The meaning of "all Israel" in Romans 11:26

Vladimir Vladimir Sigueme Dec 05, 2023 · 7 mins de lectura
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Romans 11:25-32 is:

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and
sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced 
a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has 
come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. 
As it is written:

    The deliverer will come from Zion; 
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 
    27 And this is my covenant with them 
    when I take away their sins.

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your 
sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on 
account of the patriarchs, 29 for God's gifts and his call are 
irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to 
God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 
31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they 
too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he 
may have mercy on them all.

This is the NIV translation, that seems correct to me after comparing with other translations.

The NIV Study Bible, 1995. Has the following comment about verse 26 (that in my humble opinion is correct and sufficient):

An empathic statement that this is the way all Israel will be saved.
all Israel. Three main interpretations of this phrase are: (1) the total number of elect Jews of every generation (equivalent to the fullness of Israel [v. 12], which is analogous to the “fullness [´full number´] of the Gentiles” [v. 25]); (2) the total number of the elect, both Jews and Gentiles, of every generation; (3) the great majority of Jews of the final generation. will be saved. The salvation of the Jews will, of course, be on the same basis as anyone’s salvation: personal faith in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.

Given that I’m not jewish, but a gentile christian, grafted in the olive of the church by the mercy of my Lord Jesus Christ, I speak with respect and thankfulness toward the genetic descendants of Jacob, some of them staying in the olive by their faith in Jesus although others have been taken away from the olive for their unbelief. For the same reason I speak cautiously because if I fall in unbelief I will be taken away from the olive as it has happened to so many before me.

Matthew Henry comment about this passage says:

If the putting out of their candle was the lighting of yours, by that power of God which brings good out of evil, much more shall the continued light of your candle, when God’s time shall come, be a means of lighting theirs again. That through your mercy they might obtain mercy, that is, that they may be beholden to you, as you have been to them. He takes it for granted that the believing Gentiles would do their utmost endeavour to work upon the Jews—that, when God had persuaded Japhet, Japhet would be labouring to persuade Shem. True grace hates monopolies. Those that have found mercy themselves should endeavour that through their mercy others also may obtain mercy.

This passage doesn´t have a special comment in the book God’s Heart and Mandate for Mission of Bruce Heckman, however in my humble opinion its comment about Genesis 12 (pp. 54 y 55) is relevant:

This promise was so powerful because it was clearly for Abram, his descendants, and all peoples on earth. This blessing with a purpose, given to Abram, promised God’s blessing to the world. Yet the sentence, “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse,” raises questions in our minds. What does it mean to “bless Abram?” Today, some use this phrase to garner political support for the nation of Israel without scrutinizing any of Israel’s current actions. Others use this phrase to raise finances to build houses in the West Bank for returning Jews, which displace Palestinians. In this context, does blessing Abram simply mean showing kindness and hospitality to him, his herds, and his servants? Could blessing Abram imply joining with the faith of Abram?

People within Abram’s household did not become a “blessing to all peoples on earth” by simply belonging to the family. God’s blessing did not describe a club with bloodline membership, but a promise/covenant between two parties. This meant that those within Abram’s household were to actively seek to represent the God of covenant and thus become a source of blessing to the nations. They could not treat the na ons as inferior to themselves. In a similar thought, how did one outside of Abram’s household bless Abram? Do we not err in our thinking when we invite those outside Abram’s household to help Abram to prosper, yet allow them to die without entering God’s covenant promise? Is it not also folly to help the children of Abram simply a new home and not share with them the gospel, the true covenant?

Since Jesus is the only way of salvation for anyone, the word all in Romans 11:26 has to speak about all the israelites who believe in Jesus, it cannot be confused with the inhabitants of the state of Israel. From this and the comments quoted it becomes clear how important it is for gentile christians, like you and me, to make special effort to share Christ with the genetic descendants of Jacob, who are currently living in the state of Israel but without Jesus and hence without salvation.

I pray for conversion of more descendants of Jacob so they will be more merciful and cease the fire on Palestine population. I pray in Jesus name1.

I think that verses like this and the interpretation I found support the “replacement theology” as explained in the article by Dan Bruce https://goodnewsforjews.org/2023/09/3560/:

Supersessionism, also called replacement theology, is a Christian theology which describes the theological conviction that the Christian Church has superseded the nation of Israel assuming their role as God’s covenanted people, thus asserting that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant exclusive to Jews. Supersessionist theology also holds that the universal Christian Church has succeeded ancient Israel as God’s true Israel and that Christians have succeeded the ancient Israelites as the people of God. from Wikipedia

I know it isn’t popular to say out loud, but anyone who believes the words of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament will essentially agree with the above definition. Jesus himself said it, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). And, as Jesus passed the cup of wine to his disciples (all of them Jews) in the upper room on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (also called the Passover) just before his crucifixion, Jesus said, “For this is my blood of the new testament (covenant), which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:28) In this day and age, the New Covenant (Jer. » 31:31-34) is the only way to have one’s sins removed and to receive atonement (at-one-ment) with the God of Israel.

Notes

Map taken from https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1730344621908107465?t=tz3bYO7vIMf__WhmaAP8Zw&s=19 that presents the forced displacement and the illegal appropiation of land by Israel after 1947 when an agreement was reached.

  1. I found that a succesful organization that is bringing the gospel to jewish people is Jews fo Jesus. They have a website with possibility to donate: https://jewsforjesus.org/give?reference_code=STNETIN23 

Vladimir
Escrito por Vladimir Sigueme
Bienvenido. Soy Vladimir Támara Patiño autor de este blog. Espero que tal como a mi le ayude a aumentar su fe. Los contenidos que aquí encuentra son de dominio público de acuerdo a la legislación colombiana, es decir los puede usar con cualquier propósito respetando la autoría.