25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that
blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come in. (NKJV)
Romans 11:26
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may
not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the
Gentiles has come in (NIV)
It is common
to hear from those who preach dispensationalism that Israel missed out of God
and they were partially blind until the endtimes when the Jews would have the
blindness taken away. By then it would be too late as the Antichrist would have
assumed his seat in the rebuilt temple and the church raptured. This would
result in death of Jews in the future as the vengeance of God would strike them
and people all over the earth.
This teaching has it foundation in how the above scripture in
interpreted from how it is rendered in the English.
I want to share with you from my research and study that Paul
has a different thing in all together.
Did Paul really speak Jews being restored in the future?
It is would interest us first to understand the essence of
the book of Romans. The book written by Paul is help clarify how the
righteousness that comes Christ finished work has broken down every point of
separation from the Jew and the Gentile. He recognizes that the gospel was
first proclaimed to the Jew first but they had not advantage over the gentile
in the new testament administration.
He says this
28 A person is not a Jew who is one
only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person
is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the
written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
(Romans 2)
In chapter 11
Paul explains how the mystery of God is manifest. First an elect was saved from
the entire Jewish nation as seen in past judgments in the Old Testament. God
had always reserved a remnant to build from a new line from. In happened in
Noah’s time, Moses, Elijah, the first destruction of Jerusalem (in 586BC) and others.
He tells them
in vs 25
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may
not be conceited
What is the
mystery?
In
Ephesians 3 Paul unfolds in detail this mystery:
For this
reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that
was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading
this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not
made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the
Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery
is that through THE GOSPEL THE GENTILES
ARE HEIRS TOGETHER WITH ISRAEL, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise
in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
Both sets of people, Jew and
Gentile, are now in one body. In Christ we both have access to the Father. This
is the mystery; Jew and Gentile are one in Christ, the last Adam. This is the
new creation, which is the mystery unveiled now. Paul had earlier explained this
is analogy about the olive tree. Jews and Gentiles were grafted into the SAME
tree, sharing the same root.
He states "so that you may not
be conceited"Why does
he say this? This is because neither is better than the other both of them
stand by grace in the same body. No one was qualified by their works and so
pride should not come.
Then comes the controversial part;
“Israel has experienced a hardening in part” (NIV)
"That a partial hardening has happened to Israel"(NASB)
The word "partial"
which from the greek word “meros” means a division, a part of. It is not
possible to experience blindness in part or a division. If Israel was partially
blind then it means they would see the truth in parts. If they did then they
would have embraced the gospel and still hung to the law. Many of them would
not have perished in the calamity that befell that nation in ad70.
The most
intriguing thing here is that the word “part” or “partial” depending on which
version you use is an adverb and it modifies "has happened," not
hardening.
In proper
terms it should read, "A hardening has happened in part to Israel."
Paul was
not referring to partial hardening but that it has happened to part of Israel.
The
remnant he spoke about in the previous verse is not hardened. This is he
explains in:
What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not
obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; (Romans
11:7 NASB)
Notice
that the "elect" obtained it, and the rest, which is Israel, were
hardened. The majority part of Israel is hardened, and that recalls what Jesus
said “Many are called but few are chosen”
If you
look at the time context he explains:
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by
grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were,
grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:5,6 NIV)
There is no future destruction of the Jews contingent
upon the revelation of a man called the Antichrist. That part was fulfilled a
new body arose where the mystery of God was completed in the fulfillment of the
gentiles as the bride of Christ and his very own body.
