Greek Word Study: Romans 11:25 - αχρις, not ἕως; 'during', not 'until'

[anastasis888]

Greek Word Study: Romans 11:25 - αχρις, not ἕως; 'during', not 'until' 
   

ου γαρ θελω υμας αγνοειν αδελφοι το μυστηριον τουτο ινα μη ητε παρ εαυτοις φρονιμοι οτι πωρωσις απο μερους τω ισραηλ γεγονεν αχρις ου το πληρωμα των εθνων εισελθη

    For I do not want you to be unaware of this Mysterium, brethren, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that hardness in part has come to Israel during which time the fullness of the Gentiles be entered.

Paul here does not indicate a hardening that will occur 'until' this fullness of the Gentiles has been brought in as if to imply that there will ever be anything other than a partial hardening of earthly Israel. The word here is αχρις, not ἕως. It is not an 'until' with a terminus. It is a duration throughout an indefinite amount of time. Nor is there any implication in Romans 11 that there will ever be a time when there is not a partial hardening of earthly Jerusalem. For then if the question remains as to how they might be saved, Paul answers, 'Israel must be saved in the way it is written, The deliverer will come from Zion and remove ungodliness from Jacob', meaning that those who are not the hardened shall be saved by accepting Jesus Christ, the deliverer who has come out of Zion.

Furthermore, the pronoun ου is missing in the KJV and is rendered as 'until the fullness', when it should be rendered as 'during which the fullness of the Gentiles might be entered'. And this makes all the difference. Unfortunately, the KJV here tortures this verse in its rendering from the Greek.

The phrase το πληρωμα των εθνων (pleroma, fullness of the Gentiles) is not some future notion apart from Paul's time, for εισελθη is in the aorist and already having become a present reality when Paul is writing Romans.

Paul uses αχρις in Romans 11:25 and not ἕως because he meant αχρις and not ἕως. αχρις is consistently understand and may be translated in every case as 'through'. ἕως is consistently understood and may be translated in every case as 'until'. They are not the same words, they are not synonyms, and they have as much difference as the English words 'through' and 'until'. αχρις means 'through', 'throughout', and 'during'. And it doesn't denote anything else. ἕως means 'till', 'until' with a view toward the terminus.

There is a witness to this rendering of Romans 11:25 in none other than Jerome's Latin Vulgate.

    Nolo enim vos ignorare fratres mysterium hoc: (ut non sitis vobisipsis sapientes) quia caecitas ex parte contigit in Israel, donec plenitudo Gentium intraret

    I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, of this Mysterium (that you may not be wise in your own selves) that a hardening in part is happened to Israel, while the fullness of the Gentiles be entered.

Acts 7:17-18 is another case where we see the form αχρις ου.

    καθως δε ηγγιζεν ο χρονος της επαγγελιας ης ωμοσεν ο θεος τω αβρααμ ηυξησεν ο λαος και επληθυνθη εν αιγυπτω αχρις ου ανεστη βασιλευς ετερος ος ουκ ηδει τον ιωσηφ

    And as the time of the promise which God had made with an oath to Abraham was drawing near, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, during which time another king arose, who did not know Joseph.

Hebrews 3:13 is another example of the same form as in Romans 11:25

    αλλα παρακαλειτε εαυτους καθ εκαστην ημεραν αχρις ου το σημερον καλειται ινα μη σκληρυνθη τις εξ υμων απατη της αμαρτιας

    But rather exhort one another according to every day, during which it is called Today, in order that none of you might be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

1 Corinthians 15:25 is also the same form and may be rendered as follows.

    δει γαρ αυτον βασιλευειν αχρις ου αν θη παντας τους εχθρους υπο τους ποδας αυτου
    For, indeed, he is to keep reigning during which time his enemies should be made the footstool of his feet

Galatians 4:19 is also the same form and may be rendered as follows:

    τεκνια μου ους παλιν ωδινω αχρις ου μορφωθη χριστος εν υμιν
    My children with whom I again cramp, during which time Christ is developed in you

In Hebrews 3:13, every English translation without exception has translated αχρις ου as 'while', or 'as long as'. Why would all the translations without exception translate it as 'while', or 'as long as' here, and then as 'until' in other places? The answer is simple. It is a combination of tradition and bias. As it is clearly 'while' and 'as long as' in Hebrews 3:13, so αχρις ου (lit. 'during which) in all other instances should be translated accordingly and consistently.

    ☞ αλλα παρακαλειτε εαυτους καθ εκαστην ημεραν αχρις ου το σημερον καλειται ινα μη σκληρυνθη τις εξ υμων απατη της αμαρτιας - TR (c. 64)

    ☞ but exhorte one another dayly whill is it called to daye lest eny of you wexe harde herted thorow ye deceytfullnesse of sinne - Tyndalle (1330)

    ☞ But exhort one another dayly, while it is called to day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnes of sinne. - Geneva (1599)

    ☞ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. - KJV (1769)

    ☞ but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: - ASV (1901)

    ☞ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. - ESV (2001)

αχρις is not ἕως. It does not mean 'until', but rather 'while', 'as long as', 'during', or 'through'. And there is no reason that it should not be translated as it is correctly translated in Heb. 3:13 in every other other case.

Calvin has the right idea about this passage, writing:

    That blindness in part, etc. “In part,” I think, refers not simply to time, nor to the number, but means, in a manner, or in a measure; by which expression he intended, as it seems to me, only to qualify a declaration which in itself was severe. Until does not specify the progress or order of time, but signifies the same thing, as though he had said, “That the fullness of the Gentiles,” etc. The meaning then is, — That God had in a manner so blinded Israel, that while they refused the light of the gospel, it might be transferred to the Gentiles, and that these might occupy, as it were, the vacated possession. And so this blindness served the providence of God in furthering the salvation of the Gentiles, which he had designed. And the fullness of the Gentiles is to be taken for a great number: for it was not to be, as before, when a few proselytes connected themselves with the Jews; but such was to be the change, that the Gentiles would form almost the entire body of the Church. - John Calvin, Commentary on Romans 11:25

Jerome also understood the purpose of Paul's words here in unmistakable terms. He takes the fullness of the Gentiles as having already been brought in to Israel. He sees the hardness of the Jews as being the temporal opportunity during which the fullness of the Gentiles had been brought in.

    <Nolo enim vos ignorare,>etc. AUG. Legis defensores, legis tractatores, legis doctores, legis intellectores, auctorem legis crucifixerunt. O caecitas! Ipsa est quae ex parte cecidit in Israel, ut crucifigeretur Christus, et plenitudo gentium intraret.

    <I would not have you to be ignorant,>, etc. AUG. Of the Law, defenders of the Law, teachers of the law, the law of the understanders, the author of the law, they crucified. Oh, blindness! For it is this which is the part of the sentence having fallen upon Israel, in order that Christ might be crucified, and the fullness of the Gentiles be entered. - Jerome, Gloss on Romans 11:25

Martin Luther translates Romans 11:25 quite accurately in his 1545 edition of the German New Testament.

    Ich will euch nicht verhalten, liebe Brüder, dieses Geheimnis, auf daß ihr nicht stolz seid. Blindheit ist Israel einesteils widerfahren, so lange, bis die Fülle der Heiden eingegangen sei

    I will not have you ignorant, dear Brethren, of this Mystery, that you not be proud. Blindness to Israel is partially befallen, so long, up to the Fullness of the Gentiles having been entered.

Luther translates it the same in Hebrews 3:13

    sondern ermahnet euch selbst alle Tage, solange es heute heißt, daß nicht jemand unter euch verstocket werde durch Betrug der Sünde.

    But exhort one another every Day, so long is it called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin.
 

Edited November 12, 2022 by anastasis888

[AdHoc]

13 hours ago, anastasis888 said:

For then if the question remains as to how they might be saved, Paul answers, 'Israel must be saved in the way it is written, The deliverer will come from Zion and remove ungodliness from Jacob', meaning that those who are not the hardened shall be saved by accepting Jesus Christ, the deliverer who has come out of Zion.

I read with interest your appreciation of the Greek. But I was perplexed by your conclusion above. I find no scripture that shows Israel, or part of Israel accepting Jesus Christ. Perhaps one can assume acceptance in their "mourning" when they see Him Whom they pierced, but the operative word is "SEE". According to Hebrews 11:1;

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

That is, once the object is SEEN, faith ceases. At what point does Israel "accept" Jesus while He remains hidden? This difficulty is magnified when one reads further in Romans 11 concerning Israel starting at verse 25;

25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

It is obvious from the above passage that Israel receive mercy while still in UNBELIEF. And the grounds for mercy a "mystery" of a "covenant" made with them. Finally, there is a vast difference between "saved" and having "ungodliness turned away" and this, not by a Savior from Bethlehem, but a "Deliverer from Sion".

I would venture that the word "saved" pertains to what Zacharias predicted in Luke 1:67-79 - the national restoration if Israel according to the Covenant made with Abraham, the which Covenant contains no clause to the effect that the condition of recovery is faith in Jesus. The condition was circumcision.

 

[Cntrysner]

1 hour ago, AdHoc said:

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

That is, once the object is SEEN, faith ceases. At what point does Israel "accept" Jesus while He remains hidden? This difficulty is magnified when one reads further in Romans 11 concerning Israel starting at verse 25;

Are you saying that Israel has no hope of coming to true faith after they witness the return of Christ in His resurrected body? If so, how then was faith obtained when the risen Christ walked this earth? 

Thanks in advance for your time 

[AdHoc]

26 minutes ago, Cntrysner said:

Are you saying that Israel has no hope of coming to true faith after they witness the return of Christ in His resurrected body? If so, how then was faith obtained when the risen Christ walked this earth? 

Thanks in advance for your time 

I appreciate your question. But could you please show me that Israel believed when they saw our Lord in His resurrected body? It is my understanding that they did not. 120 in an upper room is hardly Israel.

[Alive]

 

At the core what has been said here and in other places is that Israel seeing Christ return in the air, eliminates the possibilty of faith. I see this as error from at least two points regarding what many of us see as true 'saving faith'.

1. Israel had many easy to see manifested signs in Egypt and the wilderness and later. Some believed and others did not. One or the other resulted in either faithfulness or faithlessness.

2. And this depends on our doctrinal positions; the old saying 'seeing is believing' is not appropriate here. Here is what I mean. If we believe that true saving faith is a Gift and not something we do within the context of our fallen condition based on seeing a thing or a level of understanding--then when Israel sees Christ Return, each individual still needs that Gift of Saving Faith. Recall that Jesus during His earthly ministry performed fantastical signs for all to see, yet many eyes remained closed.

 

To add: once again we are left to see there is always a 'remnant'.

[anastasis888]

The major point I was wanting to make here is that some have misread this pericope as Paul saying that there is some future time when Israel will no longer be hardened (when a futurist notion of the "fullness of the gentiles"  has been completed and "all Israel shall be saved" in some covenant of their own). This is a complete failure to grasp Paul's meaning here. It's understandable that readers could come to this conclusion reading the KJV. As I said, the KJV flat misses the mark here in its rendering from the Greek.

Paul's point is that the fullness of the gentiles has already come about and that Israel must be saved by Jesus Christ the redeemer who came out of Zion. There is no two covenants. There is one New Covenant of both Jew and Gentile in Jesus Christ. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by anastasis888

[Alive]

15 minutes ago, anastasis888 said:

The major point I was wanting to make here is that some have misread this pericope as Paul saying that there is some future time when Israel will no longer be hardened (when a futurist notion of the "fullness of the gentiles"  has been completed and "all Israel shall be saved" in some covenant of their own). This is a complete failure to grasp Paul's meaning here. It's understandable that readers could come to this conclusion reading the KJV. As I said, the KJV flat misses the mark here in its rendering from the Greek.

Paul's point is that the fullness of the gentiles has already come about and that Israel must be saved by Jesus Christ the redeemer who came out of Zion. There is no two covenants. There is one New Covenant of both Jew and Gentile in Jesus Christ. 

Yes--I got that and I happen to agree at least I think so.

:-)

I believe that God's dealing 'manward' has always been by Grace and I believe that Christ has been ever-present from Eden onward and that the entire record points to Christ. There is no other means of 'Life'. He is the 'Life'. There is no other means of satisfying God's requirement for fellowship and Family. Everything else were simply shadows of the aspects of both Christ's Work and the Father's 'Eternal Purpose' as mentioned by Paul.

[Revelation Man]

On 11/11/2022 at 5:30 PM, anastasis888 said:

Calvin has the right idea about this passage, writing:

    That blindness in part, etc. “In part,” I think, refers not simply to time, nor to the number, but means, in a manner, or in a measure; by which expression he intended, as it seems to me, only to qualify a declaration which in itself was severe.

Way too much overkill, the Holy Spirit shows us what the scriptures mean, even when mistranslated, by using te whole breadth of the bible as one.

For instance we know exactly when Israel repents and HOW MANY by reading Zechariah 13:8-9, we see the 2/3 refuse to repent, and 1/3 repents and God calls them His sons and they call him their God again. Then  in the very next verse, Zech. 14:1 we see the Day of the Lord arrives, Israel gets sacked etc. So, why does Paul say ALL Israel will get saved ? Because Israel means The Nation is SAVED not every Jew of course !! But how can God condemn Jews to being BLIND to a certain point in time? He doesn't do that, notice Jews started the Church, via Peter, Paul, Stephen etc. etc. 

So, what God means by BLINDED IN PART, is that Israel as a Nation would not SEE AGAIN until the Time of the Gentiles was up (Church Age). You see God took the Mantle of the Gospel away from Israel and gave it to the Gentiles (a people he had not known) and only when their (Gentiles) time is up (Pre Trib Rapture) can Israel be saved during the 70th week !!  

So, the IN PART referred to God (of course) not disallowing Jews to come unto Christ during the Church Age period. Thus He indeed blinded Israel IN PART as a Nation but not IN FULL because Jews could still come to Christ during the Gentile Church Age. 

The time of the Gentiles refers to the period of time God took the Mantle away from Israel and gave it to the Gentiles, not to the time the Gentiles rule, heck the Gentiles have ruled the world for 6000 years, at no time has Israel ever ruled in full. People, in general misconstrue time of the Gentiles, it means the time God gave the Gentiles to preach His gospel unto the whole world. That is why in Romans chapters 9-11 we see these issues spoken about over and over. Esau and Jacob, The Elder serves the Youngest, well, right now the Younger (Gentile Church) has been CHOOSEN over the Elder (Israel). 

Rom. 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

Israel is blinded as a Nation, not as Individuals. ALL MEN can come unto Christ, but as a Nation Israel will never serve God again unto JUST BEFORE the Day of the Lord during the 70th week where 1/3 (5 million Jews) repent and then flee into the Petra/Bozrah area where God protects them for 1260 days until Jesus returns.

[anastasis888]

Paul never uses the phrase 'time of the Gentiles'. There is no such concept in the New Testament as a Gentile Age. Paul uses the 'pleroma' (fullness) of the Gentiles. By this he means that Israel as a people was only part of God's everlasting plan of salvation for the 'pleroma' (fullness) of all mankind. There is one New Covenant to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The phrase 'times of the Gentiles' as used by Jesus in Luke's gospel refers to that 42 month, 3 1/2 period of the siege of Jerusalem AD 67-70. Hebrew usage of 'times' means 'years', not ages.

And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)

The times (years) of the Gentiles were fulfilled by September of AD 70 when the trampling of Jerusalem was completed by Rome.

The Pleroma (Fullness) of the Gentiles is shown in the New Song of Revelation 5.

Revelation 5:9-10

 And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and they do reign on the earth.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2022 by anastasis888

[anastasis888]

Furthermore, Paul considers the Gentiles to have been grafted into Israel (Rom. 11:17). There is no 'Gentile age' in Paul's Gospel. Those who are Gentiles are accounted as among the Israel of God just as those Jews who accept the Gospel are the Israel of God.

There is one New Covenant to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The church is the one and only Israel of God that exists or ever will exist again. There is no 'Israel of God' outside the New Covenant of Jesus the Messiah.

Galatians 6

 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but new creation.

16And as many as walk according to this torah, peace be on them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.