In Touch - 1st Quarter 2022

Feature
All Israel will be saved
Jared Compton is an assistant
professor of Greek and New Testament
theology at Bethlehem College &
Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“There are some things in [Paul’s] letters that are hard to
understand” (2 Peter 3:16). That’s a relief to read, isn’t
it? If the apostle Peter had trouble understanding
Paul, is it any wonder we do too? I sometimes wonder
if “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26) was on
Peter’s mind.
It’s a riddle of a verse, wrapped in a mystery of
an argument, inside a densely reasoned letter. It’s
also one of the best clues we have about how Paul
understood Scripture as a whole.
Let me see if I can shed light on this statement by
answering four questions, one on each part of the
verse. This won’t give all the answers, but it will point
us in the right direction.
1. What Does He Mean by ‘Saved’?
Let’s start with the easiest part. By “saved” Paul
means rescued or delivered from God’s judgment
on sin. Paul confirms this in the next verses when he
writes, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish
ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with
them when I take away their sins” (Romans. 11:26–27).
The “Deliverer” is Jesus, and the rescued are those
who believe in him (see Romans 11:23 in light of
Romans 9:30–10:4).
2. What Does He Mean by ‘Israel’?
By “Israel” Paul means ethnic Israelites (Jews). For
Paul the world was divided into two types of people:
Israel and everybody else (Gentiles). And according
to Paul, Israel comprises the people God set apart
for himself, made promises to, established covenants
The Sea of Galilee and the heights of Safed (1870)
with, and entrusted with his law (see Romans. 9:1–5).
They are Abraham’s descendants – not every last one,
but those freely chosen by God’s mercy, like Isaac and
Jacob and Paul (see Romans 9:6–13 and 11:1).
They are a people whose response to Paul’s gospel
should not have surprised anyone. After all, on more
than one occasion, God had anticipated their unbelief
(see Romans 10:19–21; 11:2). What’s more, they were
the people Paul kept an eye on as he carried out his
mission to Gentiles, hoping and praying that “somehow
[he] might make [his] fellow Jews jealous, and thus save
some of them” (Romans 11:13–14).
Gentiles are the outsiders. Unlike the Jews, they
were not God’s people, at least not at first and never
in precisely the same way. True, God was always
free to reverse the “not his people” status of Gentiles.
In fact, hints that he would were given to Abraham
right from the beginning (see Romans 4:16–18) and
subtly affirmed along the way (see Romans 9:25–26;
cf. Romans 10:19; 15:9–11). But there’s still a sense in
which Israel and the Gentiles are distinct. That’s what
Paul is getting at with his olive-tree metaphor (see
Romans 11:17–24). Believing Gentiles are connected to
Abraham’s family tree, but in a slightly different way
than believing Israel is. They’re connected in a way
that is “contrary to nature,” which is something that
can’t be said for believing Jews (see Romans 11:24).
3. What Does He Mean by ‘All’?
“All” refers to the sum of the Jewish remnant and the
hardened majority. Here’s the formula:
Jewish remnant + hardened majority = all Israel
“All Israel,” then, is nothing less than the sum of the
two groups that have always existed within Israel
(see Romans 9:27–29; 11:1–9). This is what God’s
preservation of a remnant had always anticipated and
implied (see Romans 11:16), even when the implication
4 IN TOUCH • 1 st Quarter 2022