11:25
Paul now wraps this part of the argument up. Before looking at the text itself it is perhaps worth looking briefly at how chapters 9-11 fit into the whole, in particular chapter 8. There are two key parts of the later stages of chapter 8 that are very applicable to chapters 9-11. First, in Rom 8:28 and 29 Paul says that all things work together for good in order to make us more Christlike. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews seems, on the face of it, a very bad thing. Yet God has worked through this to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, and it will eventually lead to Israel believing in Christ. A few verses later he says that nothing will separate us from the love of God. Again on the face of it it seems that Israel was very much separated from the love of God, but in fact God has not forgotten about Israel.
Here at 11:25 Paul wants to make sure that the Gentile believers understand what is happening. Yes, there has been a hardening of Israel, but this is only a partial hardening. It is not forever. It will last until God’s work among the Gentiles is complete.
11:26
“And in this way all Israel will be saved”. There are numerous interpretations of what “all Israel” means, ranging from those that in effect means all believers and so effectively does away with Israel, to those that say literally all Israel will be saved. Both these extremes can be rejected as nonsense. I tend to prefer the interpretation that says it means those Israelites who believe. Gardener thinks this is rather tautologous, but I’m not so sure. It does imply that many Israelites will one day come to repent and believe.
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