Concerning Romans 11:25-32, I’m confused with the idea that there is a time when God will turn to save or deliver Israel as a special case, if it’s meant as a universalized or collective redemption for a mass of people. What about all those past generations who, then, are unincluded? Listening to this passage makes it sound like the Jews are very special, and that they don’t necessarily need to seek Jesus, as they instead are being sought, and are thus, in some sense, predestined for mass salvation. So then, what about the concept of “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female if you are one in Christ” from Galatians 3:28 and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16?

In Romans 11, this idea that all Israel will be saved is a mystery. It’s not an obvious fact. It’s something that we wouldn’t have deduced unless God revealed it to us that all Israel would be saved. This is one of the clearest and plainest statements in the Bible telling us that God does have an ongoing role for the people of Israel, for the Jewish people. In Romans 11, where it says that all Israel will be saved, in my mind there is no way that that can be referring to spiritual Israel. It’s referring to Israel after the flesh.

Now, there are places in the New Testament where the Bible does use the concept of spiritual Israel. But that’s not here. Predominantly, I would say that when Israel is mentioned in Romans, it is talking about Israel after the flesh. Occasionally it refers to spiritual Israel, but mostly it’s a literal Israel.

So, how is this event going to happen? Listen, it says it’s a mystery. But it’s going to happen. All Israel will be saved. It’s not going to happen because God’s going to grant them some kind of salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ, but through a divine work of the Spirit of God, they will be led to faith in Jesus Christ. We would also say that that doesn’t necessarily mean that every last person of Jewish descent in the world at that time will put their trust in Jesus. But overwhelmingly, the Jewish people will become a Christ-accepting people instead of the Christ-rejecting people that we would say they are today.

I know it’s a radical promise. Paul knew it was a radical promise. But it is God’s promise, nevertheless, all the way from the Old Testament into the New Testament.

In Romans 9-11, is Paul addressing the relationship between Israel as the people of God and the church as the people of God? Yes, but it’s not the central question. I think the central question in Romans 9-11 is, “What happened to the Jewish people?” We have this triumphant conclusion at the end of Romans 8, which we all love to teach: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

Romans 9 takes the position of, “Well, hey, Paul, it sure looks like the Jewish people are separated from the love of God. What about them? And if it could happen to them, how do I know it couldn’t happen to us? What about the Jewish people? Why are they in the state they are in right now?” Largely, Paul would say they are Messiah-rejecting instead of Messiah-accepting.

In two ways, Paul answers the question of “Why is Israel in the state of having rejected their Messiah?” First, he says it happened because it’s God’s plan, and he spells that out. Secondly, I find a place in Romans 10, where it seems to me that Paul almost turns on a dime, and he says, “Israel is in this condition because they chose it, because they continued in their unbelief, because they were unbelieving.” I think that Paul sets both answers side by side without seeing them as contradictory.

But it’s complementary: it’s part of God’s ordained plan, and Israel is completely responsible for their own rejections. But Romans 11 ends with Paul saying, “Don’t worry about it. God is going to resolve it in the end.” I love that. God will bring the people of Israel to faith before the time of the end, to fulfill what Jesus said in Matthew 23:39 – “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!‘” When the Lord Jesus Christ returns in triumph to the earth, it will not be to a Christ-rejecting Israel, but to a Christ-embracing and Christ-receiving Israel.