Audio commentary on this verse

Note 2 at Ro 11:25: This phrase, "fulness of the Gentiles," is only used here. A similar expression, "times of the Gentiles," is used in Lu 21:24. There are two obvious ways this phrase could be interpreted.

First, the fullness of the Gentiles could be referring to all the Gentiles who are foreordained (see note 2 at Ro 8:29) 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 (Ro 11:26). The Amplified Bible's 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, and specifically referring to the occupation of Jerusalem by the Gentiles. This is apparently what Lu 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 1948, yet the nation as a whole has not come to God.