Tuesday, October 28, 2008

"The (restored) Temple" and "all Israel" (will be saved)

I was just listening to Dr. Randall Price on KKMS radio.
He is a Dispensationalist and believes in a future, rebuilt, temple in which there will be a restored sacrificial system. He also believes that Romans 11 states that "all Israel will be saved".

I will briefly refute these or give "food for thought":

There are at least three relevant meanings to the word "temple" in the Bible.
1) the temple in Jerusalem where the sacrificial system was carried out
2) Jesus called himself the temple in John 2:19
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
3) Believers are called the temple in several passages
3a) 1 Cor 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?"
3b) 1 Cor 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?"
3c) Eph 2:21 "in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord."
3d) Rev 3:21 Jesus says "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God."


Romans 11 does not say there will be a restored Israel, which is something Price just claimed.

Romans 11:25,26 says "Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand 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, as it is written,

FIRST
Verse 25 says there is a "partial hardening of Israel." Obviously, not all Israel had been hardened since Paul (the author) is of Israel and is saved.

SECOND
This period of history is characterized as a time where both Jews and Gentiles “coming in.”
And
“in this way” all Israel will be saved

"IN THIS WAY"
“in this way” DOES NOT SAY/MEAN “and then”
“and then” would indicate that “at a future time, the partial hardening will be removed and all Israel will be saved”

But the text says “in this way” or (in other translations) “thus”

The only clear message this gives is “by this method God is saving the Israel of faith” - - if there is a possible additional meaning, it is not stated here and must come from another text.

Earlier in Romans (ch 9:6,7) , Paul stated "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring"

So the Israel that God is saving in Romans 11:26 only needs to be the subset of the full ethnic Israel.

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