What does it mean that all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26)?

from the old testament

• The New Testament statement that "all Israel will be saved" is built on one’s understanding of Old Testament Israel. The Old Testament provides support that the entire nation of Israel will be saved while also suggesting that “all” may simply mean “most.” For example, Zechariah 12:10 reads, “when [the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem] look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” The implication is that all of Jerusalem will mourn when they see Jesus, that is, have a repentant heart.
• Another key example is Ezekiel 36:24–28. These (and related) passages are often used in evangelistic contexts to refer to all believers, but God was specifically talking about Israel. He said, “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” This verse about a heart change indicates that God intends to give Israel a new heart in the future and appears to be what Paul is thinking about when he speaks of “all Israel.”
• At the same time, the Old Testament pattern at least showed that not all of God’s people (Israel) were believers, nor did they all live righteously. Those holding to the view that Paul meant “most” of Israel argue that such patterns indicate that the future salvation of Israel will likely not be comprehensive, despite being an overwhelming number of Jews.

from the new testament

• In Romans 11:26–27, Paul said, “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.’” He was quoting from passages such as Isaiah 59:20 to show that God had promised that “all Israel will be saved” in the future.
• Those dispensationalists who believe that Paul means every single Jew living at the time that Jesus returns, points to the immediate context where Paul says, “I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved …” (Romans 11:25–26). Paul is contrasting the partially hard Israel with “all Israel.” The natural conclusion is that only some Jews are saved now (those who aren’t hardened) but that in the future, they will all be saved.
• However, other dispensationalists believe Paul has in mind a large number of Jews and doesn’t mean every single one. For example, they note that earlier Paul says, “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6) and “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved” (Romans 9:27). They argue that this leaves room to doubt that Paul meant literally all as opposed to most. Dispensationalists holding that Paul literally meant every single Jew note that the Romans 9 passages are within Paul’s discussion on how God included the Gentiles, and thus referring to the partial hardening of Israel and not the final state of “all.”

implications for today

God is a God who never fails to deliver on His promises. When He first promised Abraham the Promised Land to his descendants, He promised a very specific tract of land with specific boundaries (Genesis 15:18–21). We have every reason to expect that God will honor that promise. That is why those with a dispensationalist view, such as this site, argue strongly for a future for Israel that is distinct from that of the church in terms of national identity.

That doesn’t mean Jews will be saved differently from others. Indeed, Paul’s entire argument leading up to Romans 11:26 was that everyone is equally sinful and equally saved through Jesus. But it does mean that there is a distinction for Israel. God has specific plans for Israel as He created them to be a blessing to the whole world, and He will fulfill them—in His timing and in His way. One such way is that at the end of history, God will save the nation en masse in a way not done before.

Is the Israel today that Israel? While Israel as a nation exists once again on the national stage, we cannot say whether it is the beginning of the final nation. It seems probable that God has begun to return the Jews to the Promised Land in anticipation of saving them, but we can’t know that for certain. What modern Israel demonstrates is that God can raise Israel from extinction to prominence when and if He desires. Indeed, there is no human reason for the Jews’ continual existence despite the world’s hatred of them outside of God’s protecting hand as He prepares them for the day when “they will look on [the Messiah] whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10).