Romans 11:25-27 - Exposition

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that hardness ( πώρωσις ; see Romans 11:8 ) in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles he come in. And so all Israel shall be saved . πᾶς ισραὴλ here must mean the whole nation; not, as Calvin explains, "complebitur salus totius Israel Dei [ i.e. of the spiritual Israel, as in Galatians 6:16 ] quam ex utrisque [ i.e. with Jews and Gentiles] colligi oportet;" for "Israel" must surely be understood in the same sense as in the preceding verse, where it denotes the Jewish nation as opposed to the Gentiles. σωθήσεται , as seems required by the whole context, means coming into the Church (cf. Acts 2:47 , ὁ δὲ κύριος προσετίθει τοὺς σωζομένους καθ ἡμέραν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ). As it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: and this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Referring, as throughout the Epistle, to the Old Testament for confirmation, St. Paul here, as in former instances, combines passages, and quotes freely, perhaps from memory. The main citation is from Isaiah 59:20 , Isaiah 59:21 , with an addition from Isaiah 17:9 , the LXX . being followed. The citations are relevant, being specimens of many others that might have been adduced, predicting the final pardon and restitution of the house of Israel itself, notwithstanding judgments, through the Redeemer who was to come.

What follows, to verse 33, is in the way of summary and further comment.