INTRODUCTION

Throughout the years I have heard many Christians use the Pauline term thus all Israel shall be saved (see Romans 11:26) in a manner that suggests that all individual Jews will eventually, in one way or another, become partakers of the salvation of God. To see whether this exegesis is correct, I like to follow the argument of the apostle Paul throughout his letter to the Church in the city of Rome. I will focus on two issues:

What is the relationship inside the Church of Christ between Jews who believe in Christ and non-Jews who believe in Christ? One matter that is of importance in this context, is the role of the Jewish law, the Thora.

What is the relationship between the Church and those Jews who do not believe in Christ? A weighty matter in this context is the meaning of the covenant of God with Abraham.

These issues are often treated by rushing to Romans 9-11, but we will not do so. In those three chapters, these matters are discussed indeed, but Romans 1-8 deals just as much with those questions. If we want to understand what Paul meant in Romans 11:26, it is urgent that we discuss everything Paul says about this theme in his whole letter. Would he contradict himself blatantly in one and the same letter?

Our question about thus all Israel shall be saved, entails a few important words. In this study we will focus on what Paul means throughout his letter with the words:

thus (Greek: houtoos)
all (Greek: pas, and related words like pantoon)
Israel
saved (Gr: sootheesetai, and related words like sooteeria)

I believe that Paul wrote this letter in the first place with a view to answering the two questions I posed at the beginning. We must see what Paul wrote about salvation, justification and related themes in the light of the Jewish-heathen question that is discussed in this letter.

Why does Paul tell us so much about this theme, the relatonship between Church and Israel? Because there were tensions in the Church in Rome, between the followers of Jesus from Judaism on the one hand, and those heathens who became his followers on the other hand. The major, very concrete, issue was whether the heathen Christians should not strictly follow Jewish law. It seems both groups looked down on each other. With this letter Paul hopes to reconcile both groups.

Beside this, many Jews in the Church found it difficult to understand that the Messiah had come, and that all of Israel seemed not to be saved at all in spite of Gods clear promises in the Old Testament. Does God not fulfil his promises? I believe that, from the beginning of his letter, Paul endeavors to answer this question and that his long argument ends with Romans 11:26: and thus all Israel shall be saved.

The advantage of doing this study on a blog is that you can easily give me your comments. Feel free to respond. It may help me to better understand Paul's views. Please help me!

Another advantage also is, that I can easily adapt my own writings. I hope this blog becomes better throughout time. I aim for a readable, logical, rational argument about this theme that has kept me thinking during the past 30 years. And I hope you forgive my rather small vocabulary. I am not a native writer of English.

The Lord be with you!