So what does this mean for national Israel, the branches that have been uprooted from true Israel due to unbelief? Did God end these people as a covenant entity? To answer this question, we must return to Paul’s argument in Romans 9-11.
In Romans 1-8, Paul denied that the salvation of the Jews was guaranteed on the basis of his various privileges as Jews. Faith was the key, not ethnicity or any kind of work. Paul argued that all who believe in Jesus are children. of Abraham. He also argued that none of God’s promises would fail. All of this would raise serious questions in the minds of its readers. What about Israel?Has Israel’s disbelief undone God’s promises?Has God’s plan revealed throughout the Old Testament been ruined or rejected?Paul answers these questions in Romans 9-11.
- Does Paul start Romans 9 with a complaint for Israel.
- Yours.
- Your countrymen.
- According to the flesh?(v.
- 3).
- Do you remember all the privileges that still belong to Israel?including adoption.
- Partnerships and promises (vv.
- 4-5).
- In verses 6-29.
- Paul defends the proposition set out in verse 6a.
- Which is.
- That God’s promise has not failed.
- In verses 6.
- 13.
- He explains that Israel’s corporate choice never meant the salvation of every biological descendant of Abraham: “Isn’t all Israel.
- In fact.
- Israelites?(v.
- 6b).
- In verses 14-23.
- Paul expands this.
- Explaining that salvation has never been a birthright based on biological progeny.
- But has always been a gift based on God’s sovereign choice.
In Romans 9. 30-10. 21, Paul describes the turning point in the history of redemption, that is, while Israel stumbled upon Jesus, the Gentiles are now entering the kingdom. It is important to note that, in Romans 10. 1, Paul writes: “Brothers, the goodwill of my heart and my call to God for them is that they be saved. “He is speaking of Israel. The very fact that Paul can continue to pray for Israel’s salvation in disbelief indicates that he believes in the possibility of salvation for the Israelites.
What Paul says then raises the great question he now asks: “Then I ask, Has God rejected his people?No way!? (11. 1a). This is the basic theme of chapter 11 in verses 1 through 10, Paul demonstrates that God did not reject Israel by distinguishing him?Stay, and the hardened one. In developing what he had already said in 9. 6-13 and 9. 27, Paul indicates that, as in Elijah’s day, there is now a remnant he believes (11. 2-5). Unlike others, chosen by grace (v. 5), has “hardened” “the rest”, the nation of Israel as a whole?(v. 7). God has numbed the spiritual senses of Israel (v. 8) and stumbled (vv. 9-10).
Paul then asks, “Did you stumble to fall?” (11. 11a). What is your answer??No way! But because of their transgression, did salvation come to the heathen, to make them jealous?(11. 11b). What is the present meaning of Israel’s stumbling block?Paul explains that this happened as a way to bring a multitude of Gentiles into the kingdom. Israel’s hardening serves God’s purpose. His transgression was an opportunity to give salvation to the Gentiles. , “Now, if your transgression resulted in wealth for the world, and your slaughter, in wealth for the Gentiles, how much more your fulness!?(v. 12, I stress).
In verses 11-12, Paul mentions three events: Israel’s transgression (or “failure”), the salvation of the Gentiles, and the total inclusion of Israel. The first leads to the second and the second leads to the third. Transgression, in other words, has begun a process that will eventually lead to the restoration of Israel. This is the first of five places in this brief passage in which Paul explains the purpose and future of Israel in three stages. Douglas Moo presents a useful summary:
The repeated occurrence of this? Three steps? It reinforces Paul’s idea of a future restoration of Israel. The current state of Israel is described as a “failure” and “rejection”. Paul characterizes the future condition of Israel in terms of “fullness” and “restoration. ” Israel is not simultaneously in the condition of? Failed? Y
Paul anticipates a potential problem in verses 13-24. Pagan believers, having learned that they were now God’s people, could easily become confused and think that this was a reason to boast about the Jews. In these verses, Paul warns them against such arrogance. In 11. 16-24, Paul explains the development of the redemptive history and israel’s place in it through the analogy of the olive tree we discussed earlier. Here again, Paul points to three stages of redemptive history: “Broken natural branches?”?? branches of the wild olive tree grafted?
Paul’s teaching in verses 25-27 was at the center of the debate about the correct interpretation of Chapter 11, Paul writes in verse 25: “For I do not want to ignore this mystery (so that you do not presume of yourselves)). What partially hardened Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles entered?Here, Paul always speaks directly to the Gentiles (see v. 13). He wants you to understand a ‘mystery’. In this context, the mystery is to reverse Jewish expectations of the sequence of events at the end of time. The mystery is that the restoration of Israel follows the salvation of the Gentiles.
In verse 26, Paul continues the phrase that begins in verse 25: “And thus all Israel shall be saved, as it is written: The Liberator shall come from Zion, and separate the wickedness of Jacob. “The main debate here concerns the meaning of ‘all Israel’. Charles Cranfield lists the four main points of view that have been proposed: (1) all elected, Jewish and pagan; (2) all elected representatives of the nation of Israel; (3) the nation of Israel as a whole, including each particular member; and (4) the nation of Israel as a whole, but not necessarily every particular member. Since Paul repeatedly rejects the salvation of each Israelite, we can ignore the option (3).
Did John Calvin understand all of Israel? In verse 26 with the meaning of all the chosen, Jews, and heathens. Paul uses this language in other parts of his writings. The problem of understanding? All israel? In 11. 26 in this sense is the context. Throughout verses 11-25, Paul systematically distinguished Jews and Gentiles. We should also remember that Paul’s concern in these chapters is with his fellow men according to the flesh (9:1-5). His prayer in this context is for Israel’s salvation in disbelief (10:1). In Romans 11:26, Paul reveals that prayer 10. 1 will be answered once the fulness of the Gentiles has entered.
Other reformed theologians, such as O. Palmer Robertson and Herman Ridderbos, argued that “All Israel?It refers to all elected representatives of the nation of Israel during the present era. As well as the vision it includes? who are saved in the present are no different from the Jews who will be saved in the future. The problem with this interpretation, like the one above, is that it conflicts with the immediate context. As John Murray observes, “while it is true that all of Israel’s elelected, the true Israel, will be saved, is it such a necessary and obvious truth that affirming such a thing here would have no particular relevance to the apostle’s central interest in this section of the letter?. [1] Paul is not afflicted by the salvation of others. They’re safe now. Israel afflicts him with disbelief. Is it for Israel’s salvation? That he prays (10. 1) and it is this Israel to whom he says he will be saved in verse 26.
The interpretation of “All Israel?” The one that best corresponds to the immediate context is one that includes “all Israel” as a nation of Israel as a whole, but not necessarily including all members of the Israeli ethnic group. Paul systematically opposes the Gentiles and Israel throughout this chapter and continues to do so in the first half of the prayer we are discussing (v. 25). There is no contextual reason to assume that Paul is changing the meaning of the term Israel here in the midst of prayer. Who will be saved (v. 26)? Israel?That it was partially hardened (v. 25). This partially hardened Israel is distinct from the Gentiles (v. 25) and is also distinct from the present rest of the Jewish believers, who have not been hardened (v. 7).
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