en_tn_condensed/rom/11/16.md

If the firstfruits are holy, so is the lump of dough

"If Abraham is counted as the first of what has been offered to God, all of our ancestors who followed should also be counted as God's possession"

firstfruits

The people always dedicated to God the first crops that they harvested. Here "firstfruits" stands for the first people to believe in Christ.

If the root is holy, so are the branches

Paul is speaking of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Israelites' ancestors, as if they were the root of a tree, and the Israelites, who are descendants of those men, as if they were the tree's "branches."