Salvation Coming To Israel

March 4th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Romans 11:26 And in this way all Israel will be saved… (ESV)

The English Standard Version (ESV), reflecting an amillennial view of Israel, renders v. 26 as, “In this way all Israel will be saved.” Yet the Greek text says, “And thus, all Israel will be saved.” The amillennial view is that “all Israel” is a designation for all Christians, both Jewish and Gentile believers. This stems from the idea that all believers in Christ are the true Israel, interpreting v. 26 as a conclusion from v. 25, namely that once the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ, then “all Israel”—the elect from both Jews and Gentiles—will have been saved.

The problem with this interpretation, however, is that throughout Romans 9-11, the nation of Israel and Gentiles are distinct peoples. It makes little sense, therefore, that Israel as an ethnic group in v. 25 would suddenly be changed to include Gentiles in v. 26. Furthermore, v. 28 continues to maintain the distinction between ethnic Israel and Gentiles. Even John Murray, a devoted amillennialist, wrote, “It is exegetically impossible to give ‘Israel’ in this verse any other denotation than that which belongs to the term throughout this chapter.”

There are two other notable views of Romans 11:26. First, that “all Israel” means “all the chosen Israelites” throughout history, that is, every elect Israelite from the past to the future will be saved after every elect Gentile has believed in Christ. Yet it would be difficult to see how only Israel’s elect remnant being saved by God would qualify as a “mystery” (v. 25) given that Isaiah 10:22-23 says that only a remnant of the larger part would be saved (cf. Rom. 9:27). Of course only the true, elect remnant will be saved in the end, but the “mystery” of it all is that the Jewish population of the end-times will be quite large compared to the present. A second view is that “all Israel” means every Israelite who lives during this future end-of-time scenario will be saved. Against this view is that the phrase “all Israel” in the OT does not always include every single person in Israel (cf. 1 Sam. 7:5; 25:1; 1 Kings 12:1; Dan. 9:11).

Perhaps the best interpretation of “all Israel” in v. 26 is that it is a designation of the nation as a whole at the end of time, not necessarily to include every Israelite. This interpretation fits, first, with what Paul said of Israel in 11:12 and 11:15, specifically that though Jewish believers are a minority now, there will be a multitude of them in the future compared to the present. This fits with the climactic character of Romans 11—that God has not rejected His people Israel (11:1). And when “all Israel” is saved, it will be far more evident than the hidden remnant Paul speaks of in 11:1-6. In other words, God saving “all Israel” in the end-times will finally reveal how faithful God has been to fulfill all of His promises to Israel as a nation. The saved remnant, however, though large, will still only qualify as a small assembly as compared to the nation throughout the centuries that became like the sand on the seashore (cf. Isa. 10:22-23; Rom. 9:27).

When all is said and done, “all Israel will be saved” (v. 26). The future tense verb signifies that Israel’s salvation is certain to occur, and the passive voice indicates that her salvation will be realized by someone or something other than her, namely God. This is why God reveals that Israel will be saved, for He will be the One to achieve it. In fact, it is already achieved, for God foreknew Israel (Rom. 11:2), and those whom God foreknew He also predestined, called, justified, and glorified (8:28-30). All of these past tense verbs mean that God completed that which His prophets promised He would complete long before the world was ever even created!

Food For Thought
Israel’s salvation is no different than yours and mine. They illustrate how we used to be: dead in sin (Eph. 2:1ff.). It is only when God lifted the veil from our eyes that we believed. So too with Israel. What they are is what we were. And what we are is what they will be!