Romans 11:26 “And so all Israel shall be saved” Explained in Context

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I’m really excited to write this article! Until today I never fully understood Romans 11:26. I think I do now thanks to a good Covenant Theology preacher I listened to by the name of Ryan Rufus. But rather than share directly from him, I want to use the Bible and explain it directly from God’s Word.

Romans 11:26 is often quoted by Christian Zionists as one reason for their support of the modern nation of Israel. All Christian Zionists are Dispensationalists whether they know it or not or whether they call themselves that or not.

If you are a regular reader of my website, you should already know the difference between Dispensational Theology – which is the most prevalent and popular evangelical view today – and Covenant Theology which is held by Reformed Churches and is the standard Protestant view before Dispensationalism became popular. If you don’t know anything about Dispensationalism, please first read: Have You Been Duped by Dispensationalism?

Dispensationalists, Futurists and Christian Zionists teach that Paul is prophesying that the entire modern nation of Israel will be saved. But did Paul really mean that?

First of all, let’s read carefully what Romans 11:26 says:

Romans 11:26 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:

Paul is quoting from Isaiah 59:1:

Isaiah 59:20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.

This is a Messianic prophecy that was fulfilled at the time of Jesus Christ!

Hermeneutics: How to Interpret the Bible

Interpretation of Bible Scripture is known as hermeneutics. It’s derived from the Greek word ἑρμηνεύω, hermēneuō, meaning to “translate, interpret”. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation of biblical text. The rules of hermeneutics are:

Let Scripture interpret Scripture. Scripture is always the best interpreter of other Scripture.
The meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph must be derived from the context.
Interpret the Scriptures knowing that the goal in interpretation is not to discover hidden, secret truths or to be unique in your interpretation.
Interpret the Scriptures literally unless you have good reason to believe that they are figurative.
Do not interpret Scripture in light of personal experience but interpret experience in the light of Scripture. In other words, read out of Scripture which is called, “exegesis”, and not put your own ideas into Scripture which is called “eisegesis”.
When interpreting the Scriptures, investigate the meanings of keywords in their original languages.
Interpret the Scriptures bearing in mind that many commands, directives, and duties were made to an individual and not all people.
Interpret the Scriptures bearing in mind that Biblical examples are authoritative only when supported by a command.
Interpret the Scriptures keeping in mind that Christians are living under the New Covenant instituted by Jesus, not the Old Covenant that God gave to Israel.

All false interpretation of Scripture is the result of breaking one or more of these rules!

Let’s see how Dispensational Christian Zionist preachers interpret Romans 11:26:

John MacArthur of Grace Community Church says:

All Israel must be taken to mean just that—the entire nation that survives God’s judgment during the Great Tribulation.

John MacArthur calls himself a “leaky dispensationalist. He is breaking at least three rules of hermeneutics. He is reading into Romans 11:26 what isn’t there! The context is not about God’s judgement during a time of great tribulation. He’s not using any of the preceding verses in Romans 11 to get the context. And he’s not using Scripture to interpret Scripture by quoting Isaiah 59:1. And his dispensational bias tells him Romans 11:26 must be a future end-time event. And if we let him explain further, he will probably tell you that this happens after the Church is raptured.

Dispensationalists wrongly divide the Word of truth because they break the rules of hermeneutics. We should not base a doctrine solely on the interpretation of a single Scripture!

Let’s read verses Romans 11 before verse 26 to determine the context:

Romans 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

God told Elijah that though most of Israel broke God’s covenant, there was still a remnant left, 7000, who continue to keep the covenant. And Paul applied that to his day as well. The remnant will turn to Christ and be saved just like the gentiles.

Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they (the people of Israel) stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

In other words, that Israel may see how God has blessed the Christ believing Gentiles that they might want what the Gentiles have, namely Christ.

Romans 11:25 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.

The fullness of the Gentiles means the salvation of the Gentiles.

Romans 11:26 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:

Meaning Israel will be saved just like the Gentiles are saved, through faith in the Deliverer, Jesus Christ! Paul was not talking about an endtime event. When he says all Israel, he’s speaking about the Jews, the elect that are saved, but he’s also speaking about the spiritual Israel the Gentiles that are included and together that makes up all of Israel, and so this is how all of Israel will be saved.

Jews continue to get saved today. I have met many brothers and sisters in Christ who were raised Jewish.

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Hi James, I think Jackie is right when she writes,”it can be seen that Romans 11:26 refers to “’all Israel’ as being all those who are believers.” I also believe this is referring to all those, both Jews and Gentiles, who are in Christ. The real context is that the hardness or blindness of the Jews is only in part, so that there is a remnant being saved throughout the church age.

However, I think that when the full number of the Gentiles has been gathered in, the hardness or blindness of the Jewish nation will be done away with and whoever is alive among their number at the end of the age will turn to Christ. This has nothing to do with the modern nation state of Israel. I also “do not believe the modern restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.”

I am inclined to think this modern state is presently on a very destructive path and may be coming to an ignominious end. That doesn’t mean that the nation (in the NT sense) won’t continue to exist.

The New Testament use of the term ‘nation’ of Israel is not connected to it being on the land in Palestine. All those Jews in the diaspora scattered throughout the Roman Empire considered themselves as part of the nation of Israel. It has to do with ethnicity and not a governmental entity.

In addition, I find Ryan Rufus’ presentation to be very confusing. First he says verse 26 is worded in the future tense, but then he claims it must be interpreted as being in the past tense because of the context. This does not seem logical.

And again, I take issue with the whole fabric of his theology which is poisoned (I believe) by his eschatology. I don’t think he is even aware of the Historicist viewpoint. He knows Preterism and he knows Futurism and that is all he considers; and he chooses the Futurist point of view as his own.

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Romans 11:26 “And so all Israel shall be saved” Explained in Context — 5 Comments

Ron on November 17, 2023 at 11:46 am said:

Thank you for this very stimulating post, James. Its always a pleasure to follow along even when we may not agree, for we remain friends in Christ!

The idea that this verse culminates at a future time is not of dispensational origin. For instance,

John Gill on Rom. 11.26
“much more may it be thought, that the Jews, the natural branches, will, in God’s own time, be grafted in their former church state, some of their ancestors were in, Romans 11:24, yea, the apostle argues the certainty of their conversion, and reinstatement into the Gospel church, from the design of Providence in suffering blindness in part to happen to them; which was not intended always to continue, only until all the elect of God are gathered in among the Gentiles;”

Matthew Henry
“The Jews shall continue in blindness,till God has performed his whole work among the Gentiles, and then their turn will come next to be remembered.

Albert Barnes reads this passage in similar fashion, as does Robert Haldane among others.

So I guess I want to say that it is not necessarily a dispensational bias to read this passage as referring to a future time, when the pleroma, the fullness of the number of the elect Gentiles has come in to the body of Christ, after which God will turn his full attention to the nation (ethnos) of the Jews and call a great many in to the body of Christ.

As far as the phrase, “and so all Israel may be saved,” Paul may perhaps be referring to spiritual Israel, and not fleshly Israel. He uses “Israel both ways in close proximity elsewhere:

“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” Rom. 9.6

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- James Arendt on November 17, 2023 at 2:06 pm said:
  
  Ron, I knew what the Bible commentators teach about Israel and Romans 11, but the fact is Romans 11 is the main chapter and verse 26 is the main verse Christian Zionists stand on in their support of Israel. I think Chuck Baldwin came out with a view such as yours. Maybe it’s better. The main thing I want to refute in the article is Christian Zionism which is a part of Dispensationalism.
  
  It’s hard for me to think a literal “all” Israel shall be saved when 2000 years have passed during which most people who have called themselves Jews have gone to a Christ-less grave. And I do not believe the modern restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
  
  Reply ↓
Jackie P. on November 20, 2023 at 12:31 am said:

James, this study was a good presentation set up in an easy-to-follow manner. Right from the very beginning of Romans 11:26 “And so…”, these first two words can be seen as a hint that there is previous content verses that needs to be understood in order to know the context of Romans 11:26. Without knowing the context, one can easily go the path of futurists and dispensationalists.Then you cite Romans 11:11 …”to provoke them (the people of Israel) to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” Romans 11:25 explains what God caused to happen – “blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” This blindness is mentioned also in verses 7, 8, and 10.
Once all this content of Romans Ch.11 is studied and understood, it can be seen that Romans 11:26 refers to “all Israel” as being all those who are believers and followers that “the Deliverer (Jesus Christ) will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Israel).” And the remaining verses of Romans Ch.11 further explain what Paul was saying. Of course we know that most of the inhabitants of Israel today ARE NOT believers of Jesus Christ as their long-awaited Messiah. This is their ages-old failure which still can be remedied. If I am off the rails anywhere here, please tell me.
Thank you James. Your study brought up some details I had obviously lost track of. This is a very timely article for today!

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- James Arendt on November 20, 2023 at 6:44 am said:
  
  Thank you Jackie for your encouraging comments! The dispensational interpretation of Romans 11 is what Christian Zionists base their support of Israel on. I felt compelled to address it. “And so” does indeed point back to the previous verses! Too often an entire doctrine has been formulated from a single Scripture without taking the other verses in context.
  We are suffered the last 24 hours power outages and lack of Internet due to a typhoon. This delayed the completion of my last post, American Christian Zionism History, Theology and Implications.
  
  Reply ↓
Ron on November 23, 2023 at 4:44 am said:

Hi James, I think Jackie is right when she writes,”it can be seen that Romans 11:26 refers to “’all Israel’ as being all those who are believers.” I also believe this is referring to all those, both Jews and Gentiles, who are in Christ. The real context is that the hardness or blindness of the Jews is only in part, so that there is a remnant being saved throughout the church age.

However, I think that when the full number of the Gentiles has been gathered in, the hardness or blindness of the Jewish nation will be done away with and whoever is alive among their number at the end of the age will turn to Christ. This has nothing to do with the modern nation state of Israel. I also “do not believe the modern restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.”

I am inclined to think this modern state is presently on a very destructive path and may be coming to an ignominious end. That doesn’t mean that the nation (in the NT sense) won’t continue to exist.

The New Testament use of the term ‘nation’ of Israel is not connected to it being on the land in Palestine. All those Jews in the diaspora scattered throughout the Roman Empire considered themselves as part of the nation of Israel. It has to do with ethnicity and not a governmental entity.

In addition, I find Ryan Rufus’ presentation to be very confusing. First he says verse 26 is worded in the future tense, but then he claims it must be interpreted as being in the past tense because of the context. This does not seem logical.

And again, I take issue with the whole fabric of his theology which is poisoned (I believe) by his eschatology. I don’t think he is even aware of the Historicist viewpoint. He knows Preterism and he knows Futurism and that is all he considers; and he chooses the Futurist point of view as his own.

Reply ↓

James Japan

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Romans 11:26 “And so all Israel shall be saved” Explained in Context

Hermeneutics: How to Interpret the Bible

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Romans 11:26 “And so all Israel shall be saved” Explained in Context — 5 Comments

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