And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written . . . (11:26)
That verse and its wording have been the source of no little consternation in the evangelical community through the years. And so it has for me.
A friend and I have been studying Romans together in recent months. We came to 11:26 and explored together the most popular understandings of what it means to say “all Israel will be saved“:
1. Every ethnic Jew has a saving connection to God based on their bloodline and the promises of God to Abraham.
2. At the end of time, as history draws towards its goal, there will be a dramatic “ingathering” of Jews who will flock to their territorial homeland and there come to faith in Christ.
3. All who are living within the geographic confines of the modern day state of Israel when Christ comes back will be counted as saved.
As you might imagine, these interpretations — especially #2 and #3 — have some serious geopolitical implications, particularly at a time when rockets fly out of and then into Gaza.
And, as I have very recently come to understand thanks to another friend from our church . . .
(picture of Chris Thayer, our much-younger-than-me Director of Discipleship) . . .
those interpretations are misguided.
A few weeks ago, I posted on “The Real Romans Road wherein we see that the heart of the book is less about the salvation of individual believers and more about the creation of a new community encompassing Jew and Gentile alike. Over and over again, Paul asserts that in this new community, Jew and Gentile together will be judged by the same standard and the same Lord (see especially 1:16-17, 2:9-11, 3:9, 3:29-30, and 10:12). Gentiles have the unspeakable privilege of being “grafted in” to the story God was already writing in and through the Jews.
What had been two people serving two masters are now one people under one Lord, the crucified and risen Christ.
And what does Paul call this new community made up of formerly warring partners? In Galatians 6:16, it’s “the Israel of God.”
So, taking the overall thrust of the book of Romans along with that Paul’s unique name for the church, the enigma of Romans 11:26 proves not to be such an enigma after all.
It has very little to do with end times theology and geopolitical maneuvering.
And everything to do with a new community of people — a full color collection of Jew and Gentile alike — who are surrendered to the crucified and risen King.
God is saving individuals as he builds a community that reflects who He is. So thanks be to God for the Israel of God.
There are 3 comments
Amen to that!
(Go, Chris!)
I just heard a wonderful talk on this very subject and have studied it to some degree. (Thank you Scott Volk) I do not think this conclusion takes the context and continual comparisons/correlations betweel Israel and the gentiles into consideration. Paul is continually specifying which people group he is referring to, so to randomly say that when he mentions Israel in Romans 11 he is suddenly speaking of Jew and gentile together seems to completely misuse the text. He does indicate our joining in Christ, but he does not use the terms Israel , Jew or gentile interchangeably. However, that said, this does not indicate to me that geopplitical Israel is God’s plan and therefore we should support it without regard. “All Israel will be saved” in the way, manner, method and thought that God has planned beforehand. We may not be able to guess His methods, but “for the sake of the fathers” we can trust that he will be faithful to his promise to Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
I was just reading from Ben Witherington’s chapter “Will the Real Israel Please Stand Up?” in his “The Problem with Evangelical Theology” and he has and excellent discussion of Rom. 9-11. I think he still falls short of what Paul is getting at by “all Israel” (I know it’s rare and daunting for me to differ from BW3!). He’s right to note that Paul doesn’t use the terms interchangeably; Israel in most of ch.11 means ‘ethnic Israel overall’ (though not every individual ethnic Jew, as he makes clear in ch.9!). But Paul’s conclusion is that the eschatological turning to Messiah on the part of a large number of unbelieving Jews will be the final step whereby “ALL” “Israel” will have been saved. That is, the following will have come to faith and the Kingdom will finally be complete:
1. Remnant of believing Jews (such as Paul) in covenant with Messiah
2. Gentiles grafted into the root of the “Israel of God” through faith in Messiah
3. Large-scale/national repentance and turning to Messiah on the part of large number of ethnic Jews who had until then rejected Messiah
Once all of these have happened, then, “All Israel” will truly have been saved.
At least that’s what I believe makes the most sense of Paul’s rhetorically dense and skillful argument spanning Romans 2-11.
Sean, don’t listen to Scott Volk…he’s a heretic. (Just kidding! Haha, he’s a good friend of mine who I love and respect greatly!)