Mercy For All: Paul, Judaism, and the Salvation of “All Israel.”

Anderson, Robert. Mercy for All: Paul, Judaism, and the Salvation of “All Israel.” Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2023.

A key part of modern replacement theology is Paul’s focus on individual salvation in Romans 9–11. This view sees several changes in Paul’s argument. It has side notes. It uses God’s predestination of nations to explain individual predestination. There are also adjustments to fit the text with the theological system.

The question we rarely ask is: “Is Paul really talking about individual salvation in this passage?”” There are two other alternatives to the individual salvation view.
For instance, Paul could be defending God’s character. Someone has raised the objection that God has not kept his promises to Israel, so we cannot trust God’s current promises of salvation via faith in Christ. Paul counters this argument by showing how God has not, in fact, abandoned his promises to Israel.

Robert Anderson, in *Mercy for All*, presents a different view. He argues that Paul defends Israel against a growing Gentile Church belief that God has abandoned Israel. Christians, in this view, must separate themselves from Judaism and Israel; Judaism is old, Christianity is new, and God is done with the old.
The author solidly refutes this view and proposes an alternative.

He asserts Paul is defending Israel by examining the situation in Rome at the time Paul wrote to the Christians there. Jews had been exiled from Rome in various ways just prior to Paul’s letter, and there is evidence Jews were now returning to Rome, establishing synagogues in the area. Christians were inclined to distance themselves from Israel because Judaism was rapidly becoming a disfavored religious sect.

For Paul, Israel is the past and future bearer of God’s promises. Christianity has not replaced Israel but rather is a mission from God to save his covenant people, Israel.
This is a must-read book for anyone who studies Paul’s argument in the first part of Romans. The author has marshalled impressive arguments with support from a wide array of sources. The argument made here ultimately augments or overlays, rather than replaces, the argument that Paul is defending God’s character—Paul defends God’s character by defending the place of Israel and God’s mission to Israel. The book does, however, add much evidence to discount the “individual salvation” view of Paul’s argument in Romans.

Highly recommended.