When Paul wrote that all Israel would be saved (see Romans 11:26), he was speaking of the end time turning of the Jewish people to Jesus the Messiah. This echoes the word of the Lord through Jeremiah: “ ‘At that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people’ ” (Jeremiah 31:1). Although some interpreters have disputed this meaning, claiming that Paul meant something different when he spoke of “Israel,” the context is clearly against these views.
Let us first look at the larger context of Romans as a whole. At the time that Paul wrote Romans, he had not yet ministered to the believers in Rome, and he wanted to be sure that they understood the foundation of the Gospel message. That’s why Romans is often considered to be the most important doctrinal letter in the New Testament.
So, after his introductory comments, which include the statement that the Gospel is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16), Paul demonstrates that all people, Gentile and Jew alike, are under sin (1:18–3:31). Then, in chapters 4–5, he lays out the principle of justification by faith before describing life in the Spirit and the believer’s victory over sin in chapters 6–8, after which he takes three more chapters, chapters 9–11, to address the question of Israel. The rest of the letter, chapters 12–16, deals with the practical application of the Gospel.
Dwight Pryor, a fine teacher of the Jewish background to the New Testament, once told me that a pastor friend of his commented to him, “I just finished teaching Romans to my church, but whenever I do this, I always skip chapters 9–11, because they’re not relevant anymore.” What a massive spiritual blind spot! To the contrary, as my FIRE colleague Bob Gladstone often tells our ministry school students, “According to Paul, if you don’t understand Israel, you don’t understand Paul’s Gospel.” I’m confident that Paul would agree.
Why was Israel’s destiny of such importance to Paul? Why did their state of spiritual alienation (nationally speaking) cause him such grief that he would have been accursed from the Messiah if it would have brought them salvation (see Romans 9:1–3)? It is because Israel was the chosen nation, the covenant people, and through them God’s salvation was to come to the whole world. Yet when the Messiah of Israel came, the people of Israel rejected Him (again, on a national, not personal level). How could this be?
How could it be that “the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it” (9:30–31)? Have the promises failed (see 9:6)? Has God rejected His people (see 11:1)? “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?” (11:11). I will let Paul answer for himself: “Not at all!” (11:11).
In the unfathomable wisdom of God, Israel’s rejection resulted in the salvation of the Gentiles, and in the end, their turning back will bring glorious spiritual restoration:
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
11:11–16
“But,” you say, “I’ve heard that when Paul spoke of Israel in Romans, he was actually speaking of spiritual Israel, the Church, rather than the Jewish people.”
That is a common misconception, but it is not supported by the text at all. In fact, the verses just cited should make that clear, since Paul did not tell the Gentile believers that they were Israel. Instead, he spoke to the Gentiles about Israel, addressing them as Gentiles rather than as spiritual Israelites. (Stop for a moment and read the verses again. They really are quite clear. For Paul’s use of the term Jew, see #53.)
But there’s more. Paul began this section in Romans making reference to “the people of Israel” (9:4), meaning the nation as a whole, the nation for whom his heart was broken. Then he spoke of Israel and Abraham’s offspring in a special, spiritual sense (see 9:6–9). After that, for the rest of these critically important chapters (i.e., Romans 9–11), every time he spoke of Israel, he spoke of the nation as a whole. Take a moment and look up the references: 9:27, 31; 10:16, 19–21; 11:1–2, 7, 11. It really is quite clear. Every time Paul wrote the word Israel, he meant the natural children, the people as a whole.[283]
Then we come to the climax of his discussion in 11:25–29. Let us read verse 25 carefully: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number [literally, “fullness”] of the Gentiles has come in.”
Tragically, over the centuries, the Church has been ignorant of this mystery, thinking that it had replaced Israel and that God was finished with Israel. This ignorance led to the erroneous teaching called supersessionism, or replacement theology, the doctrine that the Church replaced Israel, a doctrine that opened the door to the horrors of “Christian” anti-Semitism in history.[284]
Now, let us look again at the end of verse 25: “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” “Israel” does not mean the Gentiles! Notice also that it is this statement that leads into verse 26. The Israel that has been hardened in part is the Israel that will be saved.
And so [meaning, “on the heels of the fullness of the Gentiles coming in”] all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Romans 11:26–29, quoting Isaiah 59:20–21
The meaning is quite clear: The Israel that had been rejected is the Israel that will be accepted. The chosen people, who had become enemies of the Gospel, remain the objects of God’s covenantal love, and in the end, there will be a national conversion, a national awakening, and “all Israel shall be saved.” Praise God!
This is not referring to the Church as a whole (as recognized by virtually all the top contemporary commentators on the book of Romans),[285] nor is it referring to the sum total of Jewish believers through the centuries (really, this is a fringe interpretation not supported in the least by the context, which includes a significant quotation from Isaiah 59).[286] To the contrary, there will be a national turning at the end of this age. Underscoring this is the fact that, outside of Romans 9–11, Paul never speaks of “Israel,” although he makes frequent reference to “the Jews.” These are national promises!
Does Romans 11:26 mean that every single Jew living anywhere in the world will be saved at the end of the age? That is possible, but that is probably overstating Paul’s point. Does it mean that all Jews from all generations will ultimately be saved? Certainly not. Those who have been lost are lost, and Paul’s broken heart was occasioned by the genuinely lost state of so many of his people.
Does the verse mean that we don’t have to worry about witnessing to the Jewish people, since in the end, they will all be saved? God forbid! First, we are responsible to share the Gospel with our own generation without hedging our witness because of some kind of misguided eschatological expectation; second, there is the excellent possibility that the Jewish person whom God has placed in your life will not be alive when Jesus returns (you and I might not be either!); third, nothing happens automatically in God’s Kingdom, and if Jewish people are to be saved, the loving, prayerful witness of the Church will play a major role in this; fourth, who knows what size “all Israel” will be at the end of the age? Perhaps it will be reduced through assimilation and hardship before the Lord’s return, underscoring the importance of reaching out to Jewish people with the Good News of the Messiah as the opportunities arise.
However, to return to the glorious news, just as it is said today in broad, sweeping terms, “Jews don’t believe in Jesus,” on that day, it will be said, “Jews believe in Jesus!” The event will be so glorious that the godly Puritan author Samuel Rutherford wished that he could put off heaven to witness that day.
As the old poem declared:
Clothed with her fairest hope, the Church
Will triumph with her Lord,
And earth her jubilee will keep
When Israel is restored.