is not in vain that they will be received, after which the glorious Kingdom of God will be revealed after the resurrection of the dead; therefore his labors are not in vain to convert the Gentiles as quickly as possible, and thus contribute to the speedy conversion of the Jews and the speedy opening of the Kingdom of God. Extending his thought into the distant future, the Apostle, of course, did not lose sight of the Jews who were present, and with the proposed sentence he also wanted, perhaps, to irritate them to the faith, saying, as it were: "This is what you are destined for!" What to expect? Turn quickly and enter into the order of saints, so that you do not remain long alienated from your holy root. Blessed Photius says in Ecumenia: "If it is necessary for the kneading (bread) and the branches to be holy with the beginning and root – holy, and the Jews are not holy (because of unbelief); then it is obvious that they consist in falling away from their ancestral root, Abraham." To which Ecumenius himself adds: "By calling them saints, he disposes them to faith, saying, as it were: you are fit and fit for the faith, the only thing you lack is the desire to believe."

Verses 17–18, 1st half. If some people break off from the branches, you are a wonder of the olive tree, and you have clung to them, and you have become a partaker of the root and the oil of the olive tree, do not boast on the branches.