Olive Tree Theology

Olive Tree Theology is a theological view introduced by Paul the Apostle in Romans 11:11-24 and endorsed by David H. Stern, a theologian who follows Messianic Judaism (considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity), which maintains that the Messianic Congregation (or Church) and Israel are part of same spiritual entity which is represented as an olive tree. It is different from both dispensationalism and supersessionism (also known as replacement theology), which both make a distinction between Israel and the Church.
General Description
Roots of the view are found from Romans [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:16-24 11.16-24]:
According to Olive Tree Theology the metaphor of the olive tree is introduced by a different image, the challah. Today "challah" means the special braided loaves of bread served in Jewish homes on Shabbat and during festivals. In the Bible the word describes a small "cake" baked from dough set aside for God; this must be done first (hence the term "firstfruits"). Only afterward may the loaf made from that dough be eaten, so that the loaf is then "holy" in the sense of being usable at all.
In Paul's metaphors of the challah and the olive tree there are three distinct possibilities of who or what is the firstfruits/root:
    1. The believing remnant of Israel that is truly Israel ([http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+9:6-7 9.6-7]) , that is, the Messianic Jews ([http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:1-15 11.1-15])
    2. Abraham ([http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+4:12 4.12]) or all the Patriarchs ([http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:28 11.28])
    3. Yeshua Messiah ([http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+8:29 8.29], 1Cor. [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=1-corinthians+15:20 15.20]), who alone makes Israel holy.
Any of these fit the context of vv. 17-18; but the material in ch. [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+4 4] about Abraham (alluded to again in v. [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:28 28]), as well as the truism that firstfruits are offered first, suggest something chronologically anterior hence the people who trusted first, either Abraham or all the Patriarchs.
There are also four possibilities of who is the loaf made from the firstfruits and the branches growing from the root:
    1. Every single Jew, past, present, and future
    2. Every single Messianic Jew, past, present, and future
    3. The Jewish people, as a nation, though not necessarily every Jew
    4. All believers, Jewish and Gentile, past, present, and, future
Paul says in v. 26 "...and that it is in this way that all Israel will be saved." Greek outos means "thus," not "then" (as in some versions) - the emphasis is on the manner in which all Israel will be saved, not the time when it will happen. The term "all Israel" has the same four possible meanings as "loaf" and "branches." Examination of Jewish and Greek literature shows that Jews used the word "Israel," rather than "Jews," to refer to themselves as a nation, and especially when speaking of themselves as God's people. Gentiles, on the other hand, used the terms "Ioudaioi" ("Jews" or "Judeans"), which to them signified primarily the country of origin, Judea. Paul used the term "Jew" eleven times in Chapters 1-8 of Romans, always in contrast with "Gentiles" or "Greeks." He used the term "Israel" only in Chapters 9-11, where it appears twelve times.
Meaning (4) is said to be impossible in the present context, for several reasons. First, "Israel" has clearly meant only Jews throughout Romans 9-11. Second, Paul uses the word "Jews," not "Israel" when he wants to emphasize Gentile participation in God's promise. Third, Chapters 9-11 is how God will make good his promise to the Jewish people, not to a combined Jewish-and-Gentile people. Fourth and last, the story of how God will in fact do this is told four times in [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:1-32 11.1-32], and in the other three tellings there is no question that Paul is speaking about Jews only (vv. [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:15 11.15], [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:24 11.24], [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:31 11.31]).
But "all Israel" is also not every single Jew (meaning (1)). Not only do Chapters 9-11 not require that, but such an interpretation conflicts with the "remnant" notions brought in at [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+9:6 9.6], [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:27 11.27] and [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=romans+11:1-6 11.1-6]. With even more certainty, "all Israel" is not merely all Messianic Jews (meaning (2)), even though 9.6 implies that only the Messianic Jewish subset of Israel is truly Israel. For this would make the "truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed" (v.25), and which Paul has spent three chapters leading up to, an anticlimactic tautology - it is obvious that all saved Jews will be saved.
Rather, the word "all" is used here figuratively. In Hebrew thinking, the word "kol" ("all") in reference to a collective does not mean every single individual of which it is composed. New Testament examples include Matthew [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=matthew+2:3 2.3] and [http://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/1-chronicles/passage.aspx?q=matthew+3:5 3.5]. "All Israel," then, is the Jewish nation as a corporate whole (meaning (3)), including every Messianic Jew (by tautological necessity) but not necessarily every single Jew.
Accordingly, Olive Tree theology maintains that the cultivated olive tree in Romans 9 - 11 is spiritual Israel, a people consisting of both Jews and Gentiles. Altogether they are, in every sense, God's people who hold the Messianic faith where Yeshua/Jesus is God's promised Messiah. They grow together as one people of God, fed and nourished from the same root, even though they may have different ethnic origins. These people may be identified according to the following conventions, although their descriptive names (e.g. Messianic Gentiles) may vary according to usage:
* Natural branches of the cultivated olive tree - these are Christians with a Jewish origin, or Messianic Jews (see Messianic Judaism);
* Natural branches who were once cut-off but have now been re/grafted into spiritual Israel because they no longer reject Jesus as the promised Messiah - again, Messianic Jews; and
* Wild Branches of wild olive trees that have now been grafted into the cultivated olive tree - these are Christians with a Gentile origin. While some of these Gentiles appreciate themselves as Messianic Gentiles (reflecting the Messianic Jews naming convention) predominately they are simply described as Christians.

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