Opinions differ among equally earnest students of Scripture as to the meaning of Paul's remarkable expression, 'And so all Israel shall be saved' (Romans 11:26). If Paul's use of the term 'Israel' is metaphorical, then his meaning is that the sum total of God's elect will come to glory. Alternatively, if 'Israel' is used in its ethnic and national sense, then Paul's meaning is that God has some future blessing in store for the Jewish people.

These two interpretations have certain things in common. They both assume that Paul's words are divine revelation and a prediction of an event which it is vital for us to know about. It is out of place for those who adopt one interpretation to cast doubt on the biblical faith of those who hold the alternative view. Again, the two views of the text are not mutually exclusive. Those who consider Paul to be referring here to the spiritual Israel, or elect, might believe on other grounds that God has a future purpose for the Jews. Conversely, those who look for a future conversion of 'Israel after the flesh' also commonly expect all the elect of God to be saved, although they would not point to this particular text in support of that belief.

It is not, therefore, to be supposed that those who hold to the one interpretation of this passage in Romans 11 are necessarily in disagreement with the theology of those who hold to the alternative interpretation. A person's theology is derived, not from one isolated passage in Scripture, but from an induction of many passages whose unmistakable meaning converges and crystallises into assured articles of belief.

The question at issue is this: What precisely is Paul referring to here by the term 'Israel'? The answer to that question is not self-evident, because New Testament usage shows that 'Israel' may be used as a term having sometimes a distinctively ethnic and national sense (the Jewish people) or as having at other times a spiritual sense (the true people of God). For example, when Paul says that he himself is an 'Israelite' (Romans 11:1), it is unmistakably plain that he means he is a Jew. On the other hand, when he invokes the blessing of peace 'upon the Israel of God' (Galatians 6:16), there are compelling reasons for believing him to be referring to the true Church and not to Jewish people as such.

It is therefore a matter requiring no small care and skill on the expositor's part to decide which of these senses of the term is appropriate in the case of Romans 11:26, 'And so all Israel shall be saved'. Clearly, both cannot be correct. One is intended by the Apostle and the other is not.

Principles of Interpretation⤒🔗

It goes without saying that the difficult passages of Scripture must be elucidated by the application to them of acknowledged principles of interpretation. Difficult as it is for the interpreter, he must endeavour to lay aside his pre-conceptions about any passage under consideration. This is undoubtedly difficult because he almost never comes with a neutral state of mind to any part of the Word of God. To a far greater degree than we are aware of, we all approach Scripture with a bias either for or against a particular interpretation.

There are three principles of interpretation which need to be applied to Romans 11:26, as to any other hard passage of Scripture:

1. terms are to be taken in their plain and obvious sense unless there is good reason to believe the plain sense to be inappropriate;
2. the immediate context in which words are found will normally determine the sense in which they are used;
3. every particular passage is to be compared with similar passages of Scripture.

The rule of comparing Scripture with Scripture is one of the most fundamental safeguards we have when searching for the meaning of hard passages.

The Application of Principles←⤒🔗

If we apply the above rules to Romans 11:26, we must feel compelled to admit that the balance of probability turns in favour of our understanding 'Israel' in an ethnic sense, as the Jewish nation. Our reasons for saying so may be summarised like this:

1. There is a sustained contrast all through Romans 11 between Gentiles and Jews. This contrast is undeniably present in the way Paul views the events which have come to pass since the Day of Pentecost, which marks, so he informs us, a watershed in God's providential and, still more, his redemptive dealings with the nation of the Jews. The very same period which marks the Jews' 'fall' (v. 11, 12), 'diminishing' (v. 12) and 'casting away' (v. 15) is the period of 'salvation ... unto the Gentiles' (v. 11) 'the riches of the world' (v. 12) and 'the riches of the Gentiles' (v. 12).
   Then, too, there is the same contrast of Jew and Gentile in the illustrative representation of the Church as a tree, prefaced by the phrase, 'I speak to you Gentiles' (v. 13). The root, trunk and natural branches of the true Church are all Jewish; the insertion of branches from the Gentile world is unnatural and extravagantly gracious on God's part just because the Gentiles are by nature Gentiles and not originally a part of the olive tree (v. 16, 17), or covenant people.
   Furthermore, there is a repeated contrast between Jew and Gentile kept up in the chapter by the apostle's use of the prepositions 'they, them' in reference to Jews, and 'you', or even (most interesting of all) 'thou' (v. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24). What is important to note in this repeated and frequent use of the singular ('thou') here is that Paul is viewing the Gentiles collectively. It is scarcely possible to draw the contrast in any stronger way by the use of human language.
   The precise idea in Paul's mind at this point in his argument must be that the Jews (collectively speaking) have been cast off by God since Pentecost and the Gentiles (collectively speaking) have been installed in their place as the recipients of gospel mercy.
   Now if this sustained contrast of Jew and Gentile has figured so prominently in the earlier part of Chapter 11, it raises a strong probability that 'all Israel' in verse 26 is intended as a reference to the ethnic Israel, of whom he has been so pointedly speaking.
2. There are other good reasons found in the subsequent context of verse 26 which would lead us to understand 'Israel' in this verse to refer to the Jews rather than to the spiritual Israel. It is possible here merely to summarise the evidence:

• v. 28: Paul explains that the present relationship of God to an unnamed class of persons is this highly complex one, that they are in one sense 'enemies' but in another sense 'beloved'. It is impossible to refer this to any other than the Jewish people.
• v. 29: God has not revoked, or 'repented' of, his choice of the Jews. He implies that mercy towards them is suspended, not absolutely terminated.
• v. 30-31: Paul makes a survey of the epochs or stages of God's dealings with Jews and Gentiles respectively. These are shown to be three in number:

1. a time when Jews received mercy and Gentiles did not, i.e. the Old Testament period;
2. a time when Gentiles receive mercy and Jews (collectively speaking) do not, i.e. at the present time;
3. a culminating period, when both Jews and Gentiles will receive mercy, i.e. presumably a reference to some future period in God's providence during which Jews will be converted in great numbers.

• v. 32: Paul's final observation on the subject is to the effect that all who receive mercy, whether Jew or Gentile, do so as a matter of sheer grace and in no sense as a consequence of merit. What follows (v. 33f.) is, and can in the circumstances only be, doxology and worship.
  In the light of the above, it can scarcely be denied that a very strong and highly developed contrast is being made by Paul between Jew and non-Jew. It would appear to be intensely surprising, therefore, if the apostle should employ the term 'Israel' (v. 26) in a way which blurred and confused this distinction, so carefully and lengthily made, between Jew and non-Jew throughout the entire chapter.

3. A still further argument in favour of this ethnic interpretation of 'Israel' is to be found in Paul's use of the term 'mystery' (v. 25). The word 'mystery' occurs twenty-one times in Paul's writings and denotes a truth which can be known only by special revelation from God. Such mysteries include the act of glorification (1 Corinthians 15:51), the union between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32), the 'Man of Sin' or great Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:7), the Person of Christ as the God-Man (1 Timothy 3:16) and, from our present point of view most significantly, the calling of the Gentiles to be fellow-heirs with the Jews in God's eternal kingdom (Ephesians 3:4-6).
   If 'all Israel' means the 'sum total of all the elect', it is difficult to see why Paul should call this a 'mystery'. The most elemental human logic must surely convince us that if God has elected some to salvation, they must be saved. Such a truth, wonderful as it undeniably is, scarcely needs so emphatic a divine revelation to make it certain in our minds.
   This is very much more the case when we read that the Bible makes very frequent reference to the salvation of God's elect. They shall not perish but will be raised up in glory; nothing shall separate them from God's love; they shall inherit the kingdom, be more than conquerors, and so on. Why, if a statement about the salvation of the spiritual Israel is what Paul has in mind, should he need to preface it with the formula: 'For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits'? (v. 25).
   On the other hand, if, by 'Israel', Paul means to speak of the future conversion of the Jewish people, the need for such an introductory formula is very natural. The casting off of the Jews since Pentecost might embolden the Gentile churches to sin in two ways: by congratulating themselves on their Gentile privilege and thus displaying a spirit of arrogance; and then, by developing a mentality of anti-Semitism. History shows that Paul's warning was all too much needed and that the Gentiles have sinned very often on both these counts — and that too, not only in the Middle Ages, or in Nazi Germany.
   The use of the term 'mystery' would fit perfectly if what Paul is saying is that God has a future blessing in store for the Jews which is locked away in His treasury and will not come to light until a fore­ordained day and hour.
   Moreover, the disclosure of that future blessing is highly appropriate here, in a passage in which the apostle warns against our belittling the Jews because they are temporarily cast away.

The Doctrine Which Paul Reveals←⤒🔗

A good deal of prejudice against, or dislike of, the suggestion of Israel's conversion arises from the unfortunate manner in which this event has occasionally been represented by its friends. The doctrine of a future conversion of Israel has no necessary relationship with a Pre-millennial view of the Last Things. Still less does it have any necessary part in any form of Dispensationalism, which the present writer regards as a dangerous and misleading theory.

To clarify further what is here understood by the 'saving' of all 'Israel', we wish to make it clear that the 'saving' is through faith alone in Christ, just as it is for Gentiles. It would be monstrous to suggest that the apostle had in mind the salvation of the Jews on the basis of their Jewish nationality, or by legal sacrifices, or in some restored Jewish theocracy. Equally, it would be monstrous to imply that the term 'saved' in reference to 'all Israel' had nothing more in view than the gathering of the dispersed Jews back into Palestine or their political, economic and temporal prosperity on earth. We might surmise that such prosperity would be likely to accompany their salvation, or that it might not. We might also choose to believe that there is deep significance in their return to Palestine.

But all such issues must be determined on other evidence. What concerns us is that our passage does predict Israel's future salvation. And by Jewish salvation is meant their conversion to faith in Christ in precisely the same way in which Gentiles also require to be converted.

Certain of these very issues are made clear in Paul's quotation from Isaiah in Romans 11:26-27:

'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'.

The original passage occurs in Isaiah 59:20-21. The terms of this original passage from Isaiah show us that the blessing predicted was to be spiritual and not merely political. It was said to involve the turning away of ungodliness and it was to result in the removal of sins. These are not mere external advantages. They are the blessings of the gospel of Christ and they come to none, whether Jew or Gentile, except in and through Christ alone.

The reference to the 'Deliverer' (Romans 11:26) has unfortunately led some Bible students, and even some scholars, to expect that the restoration of Israel would occur at the Second Coming of Christ. That is a confused thought, because the Second Coming is not in order to save the lost but to complete the redemption of believers and to judge the world. Rather, the 'Deliverer' here is to be understood of the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine which, it seems to us, the apostle here enunciates may be stated like this: There is still a place in God's secret counsels for the Jewish people. Though, since Pentecost, they have, till now, been left out (nationally speaking) from the salvation purchased by Christ, they will come in again one day in the future. The future conversion of Israel will be the result of a coming revival of religion distinct from all previous revivals in that its purpose will be to grant repentance to Israel as a people. In that day they will come to appreciate that Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Messiah, whom their fathers rejected and crucified.

The agent ('the Deliverer') in this future revival will be the Holy Spirit, coming upon them as the 'Spirit of grace and supplications', who will teach the Jews to mourn for Christ 'pierced' and who will thus show them that Jesus of Nazareth is the 'fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness' (Zechariah 12:10-13:1). This revival is not to happen at the Second Coming of Christ but at some future date in time, which will again be a watershed in God's dealings with mankind. In all his previous dealings with the world, there has been an element of exclusion, firstly (in the Old Testament days) of the Gentiles as a class, and secondly (in this present part of the New Testament dispensation) of the Jews as a class. But when this revival occurs, all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, will be brought to enjoy God's favour in equal fulness for the first time in the history of the world.

It is no objection to this statement of doctrine to say that Pentecost has long ago ushered in the age of full gospel blessing. Pentecost did indeed inaugurate the New Testament age but it has, says Paul (Romans 11:12, 15) also inaugurated temporarily a period of rejection for the Jewish world. This rejection, someone might argue, is the consequence of Jewish unbelief and is purely their own fault. That is true, but more must be said. Paul makes it clear that this unbelief, which has been a feature of the Jews as a class from Pentecost to the present day, is also the outworking of God's eternal purpose. Israel is currently blinded through God's judgement upon them (Romans 11:8-10). However, this blinding and hardening of Israel is neither total nor final (Romans 11:11). The day will come when God will graft them back into their own olive tree, the true Church of Christ
(v. 23, 24).

The Practical Bearing of This Doctrine←⤒🔗

If our exposition of the passage under consideration has been true to Paul's thought, and we respectfully and fervently believe that it has, then there are important implications for us as Christians:

1. First, we may be compelled to break the mould of our conception of the dealings of God with mankind. We all tend habitually to fall into a two-fold conception of the world's history: Old Testament and New Testament. This is natural enough because that is the form in which God has given his Word to us. But it appears from Paul's manner of arguing in Romans 11 that God in fact is purposing to bless the world by what may be termed a three-fold progression: first Jews, then Gentiles, then both together. Not till the Spirit is poured out on Israel in the future will the high-water mark of God's purposes be reached in his gracious dealings with fallen mankind.
2. There is conscious contrast in Paul's mind between Pentecost (which brought in the Gentiles) and the coming restoration of Israel (which will bring in the Jews again). This is found especially in Romans 11:12, 15. Here the apostle sets two events over against one another: the 'fall', 'diminishing' or 'casting away' of the Jews and their future 'reception' (v. 15). He argues that both events bring good to the Gentile world. But the latter event will bring still greater blessing to the world than even Pentecost did. The Jewish re-engrafting into the Church of Christ will, when it occurs, be so glorious in every way that it will be as 'life from the dead' (v. 15) to the Gentile world.
   Such a knowledge cannot possibly fail to inspire and animate all Christians who believe and cherish it. It is a hope which must give fresh impetus to all our service. We are not then to expect nothing in the future but unmitigated doom and progressive spiritual decline. There is, quite apart from lesser revivals and progressions, a great revival ordained of God, whose first effect will be to gather in countless numbers of Jews, and whose eventual influence will be to bless the Gentile world with desperately-needed new spiritual life. Just how long the period will be between this restoration of Israel and the Return of Christ may not be revealed. On an analogy with previous periods of time, one may suppose it would last for some hundreds of years. But it is not given to us to know and it behoves us to say nothing when Scripture is silent.
3. The doctrine we have expounded sheds important light on other portions in the Word of God. We refer briefly to some of the most striking of these passages:

• 2 Corinthians 3:16: 'It (i.e. Israel) shall turn to the Lord.'
• Acts 1:6-7: The restoration of Israel is not denied but said to be known only to God.
• Acts 3:19, 20: Israel's repentance and revival is to come at length.
• Luke 13:35: Israel's house is not to be desolate always, but they will 'see' Christ by faith when the Spirit comes upon them.
• Luke 21:24: The information is given us that 'the times of the Gentiles' (i.e. the second period of God's dealings with mankind, as above explained) will come to an end at some future time.
• Isaiah 60: The chapter declares the favour to be extended to Israel at their reception into the Christian Church.
• Zechariah 12:10-13:1: The passage is a prophecy of the repentance of Israel for their sin of rejecting Christ so long.
• Hosea 3:5: Israel is to come back to Christ after being long treated by God as an estranged wife (v. 3-4).
  The text found in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 (Tor the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost') is not a denial of the above doctrine, since the phrase translated 'to the uttermost' may equally well mean no more than 'at last'. God's patience shown to Israel in Old Testament days has 'at last', that is, in the period following Pentecost, been exasperated. This is certainly what has happened. But God's exasperation with Israel is neither total nor final, as we have already noticed (Romans 11:11).
  These texts have the effect of confirming our confidence in the doctrine of Israel's future conversion as an assured event in God's calendar.

4. Finally, an appreciation of the 'mystery' of Romans 11:25 should have the further effect upon us all of stirring us to pray earnestly and frequently for this great event to come to pass. However blind the Jewish world is today — and blind, alas, it certainly is towards Christ's gospel — we are divinely assured that it will not always be so. No greater encouragement could possibly exist for Jewish missionary enterprise than this. But the same is true for all missionary enterprise and, indeed, for all faithful Christian endeavour of every kind. Israel shall one day come back to God and that event will be as 'life from the dead' (v. 15) to all the world. This mystery concerning Israel we cannot afford to ignore.