An Oral Presentation of Romans 11:26a, "and so all Israel will be saved" for NT3423-Romans

The Problems of Romans 11:26

The main issue in this verse is with the expression “all Israel will be saved”.

How should “and so” be understood?

What is meant by “all”?

Who is “Israel”?

How will Israel be “saved”?

When will Israel be “saved”?

It is necessary to identify the various interpretations that answer these questions and explore their logic, reasoning, and the implications each has for the theology of salvation.

What does “and so” mean?

Moo identifies four options for this verse:

Temporal: “after the events depicted in v.25b”. Fitzmeyer argues well against this position.

Consequence: “And in consequence of this process all Israel will be saved.”

Consequence AND connection: “It is in this way that Israel will be saved: namely, just as it is written…”

Manner: “And in this manner all Israel will be saved.”

Moo favours the last of these four options. The first two are rare—all though van der Horst makes a decent case that they are less rare than Moo suggests—and that leads Moo to discount them.

Moo discounts the third option as this would be the only time Paul employs such a construction. It is not impossible, but it would break with his established practice.

In settling on the fourth option, Moo asserts that it follows what Paul has been arguing thus far. With the fulness of the Gentiles will come the end of the hardening and the opportunity for salvation.

Cranfield explains it as an emphatic way: “It will be in this way, and only in this way”. That is to say, their salvation will come about after they realize God’s plan involves the Jews and that the blessings of God upon them will provoke Israel to get in lock-step with the plan of salvation.

The Major Interpretations of "all Israel”

Israel is ethnic Israel—the biological descendants of Jacob. Cottrell says that this is the most common view that anticipates an as-yet-to-happen mass conversion of the Jews. Dunn says this view has a “strong consensus”. This is further separated into two subsets:

Cranfield and Moo support an eschatological view that this will happen near the end of the world. MacArthur is quoted by Cottrell as linking this to the “Great Tribulation”.

Cottrell identifies Murray and Stott as supporters of the non-eschatological view. The conversion will happen but not necessarily because the end is imminent.

Israel is the remnant of ethnic Israel—all believing Jews in whatever time. Much of Israel is hardened, but there remains within it those who, like in the days of Elijah, still hold to God. There will not be a mass conversion, but instead, a coming to Christ of the remnant in each generation in the same manner as the Gentiles. Cottrell quotes McGuiggan, “Believing Jews are the real Israel.”

Israel is spiritual Israel—the faithful across time, the church in the present age. Surprisingly, Calvin held to this view saying that Israel is the people of God from both Jew and Gentile.

Dissecting the Interpretations

Israel is ethnic Israel.

That it is Israel, the Jew, is strongly supported and does not include the Gentiles. Furthermore, this complements the context of 9-11.

However, how will all Israel be saved? The overall context of Romans 11 thus far demonstrates that Paul sees sin as the problem, Christ as the solution, and Jew and Gentile being in the same boat. The response of one, is the response of all. The assertion of a mass conversion of Jews contradicts this by suggesting that God is a respecter of persons (Romans 2:11) when it comes to the Jews. It is saying that God owes something to ethnic Israel because of His covenant with them. At no point in his letter has Paul prepared his audience for this departure. On the contrary, he has taught that Jew and Gentile have parity in the church.

Israel is spiritual Israel.

Paul does use this concept in Romans 9:6.

However, in Romans 11:17-24, his analogy of the olive tree clearly separates ethnic Jew from ethnic Gentile. Romans 11:25 further emphasises this distinction.

Thus, to suddenly shift Israel from ethnic in v.25 to spiritual in v.26 is to violate the context.

Israel is the remnant of spiritual Israel.

This conforms to the ethnic context of Israel.

It conforms to the context of the Roman letter. That is, faith is the defining quality of God’s people even during the Jewish age under Torah.

Not every Jew under Torah was saved before Christ, but those who were of faith. The remnant concept is well testified to in the Old Testament and Paul would know this and teach this.

Finally, while Israel is hardened in Romans 11, it does not follow that they are permanently excluded from God’s presence. When their provocation comes to fruition, some will respond and turn to Christ for salvation on the same terms as the Gentiles did. Thus, all of the remnant—those who want to obey God—will turn to Him again.

Theological Implications

Is God the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow?

The first Jews to obey the gospel in Acts 2 did so in the exact same manner that Gentiles would later obey.

However, if there is a future where Jews can expect to be restored to God in a way other than that found in Acts, then God is changing.

More than that, God respects one group ahead of another—the Jew is favoured over the Gentile. This would flatly contradict Romans 2:11.

The Gentile is at risk too of believing himself to be superior to the Jew, just as the Jew once thought of himself superior to the Gentile.

Paul doesn’t want the Gentile to be “wise in your own opinion” (v.25). To help with this, Paul is showing that the Jew’s hardening by God was to allow the Gentile to be established in the church. In seeing the blessings of God in the life of the Gentiles in the church, this would in turn provoke the Jew to return to God.

God seeks both Jew and Gentile to have parity in His Kingdom. This can only be accomplished by parity in terms of entry, salvation, and continuation in the church. Ethnicity can have no bearing on God’s acceptance of the individual—only faith!

Sadly, antisemitism has had opportunity to infiltrate the church and discrimination remains a threat in the church.

A Critique of the Interpretations

If all ethnic Israel will be saved then salvation can change.

By asserting that God must save the Jews because of His covenant with Israel since Genesis, it creates a separate plan of salvation for those ethnic Israel.

It makes Jesus’ claim that He is the way, the truth, and the life deceit as there is another way for the Jews.

It makes Peter and the apostles liars because his instructions in Acts 2:38 were given to Jews who wanted to obey the gospel.

It makes God a respecter of persons giving special favour to the Jews. Why not the Gentiles who have rejected Christ?

It promotes a second-chance gospel, but according to Paul, only for the Jews—not the Gentiles! That is unjust.

The mistaken belief that “all Israel” is a mass conversion of the Jews is forced by the holding of a millennial approach to interpretation of “last days”.

In Romans 9-11, Paul doesn’t even hint at last days.

“and so” impresses the reader that this is anticipated to happen soon—from Paul and the Romans’ perspective)—not thousands of years later.

It is a fundamental failing of a sound hermeneutic to force a passage to conform to an already held theology.

Questions

How does the context help us understand what Paul means by “Israel”?

What do you think Paul would say about Israel being saved in a way other than by Christ?