“For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?”
After all, if you, who are by nature a wild olive shoot, were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! — The rhetorical crescendo: if God performed the counter-natural grafting of Gentiles, how much more (polō mallon) will he restore the natural branches to their own tree? The return is less miraculous because it restores what was naturally there.
Church Fathers on Romans 11:24
“For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree.” If then faith was able to do what was contrary to nature, much more will it that which is according to nature. For if this person, who was cut off from those by nature his fathers, came contrary to nature unto Abraham, much more will you be able to…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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