Romans 11:26-27

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is [or will be] My covenant with them when I take away their sins" [Isaiah 59:20,21; 27:9; Jeremiah 31:33,34].

V26-27 – All Israel will be saved. What do you think it means? There are four views:

First, a few people think it means that every Jew ever to be conceived will be in heaven. But it certainly doesn’t mean that. Matthew 8:11-12 Jesus says, “Many will come from the east and the west [Gentiles], and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom [Jews] will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Romans 2:8-9 says, “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” So there is no thought of every individual Jewish person being saved.

Second, others believe that “all Israel will be saved” means that one day every individual citizen within the physical nation of Israel will become a believer in Jesus Christ.

Third, some believe, similarly, that the phrase refers to a future generation before the end of time, that God will bring a tremendous number of Jewish people into His kingdom believing in Jesus Christ. Perhaps evidence of this is that in the twentieth century more Jews became Christians than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. And these scholars suggest that it will be new life from the dead for the church that will be floundering under persecution and will gain new light from this influx of Jewish believers participating in the kingdom of God.

Fourth, still others look at this passage thinking that Paul is really just saying that the whole church will be saved and that this passage isn’t necessarily speaking about future ethnic or physical Israel.

John Piper offers five reasons for believing that one day, in connection with the second coming of Christ, the nation Israel as a whole (not every individual within the nation (see 1 Kings 12:1; 2 Chronicles 12:1)) will embrace Jesus as Savior and become Christian. (1) “Israel” in v25 and “Israel” in v26 most naturally refer to the same thing. The hardened Israel (the nation as a whole) will be the saved Israel (the nation as a whole). (2) The reference in v26 to “removing ungodliness from Jacob” fits with the national view of “all Israel.” (3) The parallel between the two halves of v28 point to all Israel as the nation as a whole. (4) The parallels in v12 point in the same direction. (5) The same thing is true about the parallels in v15.

The quote from the Old Testament found in v26-27 is designed to strengthen our hope in Israel’s salvation. It refers to God’s promise: “The Deliverer will come from Zion.” The Deliverer is Jesus Christ; “He will turn godlessness away” or remove ungodliness from Jacob. “This is [or will be] My covenant with them when I take away their sins.” Israel will be saved when Jesus, the Deliverer, comes from Zion (the second coming?) and takes away the ungodliness—the hardening— from Israel and replaces it with faith (v23, “if they do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted in”), and so their sins will be forgiven; they will be grafted in to the tree of salvation as one people with the Gentiles who believe in Jesus. Compare Isaiah 59:20.

This is Paul’s great message, that God is not finished with His ancient people Israel. How’s that all going to work out? I can’t say for sure; I’m not an expert on eschatology. I understand the various viewpoints, and I respect experts from each of those viewpoints. What I don’t understand is how they could be experts, yet disagree so intensely. Nevertheless, the point is that God’s goodness is mind-boggling. He keeps His promises beyond our wildest dreams.