DOES ROMANS 11:26, “ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED,” MEAN EVERY JEW WILL GO TO HEAVEN?

by Shawn Brasseaux

The Bible says in Romans 11:26-27: “[26] 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: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Does this mean that every single Jew who has ever lived will come to faith in Christ? Does this mean that every last Jew will go to heaven? Let us look in the Bible for answers!

Romans 11:26 predicts: “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:” This word “all” is indicative of the nation rather than individual Jewish salvation. It is a corporate issue.

To read about individual Jewish salvation, we refer to Romans 10:1: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” Paul wanted individual Jews to be saved during the Acts period (see verse 9). Those Jews, like him, had rebelled against Jesus Christ (Matthew through John) and the Holy Spirit (early Acts). They were part of an apostate nation, and they needed to be saved from the error that had gripped national Israel. Individual Jews could be saved (Romans 11:14; 1 Corinthians 9:22) but the nation of Israel could not be saved at that point. National Israel was set aside and still is set aside. Paul was the primary example of a Jewish individual being saved unto eternal life without national Israel being saved unto eternal life (see 1 Corinthians 15:8).

Individual Jews can believe Paul’s Gospel today and join the Church the Body of Christ. They can trust Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for their sins, and join the Body of Christ just as any non-Jewish (Gentile) person can. However, this is not what “all Israel shall be saved” means in Romans 11:26. God will restore national Israel one day. He will lift her spiritual blindness and have a relationship with her again. He will establish the New Covenant, not with individual Jews, but the whole nation Israel.

Romans 11:11-12,15,25-27: “[11] I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. [12] Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? … [15] For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? … [25] For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. [26] 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: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” The whole nation Israel will return to her special status before God. This will be accomplished via the New Covenant. The blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse Israel of her sins. Paul is quoting from Isaiah 59:20-21.

Individual Jews can be saved today, but not on the basis of the New Covenant. The New Covenant applies to Israel as a whole, as a nation, and national Israel does not exist today in God’s program. Notice the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-34: “[31] Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: [33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34] And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

You can also see Hebrews 8:8-13, Hebrews 10:15-17, Ezekiel 26:25-28, Acts 3:19, and Romans 11:25-29 for more information.

Jews outside of our Dispensation of Grace, those outside of the Body of Christ, those in Israel’s program rather than our program, if they do not have the spiritual circumcision that their outward physical circumcision is to represent, they cannot be the Israel of God. God does not consider these unbelieving Jews “Israel.” He only sees the believing Jews as Israel, for Israel is to be His vessel to reach the Gentiles. Unbelieving Jews cannot be His vessel. So, this how “all Israel shall be saved” means all believing Jews and yet does not include the unbelieving Jews.

Also see:
» Who is “the Israel of God” of Galatians 6:16?
» Are we under the New Covenant today? (COMING SOON!)
» Have we been “grafted into Israel?”