Romans Chapter 11 Vs. 25

The Mystery of Israel's Salvation

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. Rom 11:25

ignorant of this... See Rom. 1:13.

The word mystery is used to refer to New Testament truth previously not revealed. This mystery has two components.

(1) Israel has experienced a partial spiritual hardening; and

(2) that hardening will last only for a divinely specified period of time.

Mystery

 

Greek: musterion, something previously hidden, but now fully revealed. In the New Testament it always means any doctrine that has not, in former times, been made fully known to people. It is found 27 times in the New Testament and not once in the Old Testament

Eighteen Mysteries of Scripture:

1. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God (Mat. 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10)

2. Israel’s blindness (Rom. 11:25)

3. Salvation in Christ (Rom. 16:25)

4. The wisdom of God (1Cor. 2:7)

5. The doctrines of God (1Cor. 4:1; Col. 2:2; 1Tim. 3:16)

6. The gospel (Eph. 6:19)

7. Gift of knowledge (1Cor. 13:2)

8. Speaking in tongues (1Cor. 14:2)

9. The rapture of the church (1Cor. 15:23, 15:51-58; John 14:1-3; 1Thes. 4:13-16)

10. God’s will (Eph. 1:9)

11. The church (Eph. 3:1-9; 5:32)

12. Christ in people (Col. 1:26-27)

13. Doctrines of Christ (Col. 4:3)

14. Spirit of lawlessness (2Thes. 2:7)

15. Faith of the gospel (1Tim. 3:9)

16. Seven candlesticks (Rev. 1:20)

17. God’s delay in casting out of Satan (Rev. 10:7; 12:7-17)

18. Mystery Babylon (Rev. 17:5, 17:7)

wise in your... Is another warning to the Gentiles against spiritual pride and arrogance.

blindness in part... The 2nd New Testament prophecy in Romans (Rom. 11:25-27, unfulfilled). Next, Rom. 14:10. The revealed secret here is of the blindness of Israel until Christ comes when she will be restored (Rom. 11:25-29; Isa. 66:7-8; Zec. 12:10-13:1; 14:1-21). Although the nation’s blindness does not extend to every individual Jew. Through all of history God has always preserved a believing remnant.

the fulness of... The same as the times of the Gentiles (see, Luke 21:24). This could not mean that Gentiles will no longer be saved, because God will continue to save Jews and Gentiles even through the tribulation period (Acts 2:16-21; Rev. 7:1-17; 15:2-4; 20:4-6). The fullness of the Gentiles will end at the second coming and the national conversion of Israel (Rom. 11:25-29; Isa. 66:7-8; Zec. 12:10-13:1; 14:1-21). The times of the Gentiles end then also (Luke 21:24; Rev. 11:1-2; Zec. 14:1-21; Mat. 25:31-46). “Until” refers to a specific point in time, “fullness” refers to completion, “has come in”: translates a Greek verb often used to speak of coming to salvation. Israel’s spiritual hardening (which began with rejecting Jesus as Messiah), will last until the complete number of elect Gentiles has come to salvation.

It greatly concerns me when I hear someone run our Jewish brothers down. We have been warned over and over in the Holy Bible not to think ourselves better than the natural Hebrew. We are not the tree. We do not decide who is part of the tree and who is not. The tree, (Jesus) decides which branches He will accept and which branches He rejects.

It is none of our business. He does not have to explain to you and me why He does it either. We should just be happy that He allowed us to be grafted into the tree.

In Israel’s Salvation

Israel’s corporate stumbling, which is temporary, not permanent, is called a mystery. In Scripture a mystery is not a truth difficult to understand, but a truth previously unrevealed (and therefore unknown) which is now revealed and publicly proclaimed (cf. Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:26; at Mat. 13:10-16, see the chart that lists NT mysteries). Paul wanted to make sure his Gentile readers knew about the mystery concerning Israel in God’s sovereign choice. God’s purpose was so that you may not be conceited (lit., “wise in yourselves”). God’s sovereign plan to put Israel aside temporarily in order to show grace to Gentiles is no basis for conceit on the part of the Gentiles; it is designed to display further the glory of God.

God purposed that some from all nations should by faith receive the righteousness provided by grace. In order to achieve this goal Israel’s relationship as God’s Chosen People was rescinded for a time and Israel is now experiencing a hardening in part until the full number (plērōma, “fullness”) of the Gentiles has come in. There is a fullness for Israel (Rom. 11:12) and a fullness for the Gentiles. God is now “taking from the Gentiles a people for Himself” (Acts 15:14).

In Rom. 11:25 are two specific facts about Israel’s hardening (cf. Rom. 11:7-8): (a) it is partial, “in part” (because throughout this time “there is a remnant chosen by grace,” Rom. 11:5), and (b) it is temporary (because it will end when God’s sovereignly chosen number of Gentiles has been saved).

“Hardening” is pōrōsis (“hardening, dulling”); it differs from the verb sklērynei (“hardens”) used of Pharaoh (Rom. 9:18) and the noun sklērotēta (“stubbornness,” lit., “hardening,” Rom. 2:5). The first noun (pōrōsis) refers to dullness, the second suggests stubbornness.