For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in
your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness
of the Gentiles be come in. And so all
Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Rom. 11:25-27).
NOTE:
This text is
alluded to by premillennial dispensationalists as proof for a future
restoration of the Jewish nation in the land of Palestine after the church has
been raptured from the earth.
(I)
Rev. Martyn McGeown
[Source:
The Bible and Israel]
Paul [in Romans 11] explains God’s
purposes with the physical descendants of Israel: “blindness [or sovereign
hardening] in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be
come in. And so all Israel shall be saved” (vv. 25-26). This does not mean
that after the Gentiles have been gathered, God will
return to his “programme with the Jews” (which supposedly has been postponed
for some 2,000 years), but that in the way of gathering the elect
Gentiles and (at the same time) a remnant from the Jews “all Israel shall be
saved.” The word “so” in verse 26 does not mean “then,” but “in this way.”
Romans 11 says nothing about a reconstituted Jewish state, a rebuilt
temple or a mass conversion of ethnic Jews just prior to the second coming of
Christ. Believing Jews and Gentiles together make up the church of
Jesus Christ throughout the New Testament age. There is not, and there never
shall be, another way of salvation.
-----------------------------------------------
(II)
(II)
Prof.
Herman C. Hanko
The
question of whether or not Romans 11:26 teaches that all the Jews will, one day,
be saved, is not an easy one to answer, and interpretations have varied
greatly. As far as I have been able to tell, all the differences finally come
down to just two: (1) Some make this passage refer to a period, still in the
future and coming after “the fullness of the Gentiles is come in,” when God
will deal separately and specially with the Jews and bring them to conversion.
This seems to me the idea imbedded in the question we are dealing with. (2) Others refer this passage to God’s work
throughout all history so that all Israel is saved at the same time the
fullness of the Gentiles is brought in.
So
the difference lies in the time when this happens: either in the still-to-come future,
or throughout the entire new dispensation.
Interestingly
enough, the first group of which I spoke can be divided into two groups—that is,
those who hold that the salvation of all Israel is still a future event are,
themselves, divided into some who say that the word “all” means exactly all. Every single Jew shall, in this future time,
be saved—every one, head for head.
Others, however, realize that this is indeed an unlikely interpretation
and so hold that the word “all” must not be taken literally, but must be made
to refer to the Jews as a nation; that is, though not every Jew shall be
saved at this future time, the nation shall be saved.
Those
who hold that all Israel is being saved throughout the new dispensation also
hold to two different positions. One claims that the words “all Israel” refer
to the whole church of Christ, Jew and Gentile alike. Thus, the reference is to the whole church of
Christ, composed of Jews and Gentiles, but called here in the text by the name “Israel.”
This
view is the one adopted, e.g., by John Calvin. “I extend the word Israel
to all the people of God …” (see his commentary on Romans).
Others
hold to the position that the words “all Israel” refer to Jews only, but to the
gathering of the Jews along with the Gentiles throughout the entire new
dispensation.
It
is the last view which I believe is the correct one. And this view is the view
also explained in detail in Herman Hoeksema’s book, God’s Eternal Good Pleasure
[a book which has recently been republished under the title, Righteous By Faith Alone: A
Devotional Commentary on Romans].
[It]
is important to understand this whole question in the light of the whole
context. And that context is not only the 11th chapter of Paul’s epistle to the
Romans, but is also the whole context of chapters 9-11 of this epistle.
And
so we have to be reminded that Paul, in these three chapters, is talking about
the so-called “Jewish Question”—i.e., how is it to be explained that the Jews,
who throughout the entire old dispensation were the people of God, are no
longer the people of God. That is clearly the question in the first part of
Romans 9.
Now
that Israel has rejected the Messiah and has, as a nation, been cast away by
God, what can be said about God’s promises to Israel? Has the Word of God been
of none effect? (9:6).
The
answer is emphatically No! Never in all
the old dispensation were all the Jews saved.
Only the children of the promise were saved, and that according to God’s
eternal decree of election and reprobation.
I.e., only the elect of Israel were ever saved, and the greater part of
the nation perished; for “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (9:6).
That
is the general truth which is being developed throughout these three chapters.
*
* * *
* *
Pauls
point in the whole discussion in Romans 9-11 is to show that God’s Word is
always fulfilled; also His Word with respect to the Jews. They were the people of God and they occupied
a special place in God’s plan and purpose (9:4-5). How is God’s purpose with
respect to the Jews realized so that His Word is kept?
Romans
11 especially explains that the nation of Israel as a nation was
rejected by God to make room for the Gentiles (11:7-12). The picture is of an
olive tree. The olive tree is the nation of Israel. Many branches of that
nation were broken off that tree to make room for the Gentiles (11:17). They
lie, so to speak, at the bottom of the tree. The Gentiles, branches from a wild
olive tree, are grafted into the cultivated olive tree (11:17-21). These
branches, whether broken off the domesticated olive tree or grafted into it
from a wild olive tree are not individuals but are generations.
Now,
the point of the apostle is that God has not gone back on His Word with respect
to Israel, because, even though throughout the new dispensation, wild branches
are grafted in, the natural branches, once cut off, are also re-grafted in
(11:24). The result is that “all Israel
shall be saved.”
“All
Israel” cannot refer to the whole nation head for head because it has never, in
all the history of the world, been true that every Jew was saved (9:6). The
children of the promise are always counted as seed.
Nor
is it possible that the text refers to some future salvation of the nation.
This would be entirely out of keeping with the entire context. Paul is saying
nothing about any future salvation of the Jewish nation. Further, as Hoeksema
points out, those who want this interpretation have got to change the little
word “so” in the text to “then.” Verse
25 speaks of the fullness of the Gentiles.
Verse 26, if it referred to a future conversion of the nation, would
read: “And then [i.e., after the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in]
all Israel shall be saved.” But the text
does not say “then”; it says “so.” We must honor that.
Calvin’s
interpretation could very well be the right one. Calvin holds that the world “Israel” refers
to the whole church. That Scripture
sometimes speaks of the whole church, both Jews and Gentiles, as “Israel” is
simply a fact (see, e.g., Galatians 6:16).
The difficulty is that Paul is speaking throughout of the Jews,
and would surely be introducing a radical change in the thought, if suddenly,
here in verse 26, he used the word “Israel” to refer to both Jews and Gentiles.
And
so the context seems to point clearly to the fact that “Israel” refers to the
elect Jews, who, throughout the entire new dispensation, are saved along
with the Gentiles. The wild olive branches are grafted into the
domesticated olive tree (the salvation of the Gentiles); during this period of
time, the elect remnant of the Jews (11:5 is crucial here) is also being saved,
because, although they were cut out of their own olive tree, they can be and
are grafted back in (11:24).
Thus,
the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in at the same time that the
natural branches are being grafted into their own olive tree and “so all Israel
shall be saved.”
And
so it has happened. Throughout all of this dispensation, a remnant from the
Jews has been saved and brought into the church. It has been true; it is true today; and it
will be true until Christ comes back.
-----------------------------------------------
(III)
(III)
More
to come! (DV)
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