Romans 11:25-36 - "Total Evangelization?"

Have you ever noticed how much you want something AFTER you notice that somebody else has it? I’m pretty confident that the girl on the right was not even thinking about a kiss from this boy just 30 minutes before the camera shutter clicked.

Over the years I have flown a couple dozen times on commercial aircraft. I’ve noticed various ways that different airlines board the plane. One thing is pretty consistent is that the first passengers on the plane are business class or first class. This requires all the other passengers to notice how much legroom and hip room are in these seats. Then walking past the first row of economy and the aisles by the emergency exits I notice the generous legroom. It is amazing how quickly my attitude can change from “I’m glad I made it through TSA and will be in my destination soon”, to “I wonder how much extra it would cost to get one of THOSE tickets” or “It sure would be nice to be bumped up just once.”

This mystery of Israel’s salvation in today’s verses happens under the shadow of Ro 11:11 that says God is using the human temptation toward jealousy to motivate a better outcome.

You may read about the fullness of the Gentiles in Ro 11:25 and some sort of reversal from partial hardening to complete salvation and wonder WHEN is this going to happen? If God still has a plan for this remnant of Abraham’s descendants on earth, does that impact my opinions about if the Jews or the Palestinians have claim to Gaza. If Abraham’s descendants do have a claim to the River to the Sea, then does it matter if Iran (Hamas, Hezzbollah, or Houthis) vow to eliminate Israel? If these types of questions are important to you, you will read these verses as Eschatology or the doctrine of last things.

Some people read the comments 2 chapters ago (Ro 9.6-7) about true Israel and read Galatians 3 that describes an eternal inheritance of all the people of God and conclude that true Israel is spiritual Israel and Paul is somehow misinformed here to claim that God is still concerned with natural descendants.

Those who only believe in spiritual Israel see a replacement or progressive fulfillment to the promise made to Abraham. This is generally called Covenant Theology. Those who only see the Genesis covenant with Abraham in earthly boundaries are often grouped into something called Dispensational Theology. But instead of interpreting Genesis 12 as either/or (as some of you may have seen a video between Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz) where Carlson took the Spiritual route and Cruz took the earthly route.

Maybe Genesis speaks of both/and promises. What if Gen 12:2-3a speaks of earthly promises that remain in effect as long as there is an Earth, AND Gen 12:3b speaks of a blessing for all the families/people that has an eternal fulfillment. Maybe vv.2-3a is dispensational and 3b is covenant that is accomplished in Christ.

TRANSITION: As long as human characteristics like gender and race are part of the human experience, I see room for God to prioritize Jews in the OT, Gentiles in Acts until the “rapture”, then as Paul focuses here on a return to Jews before the 2nd Coming and the end of earth as we know it.

Saved by the Deliverer (Ro 11.25-29)

“In this way” Israel will be saved

“so” or “in this way” literally thus is just one word in Paul’s language and can point either direction.

Some believe the “this way” looks back at what has already been said and refers to “the fullness of the Gentiles” the fact any Gentiles would be grafted in at all, and that so many more Gentiles will receive God’s mercy. They read Ro 11.26 as “and [through jealousy of the Gentiles] all Israel will be saved”

I believe the “thus” looks forward to something within the same sentence —the Deliverer. I read Ro 11.26 as “and [through a deliverer] all Israel will be saved.”

All Israel will be saved

Now I have just made a big deal about “thus”, many commentaries make a big deal about the next word - all

According to my high-dollar lexicon that most scholars consider the final say on the meaning of New Testament words, all can have at least 5 shades of meaning:

① pertaining to totality with focus on its individual components, each, every, any

② any entity out of a totality, any and every, every

③ marker of the highest degree of something, all

④ pertaining to a high degree of completeness or wholeness, whole

⑤ everything belonging, in kind, to the class designated by the noun, every kind of, all sorts of,[i]

After studying this passage for the last 2 weeks, I would suggest that the emphasis of Ro 11.26 is “for every Jew who gets saved, it only happens through a Deliverer.” I am not rewriting the Bible, I am trying to interpret this verse in light of context, the theme of Romans as a whole, the covenant with Abraham, and God’s eternal salvation in a new Heaven.

I believe Ro 11.29 is placed here specifically to say that God’s promises to Abraham (land, people, reputation) were not temporary. I do not believe that everything modern Israel does is perfect, but I do believe God is not done with them because of the remnant of Abraham’s descendants. There is no other nation on the globe with a higher concentration of ethnic Jews.

TRANSITION: Whether you are Gentile or Jew, whether you lived in Paul’s day or our day, God’s mercy has always extended to...

Mercy for disobedient Children (Ro 11.30-32)

Ever since Eden, the Bible story has described God’s mercy to rebellious people like you and me.

When the universe was nothing but darkness, God who is love created a type of being as a reflection of who He is who would be able to love and be loved. This loved human was told to care for the earth the way God would and

there was only 1 limitation to see if he would obey or rebel. Even though both Eve and Adam made a disobedient choice, God did not destroy humanity, but showed patience and mercy.

The longer God was patient, the more disobedience spread (big black arrow headed away from God’s love) until God determined there was a need for a fresh start. So God mercifully told Noah to build a boat that would save 8 humans through a flood.

Even with a fresh start with only 1 family that received mercy, it wasn’t long until rebellion and disobedience began to multiply throughout humanity. When God noticed 1 man and chose him and his descendants to be unique from all the disobedient peoples. The man manipulated a descendant (Ishmael), but God said through a Son (Isaac) he would have 12 great-grandsons that were to tell all the other people in the world to obey God.

They disobeyed and did not spread obedience to the other nations, so through the lineage of Abraham, God provided a Messiah (deliverer) who would be sinless. This sinless Messiah (known in another language as Christ) told the blue people that He had sheep that were not blue.

John 10:16 ESV:2016

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This one, unique Christ offered to the Gentiles the mercy that Abraham’s family tried to hold to themselves. To the Jews who would BELIEVE in this Messiah a remnant would be formed. To the Gentiles who believed in this Christ a church would be formed.

While both the Church and the Remnant found a new identity as part of God’s eternal family. The early church determined that happy Gentiles did not need to become Jews in order to be in God’s family. Gentiles would remain Gentiles on earth, Jews would remain Jews while on earth, and eventually (in eternity) they will be united as one people of God represented by 24 elders in Heaven.

From both disobedient Jews (blue circle) and disobedient Gentiles (green circle) the Holy Spirit is calling individuals from every tribe, language, and nation to choose a greater identity—to be “in Christ”. Those who are “in Christ” (Christ ones) while on earth maintain their earthly characteristics, but their identity, what is most important about them, is that we have each placed trusting faith in Christ so that we are forgiven, adopted, and promised an inheritance.

In Christ, disobedient Children receive mercy!

Romans 11:32 ESV:2016

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

TRANSITION: This mercy takes our attention off of our differenced and places our glory in the amazing way our God works.

The depths of our God (Ro 11.33-36)

God’s decisions and plans are above ours (Ro 11.33)

We are not smarter than the Creator (Ro 11.34)

Job 41:11 , Isaiah 40:13, and Jeremiah 23:18 all agree

God doesn’t owe you a thing (Ro 11.35-36)

He holds all the chips so there is no bargaining with Him. We deserve death. He chooses to extend mercy.

Conclusion

While this section about all Israel will be saved causes a lot of confusion for people who see national Israel doing some extreme things. I believe the salvation that Paul is prophesying is not ultimately about land on the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Remember that while God’s promises are irrevocable, they are not ALL fulfilled on earth.

Whether you speak English, Hebrew, Arabic, or Spanish, God has provided a Deliverer who can take away your sin!

What (does it say)?

God mercifully takes away sin from (even hardened) hearts.

So What (does it mean)?

God’s mercy is more persistent than the “Energizer Bunny”

Now What (should we do)?

Allow the glories of God’s mercy to take away your sin

Allow the glories of God’s mercy to flow through you so that others may have sin taken away.

[i] Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. 2000. In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., 782–84. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.