Audio commentary on this verse

Note 2 at Rom. 11:25: This phrase "fulness of the Gentiles" is only used here. A similar expression, "times of the Gentiles" is used in Luke 21:24 (see Parallel Scriptures for this verse). There are two obvious ways this phrase could be interpreted.

First, the fulness of the Gentiles could be referring to all the Gentiles which are foreordained (see note 2 at Rom. 8:29, p. 801) to come to Christ experiencing salvation. Then there would be a wonderful move of God among the Jews in which the Jewish nation as a whole would come to the Lord (v. 26). The Amplified Translation would lend itself to this interpretation: ". . . a hardening (insensibility) has temporarily befallen a part of Israel to last until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in."

This phrase could also be referring to the time when the Gentiles would no longer be dominating the Jewish nation, specifically referring to the occupation of Jerusalem by the Gentiles. This is apparently what Luke 21:24 is referring to. If so, then there will have to be a future fulfillment of the scriptures that prophesied the end of Gentile control of Jerusalem since Israel has physically possessed Jerusalem since the Israel-Arab War of 1967 and yet, the nation as a whole has not come to God.