For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, that ye may not be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the nations be come in;
Has God finished with Israel? Paul answers by letting his Gentile readers in on a secret: the hardening is partial, it has an end point, and the nation is still on God's books.
Paul shares this so that his Gentile readers will not think too highly of themselves. Darby says the professing church made that very mistake.
It is precisely through being wise in its own conceit that the professing church has fallen. It has looked on the Jews as entirely set aside, forgetting that "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (older translations: "without repentance") — that He never changes His mind.
Older translations read "blindness in part" where the ESV has "a partial hardening." Hughes explains how strong that word is.
Note carefully that "blindness in part" has happened to Israel. "Blindness" is a very strong word. It means being hardened like a stone. The noun in verse 25 is a medical term, "callus" — the hardening of skin. This then is the moral state of God's earthly people. And it is not limited to Israel. Ephesians 4:18 uses the same word for the state of the Gentiles.
Two words keep this from being a death notice: "in part."
The blindness that has come upon Israel is only blindness in part. The nation is not blinded nevermore to see, nor fallen never to be restored, nor cast off never to be received. The time of their casting off will end when the fulness of the Gentiles has been brought into blessing.
Some readers mix this phrase up with "the times of the Gentiles." Snell says the two are not the same.
"The fulness of the Gentiles" is a very different thing. Israel, as a people, are now set aside, though a remnant is saved by the gospel, according to the election of grace. God is filling up the number of Gentiles He intends to save. The word "fulness" might be rendered "complement." In this way He is calling out of the Gentiles a people for His name. He is gathering to Himself the allotted number out of every nation, tribe, people and tongue. When that number is complete, the fulness of the Gentiles will have come in — come in to God. So "the times of the Gentiles" and "the fulness of the Gentiles" are two very different things.
Some read this verse as a promise that the whole world will turn to Christ first, and Israel later. Kelly says the chapter itself rules that out. He weighs two small words: "in part" and "until."
"In part" strictly means in part. It is not just a softening of a severe statement. And "until" marks the point in time when the great change takes place. Calvin said that "until" does not mark this, and means no more than "that." That shows the strong prejudice of a good man whose knowledge of the language was imperfect… "The fulness of the Gentiles" cannot mean the general conversion of the world to Christ. The apostle's earlier reasoning in this chapter makes that certain. He asks: if the slips of the Jews were the world's riches, how much more their fulness?
The gospel is open to Jewish people right now. So why call the present gathering "Gentile" at all?
It is because the apostle is speaking here of the Church as a stage in God's dealings. It came in through Israel's blindness, and it cannot go together with Israel's national blessing. Seen that way, the Church is Gentile, and it does not stop being Gentile when individual Israelites come into it. When they do, they take the same ground as the Gentiles… and they become detached from the nation as pictured here.
So the count has an end. Gaebelein traces what follows it.
The fulness of the Gentiles means the full number of the saved, gathered out from among the Gentiles. They make up the church, the body of Christ. And when the body is joined to the Head in glory… the Lord will turn again to Israel. All Israel — that is, all Israel living in that day — will be saved, when the Deliverer comes out of Zion.
- Mystery — Paul tells the secret so that no Gentile believer grows proud. Treating Israel as finished for good is the error that ruined the professing church.
- Hardening — the word means a callus, a stone-like hardness, not weak eyesight. The same word describes Gentiles, so no one may boast.
- Partial — the blindness is only "in part." Israel is not blinded never to see, nor cast off never to be received.
- Until — a fixed point, not a vague hope. God is filling up a set number of Gentiles, not converting the whole world first.
- Then — when that number is full, God turns back to Israel. The Deliverer comes out of Zion for a nation He never stopped calling His own.
and so all Israel shall be saved. According as it is written, The deliverer shall come out of Zion; he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
Paul ends his long argument about Israel with a promise of national salvation. Three questions follow: who is "all Israel," when does this happen, and who is the Deliverer who comes out of Zion?
This verse is the last step in an argument Paul builds across the whole chapter. One question drives it: has God finished with His ancient people?
Israel is the subject of God's plans. God does not cast away what He has foreknown and appointed to blessing. This rests on positive grace. God does not change His plans, even though Israel has no righteousness... The apostle gives three proofs of this truth. First, there was a remnant chosen by God. Next, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make the Jews jealous. Third, the Deliverer will come out of Zion to turn away the ungodliness of Israel.
Commentators agree that "Israel" here means what it means everywhere else in the chapter. The test is simple: see who the chapter sets against whom.
It is the future national restoration and salvation of Israel. They will be restored to their place in the line of God's testimony and promises on earth; heavenly hopes do not come into view here... Plainly it is the Jews, the literal Jews, who are meant here. The chapter distinguishes them from the Gentiles, and contrasts them with the Gentiles, from verse 11 on, and very clearly in this verse 26. "The fullness of the Gentiles" means the complete number of Gentiles who believe — all the Gentiles who share in the blessing while Israel stays stubborn.
So the nation is saved through a remnant.
A chosen remnant of Israel is spared. God will bring them to believe and graft them back into their own olive tree — not into the Christian church, which was never their own olive tree. They will become the nation — the "all Israel."
The word "until" in the previous verse sets the order. Nothing here is happening yet.
As the Spirit interprets the prophecy there, we are not to look for it to be fulfilled in the salvation of all Israel until after the full number of the Gentiles has come in. That is only going on now, so it is not complete. So the moment has not even arrived to begin applying it to Israel. But faith can profit by it at any time.
The promise turns on a place: Zion. Christ has come, but not from there.
But what will bring this about? "The coming of the Deliverer out of Zion," replies the apostle. But is not Christ the Deliverer? And has He not come? Yes; but not out of Zion. He has come out of Bethlehem, and out of Nazareth, and, thank God, out of the grave also. But not yet out of Zion. Zion is the royal city, David's city; and when the King of kings reigns there, then Israel's deliverance will be complete.
The prophecy Paul quotes has the Redeemer coming to Zion; Paul has Him coming out of Zion. (Older translations read "out of Zion" where the ESV reads "from Zion.")
The apostle cites the prophecy of the Redeemer coming to Zion as His coming out of Zion. Both are true, and each fits its place. The Redeemer must come to that mountain of royalty in the Holy Land so that He can come out from there. He will come to the righteous remnant, to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, and He will also turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Their hearts will be converted before Jehovah appears at the worst of their distress and destroys their enemies. But that appearing will deepen all their feelings toward Himself, and bring them into peace and blessing fully and for ever.
The title changes too: Redeemer in the prophecy, Deliverer here. One Person, two comings.
The Redeemer is now called the Deliverer, for He will prove to be both. When He came as the humbled Servant of the Lord He did redemption's mighty work. When He comes to Zion in His glory, He will bring the deliverance that redemption made righteously possible.
Paul wrote this chapter against Gentile pride. Handing Israel's promises to the church feeds the conceit he attacks.
Some try to read the church into every Scripture. They do not see that the glory of Christ will have an object of His love on earth as well as in the heavens. They have fallen into the Gentile conceit that Romans 11 denounces and corrects.
- Not cast away. Israel's salvation is the third and final proof that God has not discarded the people He foreknew.
- Not the church. "All Israel" means the literal nation. A chosen remnant is grafted back into their own olive tree and becomes the nation.
- Not yet. The blessing waits for the full number of believing Gentiles. That is still coming in now.
- Not from Bethlehem. He came from Bethlehem, Nazareth and the grave. The Deliverer of this verse comes out of Zion, the royal city, where the King must reign.
- Not only rescued. He turns ungodliness away from Jacob. Hearts turn to Him before He appears, and every feeling deepens when He does.