What do John 3:16 and Romans 11:26 have in common?

What do John 3:16 and Romans 11:26 have in common? Most Christians are familiar with John 3:16 which in the NIV reads,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 11:26 in the NIV reads,

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
   “The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

Look only at the words to see what is in common; don't worry about anything else. There is one very innocent little word these two verses share in most English translations, including this 1994 NIV: "so". It seems a rather insignificant word. But now look at the 2010 NIV for the latter verse (emphasis added):

and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
   “The deliverer will come from Zion;
   he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

The NIV has changed. So what? Who gives a houtos? Let's take a closer look at the word so which just changed to in this way.

The Greek word here is οὕτως (houtos) which is an adverb meaning "in this manner". Sometimes the word "so" is used for this in English. For example, "Do it like so" means "Do it in this manner." The correct reading of John 3:16 should therefore begin, "For in this manner God loved the world..." In what manner? The answer comes from the previous two verses! In the same manner that Moses lifted up on a pole the serpent in the wilderness and everyone who looked to it was saved from the serpents (see Numbers 21:8-9), God would have Jesus lifted up on a cross, and everyone who looks to him will be saved from his sins.

So (no pun intended), John 3:16 is not saying that God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. It is saying that God loved the world so! (in the manner described in verses 14-15), giving his one and only Son in the same way. Yet the overwhelming majority of English translations continue with the traditional "For God so loved..." which is misleading to modern English speakers. The LEB and NET are two examples of modern translations that have forsaken the "so", producing "For in this way God loved..." and "For this is the way God loved..." respectively.

How do we apply this to Romans 11:26? We saw above that the 2010 NIV has made the change to "in this way" here, though not in John 3:16. Paul is arguing that the manner in which all Israel will be saved is through the partial hardening of Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (into the Kingdom of God, that is, verse 25). I am not going to expound the scripture here, but the nutshell version is that the church in Rome was not to boast over Jews who didn't believe in Jesus and therefore had not entered into the Kingdom (verses 17-22). He says that God is able to restore Israel (bringing them to faith in Jesus), and that this will happen through the fullness of the Gentiles coming in (verses 23-25).

It is sad to see so many English Bibles using the word so when in this manner is clearly a better translation. One little word can make a world of difference!

Theology in the Park: The mystery of Romans 11:25

Yesterday I attended an all-day Theology in the Park conference organised by Messianic Good News, an organisation directed by Peter Cohen and Kevin Daly "who are both actively involved in writing and spreading the good news" (see their website), most especially to the Jewish people. In spite of some theological differences I have with them, I really think they do great work; their articles are thoroughly researched and they know what they believe, and why.

One of the exercises the conference participants were given was to identify the 'mystery' (Greek: μυστήριον, 'mysterion') mentioned by Paul in Romans 11:25. Immediately I felt embarrassed because I should know the answer off the top of my head (since it is closely related to my Masters topic), but I didn't. So I quickly looked up the verse and read the surrounding verses before my turn came up. As we went around the circle of about 20 people, we had an equal number of different answers though of course many overlapped. Nevertheless, there were some very different answers. Some people offered great biblical truths as the meaning of the mystery that Paul was writing to the church in Rome about. They really were wonderful gospel truths, but they were not the right answer to the question.

I feel there were two critical oversights that were made by most participants. Firstly, Paul says he does not want his readers to be ignorant of this mystery, and then he goes on to tell them what the mystery is in the same sentence! (The explanation also runs into the next verse, which in some translations is the same sentence.) Both the demonstrative pronoun this (τοῦτο, 'touto') and the conjunction that ('in order that': ἵνα, 'hina') appear in Greek text - the translators did not 'supply' them (that is, add them in, as is sometimes necessary in interpretation): "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery... that..." and then Paul spells it out.

The second oversight was equally significant. The 'answer' to the question was supposedly given in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Now I do believe that the Bible is an integrated whole -- that it is internally consistent, that apparent contradictions are solvable, and that one passage of scripture may be vital to unlocking the meaning of another. And certainly the mystery mentioned in Ephesians is related to the one in Romans 11, but the church in Rome did not have Paul's letter to the Ephesians at hand. Paul had to describe the mystery in the self-same letter in which he refers to it, or his readers would not have known what he was talking about. There are many mysteries in the Bible, but there was no need for my companions to explore further; Paul gives the answer then-and-there.

Why don't you take a look at Romans 11:25-26 and see what you think the 'mysterion' (secret, mystery) is that Paul was writing about?