No. 22. >> Thank you. I, too, have a question that is a little bit tangential to our topic of millennialism. And I think my next question will reveal something of my East Coast location. Let me give you a little context for this question. My wife is a World War II student. She is self taught but quite a remarkable scholar. Not long ago while we were watching a video about the last days of Hitler, a good film entitled "The Downfall." She noted the dialogue was drawn almost word for word from the writings of Albert Speer. After the movie we looked up the book and she was right. I mention this because Susan has a great interest in the Jews and God's relationship to the descendants of his people, Israel. Susan would want me to ask: Will there be a mass conversion of the Jews some day, according to Romans 11 Verses 25 and 26? >>DR. THOMAS E. MANTEUFEL: Many people do think that such a mass conversion of the Jews will take place, according to this Scripture passage. I've already mentioned that the dispensationalists hold that this mass conversion of the Jews will take place during the time of the Great Tribulation. And that these converted Jews will in turn convert Gentiles. And also post millennialists regularly teach the mass conversion of the Jews to take place during the millennium. And some others, also, hold to it. Here is what the passage says, Romans 11:25 to 26: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved. My view is that this does not refer to some prophesied conversion of the Jews that has not happened yet and that will not happen until the hardening of the Jews stops. Rather, it says that the hardness of heart will continue in part of the Israelite people until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. That is to say until all Gentiles have been converted who are going to be converted. And that means that this process will go on up to the time of the second coming of Christ, according to what Matthew 24:14 says. This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. By the way, notice that the Gospel of the kingdom is stated here to be what the Gospel is. And as we said before, it really is the same thing as the Gospel of grace. There is no Gospel except the Gospel that teaches grace. And it is that by people are saved, whether Jew or Gentile. And so there will be no special period for the conversion of the Jews. This process will go on until Christ comes again. What Paul means here is this: Part of the Jewish people is hardened in unbelief, while another part is being converted to faith in the Messiah. And that part that's continually being converted, that's the elect remnant that is referred to earlier in this chapter. If you look at Verse 5 you see a reference to it. And even so at this present time, also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This is a two-part phenomenon. A hardening of part of Israel and the conversion of another part of Israel. This two-part phenomenon is going on simultaneously all throughout all history. Up until the time that all of the elect Gentiles have been converted. And then shall the end come. The word "until" that's used in this passage indicates only the time up to which an occurrence is to last. In biblical language, it implies nothing about any happening after that. Just for example of this just for comparison, we could turn to I Samuel 15:35 which says: Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. And that word until there doesn't mean that after the day of Saul's death that Samuel then came to see Saul. Of course it doesn't mean that. So you can't prove anything from this word "until" that appears here in the passage that we're looking at in Romans 11:25. So the elect among the Jews, that is those who are elected to be saved, the part that does not become hardened permanently, that part will be converted as long as the elect among the Gentiles are being converted. So there is this two-part phenomenon again taking place here. The election of Jews and the election of Gentiles -- the conversion of Jews and the conversion of Gentiles according to their election is taking place in this way right up until the time of the end. There's not some special period to be fitted in here when there will be a mass conversion of the Jews. And all of this is the answer that Paul gives to the question which he raises at the beginning of this discussion: Has God cast away his people? Namely, the people of ancient Israel. And the answer that he's giving is no. There is an elect remnant who are definitely going to be saved. And to receive the blessings that God has for them. What I'm giving here is the usual amillennialist interpretation of this passage. There's an alternative amillennialist explanation, which says that the word "Israel" in Verse 26 refers to spiritual Israel. That is to say the understanding of Israel that I was referring to earlier, which takes the church as being the new Israel made up of both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ. And that Paul is making a statement about the conversion of all the people of the church. No matter what their nationality. And he's saying that all of them will be saved through Christ. And that Paul -- the idea here is that Paul wishes to talk about how the Jewish part of spiritual Israel will be gathered in. That's a possible interpretation. And it fits with certain themes that are generally found in amillennialist thinking. But it still doesn't seem to fit the context that we have here. Because in Verse 25 there's a definite distinction made between Israel and the Gentiles. So the word Israel in Verse 25 certainly refers to the people that are not Gentiles. In other words, it refers there to physical Israel and is making a statement about them. And so it seems, also, that the word Israel in the next verse, Verse 26, should be treated the same way, as referring to physical Israel. That is the people who are descended from Abraham. Rather than to the spiritual Israel, the church, which is made up of all believing Jews and Gentiles.