Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 11:26

"and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:" — Romans 11:26 (ASV)

And so. That is, in this manner; or when the great abundance of the Gentiles will be converted, then all Israel will be saved.

All Israel. All the Jews. It was a maxim among the Jews, that "every Israelite should have part in the future age" (Grotius). The apostle applies that maxim to his own purpose and declares the sense in which it would be true. He does not mean to say that every Jew of every age would be saved, for he had proved that a large portion of them would be, in his time, rejected and lost.

But the time would come when, as a people, they would be recovered; when the nation would turn to God; and when it could be said of them that, as a nation, they were restored to the divine favour. It is not clear that he means that even then every individual of them would be saved, but the body of them; the great mass of the nation would be.

Nor is it said when this would be. This is one of the things which the Father has put in his own power (Acts 1:7). He has given us the assurance that it shall be done to encourage us in our efforts to save them; and He has concealed the time when it will be, lest we relax our efforts, or feel that no exertions were needed to accomplish what must take place at a fixed time.

Shall be saved. They will be recovered from their rejection, be restored to the divine favour, become followers of the Messiah, and thus be saved as all other Christians are.

As it is written (Isaiah 59:20). The quotation is not made literally, but the sense of the passage is preserved. The Hebrew is, There shall come to Zion a Redeemer, and for those who turn from ungodliness in Jacob. There can be no doubt that Isaiah refers here to the times of the gospel.

Out of Zion. Zion was one of the hills of Jerusalem. On this was built the city of David. It thus came to denote, in general, the church, or people of God. And when it is said that the Redeemer should come out of Zion, it means that he should arise among that people, be descended from themselves, or should not be a foreigner. The Seventy, however, render it, the Redeemer shall come on a mount of Zion. So the Chaldee paraphrase, and the Latin Vulgate.

And shall turn away, etc. The Hebrew is, to those forsaking ungodliness in Jacob. The Septuagint has rendered it in the same manner as the apostle.