Romans 11:27-28 Romans 11:27-Paul Cites Isaiah 59:21, 27:9 To Teach That There Will Be A National Regeneration Of Israel At Christ’s Second Advent In Romans 11:27, Paul cites Isaiah 59:21 and 27:9 to support his assertion that there will be a national regeneration of Israel, which will take place at Christ’s Second Advent. Romans 11:27, “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.’” In Romans 11:26, Paul cites Isaiah 59:20 to support his statement in Romans 11:26a that “ all Israel will be saved ,” which refers to the national regeneration of the nation of Israel at Christ’s Second Advent. Isaiah 59:20, “A Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD. In Romans 11:27, Paul cites a combination of Isaiah 59:21 and 27:9 as further support for his prediction in Romans 11:26 that there will be a national regeneration of Israel. Isaiah 59:21, “As for Me, this is My covenant with them , says the LORD: ‘My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring,’ says the LORD, ‘from now and forever.’” Isaiah 27:9, “Therefore through this Jacob's iniquity will be forgiven; And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin : When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones; When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.” Paul is quoting exactly from the first line of Septuagint translation of Isaiah 59:21, which is kaiV au%th au)toi~$ h( par ) e)mou~ diaqhvkh , “ As for Me, this is My covenant with them .” However, he does not continue to quote the rest of Isaiah 59:21 and instead he quotes from the Septuagint translation the temporal clause, o^tan a)fevlwmai au)tou thVn a(martivan , “ the pardoning of his sin .” He actually slightly alters the quotation to fit his needs: o^tan a)fevlwmai taV$ a(martiva$ au)ton , “WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS .” Paul replaces the singular “ his sin ” (autou ten hamarian ) with the plural “ their sins ” ( tas hamartias auton ). He puts these two quotations together since they contain similar ideas and are a reference to the New Covenant that is recorded in detail in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1 them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” So in Romans 11:26b-27 to validate his assertion in Romans 11:26a that there will be a national regeneration of Israel and to teach that this will take place at Christ’s Second Advent, Paul quotes Isaiah 59:20-21 and 27:9. Romans 11:27, “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” Not translated is the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction kai ( kaiV), which introduces an “additional” quotation from the Old Testament that supports Paul’s assertion in Romans 11:26a that “ all Israel will be saved ,” which refers to the national regeneration of Israel that will take place at Christ’s Second Advent. We will translate kai , “ Furthermore .” “This ” is the nominative masculine singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos ( ou!!to$ ) (hoo-tos), which is “kataphoric” meaning that it is pointing to the quotation from Isaiah 59:21 and 27:9 that immediately follows it. The word is referring to the statement “ WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS ,” which is one of the provisions contained in the New Covenant that is recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Houtos functions as the nominative subject and the articular nominative form of the noun diatheke , “ covenant ” as the predicate nominative. This is indicated by a rule of Greek grammar, which states that when you have both an articular noun and a pronoun in the nominative case in the same sentence, the pronoun has greater priority and will be the subject even though the noun is articular, which would normally indicate that it is the subject. We will translate houtos , “ this .” Romans 11:27, “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” “IS” does not appear in the original text but is correctly added by the translators since Paul is using the figure of ellipsis meaning that he deliberately omits the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi ( ei)miv) (i-mee). The verb eimi means “to possess a certain provision,” which denotes that the New Covenant possesses the provision of the forgiveness of sins for all those Jews who exercise faith in Jesus Christ at His Second Advent. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2 The word functions as a copula uniting the subject which is the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos , “ this ” and the predicate nominative, which is the noun diatheke , “ covenant .” The present tense is a “gnomic present,” which is used for a general timeless fact or spiritual axiom, or an eternal spiritual truth and says something “does” happen. This indicates that the provision of the forgiveness of sins “is, as an eternal spiritual truth” a provision of the New Covenant. The active voice is a “stative” active indicating that the subject, the provision of the forgiveness of sins “exists in the state” of being a provision of the New Covenant. The indicative mood is “declarative” presenting this Pauline assertion as an unqualified statement of Bible doctrine. We will translate eimi , “ is, as an eternal spiritual truth .” Corrected translation thus far of Romans 11:27: “Furthermore, this is, as an eternal spiritual truth…” Romans 11:27, “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” “MY COVENANT ” is composed of the preposition para ( paraV) and the genitive first personal singular form of the personal pronoun ego ( e)gwv), “ MY ” and the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun diatheke ( diaqhvkh ) (dee-ath-ay-kay), “ COVENANT .” In classical Greek the noun diatheke was used exclusively to denote a “last will or testament.” It was considered a legal term for that agreement. But it also was used in a wider sense and was used as a religious term as well (Moulton-Milligan 148-149). The word appears in the papyri, which confirms that the meaning “testament” was the word’s primary use in Hellenism. However, diatheke this doesn’t take into consideration the fact that the word derives much of its meaning from equivalent Hebrew and Aramaic terms and thus could mean “decree” or “disposition.” Rarely is the noun used as a synonym for suntheke , “agreement.” The only case is found in Aristophanes which concerns an agreement between two parties which was dictated by one and could be accepted or rejected by the other. This meaning is close to the idea of “covenant” that is so prevalent in the Old Testament. Joachim Guhrt commenting on the classical Greek usage diatheke writes that the word “occurs from Democritus and Aristophanes onwards in the sense of a will or testament. It is not thought to be derived from the act. diatithemi , distribute, allocate, regulate, but only from the mid. diatithemai , control persons and things (Xen.), and especially dispose of by will (so private legal documents among papyri). It denotes, therefore, an irrevocable decision, which cannot be cancelled by anyone. A prerequisite of its effectiveness before the law is the death of the 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3 disposer. Hence diatheke must be clearly distinguished from syntheke , an agreement. In the latter two partners engaged in common activity accept reciprocal obligations. diatheke is found only once with this meaning (Aristoph. Birds, 1, 440). Elsewhere it always means a one-sided action. (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology; Brown, Colin, Editor; 1986; Zondervan) In the Septuagint, the noun diatheke is the principle equivalent of the Hebrew term berith ( tyr!B+ ). Diatheke did not exactly capture the meaning of the Hebrew term but the full sense of the Hebrew was transferred to the Septuagint. Therefore, in the Septuagint, the noun diatheke meant something more than its meaning in classical Greek. The Hebrew berith describes “a solemn agreement” in which two parties mutually assume certain obligations as foundations for fellowship. It also denotes the conditions and provisions of the covenant and can describe a decree that is imposed on only one party or where one party assumes the obligations. The word can also have the idea of “oath.” There have been eight Covenants that God has made throughout history.