One of the challenges in covering a large chunk of Scripture in a single sermon is to go into sufficient depth while still covering the desired breadth within a reasonable time frame. (Some Puritan preachers kept an hour-glass on their pulpit. When the sand ran out from the top to the bottom, they turned the hour-glass over and preached the second half of their sermon!) My congregation is patient, but most would certainly expect me to finish inside an hour on most Sundays!
I was able to do so this past Lord’s Day as I preached on Romans 11:11-36. That’s a sizable portion of Scripture, especially given the theological depth of the subject being discussed: the salvation of “all Israel” (Rom. 11:26).
Based on my study of this text and its surrounding context, I am convinced that “all Israel” refers to ethnic Israel, not the Jew-Gentile church. Otherwise, the meaning of the term “Israel” in Romans 11:26 would be inconsistent with the term throughout this entire section of Romans, including the previous verse (11:25). In fact, “the problem of v. 25 finds its resolution in v. 26: the unbelief of Israel as a people will be reversed” [Three Views on Israel and the Church: Perpsectives on Romans 9-11, eds. Jared Compton and Andrew David Naselli, p. 127]. Even in Rom. 9:6, where Paul distinguishes spiritual Israel from merely biological Israel, the focus is still on ethnic Israel (i.e., the believing Jewish remnant).
However, a few further clarifications are needed:
“All Israel” does not refer to all Jews without exception who ever lived. This is because Scripture teaches that a person is either the object of God’s mercy or of God’s hardening (Rom. 9:18). This is one’s predestined purpose. Nothing in Romans 9:21-23 suggests that a vessel of wrath becomes a vessel of mercy.
“All Israel” does not refer to the believing remnant, for the very reason that throughout the passage, ethnic Israel as a whole is contrasted with the believing Jewish remnant (see Rom. 10:21; 11:1, 5, 7, 25-26).
“All Israel” does not necessarily refer to every single Jew. The Old Testament uses the expression to refer to a significant number of Israelites that represent the nation as a whole at a given point in time (e.g., Josh. 7:25; 2 Sam. 16:22; Dan. 9:11).
Speaking of which, the text in Romans clearly indicates the future salvation of Israel. In this section, Paul reveals a “mystery” (Rom. 11:25), which he defines at the end of Romans as a plan kept secret but now made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the eternal God (Rom. 16:25b-26a). The previously hidden but now revealed truth is that the hardening of Israel will last only until the divinely determined number of Gentiles have come into the kingdom of God. Since Gentiles are still being saved, “the fullness of the Gentiles” has not yet “come in.” But once this happens, “all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). The remnant of believing Jews expand to include the nation as a whole.
Paul says, “in this way all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). Paul is describing an event that will take place at the end of this present age, when Christ returns in power and glory. As Isaiah put it in chapter 59 of his prophecy, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob … [and] take away their sins” (vv. 20-21). The salvation of “all Israel” will occur when a massive number of Jews living at the time of our Lord’s return believe in Jesus as their Messiah and look to him alone for their salvation. For that is the only way for anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, to be saved — by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 1:16-17)