God's mystery expounded
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
The Greek word mysterion, generally translated as “mystery,” is not an uncommon word in the New Testament. It occurs three times in the gospels, twice in Romans, about a dozen and a half times in the rest of Paul’s letters, and four times in Revelation. Its basic meaning in virtually all of these passages is not that it speaks of something “mysterious” in the sense of something that can’t be understood. Rather, it speaks of something human beings would never have figured out or understood by themselves if God had not revealed it to them. Once revealed, it can readily be apprehended by the human mind.
At its most basic level, this “mystery” is the plan of salvation itself, in which a loving heavenly Father sent his only Son to be the Savior of all the world. Sin-darkened humanity could never have devised such a plan or even thought it possible had God not revealed it. Representative of this meaning of mystery would be Paul’s use of the term as he describes his ministry in relationship to the people in Laodicea. He tells the Colossians, “My purpose is that they [the Laodiceans] may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:2,3).
Another example of mystery understood as God’s originally hidden wisdom now revealed is located in Ephesians. There the mystery revealed is the inclusion of Gentiles in the New Testament Christian church. That mystery, revealed to Paul, is now being shared by him. He writes to the Ephesian congregation, “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (3:2,3,6).
The meaning of mystery as the Jews and Gentiles joining together in the Christian church yields a very workable interpretation of the Romans passage currently under discussion, and we will be returning to it in our exposition. There is, however, another variation of mystery that needs to be kept in mind here. That possibility is that the mystery spoken here by Paul is the explanation of the “hardening” that has taken place in Paul’s Jewish compatriots. Specifically, Paul says, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part.” The latter concept needs explanation, and we will be returning to it also.
A proper understanding of Paul’s term mystery is critical for this section of Romans because of the conclusion Paul bases on it when he says, “And so [in this way] all Israel will be saved.” Basically, three interpretations have been advanced to explain what the term “all Israel” might mean:
a. “All Israel” refers to the nation descended from Abraham (hence all people of Jewish extraction will eventually be saved).
b. “All Israel” refers to the Christian church, the sum total of all God’s elect, both Jews and Gentiles.
c. “All Israel” refers to God’s elect from among the Jewish nation, with all of this Jewish remnant being saved.
The interpretation of “all Israel” being every Jewish person could seem at first sight to be the logical understanding of this passage. The context of Romans, however, does not allow for that meaning to stand. A number of Paul’s statements rule out this interpretation. Note, for example, that in 9:27 the apostle cites the verdict of Isaiah regarding unfaithful Israel. The prophet laments, “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.” The term remnant leaves no room for the idea of a mass conversion of all Jews. Or recall that in 11:13,14 Paul speaks of God’s gracious intent to make Israel envious of the blessings going to the Gentiles. He says, “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.” When he says “some,” there is no thought of winning them all.
The second interpretation—that “all Israel” refers to the sum total of all God’s elect, both Jews and Gentiles, united in the Christian church—is a defensible interpretation. It is a possible interpretation because it does not strain Paul’s language nor yield a sense that conflicts with the rest of Scripture. Paul himself compels us to take a closer look at the term Israel if we are to understand 9:6. There he says that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” Paul is not guilty of double-talk here. What he means is that not every person who is born of the nation of Israel is a true Israelite in the sense of being a believer who is truly a child of God. The next verse repeats that same idea, using slightly different terminology. He continues, “Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children.” Hence Israel can have a wide or a narrow meaning.
Narrowing the terms Israel and Israelite to refer to believing Jews also seems to underlie the commendation Jesus gave Nathanael when he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false” (John 1:47).
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul lumps together believing Gentiles with believing Jews as the true Israel when he closes that letter with the summary statement, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God” (6:15,16).
Add to this the fact that in writing to the Ephesians, Paul calls attention to this same combination of Jews and Gentiles when he explains the term mystery to them. There he declares that the mystery he was sent to proclaim was that Gentiles and Jews stand at the same level in Christ’s New Testament church. Hence the understanding of “all Israel” being saved here in Romans could be referring to the sum total of all God’s elect, Jews and Gentiles, united in the Christian church.
The setting and context of our Romans passage under consideration, however, seem to slightly favor the third interpretation, namely, that “all Israel” refers to all elect Jews. Recall that since verse 17, Paul has been issuing strong warnings to the in phighly favored Gentiles not to gloat over the seemingly less fortunate Jews. In verse 18 he warned, “Do not boast.” In verse 20 he advised, “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.” In verse 22 we heard him say, “Continue in his [God’s] kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.”
Now Paul continues with a parallel warning against conceit. Note that he brings up the subject of the “mystery” to head off conceit on the part of his Gentile readers. He tells them, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”
In effect, Paul is saying, “Just a minute before you Gentiles jump to any wrong conclusions regarding the Jews! True, Israel has experienced a hardening, but it is only in part.” Taken out of context, the expression in part could allow for two possible interpretations. It could seemingly mean that all Israelites have become partially hardened. This would leave open the logical conclusion that when this partial hardening that afflicts all Jews is removed, then all Israel—that is, every Jew—is going to be saved. Some do indeed understand it that way. But we have already shown that by his reference to God restoring only a “remnant” and “saving some,” the apostle himself has ruled out a mass conversion of all Jews.
Rather, with the expression “Israel has experienced a hardening in part,” Paul is saying that not every member of the Jewish nation has been hardened, only some of them. To be sure, there are many who have adamantly set themselves against Christ and his gospel and will therefore not be saved, but the Gentiles are wrong if they think that’s the case with all Jews. No, there are those among the Jewish nation whom the gospel will yet win into the fold. These people may not be believers just yet. They may, in fact, currently be enemies of the gospel, but by God’s grace some of them will come into the fold of believers. God’s mill is turning. A process is going on. Individually, one by one, Jews will turn to Christ “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”
The coming in of Gentiles is surely a distinguishing feature of the New Testament Christian church. And that will continue until the end of time, when all elect Gentiles have been brought in. In fact, one of the signs of the end times is the gospel’s having been preached to the far corners of the earth inhabited by gentile nations. Jesus prophesied, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
The mystery Paul is here sharing with his gentile Roman readers is that during the whole New Testament era, Jews are indeed going to be brought into the Christian church alongside Gentiles—despite all appearances to the contrary. Observing that ongoing process, Paul says, “And so all Israel will be saved.” Or, to paraphrase it, In this way the sum total of God’s elect among the Jewish nation will be brought into the Christian church, even though at present it might look as though God has cut them off.
To repeat what was said earlier, it would not be scripturally incorrect to understand “all Israel” as the sum total of all God’s elect, both Jews and Gentiles. Here, however, the focus of attention seems to be on the elect from among the Jews. That focus is retained and even strengthened by the passage from Isaiah that the apostle presents in support: “As it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’”
Considering the setting in which Isaiah spoke, the “Jacob” from whom godlessness would be taken away seems best understood as referring to the believing remnant of Israel.
That the prophet is not referring to every single member of the Jewish nation but rather to the elect becomes clear if we look at the whole line of Isaiah’s prophecy. The full statement in Isaiah 59:20 reads, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins.” Sadly, not everyone will repent, but the elect will.