Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!christian From: wagner@karazm.math.uh.edu (David Wagner) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Will 'All of Israel' be Saved? Message-ID: Date: 16 Jan 91 08:58:29 GMT Sender: hedrick@aramis.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Houston -- Department of Mathematics Lines: 59 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article farkas@eng.sun.com (Frank Farkas) writes: >During Paul's time there were already many who had the wrong idea about >Israel and it's future. Paul was compelled to write to the gentile >Christians to remind them of their origine, and the fact that they were >grafted into the house of Israel. He gave them the following warning: >Romans 11:25-27 >================ >"For I would not brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest >ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened >to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." > >"And all of Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out >of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:" > >"For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Did Paul really expect that some day all of the Jews will be saved? I doubt that this is the case. First of all, this can only happen through faith in Jesus Christ. Those Jews who reject the Messiah to their dying day cannot be saved. We might interpret the above passage to mean that at some future time, all of the Jews would be converted to Christianity. I wouldn't want to rule this out, but I think it unlikely. About the only way 'all Jews' could be converted is if 'all humanity' is converted. But Christ wondered whether he would find *any* faith on the earth when he returned. (Reference escapes me, I don't have my concordance at hand). In addition, Paul wrote in Romans 11:5 "So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." And in Romans 11:13,14 he wrote: "I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save *some* of them." Further, in Romans 9:7,8 he wrote: "Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, 'It is through Isaac that you offspring will be reckoned.' In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it it the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.' The true Israel is the Israel of faith in Christ, the Christian church. I think that by 'all Israel' here what Paul intends is all of God's elect who believe in him, now, or in the future or past. I think he made this clear when he wrote: "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in." (Rom 11:25) Thus 'all Israel' is a reference, first of all, to 'the full number of the Gentiles', and secondly to the remnant of the Jews that believe in Christ--which remnant included Paul himself, and the other apostles. It may be the the 'hardening in part' of the Jews will be softened at some point in the future. But I don't particularly expect all of them to be converted. I'm not even sure what that would mean, since the definition of 'who is a Jew' is either very legalistic or very vague. David H. Wagner a confessional Lutheran. My opinions and beliefs on this matter are disclaimed by The University of Houston.