“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:”
Romans 11:26, KJV
“And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;”
Romans 11:26, ESV
Table of Contents
- Romans 11:26 Meaning – And so all Israel shall be saved
- Romans 11:26 Meaning – as it is written
- Romans 11:26 Meaning – There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob
Romans 11:26 Meaning – And so all Israel shall be saved
Many expositors make this passage relate to the Jewish people, as if the meaning of Paul was, “that religion should be renewed among the Israelites, as before;” but I extend the sense of the word Israel to the whole people of God, and thus interpret it: — “When the gentiles shall have entered into the church, and the Jews, at the same time, shall betake themselves to the obedience of faith, and forsake their present revolt from the Saviour of the lost, the salvation of the whole Israel of God, which must be collected from both, will thus be completed, and in such a manner that the descendants of the father of the faithful, as being the first-born in the family of God, shall enjoy the preeminence.”
I consider this exposition to agree better with the context, because Paul was desirous to point out here the consummation of the kingdom of Christ, which was by no means limited to the Jews, but comprehends the whole world.
And, in the same manner, (Galatians 6:16,) he denominates the church, which consisted equally of Jews and gentiles, the Israel of God, and opposes a people, thus collected from a scattered and waste state, to the carnal children of Abraham, who had departed from his faith.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
When, then, the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered — begun to go in, or when it is entering — when a general conversion of Gentile nations shall have commenced, then, or thus, shall “all Israel be saved” — the blindness shall pass away.
All Israel is not every individual Israelite, but it is Israel as a body: the great majority of that people shall embrace the Gospel, and by doing so be delivered from all the evils under which they have so long groaned, in consequence of their having rejected it.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Romans 11:26 Meaning – as it is written
This testimony of Isaiah does not confirm the whole sentence, but merely one member of it; namely, that the sons of Abraham are partakers of redemption.
If any interpreter adopts the following as the sense of the prophet, “that Christ was promised and offered to the Jews, but they had been deprived of the advantages of a Saviour, because he had been rejected by them,” he drops out of his consideration part of the meaning of Isaiah; namely, “that there would still remain a certain number of Israelites, who, after having repented, would enjoy the grace of deliverance through the Messiah.”
Paul does not cite the passage from Isaiah with verbal accuracy, for the prophet writes, “And the Redeemer shall come to Sion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 59:20.)
We need not distress ourselves unnecessarily on this point, for we ought to consider how suitably the apostles adapt all their proofs from the Old Testament to their own purpose, and they were only desirous to point their readers to the passages in the original, where they referred them to the fountain itself.
Besides, in this prophecy, although deliverance is promised to the spiritual people of God, under whom the gentiles are also included, yet, because the Jews are the firstbom, which is declared by the prophet, it was necessary that the prediction should chiefly be fulfilled in the posterity of Abraham.
For the Scripture attributes to the whole people of God the name Israelites, because of the excellence of the nation, which the Lord preferred to all others.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
Romans 11:26 Meaning – There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob
Isaiah expressly says, the Redeemer will come from Sion, in consequence of his having a regard to the ancient covenant.
He adds also, that those will be redeemed in Jacob, who have repented and turned from their transgression.
The God of Jacob distinctly claims some seed to himself in these words, that redemption may continue to be effectual in his elect and peculiar nation.
Paul felt no scruple in following the common Greek translation, where it is said, “The Redeemer will come out of Mount Sion,” although the language of the prophet in the Hebrew, (Isaiah 59:20,) “he will come to Sion,” suited the purpose of the apostle better.
The same reason also can be assigned for the second part of the quotation, “and shall turn ungodliness from Jacob,” for Paul considered this sufficiently to answer his view, because it is the peculiar office of Christ to reconcile an apostate and covenant-breaking people to God; and some conversion was certainly to be expected, lest the whole posterity of Isaac should, at the same time, perish in one common ruin.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
[Paul] confirms this prophesy out of that of Isaiah 29:26 and 27:3 where he foretells that the Messiah should come of the Jews’ Church, according to the flesh, the true Redeemer, to redeem his nation from the guilt and bondage of sin, pardoning their sins, and that he should take them into the Covenant of Grace, to the full abolishing of sin, which when it should be, the Apostle hath now declared.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
The apostle quotes some passages from the prophet Isaiah in confirmation of his declaration. Some have supposed that he refers to Psalm 14:7; but it is plain that the first part of the citation is from Isaiah 59:20,21. He seems to have quoted from memory, as it does not exactly agree either with the Hebrew text or with the Greek version. Like many other quotations, only a part of the passage referred to is given.
To make out the full sense, the whole of the 21st verse must be taken in: “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.”
The concluding words, “When I shall take away their sins,” are apparently taken from Isaiah 27:9 — the exact words quoted are found in the Greek version — a prophecy considerably obscure, but certainly referring to events to befall Israel in the latter days. Others have supposed the reference to be to Jeremiah 31:34 — a prediction also of the general conversion of Israel.
Of these facts, which had hitherto been a mystery — not clearly revealed or understood, the apostle was desirous that the Roman Christians, chiefly Gentiles, should not be ignorant, “lest they should be wise in their own conceits,” — lest they should proudly suppose that their notions as to their own importance, and as to the permanent degradation of Israel, were correct. Such a caution was necessary; for even after all that he has said, there are many Gentiles who glory over the cut-off branches, as if they were never to be graffed in — wise in their own conceits, and not submitting to receive the plain testimony both of the prophets and the apostle.
How wonderful, how deplorable, how well fitted to make us “cease from man,” to hear Luther saying, wise in his own conceit, “A Jewish heart is so stock, stone, devil, iron, hard, that it can in no way be moved. They are young devils damned to hell. To convert those devil-brats (as some fondly ween out of the Epistle to the Romans) is impossible.”
Surely the good Reformer had forgotten the history of his own conversion, and who it is who hath said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
