The Meaning Of The Phrase “And Thus All Israel Will Be Saved” (Romans 11:26) -- By: Charles M. Horne

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 21:4 (Dec 1978)
Article: The Meaning Of The Phrase “And Thus All Israel Will Be Saved” (Romans 11:26)
Author: Charles M. Horne


The Meaning Of The Phrase “And Thus All Israel Will
Be Saved” (Romans 11:26)

Charles M. Horne*

*Charles Horne is associate professor of theology at Wheaton College Graduate School.

This phrase is found in a distinct but by no means parenthetical portion of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, chapters nine through eleven.1 The section addresses itself to what may be appropriately termed the Jewish problem, a problem that is clearly expressed in the question of Rom 11:1—”I say, then: God has not rejected his people, has he?” The emphatic negative answer to this question rests on several arguments, the principal one being the necessity for a correct understanding of who it is that constitute God’s people. Gregory Baum states:

The reason why Paul spends almost the whole of chapter 9 of Romans on the schisms in Israel is that he wishes to demonstrate the fidelity of God in spite of the incredulity of so many Jews. In this situation.God is not going back on his word, since from the beginning the messianic promises were destined only for the men of God’s free choice. Not all those who were of Jewish stock were truly Israelites, that is, men of promise.2

Paul makes a necessary distinction between “Israel of the flesh” and “Israel of the spirit.” Spiritual Israel consists of the elect within ethnic Israel, and in the context of Romans nine through eleven these elect are equivalent to the remnant. If then we are to understand how it is that God has not forsaken his people we must first know who it is that constitute that people. On this point Paul teaches us that God’s people of promise are the elect of ethnic Israel, “for they are not all of Israel who are descended from Israel” (9:6).3 It is impossible to stress too much that over all of Romans 9–11 stands this statement.

Johannes Munck properly observes in this regard that

Paul does not here visualize “Israelites” who do not belong to the physical Israel as being within the new Israel of the Church… Here in 9:6–13 the only point he makes is that claims cannot be made on the basis of physical descent, since descendants of the patriarchs with exactly the same claims were allotted different destinies.4

In chap. 10 Paul marshals further arguments to indicate that God has not re...

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