Romans 11 Footnotes

11:22 Paul’s warning extends to the Christian church as a whole. On the one side, God’s election of Israel did not guarantee each individual Jew’s salvation. On the other side, we cannot presume that all members of a church are saved. The same God is both kind and stern—kind to those who follow him but stern to those who wander. Paul issued the warning to “remain in his kindness” or risk being cut off.

11:25-26 Paul showed here that hardening is not a permanent sentence against Israel, even though it resulted from their rejection of the message about Christ. First, he reaffirmed that only a part of Israel was hardened. That is, many Jews of Paul’s day did acknowledge Jesus as Lord and were saved. Nevertheless, at the end of the age, the Jews will turn en masse to Christ (or some believe that Jews throughout the church age will respond to the gospel). When Paul stated that all Israel will be saved, he did not intend “all” without exception but “all” as in a very large number (see 1Sm 25:1; 1Kg 12:1; 2Ch 12:1; Is 45:25; Dn 9:11; Mk 1:5; Lk 3:21; Ac 13:24). Paul used similar connotations for “all” and “many” in Rm 5:18-19 (see a similar usage of “all” in 11:32).