Title: An Exegetical Problem
Today we will look at what seems to be a rather simple and familiar passage as we continue our study in the book of Romans. As Paul continues to dialogue with his readers about the future of God’s salvation as it pertains to both the Gentiles and Israel as a people.
Things will go along smoothly and the, bam, like a blown tire on the freeway with the cruise control on, we will be delayed by one little five word phrase that will cause us to scratch our heads in wonder.
My goal today is to highlight that one little five word phrase and offer the three most widely held explanations of what Paul is getting at. The conclusion that you come to today may indeed be different from the conclusion that I tend to gravitate towards, and that’s okay, but here’s the deal:
You can’t decided which answer you like the most just because it is the most comfortable answer to you, you need to pick the answer, rather, based on scriptural support.
Let us look at the passage
(read)
(Pray)
Anybody want to take a guess at the five word phrase that we will focus in on today?
“all Israel will be saved…” (V.26)
First of all, what is the contextual problem here?
A: We’ve just gotten finished studying four weeks worth of a passage by Paul where he goes to great lengths to correctly illustrate that God has, in his sovereign plan of salvation, broken off the Jewish unbelieving branches so that the Faithful, believing Gentiles could be grafted in.
How then can “all of Israel be saved?” A fair question to be sure.
The first thing we should do is look immediately to what Paul points to as proof. In verse 26 and 27 when Paul is quoting Isaiah 59:20-21:
Unfortunately, there is no immediate answer to the question of who does “Israel” refer to in verse 26. There are three widely held possibilities that we will consider:
1. “Israel” means Spiritual Israel
This is a rather simple explanation, but it does the job. We simply argue that Israel is a reference to all of the Elect, that is, all of the spiritual nation, not the physical nation of Israel. Certainly we’ve been teaching that one of Paul’s views is that the Gentiles are adopted sons and daughters of the Kingdom, right?
There are two problems with this understanding though:
1. Up until this point in Romans, Paul has referred to Israel exclusively as the nation of Israel, his people, his brothers and sisters, the original chosen nation to whom God covenanted with through Abraham. It seems unlikely and inconsistent that Paul would suddenly change gears here, and, without warning, expect his readers to understand that he’s now referring to Israel as Spiritual Israel. Why would he not have just said, “the elect” or “God’s kingdom?”
2. Look at the end of verse 25. Paul is arguing that there is a set amount of Gentiles that will populate the Kingdom. We have no idea how many Gentiles that is, or when registration ends, we just keep preaching the gospel as adopted sons and daughters of the King, until his return. From a literary standpoint, it makes more sense if “the Gentiles” in verse 25 are one group of people, and “Israel” in verse 26 is another group of people.
2. “Israel” means The Elect Within Israel
I think this is a stronger explanation than the first, but it is also not without it’s problems.
1. The word “mystery” in verse 25 seems exaggerated and unnecessary if all Paul is talking about is the Elect. What is the mystery, that God will do what he said he’d do by calling and saving His Elect? What is mysterious about this?
2. Evidence in v28/29 seems to again suggest that “Israel” is the actual nation of Israel. (Read)
If these people, “Israel” are just the elect and saved Jews (of which Paul is most certainly one) then why would Paul say in verse 28 “concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake”?
Would Paul call himself, or Peter, or John, James, Barnabas, or Timothy an enemy of the gospel? Certainly not! They were champions for the Gospel.
This brings us to the third, and most likely, though hardest to understand explanation:
3. Paul is saying that at some appointed time in the future, God will bring such widespread salvation to the Jewish people that, in a general sense “all Israel will be saved.”
This seems to be most supported by Paul’s multiple previous statements concerning the hope that still exists for his own people.
It seems to be most at peace with what Paul writes immediately preceding and immediately following verse 26. Remember: Context is key!
But this explanation still leaves us with questions:
1. Does this render useless all the study of the vine and branches? NO.
It is my understanding that this great awakening, this revival amongst the Jews will happen at an appointed time (when the full number of Gentiles has come in) and, in the meantime, literally millions of Jews, sadly, have been broken off from the tree of life, that you and I might be grafted in.
2. Does this mean that God’s covenant with the Jews somehow trumps Christ’s death on the cross and these Jews will come to Heaven under different terms than the Gentiles? NO! These Jews will be saved because they will accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, just like you and me.
Conclusion: Pray for Israel!