The Millennium: Pre, Post, or Realized? #9

I just realized that I had forgotten to mention one important activity in which I intend to engage myself, and that is the study of the historical understanding of Romans 8-11. Of course the primary reason for my study of this section of scripture is for the understanding of two little verses, Romans 11:26 & 27

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"; and "this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

And in these two little verse, there is one particular phrase with which am I primarily concerned, "...all Israel will be saved...". And it is the explanation of that phrase for which I will be looking as I read what great men of the past and in the present have thought about Romans 9-11.

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

I think that it is safe to say that this “partial hardening” that has come upon Israel, the Israel of the flesh (for they are not a part of the Israel of God until they have been redeemed), results in the pruning of the natural branches that is mentioned in verse 17. I don’t think that it is Paul’s intent here to say that the hardening is partial in its scope, but that it is partial in its extent or duration. The use of this term should immediately draw our attention back to the topic in verses 16-18 of chapter nine, wherein we hear of the hardening of Pharaoh. We know from this occasion that the hardening that God does is sometimes permanent in its duration, thus the recipients of that hardening ultimately persist in their unbelief and perish to pay for their own sins eternally. There are in fact many occasions in the bible where we see God working in this way. But the reason for Paul’s mention of the hardening is his interest in the humility of the gentiles, because he knows that the natural human tendency is to pride and prejudice; prejudice can be a symptom or byproduct of pride and if prejudice exists, pride is nearly always its cause.

Paul refers to this hardening as a “mystery”. Some scholars in the past 200 years would have us believe that a “mystery” in Paul’s theology is something that was completely hidden in the Old Testament and now has been revealed to the people, by the Holy Spirit, through the apostolic writer. While I do believe there is a sense in which mysteries were certainly hidden in the Old Testament, I do not think, however, that the biblical understanding of term (as it relates specifically to the theological realm) necessitates its complete concealment in the Old Testament. Perhaps the most famous example of the “mystery” according to some modern bible scholars is the “Church”. There are those who believe that the Church as an entity was completely concealed in the Old Testament and only now is revealed after the day of Pentecost, which was the day of its conception. They would maintain that the notion of the Church as a body created by God does not have even an inferential representation in scripture before the day of Pentecost. Whether these same theologians would deny any Old Testament mention or reference to the “partial hardening” to which Paul refers in verse 25, I am not sure. I think that it is safe to say that this hardening in general is characterized by unbelief.

Paul says that this hardening has come upon “Israel”, so we can presume this hardening signifies judgment and wrath; the reason unbelief exists, in this case exists among Israel, is because of the punishment of God upon a disobedient and contrary people. As I mentioned in passing before, the Israel referred to here is the Israel of the flesh…why else would God harden them except that they were a covenant people who were “supposed” to believe; hardening from God is the just reward for unbelief. And also note that whatever unbelieving individuals included in this group did not have their hearts harden against their will; it is not as though they would have liked to believe but their belief just didn’t fit neatly into God’s plan rather, generally speaking, they were as a group, covenant breakers thus their disobedience and contrary attitudes, which eventually resulted in the application of God’s judgment in the form of hardening, were a result of their own active disobedience, not simply the “arbitrary” judgment of God. But God would eventually turn things around. The sovereign omniscience of God comes to mind when we hear Paul discuss the limited duration of an event and that its completion would effect the end of another event, in other words, I don’t find it insignificant that Paul points out the fact that the hardening of Israel has a definite end, but that end only takes place when the full number of gentiles has been saved. These are not just predictions on God’s part; He doesn’t merely see the future, He ordains its occurrence, so we can say that, God hardened Israel so He could have the gospel preached to the gentiles, He Divined a number of gentile converts so He could then end the hardening He had placed over Israel so that eventually, all Israel would be saved. Also, God’s sovereign omnipotence is at hand; if He knows the future of Israel and the gentiles (as groups with likely prejudicial thoughts regarding one another) His power must extend over His knowledge of the future; the fact that God knows the future demands that He has power to ensure that it happens. Finally, we may deduce that the hardening will eventually be lifted. The subordinating conjunction “until” qualifies the extent of the hardening…until the fullness of the gentiles comes in.

In the next post in this series I will begin to address the phrase which is of the most significance to my study which is embedded in verse 26, "...all Israel will be saved...".