I often hear fellow believers state their belief that one day all Israel will be saved. This is, without doubt, what Romans 11:26 seems to state very clearly. In stating this belief, it is clear that those Christians mean that all of those who identify themselves as Jews will one day accept Jesus as Lord after 2/3 of them have been destroyed and thus be saved from hell, solely because they are Jews. Is this clear from the entire New Testament? I suggest the following three problems with this interpretation. 1.The Lord Jesus never even hinted at any special privileges for the people of Judea. He stated very clearly that choosing to follow Him is an individual choice which needs to be made by each person, regardless of ethnicity. John 1:11-13. Etc. He anticipated and even repudiated the idea of any nationalistic favouritism. 2.The identification of those who are true Jews in this present time - meaning those who have any genealogical connection with ancient Israel - is extremely complicated, considering the fact that DNA studies have shown that the majority of Jews are Ashkenazi Jews on the female side (since most converts to Judaism were women) who originated from Southern and Western Europe and that they had been present there for thousands of years. These studies show that they were converts to Judaism in the 7th century. Although Jewish men may indeed have migrated into Europe from Palestine around 2000 years ago, they seem to have married European Women according to Professor M. Richards who heads the Archaeogenetics Research Group based at the University of Huddersfield who undertook a recent detailed DNA study of present day Jews. Therefore through inter-marriage with these Jewish converts it is now known that their gene pool has been so diluted over the past 14 centuries that it is now misleading to claim any genetic connection with ancient Israel, meaning the descendants of Abraham, as mentioned throughout the entire Bible. More detailed information available, if required. Are these converts to Judaism to be included in this particular favouritism by God whereupon all will be either automatically destroyed or saved upon Jesus second coming? 3. The writers of the epistles frequently state that the chosen people of God are followers of Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9. This was written to followers of Jesus both Jews AND Gentiles. Paul also states If you belong to Christ, then your are Abrahams seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. 3:29. So what does Paul mean in Romans 9 - 11? The key to reading Romans 11 is contained in verse 23. If they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in. Notice there the conditional clause. IF each individual of Pauls fellow countrymen do not continue in unbelief, THEN they will be saved along with the believing Jews and Gentiles who are already grafted into the True Vine, Jesus Christ (John 15). There is no hint of any nationalistic mass future conversion of the Jews from these verses. If they do this, Paul writes, addressing his 1st century fellow-countrymen, then all of Israel will be saved and become part of the true Israel of God, comprising believers of all nationalities. However, there is no hint whatsoever from verse 23 that they WILL all do this, anymore than there is any guarantee that all Gentiles will, otherwise why would Paul have even given them this conditional warning if it was guaranteed that it would happen? This is why Paul goes on to earnestly plead with his fellow countrymen in the next chapter (12:1) to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To read any more from these chapters than this and to try and conflate these scriptures with some obscure and ambiguous scriptures in the OT (E.g.. Zechariah 13:8, Etc.) is purely conjecture and supposition. It should be said also that this notion that all Jews will automatically turn to Jesus in the future is also a relatively recent interpretation, being unheard of before dispensationalism which surfaced in the late 1800s from the writings of John Darby. Most importantly, this position contradicts the rest of Pauls words which echo Jesus teachings, that all believers are the seed of Abraham and comprise the true Israel of God. Gal. 6:16.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 16:43:51 +0000
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