Thread: Romans 11: 25-26, In the Context of Paul's Doctrines
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Romans 11: 25-26, In the Context of Paul's Doctrines
Posted : 16 Jul, 2011 11:10 AM
Lots of Christians in the churches have been taught that God now has two different
peoples with whom he deals in different ways. These two peoples are the "church"
and the Jews. But what the preachers mean in saying or implying that the Jews
remain the chosen people is that God will sometime in the future turn again to
the Jews to save them.
Many of the preachers in the evangelical denominations teach that Bible prophecy
says that God will sometime save all the Jews, all living at some point in the future,
or perhaps some living at a point in the future. Sometimes they will make use of Old
Testament prophecy to prove this. But they ignore Acts 15: 7-16 where James,responds
to what Peter said in verse 9, that God put no difference between Jewish and Gentile
Christians. James quotes Amos 9: 11 and interprets this to be in agreement with what
Peter just said about God placing no difference between Jew and Gentile Christians. James
is saying that Amos 9: 11 is not a prophecy about the restoration of Jews only, but about
a time when the tabernacle of David will be restored and it will include both Gentiles and Jews.
There are some other Old Testament prophecies which have been interpreted by many church Christians
to say there will be a restoration of only the Jews in the future. But these prophecies have
already been fulfilled at Pentecost and especially in Acts 10 when God called Peter to give
the Gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile. Some of these Old Testament prophecies similar to
Amos 9: 11 are Isaiah 54: 1-5, Hosea 3: 5,and Micah 5: 2. Zechariah 12: 8-10 is also
a prophecy about a restoration, but again, it has to be interpreted in the light of the New
Testament, especially by Acts 15: 7-17.
Using the New Testament rather than the old, the interpretation that God will save all the Jews in the future, some say during the
tribulation after the "church" has been raptured off the earth, depends upon what
Paul means in Romans 11: 26 by "Israel."
The great majority of preachers in the evangelical churches assume that Paul could not use "Israel" to
refer to the physical Israelites, the Jews, in almost all other texts, and then use "Israel" in Romans
11: 16 to refer to a different Israel..
But Scripture does not contradict itself. Paul in Romans 9: 6-8 and in Galatians 4: 25-26 teaches that
there are two Israels.
Romans 9: 6-8 says "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8. That 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."
By "the children of the promise" Paul means all born again Christians are the spiritual seed of Abraham, as he explains in Galatians 3: 29. There
had been a transformation of Israel from the physical (i.e. Jews were the physical seed of Abraham) to the spiritual at the Cross.
Then in Galatians 4: 25-26 Paul says "For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."
Here Paul is saying there are two Israels which he refers to metaphorically as two Jerusalems. The Israel of the Old Covenant is in bondage, but
the Israel of the New Covenant is above, is free of bondage and is the mother of us all. Gentile Christians in Romans 11: 17 are grafted into that
Israel which is the children of the promise, i.e., the spiritual seed of Abraham, and into the Israel which is above, is free, and is the mother of
us all. Gentile believers are not grafted into the religion of the Pharisees.
Romans 11: 25-26 says "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits;
that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the
Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob:"
Is Romans 11: 25-26 a prophecy by Paul that "all Israel," i.e. all of
physical Israel, will be saved at some point in time? Or is it a
statement about what was happening with Jews and Gentiles in the first
century, and some Christians have interpreted this text as a prophecy?
The KJV text says "...blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." The word "until" may
have led many to believe this text is a prophecy for the future.
They seem to think that when Paul says "...that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be
come in" means when all the Gentiles who are scheduled to be saved are
saved, then, "...so all Israel shall be saved."
The word "until" is translated from the Greek word archri or archris, Strong's Exhaustive
Concordance number 891, which Strong's says means "until, while." The New Testament Greek Lexicon
from Thayer and Smith says Achri means "until, unto," and is used in the King James version to mean
"even to, until, unto, while."
So archis could mean "while," that is, "...blindness in part is heppened to Israel, while the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in, or while the Gentiles are being saved.
"In part" which is found in Romans 11: 25, that "...blindness in part has happened to Israel" is also
important. In part is from the Greek, apo merous. Merous is Strong's number 3313 which means "a section,
a division or share, piece, portion.."
In Romans 11: 25 merous does not mean that the whole of physical Israel is partly blinded. It means
that some Israelites are blinded but others are not blinded.
To make better sense out of what Paul is saying in Romans 11: 25, look at what he said in Romans
11: 11-12 "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?"
Actually, that part of Israel which was hardened or blinded was the majority, for Paul talks about a Remnant of Israel being saved according to the election of grace in Romans 11; 5. In other words, one part of physical Israel was broken off because of unbelief, the much larger group, but a small Remnant did believe on Christ and were saved.
Paul is saying that physical Israel stumbled and because they stumbled, salvation came to the Gentiles. In verse
20 he says the Israelites who did not believe were broken off. This explains what Paul is saying about what the blindness of physical Israel has to do with the fullness of the Gentiles being saved. He is saying in Romans 11: 25
that blindness is happened to some of the Israelites while the plenoma, or multitude, or large group, of the Gentiles are being saved.
This is not a prophecy for the future, but a statement saying that at the time Paul was writing most Jews were blinded and were broken off (though a Remnant was transformed and saved), and numbers of Gentiles were being saved.
Romans 11: 25-26, In the Context of Paul's Doctrines
Posted : 16 Jul, 2011 02:12 PM
WILL ALL ISRAEL BE SAVED BY THE END OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION??
Luke 21:24: Jesus says, �Jerusalem shall be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are complete.� The Times of the Gentiles was from AD 70 to June 7th, 1967 when the Jews again gained complete control of Jerusalem after 1897 years. In 1948 the Jordanian Gentiles destroyed 34 of the 35 Jewish Synagogues in Jerusalem and kicked out almost all the Jews. Obama would like Israel to return to its 1948 borders.
During the Great Tribulation Moses and Elijah will most likely witness miraculously to people in the uttermost parts of the earth in all 6,000 languages. Presently the Bible has been translated into about 2,000 languages from the inspired Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and faith comes from hearing or reading the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. The Bible still has not been translated into about 4,000 languages and Rev 5:9b and Rev 7:9,13,14 must be completely fulfilled. Surely the courageous tribulation saints will help Moses and Elijah spread God's Word. They will do a fantastic job since according to Rev 7:9,14 there will be a great multitude from EVERY TRIBE AND LANGUAGE who will be �washed in the Blood of the Lamb� during the Great Tribulation.
Rev 6:9-11: When He {Jesus} opened the 5th seal, I saw the souls of those who had been slain {Just like Jesus} because of the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, �How long until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?� The each of them was given a *WHITE ROBE*, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. Rev 7:9,13,14,15a,17a: �After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from *EVERY* NATION, TRIBE, PEOPLE AND LANGUAGE, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb {Jesus}. They were wearing *WHITE ROBES*�Then one of the {24} elders {Rev 4:4} asked me, �These in *WHITE ROBES*�who are they and where did they come from?�� And he said, �These are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation; {Martyrs just like Jesus} they have washed their robes and made them WHITE in the *BLOOD OF THE LAMB* {Jesus}. They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night... The Lamb {Jesus} at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd.�:applause: {See Rev 12:11 & Rev 13:8-10}
This passage in Rev 7:9 above shows that the Great Tribulation will be mainly for Christians in *EVERY Gentile nation and not just Jacob�s Jewish trouble which absolutely contradicts the main thesis of the pre-trib fairy tale. Revelation 14:13: Then I heard a voice from heaven say {During the Great Trib}, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Rev 12:11: �They {THE TRIBULATION MARTYRS} overcame him {Satan} by the *BLOOD OF THE LAMB* and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.�
Revelation 7:3,4: The angel said, �Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God,� Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the {12} tribes of Israel.
This event occurred just before the land and sea were harmed by the first 6 trumpet plagues in Rev chapters 8 & 9. Also occurring just before the first 6 trumpet plagues will be the scene in heaven above of martyrs from every nation in Rev 7:9-18. So it is completely obvious that the 144,000 Jews did NOT participate in the evangelizing of the Gentiles from every nation in the world. There are many who believe that the 144,000 Jews will then evangelize Jews through out the world and possibly only Jews will be saved during the rest of the Great Tribulation since Gentiles from every nation of the world will already be saved. According to Zechariah 12;10; 13:8,9: Two-thirds of the Jews will be struck down and perish but one-third will call on my name and will say, �The Lord is our God.�
Presently there are approximately 15 million Jews and about 2 % or 30,000 are Christians. During the Great Tribulation 10 million Jews will die and 5 million will be saved which is and additional 4 million 970 thousand if 30 thousand are now Christians.
Romans 11:25-29: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part **until the full number of Gentiles has come in **{As per Rev 7:9,14 above}. ***AND SO ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED***, as it is written: {In Jeremiah 31:33,34} �The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob {Israel}. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.� As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned they are loved on account of the patriarchs {Moses, Abraham, David ,Joseph, Isaiah, Elijah etc etc etc}, for God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. {Read Romans 11:11-32 and Hebrews 11:39-40}
Acts 1:6-8: The Jewish disciples asked Jesus, �Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel??� Jesus said to them: �It is not for you to know the times and dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth.!!� Matthew 24:14: Jesus says {During the Great Tribulation} �This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to **ALL NATIONS** and **THEN** the **END** will come!�
God also inspired 40 Jewish men to write every Word in God's Word in both the OT and NT. Jesus was 50 % Jewish and is called the King of the Jews 12 times in the NT and the 12 Apostles including Paul were all Jewish who brought the Gospel to the Gentiles in the 1st Century. The Israelites are called Jews 80 times in the OT beginning with the book of Esther about 600 BC and the Israelites are called Jews over 200 times in the NT.
Acts 2:5: �Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.� And on the day of Pentecost 3,000 Jews were saved as per Acts 2:5,14,41. John 4:22b: Jesus says, "Salvation is from the Jews.!" Matthew 2:1,2: Wise men from the East asked, �Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews?� Matthew 27:11: Pilate asked Jesus, �Are you the King of the Jews?� �Yes it is as you say,� Jesus replied!
God said to Abraham, in Genesis 17:8: �The whole land of Canaan I will be give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you.�
Quotes from Obama on May 20th, 2011: �Israel must learn do defend itself **BY ITSELF**!!� �Israel must return to **PRE-1967 BORDERS**!!� Nations from all over the world have heartily agreed with King Obama's 2 statements including the European Union, Russia and the United nations. Obama has also stated that he does not have to abide by the War Powers Act or the Constitution in declaring war thus making Obama a King with the power to make war against anyone he desires as long as he desires!
Romans 11: 25-26, In the Context of Paul's Doctrines
Posted : 16 Jul, 2011 03:39 PM
Again, scripture does not contradict itself.
Luke 21; 24 says "...Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
But it does not say "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled, and then there will be a restoration of the Jews only."
This is what the majority of church Christians would think Luke 21: 24 means because of their conditioning for so many years by the pastors who were trained in the seminaries.
Thinking this is ignoring the New Testament in its teachings on the one fold of Christ, that there is in Christ no Jew or Gentile, that the Old Covenant was done away with, and that there are two Israels, one under the law and which is physical, and the other above, free and the mother of us all. Physical Israel was transformed into Israel reborn in Jesus Christ. To say that God will in some future time save all the Jews or all who are on earth then because they are the supposed physical descendants of Abraham takes away from Christ's finished work on the Cross. It is finished, he said. He did not fail in his mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Only a Remnant of physical Israel accepted him at the time Paul wrote Romans 11: 5, and only a Remnant of physical Israel has been saved since. Bu that remnant fulfills his mission.
Church people want to justify being on the broad way of Matthew 7: 13-14. And so all Jews have to be saved, so they think, or all Jews alive at some point, or something.
The narrow way of Matthew 7: 13-14 is the way of a Remnant. The people on the broad way are wrong - in Christ's time and now.
Romans 11: 25-26, In the Context of Paul's Doctrines
Posted : 16 Jul, 2011 06:31 PM
eginning in Romans 11:25, Paul enlarges upon God's purpose for blinding Israel to be sure that we understand it.
(25) For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery [secret, hidden truth], lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the ethnos has come in; (26) and thus all Israel will be saved [Isaiah 45:25]; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." (27) "And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
Paul refers to a combination of Scriptures from Isaiah 59:20, 21 and 27:9 to prove his assertion that "all Israel will be saved." Isaiah 59:20, 21 says,
(20) And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the Lord. (21) And as for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the Lord: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the Lord, "from now and forever."
This is a reference to the New Covenant that was to be made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Because this Covenant is unconditional (unlike the Mosaic Covenant), it is a declaration of divine intent, not an offer conditioned upon "if" clauses. God fully intends to save all of them, not by justifying the ungodly, but by turning their hearts and giving them the faith necessary to be saved.
In Isaiah 27:8 and 9, which Paul references above, the prophet tells us how divine judgment itself is God's method of turning the hearts of the people.
(8) Thou didst contend with them by banishing them, by driving them away. With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind. (9) Therefore, through this, Jacob's iniquity will be forgiven; and this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin.
In other words, God banished and expelled the house of Israel, and this judgment "will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin." A few verses later (27:13) Isaiah identifies the Israelites in question as "those who were perishing in the land of Assyria." In other words, the prophecy was specifically addressed, not to the house of Judah, but to the house of Israel that had been deported to Assyria.
Even so, Paul's primary use of the term "Israel" was inclusive of all the tribes and so included the house of Judah as well. But it is significant that Paul did not say "all Jews will be saved," but rather "all Israel will be saved." He did not limit this salvation to only a few of the tribes. Like Isaiah, He was concerned with the greater bulk of Israelites who had become "lost sheep of the house of Israel."
The New Covenant was to be made with both Israel and Judah (Heb. 8:8), as well as all others who would attach themselves to that Covenant (Is. 56:6-8) to fulfill the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:41-43, 60).
Paul reminds us also that it was God who had blinded the eyes of all the Israelites (other than the remnant of grace). He did this, not for an evil purpose, but for a greater good. The Old Covenant under Moses had to fail, in order to make room for the greater Covenant that was promised to Abraham and instituted fully through the work of Christ. The appearance of injustice is only temporary, caused by our lack of understanding of the big picture. The big picture is this: "All Israel will be saved."
Meanwhile, however, Paul had to deal with the blindness that God had imposed upon both Israel and Judah. So he says in Rom. 11:28,
(28) From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; (29) for the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable.
This is often misunderstood, first because so many assume that the Jews are Israel. Such people do not understand the distinction between Israel and Judah, so they are unaware of the discussions in Paul's day about the ten tribes of Israel that had been scattered over 700 years earlier. So when Paul speaks of "Israel," many assume he is talking about the Jews, or perhaps those Jews who were living in other parts of the Roman Empire. Such people miss the whole point of Paul's discussion.
We only need to read the first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, was wrote the following about Israel and Judah:
"Wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans; while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now; and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers." [Antiquities of the Jews, XI, v, 2]
Thus, modern Christians are often mistaken in thinking that Paul was focusing upon the salvation of world Jewry as distinct from non-Jewish ethnos. When Paul says that "a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the ethnos has come in," he was NOT telling us that God hardened Jewish hearts until a certain complement of "gentiles" had come to believe in Jesus Christ.
Instead, Paul was telling us that God had hardened the hearts of both Israel and Judah until ALL THE NATIONS have come to the knowledge of Christ. Those nations are not merely "gentiles" as distinct from Israelites, but rather they literally include both Israel and Judah as nations.
Paul was referring to the promise to Abraham that his seed would bless all nations (Gen. 12:3). To Abraham himself, God promised, "I will make you a great NATION." The Hebrew word used is goy, which is the equivalent to the New Testament ethnos. Although both of these words are often applied to nations other than Israel or Judah, these words are also used of the "nation" of Israel and the "nation" of Judah. "Nation" is a neutral term and should not be translated "gentiles."
Hence, "the fulness of the ethnos" (Rom. 11:25) is actually a reference to Gen. 48:19, "a multitude of nations." It is the promise given to Ephraim, son of Joseph. The Hebrew word translated "multitude" is melo, which is defined as "fulness, that which fills."
Paul, then, was referring to the promise to Ephraim, who was the inheritor of the Birthright. Jacob prophesied that he would become "a fulness of nations," or a fulness of ethnos. To Ephraim was given the name "Israel" (Gen. 48:16).
So Paul was telling us that God had blinded the eyes of Israel--represented by the tribe of Ephraim--until the promise should be fulfilled concerning Ephraim becoming "a fulness of nations." This multitude or fulness of nations are not "gentile" nations as distinct from Israel. Paul was referring specifically to the promise that Abraham would beget a multitude of nations.
We know that Paul understood that this promise to Abraham would include all the ethnos who were "children of Abraham" by faith (Gal. 3:26, 29). Thus, it certainly includes nations who have no direct genealogical connection to Abraham. But Paul was NOT saying that God had set aside Israel during a so-called "dispensation of grace" in order to allow "gentiles" to join the church.
