All Israel will be saved (1)
This much-debated verse is central to
Paul's Romans 9—11 defense of God's faithfulness to his promises to
ethnic Israel. He doesn't say all Israel "can" be saved. He doesn't say
all Israel "might" be saved. He doesn't say all Israel "should" be saved
and he certainly doesn't say all Israel "won't" be saved. He says all
Israel "will" be saved. He doesn't say "all Christians" will be saved
but all "Israel" will be saved.
He says "Israel" rather than "Christian" because it's
Israel that's at the heart of the "problem" with his gospel. He says
"Israel" because it's part of Israel that has been hardened. He says
"Israel" rather than "Christian" because the Gentile arrogance he wants
to rebuke is directed toward Israel. Gentiles were feeling and maybe
saying that God had dumped ethnic Israel and replaced it with a new
Gentile people (11:19). Gentile arrogance made it appear that God had
permanently jettisoned physical Jews (but see 11:28-29) and this would
have been unfaithfulness on God's part. Paul says "Israel" because it
was to Israel that God made promises (be sure to read Romans 9:1-5) and
it's Israel that's on the outside looking in at the party. When he says
all "Israel" Paul has ethnic Jews in mind. We'll return to this later
but you might want to look at Paul's use of the terms Israel and Jew.
When he says "all" Israel will be saved does he mean all without exception? Judas,
Caiaphas included? If he is sure that absolutely every single Jew will
be saved then his anguish is inexplicable and his claim that he would be
willing to be cut off from Christ if he thought it would save Israel is
hypocritical (see 9:1-3). Most people are sure that his "all" is not an
absolute. It isn't difficult to find texts in the OT where "all Israel"
doesn't mean every single person in the nation. In using "all", texts
like that suggest "a sufficiently significant number" of Israelites that
represents the nation at that time.
So is that what Paul means when he says "all" Israel will be saved?
That wouldn't help us much. If he means a significant number of Israel
will be saved, does he mean a significant number of Israel out of the
number of Israelites since the days of the patriarchs until now? Does he mean a significant number of some coming generation of Israelites? And bearing in mind that he's defending God's faithfulness to his promises to Jews why won't all Jews without exception
be saved if God made promises to them? Some people are certain that
sometime in the future (the near future, many of them say), just before
Jesus returns, there will be a mass conversion of Jews. They tell us
that that will be the fulfillment of "and so all Israel will be saved."
So it comes down to that does it? Back in
the first century Paul defends God's righteousness and faithfulness in
the face of hosts of lost Jews and how does he do it? By saying that a
large number from a generation in the 21st century will come to Christ? Did God make no promises to the Jews between the 1st
century and now? Imagine a delegation of non-believing Jews saying to
Paul, "In light of your 'gospel' God has been faithless to us Jews
because according to you so many of us are unsaved." And imagine Paul
saying, "No he isn't unfaithful, and the proof of his faithfulness will
take place about 2,000 years from now when a significant number of Jews
will turn to Christ." Or imagine a delegation of arrogant, ignorant
Gentiles saying to Paul, "God is done with the Jews because he has
hardened them to bring us in." And imagine Paul saying, "No, the proof
that God is not done with the Jews is when, after 2,000 years of
hardening them in unbelief, God will bring a significant number of
Israel to faith in Christ in the generation just before Christ's
coming."
I don't think that that's what Paul had in mind.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.
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