All Israel Shall Be Saved -- By: Howard W. Ferrin

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 112:447 (Jul 1955)
Article: All Israel Shall Be Saved
Author: Howard W. Ferrin


All Israel Shall Be Saved

Howard W. Ferrin

[Editor’s Note: Dr. Ferrin is the President of Providence (R. I.) Bible Institute. This article was read as a paper at the 1954 meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society.]

The position we seek to defend is that in Romans 11:26 “Israel” must mean the Jewish people, “all Israel” the whole nation, and that there is a future national restoration of that people. The position we seek to oppose is that Paul ever applies the term Israel to believing Gentiles during this age.

Let me attempt to present fairly the position which we oppose. We might quote from several well-known scholars, but this view has been put most succinctly by Philip Mauro in his The Hope of Israel—What Is It? Therefore I quote him: “The union of converted Jews and Gentiles constitutes the true Israel.” In referring to Romans 11 he writes: “The ‘true Israel of God’, as Paul himself has previously explained in this Epistle to the Romans, is composed of believing Israelites according to the flesh, with believing Gentiles added to them, forming one body as represented by the olive tree.” He then affirms that this one body is called “Israel” and adds: “Now the Apostle in the passage quoted declares expressly that the unbelieving part of the nation is not the true Israel (Romans 9:6), for he goes on to say in verse 7 that ‘Israel hath not obtained that which she seeketh for, but the election (the believing part) hath obtained it.’“ His conclusion is: “This election, which is the true Israel, and which has obtained the promises, embraces believing Gentiles along with believing Jews (Romans 9:24–31; 10:19, 20; 11:11–27). And now we have the whole truth concerning the Israel of God as revealed in the Scriptures.”

Use of the Term Israel

Let us consider one of Mr. Mauro’s claims which we believe to be the chief element in his argument: “Now the Apostle in the passage quoted declares expressly that the unbelieving part of the nation is not the true Israel.” We reply that the Apostle does not say so there or anywhere, expressly or even suggestively. What he does say is that “they are not all Israel which are of Israel.” The distinction here drawn (and it is the same distinction in Romans 2:28) is...

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