The word remnant is common in the OT and rare in the NT. It appears eighty-three times in the Tanakh and only twice in the NT—both in Romans (9:27; 11:5).
A remnant is a small portion of something. Things that come on rolls, like carpeting, ropes, chains, and fabrics, are sold by the yard, and when too little is left on the roll to fulfill a regular order, the remaining portion is called a remnant.
In the OT, the remnant sometimes refers to Jews who were not deported (2 Kings 25:12), to Jews who disobediently fled to Egypt (Jer 44:28), to Jews who were scattered (Jer 23:3), and to the faithful in Israel (1 Kings 19:18; Isa 10:20-22; 37:31-32; Zeph 3:12-13).
In Romans 9–11, Paul writes about Israel’s current rejection of Jesus Christ as well as about its future deliverance from God’s wrath. Both the NT references to the remnant occur in this section. Paul uses the word to refer to a group of Jews in his day who were not only believers, but also faithful to the Lord (Rom 11:5). In 9:27, he uses it to refer to a group of Jews in the last days who will be faithful believers. That remnant will be saved from God’s Tribulation wrath (Rom 9:27; 11:26).
At the end of the Tribulation, “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26). Paul means that all the Jews left alive will be delivered by the Messiah from the Gentile armies that will have surrounded the nation. All adult Jews will not only be believers, but they will also be in fellowship with Him, for that is the condition for deliverance (Rom 10:9-10, 13). Jewish children and infants will also be delivered, whether they are faithful believers or not.
It might seem confusing to call “all Israel” a remnant, as Paul does in Rom 9:27. But if you think of the roll of carpet analogy, “all Israel” at the end of the Tribulation will be a very small group in comparison to all Jews who’ve ever lived and to all Jews who will be alive by the end of the Millennium. Two nations today have populations of over one billion. Israel’s population today is a little over ten million, only eight million of whom are Jews. During the Tribulation, up to three-quarters of the world’s population will die. There will be a similar number of deaths in Israel.
Here’s Paul’s point in Romans 9–11: Delay is not denial. Israel’s future as the world power with Jerusalem as the world capital has not happened during the last two millennia. It has been delayed. But it will happen. Soon. The Lord Jesus will rapture the Church and then, seven years later, will deliver all Israel from the Gentile armies who were about to destroy it.
The implication of Romans 9–11 is that there will always be, in every generation, a remnant of faithful believing Jews. That was not only true in Paul’s day, but has been true in every generation since then.
While the Bible doesn’t use the word remnant concerning Gentiles who are faithful believers, I’m convinced the same is true of Gentiles. In every generation there is a small remnant of faithful believers among the Gentiles as well.
I encourage you to study remnant theology. I believe you will find it encouraging.
Keep grace in focus, and you will be part of the remnant of faithful believers today.
