Question: Regarding missions, a number of churches have little involvement with Jewish ministries.  Sometimes this reflects their interpretation of Romans 11:26. Please explain your interpretation of the phrase “and all Israel shall be saved”.

Answer: Romans 11:25-29, and specifically the phrase “and all Israel shall be saved,” speaks of a future day when no more Gentiles are added to the kingdom and God makes good on his promises to ethnic Israel. I find that v. 25 is more applicable to current Jewish ministries, because Romans 11:26 is speaking about a day when all other missionary ventures have ended. Verse 25 reminds us that only a partial hardening has happened to ethnic Israel (Paul himself was ethnically a Jew; Rom 11:1). This tells us two important things for current Jewish ministries: [1] We should not expect every, or, possibly, even many ethnically Jewish people to trust in the Messiah right now; God has hardened many of their hearts (also Rom 11:7-10). This mission field is not very ripe for the harvest yet. [2] We should expect God to save some ethnic Jews right now; some are chosen (also Rom 11:23-24). There is harvesting to do with the Jews, so we need to get at it.

This question, and my answer come from a recent application.