What Is Romans 9-11 About? Part Five

In Romans 11:25-26, Paul continues to speak directly to the believing Gentiles so they would not become conceited in their attitudes toward unbelieving Israel.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.

What Is The Mystery?

What is the mystery that Paul did not want the Gentiles to be ignorant of?

It was a mystery as to why those in Israel rejected Jesus but the Gentiles accepted him.

Paul’s goal was to explain this mystery to the believing Gentiles so they would not become conceited (boasting in their acceptance of Jesus in contrast to Israel’s rejection of Jesus).

Paul’s reasoning was that If the believing Gentiles of his time could understand why God hardened some in Israel, then they would not become conceited.

Paul explains that the reason Israel experienced a hardened heart was so all Israel would be saved.

Before we identify the meaning of all Israel being saved, let’s look a little deeper into Romans 11:25-26.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.

A Review Of The Hardening Of Israel’s Hearts

In Romans 9-11, we learned:

- some in Israel were shaped by God to be vessels of wrath, while others, the elect, were shaped to be vessels of mercy

- some in Israel were hardened, while others were chosen by God’s grace to believe in Jesus as the Christ

A Hardening In Part And Until

We read in Romans 11:25 this hardening was in part and until, meaning the hardening of the Israelites would be limited in time (in part) and lifted at a specific time (until).

The time for the lifting of the hardening of the people of Israel would be after the full number of Gentiles came into the new covenant.

The word number is not in the original Greek manuscripts of this verse.

The Greek word is pléróma.

Pléróma has several meanings:

- filling up of a section of a garment with a patch in Mark 2:21

- filling up a basket with fish in Mark 8:20

- fullness of the grace of Jesus in John 1:16

- fullness of the blessings of Christ in Romans 15:29

- fullness of time in Galatians 4:6 and Ephesians 1:10

- filled to the full measure of God’s love in Ephesians 3:19

- the full measure of Christ in Ephesians 4:13

The full measure of Christ in Ephesians 4:13 was believers growing in unity and maturity as they grew in their understanding of spiritual truth.

Lastly, the Greek word pléróma means the fullness of God dwells in Christ (Colossians 1:19 and 2:9).

What Is The Meaning Of Fullness In Romans 11:26?

Based upon the above uses of the word pléróma, we can reasonably conclude that Paul’s understanding of pléróma is that God would lift the hardening of the unbelieving Israelites after the full measure (pléróma)of the Gentiles came to faith in Jesus.

With the coming in of the full measure of the Gentiles, then, according to Paul, all Israel would be saved.

All Israel Will Be Saved

Paul writes in Romans 11:25-26,

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.

What does Paul mean by in this way?

In this way is the Greek word houtós.

Houtós is used about 209 times from Matthew - Revelation.

It consistently means in this way or so.

Three examples are below.

- in the same way Jesus was persecuted by unbelieving Israel, believing Israel would be persecuted by unbelieving Israel (Matthew 5:12 NIV)

- in this manner, therefore, pray (Matthew 6:9 NKJV)

- so is the man who stores up treasure (Luke 12:21 NIV)

We could translate Romans 11:26 as: and, so in this way, all Israel will be saved.

So in this way means that through the fullness of the Gentiles coming into the new covenant, then all of Israel, meaning the scattered two tribes and the other two tribes, would be saved.

All of Israel being saved referred to all twelve tribes of Israel.

Israel Was A Divided Nation

Remember, the nation of Israel consisted of twelve tribes that came from Jacob.

Following the death of Solomon, Israel became a divided nation.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel consisted of ten tribes.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah consisted of two tribes.

The southern kingdom was called Jews.

In 721 BC, the Northern Kingdom of Israel ceased to be a kingdom when it was conquered by Assyria and scattered throughout the Gentile nations (2 Kings 17:3-6; 18:9-12; 1 Chronicles 5:26).

The Southern Kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC (2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 52); yet they eventually returned to the land (Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel).

The northern kingdom never returned.

God stated in Jeremiah 31:31 that he would make a new covenant with the people of Israel [northern kingdom] and with the people of Judah [southern kingdom].

How would God make a new covenant with the people of Israel and the people of Judah since both had been conquered?

How could the people of Israel (northern kingdom) participate in the salvation offered in the new covenant, since they were conquered by Assyria and scattered throughout the Gentile nations?

Paul explains that all of Israel, meaning all twelve tribes of Israel, would participate in the salvation of the new covenant when the fullness of the Gentiles came into the new covenant.

Included in the fullness of Gentiles entering the new covenant were those from the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were scattered throughout and assimilated into the Gentile nations.

Because some (the remnant) of those from the northern kingdom believed in Jesus as the Christ, they, too, were saved.

And in this way (by bringing the Gentiles into the new covenant; the Gentiles included the remnant from the northern tribes of Israel), all [twelve tribes of] Israel will be saved.

Those saved from each tribe of Israel were the remnant from all of Israel chosen by grace.

Recall The Remnant In Romans 9:24-29

Recall from Romans 9:24-29 that a remnant from the Jews (the southern kingdom) and a remnant from the Gentiles (where those from the northern kingdom were scattered after being conquered by Assyria) would be saved.

Through the salvation of those from the northern and southern kingdoms, the word of God concerning Israel would be fulfilled.

Remember, Paul is showing in Romans 9-12 that God’s word concerning Israel had not failed (Romans 9:6).

Part of this word was the northern and southern kingdoms would be restored under one king (Isaiah 11:11-12; Ezekiel 37:15-28; Hosea 14:4-9; Amos 9:11-15).

The restoration of all of Israel would occur when the remnant from the northern kingdom and the remnant from the southern kingdom believed in Jesus as the Christ.

Upon their belief, the kingdom of Israel was restored under Jesus the King.

And in this way, all Israel was saved.

Paul follows up his statement about all Israel being saved by quoting Isaiah 59:20-21.

We will examine this in Part Six (available soon).