# Romans 11:26



## aleksanderpolo (May 15, 2007)

"And in this way all Israel will be saved"

What does "all Israel" mean? From the context it seems "Israel" means non-Gentiles (c.f. Romans 11:25). Does he mean all elect within Israel will be saved (which is certainly true by the definition of elect!)? Or does he mean all Israel without exception will be saved at a certain point in the future (national conversion)? 

Thanks in advance.

Blessings,


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## KMK (May 15, 2007)

aleksanderpolo said:


> "And in this way all Israel will be saved"
> 
> What does "all Israel" mean?



That is the $64,000 question, isn't it? I think Gentry would say it means 'ethnic Israel', but Weaver and Waldron would say it means 'spiritual Israel'. I would love for someone to give the shorta answer on this one.


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## Herald (May 15, 2007)

> Romans 11:22-26 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."



It seems a bit of a reach to spiritualize the physical promises of this passage. Some questions:

Who are those who fell in verse 22?
Who are those who receive kindness in verse 22?
Who are the "they also" in verse 23?
If the "they also" do not continue in unbelief, what will happen to them?
According to verse 24, what is the logic behind the original branches being better suited to be grafted back in?
What is meant by a "partial hardening" in verse 25?
What is the fulness of the Gentiles in verse 25?
And in keeping with the OP, what/who is "all Israel" in verse 26?


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## aleksanderpolo (May 15, 2007)

I am pretty sure that "Israel" means physical Israel in this passage, what puzzles me is what "all" means in this passage. Does it mean "all elect within physical Israel"? or does it mean at a certain point in future, all physical Israel are elect and will be grafted back into the tree in which we now stand? (I do believer there is only one people of God).

Hope this clarify the question.


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## Iconoclast (May 16, 2007)

*romans 9 might help*

Earlier in Romans 9 Paul wrote:
7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 

8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 

So some understand the passage to mean,,,,so after this manner[jew+gentile as one new man In Christ] all Israel ie,[ The Israel of God} consisting of elect physicsl Israelites, as well as elect gentiles grafted inth the root promises,,,,,,,shall be saved. Read Romans 9:27-33 and also Romans 15:8-27


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## Jimmy the Greek (May 16, 2007)

Hmmm. I kinda like Iconoclast's take on it. In this sense, 11:26 would be interpreted as ""And in this way all Israel , _i.e. all true Israel_, will be saved" being made up of Jew and Gentile.


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## MW (May 16, 2007)

Iconoclast said:


> So some understand the passage to mean,,,,so after this manner[jew+gentile as one new man In Christ] all Israel ie,[ The Israel of God} consisting of elect physicsl Israelites, as well as elect gentiles grafted inth the root promises,,,,,,,shall be saved. Read Romans 9:27-33 and also Romans 15:8-27



Problem: Paul is not speaking about Gentiles in the earlier section of chapter 9, from which you have quoted. He is dealing specifically with ethnic Israel, and explaining how the word of God concerning them has not failed even though they have not all believed. If we agree that this earlier passage is of fundmanetal importance in understanding the referent of "all Israel" in Rom. 11:26, then there can be no doubt that "all Israel" means ethnic Israel (elect).


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## Jimmy the Greek (May 16, 2007)

Convincing point, Matthew. Thanks


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## Iconoclast (May 16, 2007)

*Israel /gentiles*



armourbearer said:


> Problem: Paul is not speaking about Gentiles in the earlier section of chapter 9, from which you have quoted. He is dealing specifically with ethnic Israel, and explaining how the word of God concerning them has not failed even though they have not all believed. If we agree that this earlier passage is of fundmanetal importance in understanding the referent of "all Israel" in Rom. 11:26, then there can be no doubt that "all Israel" means ethnic Israel (elect).



Yes Matthew I agree that he was speaking very clearly about ethnic Israel.
He is explaining why there was only a remnant that had believed in Jesus from among ethnic Israel. 
He focuses on The promise and traces the promise through the first exodus. He then uses this as the backdrop to link the promise through the prophecy of Hosea,and Isaiah to explain how the gentiles were all along to be included among the people of God in the New Exodus In Christ who provides the only acceptable righteousness. Romans9:24-33 
This was the stumbling block of verse30-33.


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## eternallifeinchrist (May 17, 2007)

*I'm saved! I'm Israel ")*

thus all Israel will be saved... isn't there like a change in the sentence structure to indicate that all spiritual Israel will be saved? Like aren't all who are saved saved? It's sort of summing up the paragraph it seems... Anyone got a 36 ion their English SAT??? Hehe!


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## BlackCalvinist (May 26, 2007)

aleksanderpolo said:


> I am pretty sure that "Israel" means physical Israel in this passage, what puzzles me is what "all" means in this passage. Does it mean "all elect within physical Israel"? *or does it mean at a certain point in future, all physical Israel are elect and will be grafted back into the tree in which we now stand? (I do believer there is only one people of God)*.
> 
> Hope this clarify the question.



The stuff in bold.


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