Romans 11:25-32 - God Will Be Faithful to Save and Keep All of His Elect - Both Jews and Gentiles

[Note: Hendriksen defines the word "mystery" as "a truth which would not have been known if God had not revealed it." (Hendriksen on Romans, p.377)]

so that you [Gentiles] may not be conceited:
[in thinking that God has shown the Gentiles
more favor than He has shown the Jews]

Israel [the nation] has [at the present time]
experienced a hardening in part
until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

[Paul has already explained (vs. 11ff), the Gentiles are now being saved because the Jews rejected the gospel and now, in turn, the Jews are being won out of envy for what the Gentiles have in the gospel. And so it is through this process that God will continue to save all of His elect (both Jews and Gentiles) i.e., true, spiritual Israel.]:

[Wms - "and so in that way all Israel will be saved"]

["When the Gentiles shall come in, the Jews shall also return from their defection to the obedience of faith; and thus shall be completed the salvation of the whole Israel of God, which must be gathered from both [Jews and Gentiles].  . ." (John Calvin in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, volume 19, p. 437)]

[For a discussion of other interpretations of this controversial verse, click here]

[Paul now shows how it is that God saved true, spiritual Israel -  by sending His Son to take away the sins of His people as He promised He would do]:

as it is written:

[Paul, rather than quoting a single Old Testament text, gives us instead what William Hedriksen in his commentary on Romans calls "a skillful symposium of several passages; such as,  Isaiah 59:20; 27:9; 59:21, in that order, with reminders of Micah 5:2 (or a similar verse) and probably Jeremiah 31:31ff" ]  

"The deliverer [Christ]
will come from Zion;

["Zion" here is probably a reference to "the people of Israel whose center is Jerusalem" (Arndt and Gingrich, 1979, p.752), thus acknowledging that Christ, in His humanity, came from the Jewish people (cf., 9:5)]  

He will turn godlessness away from
Jacob [i.e., Israel, the people of God].

And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."

[This reference to a divine covenant which is connected with the removal of sins is probably a reference to Jeremiah 31:33-34 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."]

 [Knox - "In the preaching of the gospel God rejects them to make room for you"]

[Paul is restating here what he has already taught in vs. 11b: "because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious."

but as far as [God's] election is concerned,
they [these elect Jews] are loved [by God]
on account of the patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob],

 ["Not because of any innate goodness or merit pertaining to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but because of God's promise to the fathers, 'I will. . . be your Good and the God of your seed after you.' See Genesis 17:7; cf. 26:23,24' 28:12-15)" (William Hedriksen, New Testament Commentary on Romans 9-16, p.384)]

[Thus, Paul answers again the question that he asks and answers in verse 11a: "Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!"]

[In other words, God's sovereign choice in election and subsequent salvation will never be retracted - God is faithful to save and to keep every last one of His chosen people, Jew and Gentile alike]

[Paul now reiterates in other words, what he has previously stated in verse 11 and in verse 28 above]:

[That is, these Jews, seeing God's mercy to the Gentiles, become envious and therefore turn to receive God's mercy themselves]

[Every elect person, whether Jew or Gentile, was at one time "locked up in the prison of disobedience". Therefore all men must acknowledge that they have been saved only by the mercy of God!]