Plot Twist: “All Israel will be saved!” (Romans 11:26)

By Dr Quek Tze-Ming

In Romans 9-10, Paul’s argument seems to be heading towards the sad conclusion: Because Israel, the Jewish people, have by and large rejected God’s Messiah, God has rejected Israel completely. And so, the Gentiles, the other nations, are being brought in as God’s people.

But that is exactly the conclusion that Paul resists. And he does so with a plot twist worthy of the best detective dramas. It turns out that while Israel has a Fall (and has always needed God’s mercy and rescue; Romans 9), and Israel is at Fault (in seeking to establish her own righteousness rather than submit to God’s righteousness in Jesus; Romans 10), Israel nevertheless has a Future. God is faithful to His promises. Israel’s disobedience, her “hardening,” is part of God’s plan, and it is temporary, until the full number of the Gentile (non-Jewish) believers have come to join God’s people (11:25). The next step is the great plot twist: 

“And in this way all Israel will be saved” (11:26a).

Much has been written and said about the meaning of this short statement. We can ask three questions:

1. Who is “all Israel”? 

Some think “all Israel” here refers to the elect group of believing Jews and Gentiles (i.e., all Christians throughout history). That has some support since Paul has said that not everyone from ethnic Israel belongs to elect Israel (9:9), and also said that God’s people comprise both believing Jews and Gentiles (9:24-29). The difficulty in this position is that whenever Paul uses “Israel” in Romans 9-11, he is consistently referring to “ethnic Israel” (9:6a, 27, 31; 10:19, 21; 11:2, 7, 11). 

Some think that “all Israel” means all of ethnic Israel to the very last individual (i.e., every single Jewish person). But, it is possible that the “all” in “all Israel” is rhetorical, as in “your faith is proclaimed in all the world” (1:8; Paul doesn’t mean that in the first century, people in Shanghai and San Francisco are talking about the faith of the church in Rome!). Furthermore, Paul envisages that some Jews are liable for divine judgment and hence, are not saved (see 2:1–16). 

So, Paul does not think that every individual Jew will necessarily be saved. But he remains hopeful that many Jews will be saved at some future time, when the small “remnant” (11:5) of Jesus-believing Jews is finally joined by large(r) numbers of other Jesus-believing Jews when the partial hardening is over (11:26). In short, “all Israel” refers to Jesus-believing Jews, who are the elect within ethnic Israel. And there will be large enough numbers (compared to the small remnant in Paul’s time) that the “all” in “all Israel” is a good description. 

2. When is “all Israel” saved?

Is Israel saved across the history of Christian preaching to Jewish people? Or it is some future time just before or during the Second Coming?

The first option reminds us that outreach to the Jewish people did take place in Paul’s time. He himself was saved as a Jesus-believing Jew, and so were Peter, Barnabas, and others. Paul also assumed the need to preach to Jews, in synagogues and elsewhere (see 10:14-21). Outreach also took place throughout 2000 years of church history. And, there are Messianic Jewish congregations today who worship Jesus as Lord and God. We must never think that Jewish people will ONLY come to faith at some future point.

At the same time, it does seem that Paul is thinking of some future moment as he makes this statement. There is a time sequence in what he says. Israel’s “hardening” will be “until” the full number of Gentiles are saved. The next step is “all Israel will be saved” (future tense). Furthermore, the OT texts that Paul cites in 11:26-27 (Isa 27:9; 59:20; Jer 31:33) can be taken as a reference to Jesus’ return, bringing with Him fully the new covenant blessings of forgiveness. 

So, Israel is saved across history, and there will also be a turning to Christ by the Jewish people at some future point, possibly near or at the Second Coming. This turning will be of a scale large enough to refer to it as “all Israel,” as opposed to a remnant.

3. How does Israel get saved?

Some people think that ethnic Jews have their own track for salvation, that they can get saved without having to exercise faith in Jesus, since the Old Testament covenant remains in effect for them.

But there is no way that Paul would agree with this. Right from the start of the letter Paul states in his thesis statement that salvation is by faith for Jew and Gentile alike (1:16-17). Abraham is the Father of faith, and his family consists both Jew and Gentile (4:1–25). Throughout Romans 9–11, Paul emphasised that salvation comes by faith (9:30, 33; 10:4, 6–8, 9–11, 14, 17). Israel’s problem has been stubborn unbelief (9:32; 11:20, 23). For Paul and for the other New Testament writers, faith in Jesus the Messiah is a non-negotiable essential for people to be saved.

A final question: 

You may have heard Romans 9-11 being cited as people talk about the current conflicts and issues surrounding the modern nation-state of Israel. Does 11:26, or these chapters, say anything to us about that? 

Well, not directly. In the first place, Romans 9-11 is not primarily written to give us instruction on what is happening in the current conflicts today. But we can look for any opportunities in the current situation to pray and act to fulfil Paul’s desire (10:1) for his kinsmen. This desire turns out to be God’s own desire (10:19), that Israel, together with all nations and all peoples, will be saved through faith in Jesus the Messiah. The people of ethnic Israel (whether or not they are citizens of, or live in, modern Israel) are to us Gentiles the currently estranged and broken-off branches of the olive tree. God still has hands open to ethnic Israel no matter how obstinate they might appear. And since God’s word does not fail (9.6), and His gifts and calling are “irrevocable” (11:29), we look with hope and trust to that day when the two branches of the olive tree are joined together and fully flourishing as one people of God in Jesus Christ.