10/26/13

From Jim McGuiggan... All Israel will be saved (1)

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.