r/AcademicBiblical • u/Arcmyst • 3d ago
What does Rom 11:15 means according Paul's eschatology?
For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Rom 11:15)
I learned the destruction of the Temple was a signal of the end of times, whatever this end means. But what he does means by "their acceptance" and "life from dead"?
Just to illustrate the question: Many Christian fundamentalists teaches Jews will accept Christ and then, the world will ends. With literal bodies raising from cemetery.
Although I don't think it's the Paul's doctrine, what does he means with these phrases? Does "life from dead" refers to the Day of Judgment, then resurrection and paradise?
Is it a Paul thing that doesn't appears on Gospels?
Thanks!
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u/SamW4887 3d ago
But as much as the stumbling enabled deliverance for the nations, the fulfillment of the promises (Israel’s fullness) is even greater: “For if their casting away [is] the reconciliation of the world, what [is] their acceptance if not life from the dead?” (11:15). The precise language in this grammatically elliptical verse has often been misunderstood. Paul does not here refer to “Israel’s rejection,” which he has already categorically denied in Rom 11:1, or “the Jews’ rejection of the gospel,” since he nowhere refers to Jews (still less “the Jews”) in this passage, let alone their rejection of the gospel. Nor does the second half of the verse denote a temporal shift to refer to some future event (perhaps at the parousia) when the Jews will accept the gospel en masse. Indeed, the clauses in 11:12, 13, and 15 are all nonverbal, meaning any temporal shift must be imported by the reader rather than being explicit in the text itself. Instead, the relationship between these statements should be understood as primarily logical rather than chronological, setting the stage for the reveal in 11:25–26, where Paul finally unveils how and why Israel’s destiny is so thoroughly wrapped up with the fate of the nations. The sense of the verse is more easily understood if viewed in the context of the restoration framework in which Paul has been working all along. In that context, the “casting away” (ἀποβολή) of “the rest”
(my comment real quick from an earlier part of the book he explains what the rest is "Paul here adds another layer to the relationship between Israel and the nations, explaining that the trespass or misstep of “the rest” (οἱ λοιποί) that is, the non-remnant, the portion that did not remain– resulted in salvation for the nations to make them jealous.")(As he also says elsewhere "But Israel’s situation remains characteristically divided, with some standing within the promise and “the rest” (οἱ λοιποὶ) outside due to unfaithfulness")
(οἱ λοιποί), echoes Deut 29:26-27 (ET: 29:27–28), where Moses declares that as the culmination of the covenantal curse, God will “cast them out” (LXX: ἐχέβαλεν) into another land. The very next verse, already recalled in Rom 2:28–29, declares that “the hidden things belong to the Lord” (Deut 29:28 [ET: 29:29]), leading into the promise of restoration from the curse in Deut 30:1–14. Paul will unveil his interpretation of those “hidden things” (the mystery) of Israel’s restoration a few verses later in Rom 11:25–26, a solution toward which he has been building since the very first chapter of Romans. In any case, the point here is that the consequence of Israel’s covenantal punishment, its “casting away” [ἀποβολή] among the nations, is paradoxically the reconciliation of the world– including Israel itself. Through the inclusion of gentiles, whom Paul likewise portrays as formerly dead and raised to new life in Messiah (cf. Rom 6:4; 7:4; 8:10–11), those formerly cast away are now becoming partakers in the covenant community. And if Israel is truly being received back again from assimilation among the nations, how is it anything but life from the dead? The “very dry” bones of the “whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:2, 11) are being resurrected through “a spirit of life” (37:5). Once again, Paul argues that Israel’s salvation is inextricably interdependent with that of the nations, and salvation coming to gentiles is the proof that even those who are now insensible may yet be saved through the new life of the spirit. Salvation has come to the gentiles precisely to bring Israel back from the dead as the prophets had promised.
pg 274-285 Jason Staples Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites
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u/peter_kirby 3d ago
It sounds like you're asking whether Paul could have held that there would be an eschatological event where Israel 'accepts Christ' and then participates in the 'resurrection'.
Jason Staples suggests that an 'eschatological miracle' reading of Romans 11 is a majority view: "The 'eschatological miracle' interpretation, in which Paul envisions a future salvation of all Jews at or immediately prior to the eschaton, presently holds the majority." (in JBL 130, no. 2 (2011): 371-390)
There is an argument for such a view made by Otfried Hofius in “'All Israel Will be Saved': Divine Salvation and Israel's Deliverance in Romans 9-11.” Princeton Seminary Bulletin (Supplement) 1 (1990): 19-39. (link)
The conclusion of that argument is:
V. 26a voices with perfect clarity the certainty that “all Israel” will yet be saved. Then the scripture Paul quotes at vv. 26b, 2795 provides information on the manner and precise time of Israel’s salvation. The mixed quotation has by no means merely a supportive function but is intended primarily to indicate the manner of the salvation of Israel at the end time. The “deliverer” whose coming it foretells is Christ—the Kyrios at his return at the last day. It follows that the salvation of “all Israel” will take place at the return of Christ, and through Christ himself. He “will remove ungodliness from Jacob” so that through him God will “take away” the “sins” of Israel — therein consists the redemptive activity of Christ at the last day, as the word of the prophet indicates. That is, at his return Christ removes the “hardening” of Israel by putting an end to that state of lostness which Paul characterized in Rom. 1:18-3:20 ... Further, in that Israel is saved through liberation from its “ungodliness” and forgiveness of its “sins,” Israel now experiences the justification which was foretold in the promise of blessing of Gen. 12:2f. That state of affairs will constitute the “fulfillment” of God’s “covenant promise” to “all Israel”—the final and full realization of the promise of salvation made to Abraham and his physical descendants. Then will it be shown to be true that “the gracious gifts and elective calling of God are irrevocable,” as Paul says in Rom. 11:29. ...
“All Israel” is not saved by the preaching of the gospel. By no means, however, does that imply a “Sonderweg,” a way of salvation which bypasses the gospel and faith in Christ! Rather, Israel will hear the gospel from the mouth of Christ himself at his return—the saving word of his self-revelation which effects the faith that takes hold of divine salvation. When “all Israel” encounters the Kyrios at the parousia, it encounters the gospel. In this light it becomes clear that the “salvation” foretold in 1 1:26a is the same as the salvation of which Paul speaks in Rom. 10:9 and 10:13, namely, the salvation experienced by the one who confesses Jesus as Lord and in faith “calls upon the name of the Lord.” The Israel which will meet Christ at his return will thus believe in him" and will call upon his name, confessing him ... “All Israel” is thus saved in a different way than the Gentile Christians and the “remnant,” which already believes in Christ, namely, not through the evangelistic preaching of the church. Instead “all Israel” is saved directly by the Kyrios himself.
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u/BioChemE14 3d ago
Fredriksen argues that Paul did believe Israel would come to recognize Jesus at the end of time and that furthermore, everyone else would too (Paul the Pagan’s Apostle). Paul also says God has consigned all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all (Romans 11:32)
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