No. 34. >> One of the members of my congregation has become highly interested in the Jews. And has asked me more than once what Paul means when he says: All Israel will be saved in Romans Chapter 11 Verse 26. Who is meant by all Israel? All Jews? All believers? I would love to be able to truly answer this woman more than merely fending her off as I have done in the past. >>PROFESSOR DAVID I. M. LEWIS: Nick, this is another challenging question that you ask. Another difficult issue when it comes to interpreting this section of Romans, Romans Chapters 9, 10 and 11. I find that these three chapters in this entire epistle present the greatest number of challenges when it comes to interpreting Romans. And now you've just hit upon one of the most challenging questions is: How do we read Romans 11:26. Well, once again, I would like us to read this in context. And so let's start with Romans 11:25 where Paul writes: Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers. Now, the people Paul is specifically addressing here as "you" are the Gentile believers. These are the people who have now become a part of the people of God. And because of that they might be arrogant and conceited in their relationship to the national Jews. Whether they be Christians or especially those Jews who don't believe in Jesus. So Paul is saying: Lest you be wise in our own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: The deliver ever will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As regards to the Gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they, too, have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they, also, may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all. Okay. Well, this is the context in which we see all Israel will be saved. And now among scholars there's two major interpretations of this. All Israel. One interpretation is that all Israel means the Christian church. The new Israel. This of course is how Martin Fransman takes it in his commentary. He interpreters Romans 9 through 11 as God creates a new Israel out of those who believe. And that thu new Israel consists now of both Jews who believe in Jesus and Gentiles who believe in Jesus. And so they would say Paul here is saying especially if you look at the end of Verse 25 this the fullness of the Gentiles coming in signifies that Israel is now not all of those who are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But Israel is now all who believe in Jesus, whether they are physical descendants of Abraham or Gentiles. And this would be one major interpretation. And this is also, Nick, the standard Lutheran reading of this verse. However, when you look at the entire context, we see that Paul isn't just interested in the Gentiles. But he does seem to hold out this very definite hope for the national Israel, as well. Remember this whole letter -- this whole section of the letter Paul is expressing his sorrow and his longing for his countrymen. That they, too, would believe in Jesus and be saved. So Paul isn't simply writing them off. Instead he's holding up the hope that they, too, will come to the knowledge of the truth. That they, too, will believe in Jesus and be saved. And I think as Paul is expressing his desire, he is actually reflecting, you know, the Lord's desire, who originally called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And set these people apart as his own. So Paul is not simply writing off the nation of Israel. He instead is telling the Gentiles that they should rejoice in the mystery that as Israel has disobeyed, they have been called to obedience. As Israel has not believed and been hardened, these Gentiles have believed. And that they should rejoice in the mystery of God's grace and not be arrogant and conceited in their opinion and their relationship to the Jewish people. You might say in a sense here Paul is very decisively destroying any notion of anti-Semitism among the Christian people. That Christians cannot be conceited against unbelieving Jews. That this has no place in the church. And as much as there has been anti-Semitism in the history of the church, we know that this is sin and rebellion against God. Because it definitely violates the Spirit that Paul showed in writing this letter. And I believe again that Paul reflects the Lord's own desires for his people. You might say that God still has a heart for this nation as he has a heart for all nations. And that he is longing that they, too, would come to the faith. And so this brings in the second interpretation. Some people say that actually when Paul says all of Israel, he's not referring to the Gentile believers at all. But he's speaking specifically about national Israel. And that this has given rise to the hope that we still see expressed among dispensationalists today. This belief that before the end of time, Israel as a nation will whole scale convert to Christianity and acknowledge that Jesus is their Messiah. Among the dispensationalists it's believed this will take place in the seven year tribulation. That the Gentile church will be raptured. And then for seven years there will be tribulation on earth. This is when the anti-Christ will be revealed. He will establish a world empire. He will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. That God will call 144,000 Jewish evangelists who'll convert their own people and people around the world to Christianity during this seven year tribulation. Well, I hope you know, Nick, that we Lutherans don't hold to understanding in eschatology. And this is one reason we would be uncomfortable with the idea that all of Israel needs to be converted before the end can come. Because our view of eschatology is that in a sense the parousia, the second coming of Jesus, it can happen any time. And so we have to always be ready. And we can't look around the world and establish a timetable when Jesus is going to come back. And so we get very uncomfortable with the idea that all Israel means national Israel. And therefore, at the end, we should expect to see the entire nation converted. Because then we could say: Well, Jesus can't come back until that happens. Which means, well, Jesus isn't going to come back now because it hasn't happened. That's not a Lutheran view of eschatology. And so again, I would commend to you that first interpretation that all of Israel refers to both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus. But nevertheless, we should not write off the nation of Israel at that point. That we should actually share Paul's longing and his sorrow for the unbelief among the Jewish people and his longing that they, too, would believe and see that we cannot act in an arrogant or conceited way over and against the physical descendants of Abraham who nevertheless do not believe in their Messiah, Jesus. In a sense we can say that he was in a proper sense their Lord. Their Messiah. And it's only by grace that we who are not Jewish by nature have been grafted in into the olive tree. And now to prove my point here exegetically, in other words, that all Israel includes Jews and Gentiles, I think we can look back to the context of Romans 9, 10 and 11. So let's look at Romans 9 Verses 6 through 8. Here Paul writes: But it is not as though the Word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. So Paul makes the point here that all Israel doesn't necessarily mean all ethnic Jews. Because not all who belong to Israel are truly of Israel. Well, who are? He says: And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. And so children of the promise. This reflects what Paul teaches in Galatians Chapter 3. That it's those who believe the same promise that Abraham believed who are the true children of Abraham. And now in this time, that means it would be Jews who believe that promise and Gentiles who believe that promise. And so Paul makes it clear that not all of Israel are Israel. So when we look at all Israel in 11:26, we know from Romans 9 that that doesn't mean every single ethnic Jew. Then if we look at Romans 11 beginning at Verse 13, Paul writes: Now I am speaking to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles. I magnify my ministry. In order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and lest save some of them. So here we see Paul's longing here is not to save all of Israel. Not that he thinks he can do that. But he's longing just to save some of them. So again, all of Israel in 11:26 cannot refer to the entire nation. But again, it's got to be a different group. Then after 11 Verse 13, this is where Paul develops the illustration of the olive tree. And in this illustration the olive tree represents Israel. And there are natural branches on this olive tree. Those would be the ethnic Jews. But there are alien branches that have been grafted in. Those would represent the Gentiles. And then Paul warns the Gentiles that if God chopped off the natural branches because they didn't believe in Jesus, well, the Gentiles ought to be afraid that if they reject God's mercy, he'll chop them off, too and God can just as easily graft the natural branches back in. This illustration of the olive tree kind of shows again what Paul thinks Israel is now in Jesus. And notice that he doesn't think the church is a completely new organization. The church is in fact the same people that existed in the Old Testament. The people who believed in God's promise who then were for the most part members of this ethnic nation of Israel. Now that Jesus has come, the church is the proper continuation of that people. The people of God in the Old Testament are the people are God in the New Testament. The same olive tree. Nevertheless, what is happening new now is that we get all of these alien branches grafted in. All of these Gentiles are being included. And so this illustration of the olive tree really again shows who Israel is after Jesus. According to Paul, Israel is those who believe the promise. And so he's gone out of his way to make it very clear that not every ethnic descendant of Abraham is necessarily the child of the promise, is necessarily true Israel. But Israel for Paul right now are those who believe the promise. Those who believe in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile are Israel. So when we go back again to 11:25 and 26 when Paul says: All Israel will be saved, what he means by that is that all of true Israel, all of those who were called according to God's purpose, whether Jew or Gentile, all those who believe in Jesus Christ will be saved. And so Paul's hope in God is that he knows that all the true Israelites are going to be saved. And so Nick, just to sum up again, there are two positions. One believes that true Israel is the church, Jews and Gentiles. The other believes that Paul really is speaking about the ethnic nation. And then one difficulty of that interpretation is that then therefore some time in the future Israel as a nation needs to convert wholesale to Jesus. And that for us Lutherans creates an eschatological problem because that needs to happen before Jesus comes back. Which means right now we could say: Well, let's not worry about Jesus coming back because this event hasn't happened. Which is one reason why I as a Lutheran go with the church's interpretation. Nevertheless, we see also that Paul continued to have a heart for his own people. And I think our Lord Jesus Christ had a heart for his people. And therefore, one practical implication of this for us Gentile believers is that we should not be conceited, that we should not be arrogant in our relationship to unbelieving Jews. That we should have the same heart for them that the apostle Paul demonstrates in this it section of Romans. And therefore, any anti-Semitism among Christians is to be regarded as open sin. And is to be eliminated from our hearts and our minds and from our institutions. We should not think in such a way about the ethnic Jews. We should share Paul's attitude. Sorrow over their unbelief. And long earnestly that they, too, would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Nick, I hope that this gives you something that you can take to that woman when she asks you again: Who does Paul mean by all Israel will be saved?