And so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
και ουτως πας ισραηλ σωθησεται καθως γεγραπται ηξει εκ σιων ο ρυομενος και αποστρεψει ασεβειας απο ιακωβ
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That blindness has occurred, the Apostle does not prove by testimony, since this is evident to all. But that the Jews will believe and be saved, he again indicates through Isaiah, who cries out and says: “The Deliverer will come from Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
Then all Israel will be saved, obviously by believing. Again he brings forward Isaiah, who cries out that One will come from Zion Who is able to save and cleanse the sins of the Israelites. But when will this be?
The Apostle confirms the hope that, in time, rejected Israel also will be saved, by bringing forward the sacred saying. For Israel will be saved in its own time, called last after the calling of the Gentiles.
"Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:25-26).
Again, attend and consider this. He says that the fullness of the Gentiles will come in and all Israel will be saved. But what if they say to this: "Yet many of the Gentiles died in unbelief. How, then, has the fullness of the Gentiles come in?
"Nor will all Israel be saved, if it is true that the Jews will receive the son of lawlessness (cf. 2 Thess 2:8), disregarding love for Christ. For He Himself said: 'I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive' (Jn 5:43).
"The wise Paul also said: 'Because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, so that they should believe the lie' (2 Thess 2:10-11)."
What then shall we say in reply? We affirm that if God in His longsuffering offered grace to all and excluded absolutely no one from it, then the fullness of the Gentiles has indeed come in, so far as the intention of Him Who called is concerned.
If some slipped and turned aside from such a gift, this does not mean that we shall find the word of Scripture false. They had the possibility of becoming partakers of what had once been given. Why then did they make a voluntary departure?
Therefore, with regard to the meekness and love for mankind of Him Who called, the fullness of the Gentiles came in and all Israel was saved. But because they proved unyielding, he says that hardening happened to them in part.
"As it is written: The Deliverer will come from Zion" (Rom 11:26; cf. Isa 59:20).
The Apostle confirms by a sacred saying the hope that even rejected Israel must be saved in its own time. For Israel will be saved in its own time, being called last after the calling of the Gentiles.
Paul said that hardening happened in part because not all were hardened. Among them too were those who acknowledged Christ. The fullness of the Gentiles will be formed from those who are called according to the purpose. And so all Israel will be saved, from Jews and Gentiles, for all of them are the truest Israel.
When the Gentiles entered, He persuaded them through Paul, through the one who was caught up and heard ineffable words (cf. 2 Cor 12:4). He opened to them the door to life, concerning which it had been foretold: “The Deliverer will come from Zion and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
God will restore to the Jews the free use of the will, so that they may be cleansed and then saved, for their unbelief is not from malice but from error. Paul cites the prophet Isaiah to show that God has preserved His gift for them (see Rom 11:26; Isa 59:20). He teaches that by the grace through which the believing Jews were freed, we also can become free. For it has not been exhausted, but always abounds exceedingly.
The Apostle also brought forward the prophetic testimony: “As it is written: The Deliverer will come from Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them” (Isa 59:20-21), “when I take away their sins” (Jer 31:33). If life according to the law grants remission of sins, then it was foretold by the prophetic word. But if the law punishes transgressors, and the Jews were always accused of transgressing the law, then it is clear that this word signifies the remission of sins given through baptism. By “all Israel” the Apostle means believers, whether they are Jews who have natural kinship with Israel, or Gentiles joined to Israel by the kinship of faith.
When the removal and remission of sins takes place for the Jews, their salvation will be manifest and beyond dispute.
"And so," he says. He does not say how, but leaves it to be understood from the course of the discourse. Israel is blinded until the full number of the Gentiles comes in. Therefore, when this number comes in, blindness will fall from Israel's eyes. Israel will behold the truth, believe in the Lord and Savior, and so be saved.
"All Israel," instead of "the greater part," will turn away from sins and turn to the Lord, as Oecumenius says. During the apostolic preaching they said, "All Israel does not believe," meaning the majority, the mass of the people. So in the last time they will say, "All Israel has been saved," having turned to the true faith, likewise because of the majority who believed.
Those being saved are always the chosen, whether from the Gentiles or from the Jews, and not every person from either race. "All Israel" may perhaps also mean, in the Apostle, all believers, whoever they may be, because they are truly Israel.
Blessed Theodoret understands it in this way: "By all Israel the Apostle means believers, whether they are Jews who have natural kinship with Israel, or Gentiles joined to Israel by kinship of faith."
"Since what the Apostle proclaims is important, he brings in as witness the Prophet who says the same. He does not offer testimony that blindness occurred, since this is evident. But that the Jews will believe and be saved is witnessed by Isaiah, who cries out and says: 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob'" (Chrysostom).
The Prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of Christ the Savior, calling Him the One Who delivers, or the Deliverer. He says that He will come from Zion, that is, from among the sons of Israel themselves, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, who was first called Israel.
To turn away ungodliness means to make one pious. It means to teach faith, to provide grace, to sanctify, and to present him to God as a sincere believer. In the apostolic times, ungodliness was turned away from many, many Israelites through faith in the Lord and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
It was turned away from many, but not from all. The mass of the people remained in ungodliness. Yet since the Prophet Isaiah decisively affirms, without limitation, that the Deliverer, when He comes, will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and since this has not yet been fulfilled, it will certainly be fulfilled. The prophetic word cannot lie.
It will come to pass that ungodliness will be turned away from all Jacob. But since this cannot happen while he remains in blindness, there will be a time when this blindness falls away and Israel is saved, becoming truly pious.
This is what the Apostle wished to confirm by the prophecy he cited. But lest anyone interpret the Prophet's words crookedly and say that this turning away of ungodliness means that the Israelites will become completely faithful to the law given to them, rather than being sanctified by faith and grace, the Apostle cites other words of the same Prophet. These show wherein this turning away of ungodliness will consist.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 16 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS