Romans 11:26
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come lfrom Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
Define "all Israel" in your view?
Does "ALL ISRAEL will be saved" mean Every last Jew who ever lived from Abraham through Today "will be saved"??
Is that what you believe Paul meant by "all Israel" or do you subscribe to the notion that "ALL Israel" = some number less than "ALL"?
Or perhaps you define "all Israel" as merely the current population of the modern, Secular, Democratic Nation State of Israel, which would include, any and ALL Modern Jewish, Muslim, Christian & Atheist, Card Carrying Israeli Citizens? (which, again, would be some number LESS than
ALL Israel)
Even though that does not constitute
literally ALL Israel, Would that satisfy the definition of "ALL Israel" in your mind anyway?
Here's what the Bible teaches about the identity of "all Israel":
In Elijah's era, the multitude of Israelites who worshiped the false god Baal was so great that ALL Israel narrowed
to a mere seven thousand men (
1 Kings 19:1-18; Rom 11:2-4) and the rest were excommunicated out of the Covenant forever.
That faithful remnant at that time constituted "ALL Israel", and from that time forward ONLY the descendants of those 7000 were Gods Covenanted Israel. The rest, again, were cut off forever.
That's how God preserves His remnant in times of Great Apostasy.
Scripture records numerous apostasies by--
and subsequent excommunications of--seditious sons of Abraham,
while a faithful remnant remained as National Israel... and through the remnant and the remnant alone, "All Israel" Carried on...
Examples may be multiplied: God struck down thousands of rebellious Israelites in the wilderness (Num 14:26-45; Num 21:5-9; Num 16:1-50), though
the church (National Israel) was preserved and led to the Promised Land (
Acts 7:38-45); In Isaiah's day, apostasy became so rampant that "ALL Israel" continued to exist through a small but faithful remnant (Isa 10:22-23; Isa 1:7-9; Rom 9:27-29); And again as mentioned above, in Elijah's era, the multitude of Israelites who worshiped the false god Baal was so great that "ALL Israel" narrowed to a mere seven thousand men (
1 Kings 19:1-18; Romans 11:2-4). Lastly, at the close of the Old Testamental age, Israel was again reduced to a small remnant of faithful elect ones (Rom 11:5). The Jewish Pharisees and temple rulers grew wicked to the point of killing God's holy Messiah and apostles (1 Thess 2:14-16), and throngs wanted Caesar as king instead of Messiah, the son of David (Jn 19:15). Then, as in times past, "
ALL Israel" survived and continued on EXCLUSIVELY through the faithful sons, the Nazarene Sect (The REMNANT), while the unfaithful apostates were "cut off" from among the people FOREVER.
ALL Israel, as a Nation, survived *exclusively* in the sect of the Nazarenes. Like the 7000 in Elijah's day, "ALL NATIONAL ISRAEL" was once again reduced to a tiny remnant, the faithful ones of the Nazarene sect, and they received with joy their promised New Covenant and obediently rejected all former biases against the non-Abrahamic families of earth so that
Genesis 12:3 might finally be attained (Gal 3:7-9/Rom 4:13-18)---via the work of the Jewish Messiah.
Part of Israel was hardened, but part of Israel
was not (Rom 11:1-5). The remnant Nazarene sect, of whom Paul was a ringleader (Acts 24:5), was the NOT-blinded part of national Israel. The ruling and/or militant sects (Zealots, Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees) were the hardened and blinded part. God used their blindness to launch Christ's mission to the whole Roman Empire.
Moreover, Paul had just informed us at Rom 9:6-13 that
only the ELECT subgroup within Israel are saved, even also as it was in Isaiah's day (Rom 9:27) and also Elijah's day (Rom 11:3-5).
Jesus, his apostles and the Nazarene sect were ALL Israel. They are true faithful Israel.
Jesus, John the Baptist, the Twelve, the Seventy, the 3000 on Pentecost, the Nazarene sect all are JEWISH. They are ALL Israel, as are those of us who have joined ourselves to that branch via conversion to the covenant.
Again, Full Number is an erroneus translation, and has no scriptural support.
This is simple to deomnstrate.
By comparing scripture with scripture we clearly see that "fullness" does not equate with "full number", but rather the
fullness of Gods grace.
Since you Disagree, go ahead and replace the word "fulness", in these passages, with "full number", as you have done with Romans 11:25 and see how it works:
John 1:16
And of his fullness (full number?) have all we received, and grace for grace.
Romans 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? (full number?)
(This is especially instructive for us in that "
fullness" is considered here to the the opposite of "fall", and in no way can be construed as a numeric value.)
Romans 15:29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness (full number?) of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
Ephesians 1:23 Which is his body, the fullness (full number?) of him that filleth all in all.
The list goes on........
The unbroken, consistent notion of "fullness" in the NT carries the idea of "totality of Gods blessings and grace", and never means "a certain number".
Gentile believers are not waiting to become "full partakers" of the Grace of God, rather The Gentiles are
already FULL PARTAKERS of the grace of God.
So yes, if we are to believe the scriptures, the "Fulness of the gentiles" indeed came in 2000 years ago.