The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (174 page)

11:14 my fellow Jews:
Literally, "my flesh". Paul is thinking of Israelites related to him by race (9:3-4). 
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11:15 life from the dead?:
Like the OT prophets, Paul envisions the spiritual recovery of Israel as a national resurrection (Is 26:19; Ezek 37:1-12; Hos 6:2). 
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11:16 first fruits:
The initial meal offering made to the Lord from each year's grain harvest (Num 15:17-21).
the root:
Anticipates the olive tree metaphor that follows in 11:17-24. The first fruits and the root probably symbolize the patriarchs, who are the founding ancestors of Israel (9:5) and for whose sake Israel is a people beloved by God (11:28). Others interpret the images as references to Christ (15:12; 1 Cor 15:23) or to Jewish Christians (Rom 16:5; 1 Cor 16:15). 
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11:17-24
Paul pictures the messianic people as an olive tree that is partly natural (believing Israel), partly engrafted (believing Gentiles), and partly dismembered (unbelieving Israel). The horticultural procedure of grafting wild shoots onto a cultivated trunk was meant to reinvigorate an old, exhausted tree that was yielding less and less fruit each season. The analogy shows that Israel is not being
demoted
from its favored-nation status so much as the Gentiles are being
promoted
to share in its blessings (15:27). • The picture of Israel as an olive tree comes from Jer 11:16-17. 
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11:20 because of their unbelief:
Just as Gentiles are grafted into the covenant through faith, so fallen-away Israelites will be regrafted onto the tree through belief in Jesus Christ. 
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11:22 the kindness and the severity of God:
God's justice and mercy are held in delicate balance: he neither withholds forgiveness from the contrite heart nor overlooks the hardness of an impenitent heart. 
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11:25 mystery:
The plan of worldwide salvation hidden in the Scriptures (16:25-26) but now made known through the Spirit (Eph 3:4-6).
part of Israel:
Those in Israel who are unresponsive to the gospel (11:7). Only some in Israel are hardened in this way, since a remnant of ethnic Israelites has come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah (11:5). Paul himself is among this believing remnant (11:1).
the full number of the Gentiles:
The many people and nations of the world who will come to faith in Christ. Paul played a monumental role in launching the Church's pursuit of this missionary goal (1:5; 11:13). It is not specified when the conversion of the Gentiles will reach the point of fullness determined by God (CCC 674). 
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11:26 and so:
The Greek can mean "and in this way" (modal) or "and then" (temporal).
all Israel:
The entire tribal family of Israel. The point is not that every individual Israelite will be saved, but that a collective group representing all twelve tribes will be saved (Rev 7:1-8). See essay:
The Salvation of All Israel
at Rom 12.
it is written:
Paul combines citations from Is 59:20--21 and Is 27:9. • Isaiah envisions the restoration of Jacob-Israel from exile and sin. Yahweh's new
covenant
will bring his people a new abundance of mercy and forgiveness (11:27; Jer 31:31-34). The expression
from Zion
is worded differently in Is 59:20 ("to Zion") and may be taken from Is 2:3, which foresees the word of the Lord going out to the nations from Jerusalem (15:19; Lk 24:47). 
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11:28 enemies:
Temporarily, until their salvation (11:26).
beloved:
God will never revoke his promises to Israel on account of the patriarchs (9:5) but loves his people with an "everlasting love" (Jer 31:3). 
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11:32 all men to disobedience:
God allows all to sin that all might taste salvation (3:9, 23). His saving plan moves forward despite man's rebellion. 
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11:33-36
Paul's concluding doxology extols the infinite wisdom of God. Overwhelmed and amazed, he gasps at the
unsearchable
and
inscrutable
plan of God to save the world in Christ. • Citations from Is 40:13 (in 11:34) and Job 41:11 (in 11:35) portray God's designs as beyond our comprehension and his greatness as independent of any need or earthly gift. 
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The Salvation of All Israel

At the climax of Paul's discussion in Rom 9-11 he makes an astonishing claim: "[A]ll Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26). What he means by this has been the subject of considerable debate. Two questions, crucial both to the meaning of this verse and to the whole discussion of Rom 9-11, must be examined: Who is "all Israel"? and How is all Israel "saved"?

WHO IS ALL ISRAEL?

Several answers are given to this question today. According to some, Paul is talking about
spiritual Israel,
that is, the Church made up of Jews and Gentiles converted to Christianity. According to others, Paul envisions the salvation of
ethnic Jews,
either from every generation or from the last generation of history. It is more likely, however, that "all Israel" is a reference to
ethnic Israel,
that is, the assembly of faithful Israelites from all twelve tribes down through the ages. In other words, Paul is thinking of the whole nation of covenant people descended from the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob (renamed Israel, Gen 32:28). Several considerations weigh in favor of this third alternative.

1.
 Romans 9-11 is dominated by the terms "Israel" (eleven times) and "Israelite" (two times). This is in marked contrast to Rom 1-8, where Paul speaks only of "Jews" (nine times). The shift from using "Jews" exclusively to using "Israel" and "Israelite" almost exclusively points to a subtle but significant distinction between these terms. The distinction originated when the tribes of Israel split into two kingdoms after the reign of Solomon (1 Kings 12). Ten tribes from the north broke away and formed the "house of Israel", while the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin became the "house of Judah". Over the next several centuries, the northern tribes and then the southern tribes were forced into exile, and most of them never returned. The small remnant that eventually returned from Babylonian captivity and resettled in Palestine in the sixth century
B.C.
became known as "Jews", taking their name from the dominant tribe (Judah) and occupying the land around Jerusalem in the south (Judea). By Paul's day, the term "Jew" was used more broadly to mean someone who followed the Mosaic religion of Judaism and looked to the Temple of Jerusalem as the focal point of spiritual life, regardless of whether he lived in Judea or abroad. Most religious Jews traced their lineage to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. It seems, then, that when Paul begins talking about "Israel" in Rom 9-11, he is shifting to a larger historical perspective that stretches beyond the compass of "Jews" and evokes memories of "all Israel" as a national family of twelve tribes (Deut 27:9; Josh 3:17; 2 Sam 5:5; 1 Chron 9:1; Ezra 6:17; Tob 1:4-6, etc.). Paul seems aware, in other words, that the classical notion of "Israel" is more inclusive and far-reaching than the contemporary notion of "Jews".

2.
 As Paul develops his argument in Rom 9-11, he draws from passages of the Old Testament that promise salvation for all the tribes of Israel. Tribes from the Northern Kingdom of Israel are in view in several passages (e.g., Is 10:22-23 at Rom 9:27-28, and 1 Kings 19:10 at Rom 11:4), and tribes from the Southern Kingdom of Judah are in view in others (Is 1:9 at Rom 9:29, and Joel 2:32 at Rom 10:13).

3.
 When Paul describes himself as an "Israelite" in Rom 11:1, he does so with explicit reference to his tribal affiliation (the tribe of Benjamin).

4.
 Paul's hope for the salvation of "all Israel" is in line with the prophetic hopes of the Old Testament, where the spiritual restoration of all twelve tribes, after centuries of division and exile among the Gentiles, is one of the towering expectations for the messianic age (Sir 36:11; 48:10; Is 11:11-12; 49:6; Jer 3:18; 50:17-20; Ezek 37:15-28; 48:1-35; Zech 8:13, etc.). The same hope for a restoration of the twelve tribes is expressed in ancient Jewish sources outside the Bible (e.g.,
4 Ezra
13:39-48;
Psalms of Solomon
17:28, 44;
Testament of Benjamin
9:2; 10:11;
2 Baruch
78:4-7).

HOW IS ALL ISRAEL SAVED?

At least two different views of how Israel comes to salvation are current today.

1.
 The
two-covenant
view, developed in modern times, holds that Israel will be saved apart from Christ and apart from any acceptance of the gospel. In other words, proponents of this view envision a bi-covenantal arrangement where the Mosaic covenant continues in force alongside the New Covenant, with the former intended to save the Jews and the latter to save the Gentiles. In support, advocates contend that "Christ" is never explicitly mentioned in Romans 11, that "the Deliverer" foretold by Isaiah refers to Yahweh rather than the Messiah (Is 59:20 cited in Rom 11:26), and that the "covenant" of forgiveness mentioned by Isaiah is the Mosaic covenant rather than the New Covenant (Is 27:9, alluded to in Rom 11:27).

2.
 The
New Covenant
view, held by the vast majority of interpreters through the ages, holds that Israel will be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. This second view is far more probable than the first, as it alone is consistent with the immediate context of Rom 9-11 and the wider context of Paul's theology and writings. In point of fact, the bi-covenantal view collides with the whole message of Romans, namely, that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings "salvation" to Jews and Gentiles alike (Rom 1:16), that one must confess faith in Jesus to be "saved" (Rom 10:9), and that Paul thinks of his missionary efforts among the Gentiles as a means to "save" his Israelite kinsmen (Rom 11:14). There is every reason to suppose, moreover, that Paul is thinking of Christ and the New Covenant when he quotes the words of Isaiah in Rom 11:26-27. For Paul, the risen Jesus is our Deliverer (1 Thess 1:10) and the one who takes away sin through the sacraments of the New Covenant (Rom 6:1-11). By contrast, the Mosaic covenant is something that condemns rather than saves (Acts 13:38-39; Rom 3:20; 2 Cor 3:4-11). In Paul's mind, then, there is no "alternative way" of salvation for Israel apart from the grace of Jesus Christ that comes through the preaching and acceptance of the gospel (Rom 10:14-17; CCC 765; 839-40).