Only God is called a “deliverer” in
Scripture (e.g., 2Sm 22:2; Ps 18:3; 40:18; 70:6; 144:2; Dn 6:28; Ws
19:9). The one exception is Moses, who is called such by Stephen since Moses
was called to deliver Israel from Egypt (Ac 7:35). For Rom 11:26 the NAB has:
“The deliverer will come out of Zion.” The phrase, “out of Zion” (εκ Σιων), which is
quoted from Isaiah 59:20, is adjusted by Paul (under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit) to conform to the “mystery” (Rom 11:25) that was revealed to him but
not to Isaiah. The Hebrew of Isaiah 59:20 is: ובא לציון גואל (“and comes to
Zion the Redeemer”), while the LXX has, ενεκεν
Σιων (“for the sake of Zion”). Paul makes a
critical interpolation of the two and settles for “from Zion,” specifying that
the Deliverer comes from the nation of Zion, as opposed to out of heaven or out
of some other nations. Since Christ is the only גואל (Goël, redeemer,
deliverer) that comes “from Zion” Paul must be referring to Christ’s First
coming (cf. Dt 18:15, 18; Ps 14:7; 53:6; 110:2; Is 2:3; Mi 5:2), which
excludes a future descent from heaven for Christ to save the Jews or occupy a
millennial kingdom on earth. As for Rom 11:27, Paul quotes from Isaiah 27:9 but
adjusts it as he did for Isaiah 59:20. The first half of the literal Hebrew in
Is 27:9 says, “then by this will be covered the iniquity of Jacob” (לכן בזאת יכפר
עון־יעקב). But Paul takes the “when” from the second half of Is 27:9 (בשׂומו כל־אבני
—“when he makes all the stones . . .”) and puts it at the beginning, in place
of “then” (לכן) in the first half of Isa 27:9, so that Paul’s Greek for Rom
11:27 reads “οταν αφελωμαι τας
αμαρτιας αυτων” (“when I
take away the sins of them”). As such, “when” does not refer to a future time
but to the precise time the Deliverer came out of Zion, which according to the
New Testament came at the beginning of the first century AD. Although Is 27:9
does not have the word “covenant,” it appears in Paul’s second quote, Is 59:21:
“ . . . this is my covenant with them, says the Lord,” and thus Paul, under
inspiration, coordinates them (cf. Is 42;6; 49:8; 55:3; 61:8; Jr
31:31-33; Hb 10:16-18). (Robert Sungenis, Supersessionism is Irrevocable:
Facing the Ambiguities, Compromises, and Heresies in Recent Catholic Documents
Regarding the “Old Covenant” [State Lina, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics
International Publishing, Inc., 2024], 444 n. 269)
