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Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Will all Israel be saved? That's an important question and it's the question that we're dealing with in this episode because today we are looking at Romans chapter 11.
Now Romans chapter 11 begins with an important question. The Apostle Paul says, has God rejected his people by no means? Now, who are his people? In this regard, Paul is talking about Israel as a nation.
And as we know in the old covenant, God had chosen Israel for a purpose. And the Apostle Paul is asking the question, well, since God has sent Jesus and the vast majority of Jews in Paul's time and even today had not received Jesus, does that mean that God has turned his back on his people?
And Paul says, no, I'm an Israelite and God has saved me and many in the early church were Jewish Christians. And even today, there are people who are Jewish Christians. And so the idea that God has completely turned his back on the Jews is not true.
But he does go on to say later in chapter 11, that a partial hardening has come on the Jewish people until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled. We see that down in verse 25. He says, lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, a partial hardening has come upon Israel.
That's national Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And then we come to this very enigmatic verse, verse 26. It says, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion.
He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. So in verse 26, he makes the statement, all Israel will be saved. And I have heard this verse used many different ways in many different contexts.
And oftentimes I think that it's used incorrectly. It is a difficult passage. And when we come to a difficult passage, I have a three-step process that I go through, and I wanted to share it with you today.
Three steps to deal with a difficult passage. First is examine the context. Second is to eliminate the unreasonable understandings. And third is to examine the possibilities. What could this mean? And so that's what we're going to do today.
We're going to examine the context. We're going to eliminate the unreasonable, and then we're going to examine the possibilities. Well, what's the context? Paul is talking about the question, going back to verse one, the question is, has God done away with Israel?
The answer is no, because he has saved many Israelites along with people from other nations. And those who have come from other nations are being grafted in. He uses that picture of branches being grafted in.
And then again, in verse 25, he says there is a partial hardening that has come on Jewish people. And we see this also over in Corinthians where the Apostle Paul talks about a veil that covers their eyes.
And until they see Jesus, until they believe in Jesus, that veil is going to cover, and they're not going to understand why he's come or who he is. They're not going to understand him as their Messiah.
But then it's in that context, he says, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. Now, an unreasonable understanding of that is that what Paul is saying is that regardless of their faith, everyone who is a Jew is going to be saved.
I think that is an unreasonable understanding. And you might say, well, nobody believes that. I've seen people say that. I've seen people who are from what I would say is a hyper-dispensational view, who said just because someone is a Jew, that's enough to make them saved.
A good example of this is Pat Robertson. I saw him in an interview once where a man was speaking to him, and he was a Jewish man. And Pat Robertson was talking to him. And the man said, well, do you think I'm going to hell?
And Pat Robertson said, well, no, you're a Jew, and all Israel will be saved. So that was an example of Pat Robertson quoting this passage out of context, quoting it in something that I think is an unreasonable understanding.
If all Jewish people are saved simply because they are Jewish, then why did Paul say in Romans 9 that he would give his own salvation if it meant the salvation of his brethren according to the flesh, if it meant the salvation of the Jews?
Again, I point you back, go back with me to Romans 9 very quickly. At the beginning of Romans 9, the apostle Paul says this, I could wish I myself were a curse, this is verse 3, and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.
They are Israelites. So he's talking about the Jews, and he says, if it meant their salvation, I would gladly give up my own. And that's a powerful statement from the apostle Paul, him saying he would give up his own salvation if it meant the salvation of the Jewish people.
So one unreasonable understanding, I would say, is that anyone would say that this means that Jews are saved simply by virtue of being Jews. I think that's a misunderstanding. I think it's a misreading of the text.
No one is saved simply because of their flesh. John 1 tells us that, that when we are born again, in fact, John 1 says this, it says, speaking of Jesus says, he came unto his own, his own received him not.
But to as many as received him, he gave them the power to become the children of God who were born not of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of the will of God. And so the flesh profits nothing, and so a person who is a Jew is not any better off in regard to salvation than a non-Jew in the sense of them being saved by virtue of them being Jewish.
They are better off in the sense that they have the covenant, and they have the scriptures. Paul tells us that in Romans 9. He says, yes, they have advantages, but the advantage is not that they're saved by virtue of being Jewish.
And so that is an unreasonable understanding. So what are the possibilities then? If that's an unreasonable way to understand it, that all Israel is going to be saved simply because they're Jewish, what are the possibilities?
Well, there are three possibilities for understanding the phrase all Israel will be saved. Number one is that Paul is referring here to spiritual Israel. Now spiritual Israel is made up of people of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
The Bible says, when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we become sons and daughters of Abraham. We become part of Israel. In fact, that was Paul's argument just a few minutes earlier in the text. He talks about the branches being grafted in.
We are the wild branches that have been grafted in to Israel. And so the fact that he could be talking about spiritual Israel, and all those who are in Christ are spiritual Israel, and that would fit when he says that the Redeemer comes from Zion.
He says that in the very next line. Certainly is a possibility, but there are some who would argue that that doesn't really fit the context because Paul is talking about national Israel. He's not really talking about spiritual Israel.
So what could be another understanding of all Israel will be saved? Well, another understanding is what he is saying is that the remnant that is always promised, if you go back into the old covenant, there's always a remnant of the Jews.
If you think about when God spoke to the prophets, I have kept for myself 7 ,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. There's always this remnant that God is keeping for himself, and so he could be referring to all true Jews from the remnant.
But again, that sort of seems like it's a difficult way to understand it, but it's a possibility. Again, I'm giving you possibilities. And then there's a third option, and that it is saying that one day there is going to be a revival among the Jewish people, and at that point, all Jews, all Israel will see Jesus for who he is, will understand that he is the deliverer, that he's the one who God has sent, and there will be a revival, and there will be a great return of the Jewish people.
And that's a great hope that many people have, and that's the way some understand this passage, that it's going to be a revival. But here's the thing I want to understand. No matter how you take this, of these three possibilities, there's all one common denominator in all three of them, and the common denominator is Jesus Christ.
If we're talking about spiritual Israel, how are they spiritual Israel? Because of Jesus. If we're talking about a remnant within Israel, we're talking about those who believed in Jesus. If we're talking about a revival one day among the Jews, then we're talking about a whole nation that turns and sees Jesus.
No matter what, salvation is always in Jesus Christ. No one is saved simply by virtue of being Jewish. No one is saved simply by virtue of being born into a covenant family. You are only saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and by faith in him, and so whether it's spiritual Israel, whether it's a remnant within Israel, or whether it's a revival coming for the people of Israel, no matter how you interpret it, it has to all center on the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
Will Israel be saved? Only those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And at the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, every knee will bow in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father, that is to the Jews and to the Gentiles, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
And so that is my encouragement to you today. Don't assume that anyone's saved simply because of who they are. Understand that no one is saved outside of Jesus Christ, even if they be a Jew. Thank you for watching Coffee with a Calvinist today.
I hope this has been an encouragement to you. I hope this has been an encouragement to dig deeper into the text, seek to understand it, and even to deal with the harder passages and maybe give you a little method for dealing with the harder passages.
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My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist. God bless.