Hardly a day passes when Israel does not feature prominently in the news media. Terrorist bombings, peace accords, ceasefires, Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Gaza – these are the stuff that news releases, editorials and documentaries are made of. In these dramatic events that continue to unfold in the Middle East are we to see the fulfilment of biblical prophecy? More significantly, does Israel today still have a place in God’s redemptive purposes for the human race?

These are fascinating questions. They are also controversial questions. They have the potential to divide Christians along both theological and political lines. Seldom has there been a greater need for believers to think carefully and biblically about the role of Israel in the world today. Although a comprehensive discussion of the scriptural data is beyond the scope of this article, it is my purpose consider what has to be the key New Testament passage on Israel – Romans 11:25-27:

²⁵I 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 of the Gentiles has come in.

²⁶And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

²⁷And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

The Basic Issue⤒🔗

Within this crucial passage the most significant expression comes at the beginning of verse 26: “And so all Israel will be saved.” What precisely did Paul have in mind when he made this prediction? In his commentary on Romans, Douglas Moo calls this saying “the storm centre in the interpretation of Romans 9-11 and of the New Testament teaching about the Jews and their future.” In fact, Romans 11 is arguably the only chapter in the New Testament that specifically discusses any future role that God may still have for Israel. Hence it is imperative that these verses be correctly interpreted. The trouble is that they are found in a context that is – according to Tom Wright – “as full of problems as a hedgehog is of prickles.”

The centerpiece of the problems, to which Wright so picturesquely refers, is the term all Israel. Not surprisingly, the meaning of the expression has been hotly debated down the centuries. In the history of interpretation – and for that matter within the context of Reformed theology – three major schools of thought can be identified. Each of these views has its merits and has been defended by able expositors.

1. All Israel as the elect: This position is most frequently associated with the name of John Calvin. He followed Augustine in identifying all Israel with “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16). He saw this expression as referring to all the redeemed Jews and Gentiles who will make up the body of Christ.
    
2. All Israel as the elect Jews throughout history: William Hendriksen, the well known commentator from the Christian Reformed Churches of North America, emphatically defended this position as being “the right view.” In The Bible on the Life Hereafter he argues that in each generation God gathers out from among the Jews a remnant that will be saved. To use Paul’s imagery in Romans 11, certain branches are grafted back into their own olive tree. When all these remnants from every generation are put together, then you have what Paul calls all Israel.
    
3. All Israel as the majority of ethnic Jews in the future: According to this view, there will be a large ingathering of Jews at the end or at least at some future point in history. It also enjoys some solid scholarly support. The Princeton expositor Charles Hodge argued for this position in the nineteenth century, while the Westminster theologian John Murray did the same in the twentieth. This view was also popular among the Puritans in England and the Covenanters in Scotland during the seventeenth century.

Each of these major views clearly has its appeal. Each can claim a healthy scholarly pedigree and strong historical precedent. These credentials for what are essentially mutually exclusive viewpoints suggest that we proceed with due caution. Here, equally competent and godly expositors disagree. The opposing views can be substantiated by cogent arguments. All these factors underscore the difficulty of the problem. It would therefore be unwise to rush to hasty conclusions.

The Question in Context←⤒🔗

A glance at history shows that we have a knotty problem of interpretation on our hands. The old maxim – “a text without a context is a pretext” – is probably never as pertinent as it is here. We will therefore first need to consider Paul’s reference to all Israel in its broadest possible context:

Where was Paul when he penned these elusive words? Where was he geographically? Where was he in his missionary career? Where was he in his argument?

Similar questions could also be asked of his readers. Where were the Roman Christians – in terms of their faith, their doctrinal and spiritual understanding, and not least in terms of their relationship with one another?

a. The Historical Context:←↰⤒🔗

A close reading of Paul’s letter to the Romans in conjunction with the book of Acts suggests that Paul wrote this epistle from Corinth before leaving for his last visit to Jerusalem. By this time he is a veteran missionary with some twenty years of experience behind him. He has just completed his three missionary journeys in the Eastern Mediterranean. Now it is time to set his sights westwards – to Rome and, beyond that, to Spain (Rom 15:22-29).

A decisive juncture has therefore been reached in Paul’s missionary career. In his letter to the Romans he presents a brilliant summary of the gospel. This is the gospel that he has been preaching to both Jew and Gentile in the Eastern part of the empire. Now he is looking for an opportunity to preach it in Rome (Rom 1:15). He is also keen to get their support for his Spanish mission (Rom 15:24).

In the meantime, the church at Rome has had its own story to tell. Although we can only guess how that church began, it reached a significant point in its history in 49A.D. This was the year when the emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. This included Jewish Christians, Priscilla and Aquila among them (Acts 18:2). This expulsion of the Jewish Christians from Rome must have had a significant impact on the church there. With the Jewish believers expelled, the Christian community became exclusively Gentile – at least for a time.

Claudius died in 54. The expulsion order lost its force, and Jews began to return to Rome. By the time Paul wrote his epistle in 57, it is clear that Jewish Christians had also made their way back to the capital. Evidence for this is found in Paul’s greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and their house church (Rom. 16:3-5).

As a direct result of the expulsion, the composition of the Roman church probably changed radically. It is highly likely that prior to 49 it had been largely Jewish. When Paul wrote to the Christian community in Rome several years later, the Gentiles would probably have been in the majority. This reversal was bound to have its effects on church life. The Jewish returnees may well have been viewed with some condescension by the dominant Gentile wing.

b. The Literary Context:←↰⤒🔗

In Romans 9-11, Paul is meeting one of the most serious objections that his opponents raised against his gospel. If the message of justification by faith is true, then why was it rejected by those for whom it was originally intended?

This argument may not pack much of a punch today, but it did in Paul’s day. It also affected him deeply. For him, Jewish unbelief was a personal and heart-rending issue: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” (Rom. 9:2). His emotions are deeply stirred. At the same time he addresses the turmoil of his soul by way of a clear and cogent argument.

In chapter 9, God shows Himself to be a God of surprises. Here Paul’s argument is based on the principle of reversal. Isaac, the younger son, is chosen over Ishmael, the older son (vv. 7-9). Jacob, the younger twin, is chosen over Esau, the older twin (vv. 10-13). The principle is then broadened when Paul observes that the lost tribes of Israel will be called “my people” and “beloved” (vv. 25-26), while only a remnant of Judah will survive (vv. 27-29). These reversals are then compared to Paul’s day, when only a minority of Jews responded positively to the gospel. The Gentiles, on the other hand, received it in large numbers (vv. 30-33). The Old Testament pattern is repeating itself. Another reversal is taking place.

Paul begins chapter 10 on the same note of personal concern on which chapter 9 had opened (v. 1). But then the focus shifts from Israel’s fall to Israel’s fault. In theological terms, the emphasis now moves from divine sovereignty to human responsibility. Although “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (9:18), human beings are still held accountable (10:16-21). For Paul, the pointed and painful application of this truth is that Israel is responsible for its present state of unbelief.

But the drama is not over yet. At the end of chapter 10, it would seem that God has disqualified His people from playing anything but a negative role in His saving purposes. Yet it would be wrong to conclude that God is finished with Israel. Paul’s major theme in chapter 11 is that Israel still has a future. A further reversal will take place. There is another surprise in store!

Interpreting the Key Verses (Romans 11:25-27)←↰⤒🔗

Verse 25: Here Paul is beginning to draw out the consequences of his preceding argument. His language is very emphatic. These consequences are clearly a matter of special importance. He refers to them somewhat tantalisingly as this mystery. But what precisely does this mystery consist of? There are four possibilities:

1. that Israel has experienced a hardening in part;
    
2. that the full number of Gentiles will come in;
    
3. that all Israel will be saved;
    
4. all of the above.

A decision cannot be made until we are clear on the meaning of the word mystery in the New Testament. Usually it refers to an “open secret” which for ages had remained hidden, but is now known to us through divine revelation. It is the kind of information that we would never have figured out for ourselves in a million years, unless God had told us. The kingdom of heaven, the gospel, and even Christ Himself are such mysteries. They have become “open secrets” because God has now revealed them to us. Yet there are some mysteries that are still to be fully revealed, such as the transformation of our bodies at the resurrection (1 Cor 15:51). Another such mystery concerns God’s future dealings with Israel.

In Romans 11, the partial hardening of Israel creates room for the conversion of the Gentiles. After the acceptance of the Gentiles, all Israel will be saved. But precisely what this means, and how God will bring it about, have not yet been fully disclosed to us. One day – perhaps very soon – all of this will become an “open secret”. Till then, an element of mystery remains.

So the precise nature of the mystery does not lie in (a), (b) or (c), nor even in (d), but rather in the correlation of (a), (b) and (c). It would seem that the partial hardening that has happened to Israel comes to an end when “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (v. 25), and when “all Israel will be saved” (v. 26a). But does this mean that the hardening will not cease till every Gentile is saved who will be saved? And how does this relate to the Deliverer coming from Zion in v. 26b? Is this a reference to the Second Coming? Is that when Israel will be saved, after the acceptance of the Gentiles?

As we continue our exposition, some of these questions will be answered, but not all. Paul introduces his readers to a mystery, but he does not unravel it completely. Then why introduce it in the first place? His reason is clear – so that you may not be conceited. The mystery is introduced to guard against Gentile arrogance and complacency (vv. 18, 20). When God’s mighty work among the Gentiles is essentially complete, the next phase of his global program of salvation will come into effect:

Verses 26-27: Here all Israel is to be understood in an ethnic sense. In Romans 9-11, there are eleven occurrences of the word Israel. In every instance, Paul is speaking of those who are Jews by race and children of Abraham by descent. He never uses it to refer to Gentile believers or the Christian church as a whole. Most telling for our interpretation is the fact that Israel has been explicitly distinguished from the Gentiles as recently as v. 25. It is difficult to believe that, without warning, Paul would change the meaning of such a key term within the space of a single sentence.

Granted that Paul has ethnic Jews in mind when he speaks of Israel, what does he mean by all Israel? The expression is found several times in the Old Testament (1 Sam 7:5; 25:1; 1 Kings 12:1; 2 Chron 12:1; Dan 9:11). In each case it refers to the nation as a whole, but not necessarily to every individual Israelite. Paul would appear to be using the expression in much the same way.

Hence Paul is teaching that at some time in the future the majority of ethnic Jews will be saved. This majority is not necessarily equivalent to the current nation state of Israel. Paul says nothing about a political entity or about a return to the land. What he envisages for his people is infinitely better. He is forecasting a full-scale spiritual revival amongst the Jewish people, a massive turning to Christ as their Redeemer. This is what he had referred to earlier in Romans 11 as “their fullness” (v. 12), “their acceptance” (v. 15), and their being “grafted back into their own olive tree” (vv. 23-24).

This is a bold prophecy. Paul therefore immediately appeals to the Old Testament for support. But he does so in a highly complex way. The first three lines of his quotation in vv. 26-27 come from Isaiah 59:20, 21. The last line is from Isaiah 27:9. The phrase from Zion appears to have been imported from Psalm 14:7. To make matters even more complicated, Paul is not quoting from the Hebrew Bible but from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament).

Textually, Paul’s quotation is difficult. In your English Bible you will not find that Paul’s quotation and his sources match word for word. Contextually, however, this quotation is nothing less than brilliant. The contexts from which Paul is quoting clearly indicate that he is not plucking some verses and phrases at random from here and there in the Old Testament. The three passages from which he cites – Isaiah 59, Isaiah 27 and Psalm 14 – all speak of Jacob suffering judgment and/or oppression. But they also share the common denominator of restoration and salvation. In each case the Lord is going to restore the fortunes of Jacob. In quoting the Old Testament as he does, Paul makes the point that the Lord is going to do this for Israel once again.

Needless to say, the restoration of which Paul speaks is spiritual in nature. The promised deliverer will turn godlessness away from Jacob and forgive the sins of the people (vv. 26-27). God’s plan culminates when he shows mercy to all (v. 32), including the Jews (v. 31). Again, there is nothing in this context to suggest a national or political restoration. Nor is there any reference to the Jews returning to the land of Israel. Any such restoration is simply not within Paul’s prophetic line of vision.

When Paul contemplates the prospect of a great spiritual awakening amongst his fellow-Jews, the tone of his discussion changes completely. He began Romans 9 with a heartfelt lament for the state of his people (vv. 1-5). By the time he concludes his discussion of Israel’s glorious future in Romans 11, Paul’s heart is stirred with a ringing doxology (vv. 33-36).

All Israel will be Saved←↰⤒🔗

Yes, all Israel will be saved! Then the extravagant promises of Rom. 11:12, 15 will be fulfilled. Greater riches and life from the dead will accompany the salvation of all Israel. The conversion of the Jews is a blessing worth praying and working for!