the middle of the second century the Church had arrogated to itself the very position of the olive tree.25 The story of this arrogant takeover, with the severing of Jewish roots and the long history of anti-Judaism to follow, will be discussed in chapters three through seven below. Like the church at Rome, we who are from gentile stock must be ever reminded that neither does the “nourishing sap” (v. 17) of the olive tree find its source in us, nor do we support the root of that same tree. Rather,