All Israel shall be saved

 All Israel shall be saved

By Richard P. Joseph

Romans 11:26a

and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written:...

Romans 11:26 is one of the most misguided and misinterpreted  scriptures in the bible.   Because of massive Zionist influence in our bible schools and because of the practice of pulling bible verses out of original context, we now have most pastors teaching that this verse means that all of physical Israel will be saved.  Of course, nobody would ever complain about modern day “Jews” being saved, but to take scripture out of context really does have consequences.  It will be difficult to explain the whole of this subject in this short article but as always, keep reading scripture and use these articles to prompt you in your search.  I will give you a few clues but please read Romans again and pay attention.  I simply cannot understand how anyone ever got the idea that all physical Jews will someday become Christians, by reading Romans, especially if they ever read any other part of the New Testament.  So who really is “All Israel”?

The problem with pulling single verses out of context, you will have an incredibly high chance of misinterpretation.  Reading through the book of Romans you cannot possibly miss the idea that Paul, who is using a lot of expensive ink and parchment, to explain and that is that;

Romans 9      6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s [d]descendants, but: “[e]through Isaac your [f]descendants shall be named.”

The entire book is about explaining this one verse.  The entire letter is all about changing from the law to the grace of Jesus Christ.  

Romans 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the [h]Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

But like I always say, this isn’t new with Paul, it is all throughout the New Testament.  

John 1     12 But [m]as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who [n]believe in His name, 13 who were [o]born, not of [p]blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

John the Baptist said the same thing:

Matthew 3      7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for [g]baptism, he said to them, “You [h]offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance; 9 and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. 10 And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.

As you can clearly see, the apostle John and John the Baptist explain this same doctrine showing a movement from Judaism to grace or from physical to spiritual.  The true seed of Abraham was Jesus and true Jews are those that understood that faith is the avenue to God, not the law. 

Romans 2  28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from people, but from God.

Paul goes on and on describing what a true Jew is, so to make it easier I will give you an equation as a guide.  

Believing Jews + Believing Gentiles = True Israel

So when Paul says that “All Israel shall be saved”, he is talking about all true believers, both Jew and Gentile.  The whole point of his book, and all of his other letters, is to drive home this point which he called the mystery that has been hidden until now (meaning in his day).  The mystery, meaning that the redemption of all people has occurred.  God is the God of all people, it is not a Jewish religion.  The Jews were tasked with keeping the oracles of God until the mystery was revealed and the world was redeemed.  That all was finished with the coming of the messiah.  That is why Jesus claimed on the cross that “It is completed”.  The transition occurred from AD30-70 and all Israel was and is saved.

Romans 16   25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.