Originally posted by One Bad Pig
View Post
I went back and carefully re-read all of Romans 11, and it is quite clear that there has always been a believing remnant in Israel, that God is not finished with Israel as a nation, and that after having made them jealous through His grace to the Church, eventually they will turn to Christ as their Messiah and Saviour and "if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!" Paul's initial declaration that God has not cast off forever the people that He foreknew (vs 1, 2) and his conclusion that,"God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable," (vs 29) are incompatible with the Preterist notion that God is through with them. Keep in mind, that if God could and did go back on His promises to Abraham, then His promises to the Church would be just as undependable. As Paul says - God forbid!
Also, Paul's assurances that eventually God's mercy will result in "All Israel" being saved in the future in no way invalidates Christ's condemnation of those individuals who rejected Him in during the time of His First Coming. The New Testament is not warring with itself when it speaks of differing destinies of people separated by a span of 2,000 years.
ISRAEL, whose hearts have been hardened in verse 25, are the same ones who are ENEMIES FOR YOUR (the Church's) SAKE of verse 28. My question stands: How can "Israel" in this passage be the Church (ie. "Spiritual Israel") and be "enemies" of the Church at the same time?
Comment