A Short & Concise Analysis of Rom. 11:26—All Israel Will Be Saved! (2 of 4)

Romans 9

In Romans 9, Paul just got through using Isaac and Jacob as examples of God’s election (or choosing process), and then refers to them as “the children of the promise” (v. 8). They are what Paul also refers to as “vessels of mercy prepared in advance for glory” (v. 23), and then immediately states that all this is inclusive of “even us, whom He has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles” (v. 24). No one would doubt that Paul is part of the spiritual Israel of God that he mentions in verse 6. For he says, “even us!” But just when you thought that Paul by saying “even us,” as meaning, “even us Jews today,” he immediately qualifies this statement by saying, “not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles!” And then right after this Paul quotes God in Hosea, who says, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people…’” (v. 25). Again, in context, who are “My people”? Israel! Israel according the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. And Paul also confirms this idea about the Gentiles in his epistle to the Ephesians. There he writes, “remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ….Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household” (2:12-13, 19). Citizenry in Israel is now inclusive of Gentiles, not exclusive. This Israel of God is not replaced, but enlarged upon, even as God foretold through His prophet Isaiah:

But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations (or the Gentiles). The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have ENLARGED the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils (9:1-3).

This prophecy began to see its fulfillment in the days of Jesus, in Mat. 4:15-16.

Once again Isaiah says, “In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit” (27:6). Is all of this to be understood literally? Is natural Israel going to fill all the world with natural fruit trees? Not at all. Just as “root,” “bud” and “blossom” are not literal, neither is “fruit.” The “fruit” God is talking about is the “fruit” Paul said he wanted “among the Gentiles” (Rom. 1:13, KJV). “Fruit” in Christ’s kingdom, rule and reign is people all over the world. “The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace” (Col. 1:6).

Again, Isaiah says, “You have enlarged the nation, O Lord; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land….Your [or, ‘our’] eyes will see the King in His beauty and view a land that stretches afar” (26:15; 33:17). All the meek, in Christ, are in one way or another inheriting the earth in their own special way. Indeed, God’s knowledge is now covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. And we are truly seeing the King in all His beauty, spiritually speaking, that is. And even the “land that stretches afar,” for all practical intents and purposes, by the very nature of the case, extends even to “a better country—a heavenly one!” (Heb. 11:16), wouldn’t you agree? The author of Hebrews somehow saw that the promises made to the Patriarchs encompassed much more than literal real estate. To be sure, they eventually acquired all the natural land that was promised to them.[1] But, truly, they envisioned a land whose borders extended way beyond Palestine and on into heaven; and even a kingdom that is “not of this world” (Jhn. 18:36).

Of note in all of this that is said above, is the fact that in Isaiah 54:1, as quoted by Paul in Gal. 4:27 with regards to children born of a barren woman not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, God continues to say of her: “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” (vv. 2-3). Of a truth, Christ’s twelve Jewish apostles most assuredly began to do this. And just earlier in Isaiah, God had also alluded to this same “barren woman” who could not physically bear children,

Then you will say in your heart, “Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; who brought these up? I was left alone, but these—where have they come from?” This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See (or Look), I will beckon the Gentiles, I will lift up My banner to the peoples (or nations); I will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders” (Isa. 51:21-22).

These are all “sons” and “daughters” by faith. Abraham’s (or dare I say, “Israel’s”) children of faith! Born not of a husband, but born of the Spirit. These are all those promised to Christ, the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, whom just prior to Isaiah 54:1 which was quoted by Paul, was “cut off” (v. 8) with no children, but would nevertheless “see His seed” (v. 10). He who physically bore no children, would rejoice and sing over the fact that He would have more children than of those who could physically bear children on their own. Now all of this begins to make sense, when God additionally says though Isaiah,

Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. “Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God. Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance. For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.” (66:7-11).

This is the heavenly “Jerusalem” from above beloved, that Paul expounds upon in Gal. 4:26ff as the “mother of us all.” They are all those whom Paul, also as a mother, “labored and travailed in birth again,” till Christ be formed in them (Gal. 4:19); with them, in turn, no sooner giving birth to children born not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. She is “the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” typified by this great city called “Jerusalem” (the true “city of peace”) with all of its marvelous stones that are, in this case, cut without men’s hands (Rev. 21:2, 9-10; Isa. 51:1; 1Pet. 2:5), with Jesus Christ being the Chief Cornerstone. They are the spiritual Mt. Zion whom the Psalmist says of those of Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Cush who are all “born in her”; with even God resounding with joy, “All My fountains are in you!” (87:4-7). In US! His ekklesia or “called-out” ones.

Is your heart not beginning to burn within you as these Scriptures are being read unto you? Are you beginning to think that “never a man spake like this before”? It is throughout all of holy writ for those with the eyes to see it, and the ears to hear it. For this is what we should be speaking, says Paul, “not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are FOOLISHNESS to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Cor. 2:13-14). Any other sense of a “literal” sense that understands all of this to literally happen in the future, is just utter nonsense. Even Christ would be the first to tell you that—and He has!

By now, it should come as no surprise to us that Jesus would say unto His Jewish disciples: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Or even, who are My children? “It is all those who do the will of My father in heaven.” (cp. Mat. 12:48, 49; Heb. 2:13). These are “the children of the promise”—all of our brothers and sisters in Christ! Hidden in the words of the prophets in ages past, but now revealed unto us by God’s Spirit. Don’t tell me God’s Ekklesia (or “called-out” ones) are not mentioned in the Old Testament. They are everywhere to be seen, for the eyes that can see. Many dispensationalists have made the word “Church” to mean more than it was really meant to mean, as if it were a “new thing” in New Testament times. But it is just a Greek word that describes all who are: “called-out.” And these “called-out” ones are everywhere in holy writ, both in the Old and the New Testaments. In fact, Stephen even refers to them in Acts 7:38 as “the church in the wilderness” (KJV). So let all gainsayers and naysayers to the contrary be silenced. It may still be a “mystery” to them. But, by now, it should no longer be a mystery to us. If by now you should be teachers, is it really that someone else needs to teach YOU about the elementary principles and doctrines about Christ? Are your “senses” truly exercised to discern between good and evil; between what is natural verses what is spiritual? This is the stone of stumbling for some; the rock that brings offense. This is the sword that both cuts and divides us.

Now we know we are talking about spiritual Israel mentioned above in Ephesians chapter 2, and not natural Israel, because God’s “people” in verse 19, which is synonymous with “Israel” in verse 12, literally translated reads: “saints” (KJV, ESV, NASB, etc.). Do you see that? Natural Israel is never referred to as God’s “saints;” only the true spiritual people of God are called “saints.” Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, has placed His garment over us and has adopted us to become the very sons of Israel. And this is even born out in a good translation of Isaiah 44:5, where future “descendents” of Jacob (or Israel) would also “surname” themselves with the name “Israel.”[2] No natural born Jew would need to do this. Therefore, all Gentiles who join themselves to God’s people are given a “new name,” something that was commonly practiced by God and by Christ with those who belonged to Them, even as Jacob’s name was replaced by God with the name, “Israel.” And just as Jacob was surnamed by God as “Israel,” so too have we been given the right to surname ourselves with this same name. In our case, we are assimilated into the one olive tree, called “Israel,” in Rom. 11:16ff, where no one can tell the difference between any of us. It is not about the color of our skin or our natural ethnicity. And this is why Paul could say just earlier in Rom. 10:12, “there is no difference.” In Christ, there really is “no difference.” In Christ, we “partake of the root and the fatness” of the one olive tree, Israel; no longer considered as “foreigners to the covenants of promise,” as Paul said above in Ephesians. Actually, the word “gentile” and “foreigner” is now foreign to us. Like Jacob, we too have been given a new name—“Israel.”

Additionally, when Paul says in Gal. 6:16, “those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (NASB),” he was using a statement that was common back then to all natural Jews who included this in their prayer after giving The Eighteen Benedictions (or The Amidah), by saying, “Grant peace, goodness, blessing, grace, lovingkindness and mercy unto us and unto all Israel, Your people.”

Now, may I ask, are all natural Jews distinguishing between “us” and “unto all Israel, Your people” in their prayer as referring to two different groups or classes of people by using the conjunction "and," as all dispensationalists would have us believe of Gal. 6:16? Not at all! So then why should it be reasoned as such by these non-enlightened brethren among us with regards to this benediction that Paul is reciting to us here in Galatians? Paul, who was well acquainted with this prayer, knew exactly what he was saying when repeating this same blessing from God over His true people, now made up of both Jews and Gentiles. It was to “them” (or “us,” in natural Israel’s case with regards to their own prayer) “and upon the Israel of God,” who are the one and the selfsame people of God in Christ. The reason why Paul used the personal pronoun “them” instead of “us” was, I believe, to differentiate between one who is just a natural born Jew as opposed to “them” who in context are a new creation, whether they be physically circumcised or not. So Paul says, peace be upon all of “them,” and upon “them” alone. To all unbelieving Jews (and even Gentiles) only the wrath of God (and not peace) abides upon them.

It also should not go without saying here, that some dispensationalists argue that if it were really Paul’s intention to identify “them” of Gal. 6:16 as “the Israel of God,” then why didn’t Paul just “simply eliminate” the Greek kai (or “and”) after the word “mercy?” In their minds, omitting “and” would be “far more clear and to the point” if Paul were actually identifying the word “them,” with “Israel.” And if that were so, the verse would thus read: “And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, upon the Israel of God.” Worded as such, according to dispensationalists an argument could then be made for the apposition of “the Israel of God” with “them,” and the translation of the NIV of kai as “even” could stand (as it is, they detest this translation). But their argument is more than offset by the fact that the Jews, who also used the conjunction “and,” had no problem in identifying the “us” in their benediction as also “all Israel, Your people.” So why didn’t they just “simply eliminate” the “and” after “us”? Wouldn’t the result have likewise been “far more clear and to the point” that “us” and “all Israel” are one and the selfsame people?

As is the case with this Jewish benediction above, Paul likewise didn’t think it necessary to eliminate “and” in his statement, for it perfectly agreed with how he and all Jews fully understood its usage in their own benediction. Clearly, kai, translated as “and,” was used by Paul in Gal. 6:16 after “them” to join and continue the idea that “the Israel of God” and “them” are both one and the same, just as “and” is used after “us” by the Jews in their benediction to also include the idea that “us” are those who are designated as “all Israel, Your people.” Clearly, with both, there is no discontinuity of thought, but only continuity. In either case, it would be a forced eisegesis to read into these statements anything other than what is simply and plainly being delineated to us in both of these instances. So, with that said, any translation of the Greek kai as “and,” “even,” “also,” or “namely” could very well fit the bill here. So, to mince over words and say that “and” distinguishes between two different groups or classes of people is clearly a case for mistaken identity. Such arguing over “words” is of no value to the hearers, but only ruins those who listen (cf. 1Tim. 6:4; 2Tim. 2:14); even overthrowing the faith of some.

So, have no doubt, spiritual Israel in Romans 9:6, in context, is in fact inclusive of all elect Gentiles as well in verse 24. This is extremely important for us to keep in mind as we study this idea presented to us in this chapter of who all “the children of the promise” are that are designated as this spiritual Israel of God. Does Romans chapter nine specifically refer to Jews? You bet it does: “they are not all Israel WHICH ARE OF ISRAEL.” But no sooner do we realize this, that we also realize that Paul includes all elect Gentiles as well in verse 24 and in Gal. 4:28. What is promised to all elect Jews on a spiritual level, is also inclusive of all elect Gentiles as well. Thus, this spiritual Israel of God is not “replaced” by the Church. They are the Church (which, again, just means “called-out” ones) who have EXPANDED and have become ENLARGED, in Christ, to include the Gentiles as well.

A lot of theology taught today in churches that God has a special place here on earth for all natural Jews, apart from the spiritual Israel of God, is in fact a “replacement theology.” All Jews who are not “the children of the promise” are only to be “cast out” like Ishmael, as Paul says of them in Gal. 4:29ff (read also the verses before this as well). And ironically, what all natural Jews undoubtedly interpret of Ishmael being “cast out” in Gen. 21:10 as akin to God’s rejection of Gentiles, Paul now boldly turns it all around and applies it to all unbelieving Jews as well. Paul’s verdict stands against all those who have no higher birth than that of Ishmael’s. And like Isaac’s half-brother Ishmael who “mocked” at such a notion, Jews in Paul’s day, in our day and, sadly, even those among us who are our so-called “brethren,” likewise laugh and ridicule those of us who would say or teach such a thing. Additionally, all those whom the Jews denoted as “dogs,” are in fact themselves now called “dogs” by God or Christ (cf. Isa. 56:10-11; Rev. 22:15). And what is also ironic is the fact that the Church (made up of all believing Jews and Gentiles) is now the true “Israel of God,” while all those outside of the Church (all unbelieving Jews and Gentiles) are now the “dogs.” What was true on a natural level, has been elevated to a spiritual level; the natural similitude and type has in fact been replaced, giving way to the spiritual antitype. By the very nature of the case, all the natural “types” have not, will not, nor ever will be the reality; the reality is in the spiritual antitype of Christ and His people who are chosen by God according to the Spirit of promise.

So what Paul says of all unbelieving Jews, John the Baptist and Jesus said the very same things. For John said, “do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can make children for Abraham out of these stones” (Mat. 3:9, NKJV). And Christ likewise says, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father…. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do” (Jhn. 8:39ff, NKJV).

Clearly in tandem with John the Baptist, Christ, and all the apostles, Paul says in Romans 9 that all such “children of the promise” are “not natural children who are God’s children” (v. 8a). And just when you might think that this is reasonable to speak this way of Ishmael, since his mother was not Sarah, Paul speaks of the twins of Jacob and Esau who actually did have parents of a so-called “correct” or “pure” lineage or pedigree. Yet even at that, God chose Jacob over Esau to be His designated “child of promise.” And even when Isaac from a fleshly carnal perspective preferred Esau over Jacob as his firstborn son with firstborn rights, God overrode that decision as well by allowing the firstborn rights to be handed over to Jacob. Nothing whatsoever was foreseen in these individuals that made God decide for or against them one way or the other. But “in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by Him who calls—she [Rebekah] was told, ‘the older will serve the younger’” (vv. 11, 12). “What then shall we say?” says Paul, “Is God unjust? Not at all! For God says, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire (will) or effort, but on God’s mercy” (vv. 14-16). This is the blessed doctrine of unconditional election brethren.

Clearly, in this context, Paul says that all such “children of the promise” have nothing whatsoever to do with natural descent, though many among us in the Church still claim that Paul is talking about natural descent in order to qualify all as such. I hear it all the time. They say one has to be a bona-fide natural Jew in order to be a spiritual Israelite that Paul is talking about here in Rom. 9:6. I kid you not. This is the doctrine of Messianic Jews, Christian Zionists, and all dispensational premillennialists who, by a sleight-of-hand, pass off as truth. They say this chapter isn’t about Gentiles at all, but only about Jews. And some even go so far as to say Paul isn’t necessarily talking about individual and personal election, but about natural Israel as a whole, or as a nation. In this view, Isaac and Jacob are representatives of all pure-blood Jews, while Ishmael is a representative of all non pure-blood Jews, or Gentiles. But what about Esau? He was of pure Jewish or Israeli blood, regardless of whether or not they were called Jews or Israelis at that time. Now while it may be true that nations according to the flesh came from both Jacob and Ishmael, this is not what God is talking about in Romans 9-11. Far be that idea from God’s mind here. Such a notion is false and in denial of God's sovereign, personal, individual and unconditional election. Physical nations take a back seat here to personal election. They are only secondary, not primary; inconsequential to that which is consequential. All of this that Paul describes for us is in fact very personal and on an individual basis—with Isaac, Jacob, the remnant in Elijah’s day, Paul, and even all of us Gentiles who are called by His name. In all honesty, all such Friends of Israel are not the friends of Christ. When they think they are really for Him, they are actually against Him. They are "anti" Christ. They have not spoken of God correctly, as His true servants have.

One dispensationalist is noted as saying with regards to only natural Jews being the children of promise here in Rom. 9:6, “Only [such] children of promise are Abraham’s spiritual children: ‘those who are the children of the flesh [i.e., Jews who don’t believe], these are not the children of God; but the children of promise are counted for the seed’ (v. 8). Then he [Paul] added that not even every child of the promise is a child of God; only those who are chosen by God are counted as His children.”[3] Clearly, this individual is absolutely confused. Not only are those who are “children of the promise” not just believing Jews, but all “children of the promise” are in fact “a child of God.” That is Paul’s point, in contradistinction to anyone else who would think that they were a child of God based solely upon natural Jewish ethnicity. What qualifies those as God’s children, is the fact that God has sovereignly chosen them to be His children, as even verse 8 and verses 25-27 in no uncertain terms claim. And like I said, this includes Gentiles as well whom Paul likewise says, “like Isaac, are children of promise” (Gal 4:28). How anyone can miss this, is beyond me. But I guess deception just has no bounds. The Deceiver is doing his job, and he is doing it well. And as Christ said, “if it were possible, even the elect will be deceived.” But this is not possible. For all those born of God, “although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, ‘Away with you!’” (Isa. 30:20-22). And I trust that once you see this insidious and false doctrine that is being denounced in this article, for all that it really is, then you too will eventually come to say, “Away with you!”

In conclusion of this chapter, Romans chapter 9 is all about God being merciful to some of us, while hardening all the rest regardless of whether we are Jews or Gentiles; regardless of natural ethnicity. Romans 9 is not, I repeat, not just about the Jews which many mistakenly assert and read into this chapter! And it’s definitely not just about “nations.” And I think I have done a pretty good job in dashing to pieces that idea. And it will be this same theme that is carried forward into chapters 10 and 11. Click here.


Footnotes:

[1] See Deut. 1:7-8; Josh. 1:3-6; 11:23; 21:43-45; 23:14; 1Kin. 4:20-21, 24-25; Psm. 80:11; Neh. 9:7-8, 23-25. Additionally, God told Moses that once they took all the land promised to them, that they were to place six cities of refuge throughout the land, as a witness that all the land promised was all the land claimed. Upon entering the land, three cities were designated; then once all the land was subdued, three more were set up (cp. Num. 35:10-15; Deut. 4:41-43; 19:8-9 and Josh. 20:7-8. These latter verses show that Joshua had established all six cities)
[2] This Hebrew word is used one more time by God in the Old Testament, just in the next chapter of Isaiah 45:4, when God says he “surnamed” the Persian king that was to come a few hundred years later, naming him, “Cyrus” (v. 1).
[3] Richard D. Emmons, Vessels of Clay. An article published in the dispensational premillennialist magazine, Israel My Glory, vol. 74, Num. 1, Jan/Feb 2016; p. 20.