Dear Friends,

One of the most significant departures of contemporary Christians appears in the commonly accepted failure to distinguish between new birth and conversion.  The typical sermon on salvation urges people to repent and to increase their spiritual walk, promising that if they do so they shall experience the new birth.  I profoundly respect Billy Graham for his godly life, but I do not agree with his theology.  Many years ago he wrote a book entitled How to be Born Again.  Had he altered the language and title to How to be a Faithful Disciple, he could have probably allowed ninety-nine percent of the book to remain unchanged, and he would have more accurately captured the truth of Scripture.  Scripture affirms that God sovereignly saves all of His elect wholly apart from human means or human instruments.  Jesus clearly taught this truth to Nicodemus.  Notice the summary statement that Jesus makes to Nicodemus in John 3:8 .  We no more contribute to our new birth than we contribute to the blowing of the wind.  However, Scripture also affirms with equal clarity that we must indeed voluntarily and actively participate in our discipleship.  Some would suggest that perhaps as much as ninety-eight percent or more of the Bible deals with this question of discipleship and the related exhortations and instructions of the gospel.  Jesus specifically addressed the believer’s will in His primary lesson regarding discipleship.  “For whosoever will (is willing to) save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will (is willing to) lose his life for my sake shall find it” ( Matthew 16:19 ).

In this week’s study we examine the identity of “all Israel ,” not only in our study verses but also in this whole section of the Roman letter.  If Paul intended to teach a lesson about all living “national or cultural” Jews of his time, then our study verses force us to conclude that all such Jews were elect.  If he intended to teach a lesson about all “spiritual” Jews, regardless of their being known to him, we have no problem reconciling his teaching with all the other Scriptures that teach the eternal security of all God’s elect.

Let us rightly divide the Word,
Joe Holder

All Israel :  Spiritual or Natural/Cultural?

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.  ( Romans 11:26-27 )  

            While I thank God regularly for the division of Scripture into chapters and verses, this arrangement tends to fragment the contextual flow of Scripture.  The very fact that Treasure of Scripture Knowledge (the lazy Bible student’s favorite book) is so highly valued affirms my point.  Grab a verse here and a verse there that happens to contain the same or similar words, and, wholly ignoring the context of the verses, pretend that the presence of the same word forces a contextual link and thus permits the reader to interpret a passage in one book of the Bible by a remote passage in another book rather than in the context in which the primary verse appears.  When interpreted in the light of the whole eleventh chapter of Romans, this lesson provides convincing evidence of Paul’s intent throughout the chapter.  If in fact Paul is dealing with national or cultural Israel, teaching the idea that there shall be a mass ingathering of Jews near the end of time, this verse demands that we conclude that either across all time or at the least at that point in time all Jews are elect and shall be saved.  This interpretation blatantly contradicts John’s description of the saved in heaven.  

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation… ( Revelation 5:9 )

John’s description of the saved in heaven clearly refutes such a notion.  “…out of…” means that God didn’t save all in these categories; kindred, tongues, peoples, and nations.  Rather He saved His chosen people out of these classes.  None of any of these specific classes are saved as a whole group or class.  Thus we must force the whole of this section of the Roman letter to refer exclusively to national/cultural Jews, and conclude that they were all God’s elect, or we must interpret the whole of the section as referring to “spiritual” Jews, a point that you have seen earlier in this work.

            A reasonable contextual study of the whole chapter, carefully connected to Paul’s complete Roman letter rather than dissected into isolated verses to be interpreted wholly apart from their context, clearly affirms that Paul has dealt with a spiritual category of people, not a national or cultural category.  In Romans 2:28-29 he precisely defined a “Jew” in terms of their spiritual relationship to God, based on the inward “…circumcision…of the heart,” not based on external race or cultural identity.  If we allow that simple definition to stand throughout Paul’s Roman letter, including the eleventh chapter, we are not surprised by Paul’s delightful conclusion in this lesson.  He has been dealing with a spiritual category of people whom he terms “Jew” or “ Israel ” from the beginning.  Some of them failed and stumbled, but they were Israel and the beneficiaries of divine grace nonetheless.  Paul’s unequivocal conclusion in this lesson, “...all Israel shall be saved…” is not vague or unclear in any way.  He leaves no doubt in our minds.  Either all Israel shall be saved, or they shall not all be saved.  It can’t be both ways.  However we define “ Israel ” in this lesson, the conclusion is above question.  They shall be saved.  

            When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, he disbelieved her explanation, thinking that she had disgraced their engagement.  Despite his belief of her supposed sin, he was willing to accept the contempt of the community rather than disgrace her, but he was determined to terminate the engagement.  While in this state of mind, an angel sent from God revealed the truth to him.  

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.  ( Matthew 1:19-21 )

How many of “his people” shall He save?  The language is as clear as our study passage in Romans the eleventh chapter.  He shall save “his people.”  If we know the people defined here as “his,” we know who shall be surely saved.  Likewise, if we know the people whom Paul defined in our study passage as “ Israel ,” we know just as surely who shall be saved.  I suggest that the Holy Spirit as clearly defined God’s chosen people in Matthew 1:21 as He did in Romans 11:26-27 .  

            The human and superficial inclination to judge based on external issues, be they race, culture, or other factors always contradicts God’s righteous and merciful judgment.  If we ignore this passage and attempt to interpret the first twenty five verses of the eleventh chapter of Romans as if Paul were referring to national/cultural Jews and mystically conclude that our two study verses changed his definition to “spiritual Jews,” we have not only missed the contextual links of the lesson, but we have also wrested the integrity of Scripture.  However, we define “ Israel ” in the Roman letter we must apply that definition to our study verses and conclude that they shall all be saved.  

            Paul further defines the basis on which “all Israel shall be saved.”  

There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

The removal of sin is the specific deliverance or salvation of which Paul here writes, and the basis for that salvation is that the Deliverer “…shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob….”  In other contexts Scripture deals with God’s commandments to His children to turn their personal walk away from the practice of sin, but here we read of God turning our sins away from us and onto our Deliverer.  God further describes this vital work of grace, “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”  In Scripture and in the gospel God instructs, commands, and directs His children to turn away from the practice of sin and to live a godly life that glorifies Him.  However, in those passages we read of the practice of godliness as exhortations or instructions, not as divine guarantees based exclusively on what God does in and to us.  The Holy Spirit convicts and leads God’s children to the practice of godliness, but He never robotically orchestrates their godly walk.  If that were the case, we would find no exhortations in Scripture.  We’d only find one guarantee after another telling us that God robotically causes us to live godly.  We would also not observe the incredible diversity of degrees of obedience within the family of God.  God never works on a sliding scale.  His work is consistently and in every detail perfect.  Therefore if He sovereignly orchestrated our good works, we would all be perfect Christians!  The whole context of this chapter refutes such an idea.  In the flow of thought in this chapter Paul confronts Gentile pride in the form of a claim that God arbitrarily cut the Jews off just so that He could graft the Gentiles into the olive tree of His special blessings.  Paul warned these prideful Gentiles that God cut the Jews off because of their unbelief, not because of a mystical divine fiat, and that the Gentiles who presently enjoyed God’s “olive tree” blessings enjoyed them by faith and were just as liable to being cut off as the Jews unless they stood by faith in those blessings.  If Paul is here dealing with the eternal relationship of these people with God, we have just contradicted every passage that assures us that all of God’s chosen people shall surely be saved, and none shall finally be lost.  We have just contradicted our present study passage, as well as Matthew 1:21 , not to mention a host of other passages that clearly teach the doctrine of eternal security.  However, if Paul is dealing with temporal blessings associated with the walk of faith, there is no contradiction.  They are conditional on our voluntary choice to walk by faith and to obey God.

            Scripture teaches two amazing truths.  First, God turns our sins away from us and onto our Kinsman Redeemer, thereby saving us from our sins, the theme of our study verses.  Secondly, He also sends the Holy Spirit to guide, convict, and direct us in the course of our discipleship.  Our eternal salvation through our Kinsman Redeemer is certain, relying altogether on Him and His finished work.  Our discipleship is not a divine guarantee because it inherently relies on our choice to follow God’s leadership and direction.  Paul clearly affirms this uncertainty throughout this chapter and will strongly affirm the point in his summary statement in Romans 11:28-29 .  Unless we illogically presume that God predestined some of His children to be enemies to the gospel and some to be blessed by it, we must distinguish between God’s saving us from our sins and we saving ourselves from its practice.  

            This Biblical truth is not at all difficult.  Anyone who has raised children has lived through the experience.  By birth the child belongs to you and partakes of your nature.  However, when your child reached adolescence and began socializing with his/her peers, how often did you admonish your child as he/she walked out the door to be with friends, “Remember who you are.  Be faithful to your family and to what is right.”  The child’s birth in the family, and the child’s possession of your genes and nature was no guarantee of the child’s conduct.  You taught your child the values that you believed to be true and right.  However, the child had to decide whether to embrace and live by those values or not.  At times even children who strongly embraced the family’s values have succumbed to the pressures of their peers and slipped into practices that contradicted their values.  Likewise our heavenly Father has clearly and repeatedly taught us His values.  He wrote His Law in our hearts.  He inspired some forty five men to write sixty six books of instructions.  He established His church and the gospel to give us a nurturing home environment in which to cultivate those “family values” and actions.  Notice the form of this exhortation in the following lesson.  Peter affirms the same truth that Paul has taught us so clearly in the Roman letter.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  ( 1 Peter 1:13-16

“…as obedient children…” Peter in no way indicates that our obedience is automatic or programmed so as not to be otherwise.  He frames his lesson as an exhortation.  We have a choice to either fashion our conduct according to our former lusts, or to discard that old wardrobe and fashion our lives according to the example of the holy One who called us and saved us from our sins.  It is as absurd and nonsensical, not to mention unbiblical, to claim that every child of God, born of the Holy Spirit, will certainly obey God and be faithful because of his/her spiritual birth as it is absurd and nonsensical for a parent to claim that his/her natural children are always obedient simply because of their birth.(1)   How will you “dress” your life today?  What wardrobe will you wear?  God commands us to order our lives so as to act in harmony with our “family” nature and values.  

(1) In the study of Christian apologetics, the study of knowing and defending the faith, one of the primary tools of the apologist when dealing with the eastern mystical religions is the test of reality.  The eastern mystic will reject what you believe, claiming, “That is your reality, but it is not my reality.  We live in two distinctly different realities. Your reality is true for you, and my reality is true for me.”  In fact this mystic’s “reality” is nothing more than his/her imagination.  How does the apologist refute the idea?  Simple, observe that we live in one reality that is “real.”  If that person lives in a different reality, take him/her to a busy intersection and challenge him/her to walk across the crosswalk against traffic when both of you see a large truck traveling toward the intersection at forty miles per hour.  You simply tell the mystic, “If this is not your reality, why don’t you just walk across the street.  That big truck is not part of your reality.”  

            In our study the claim of a theologian that new birth automatically guarantees a person’s walk of faith is no more real than the parent’s claim that his/her natural children always obey merely because they are children, or the eastern mystic’s claim that he lives in a “different reality.”  Scripture never affirms mystical “realities.”  Its truth can be verified both by its internal testimony, as well as by the world of reality where we live.  Scripture, as well as every parent’s “real” experience in raising children is that birth and the training of the child involve two very different dynamics.  In the case of birth the child has nothing to do with being conceived and born at a particular time in the family, but that same child must take the responsibility to learn the family’s values and must decide to practice them or suffer the consequences of disobedience.  Scripture abounds with this same principle.  God does not consult us or require our cooperation or active participation in the new birth ( John 3:8 ), but over ninety percent of the Bible contains instructions to God’s already-born-again children.