Romans 11:28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
My best 3 Options:
1) The first "they" in is non-remnant Israel, the second "they" is the remnant of Israel. This is difficult to justify due to grammar. "Israel" having 2 meanings in one sentence can be justified, but to use "they" twice without letting the reader know that he is changing subjects is beyond where I am willing to go.
2) Both "theys" are refering to non-remnant Israel. They are enemies of the Gospel, but God still has a special place in his heart for them because they are his chosen people. God does not seem to have this kind of sentiment towards Israelite unbelievers elsewhere in scripture, even though it can be found in many modern teachings.
3) Both "theys" are refering to a part of remnant Israel (see "part" in vs 25). This blind part is a group of Israelites that were truly faithful to God under the Old Covenant, but have yet to understand the New Covenant. These are zealous people like Paul was before his conversion, acting like enemies to the gospel out of ignorance.
This has a minor ripple effect back to the start of Chapter 9. It makes the two "Israels" in these chapters refer to "Physical Jews" and "Remnant Jews", and not to "Physical Jews" and "Jews with Gentiles mixed in". This does not negate the replacement theology
that we both hold to, because that it clearly taught in Galatians and elsewhere. It also slightly changes the interpretation of vs 25 and explains Pauls optimism in chapter 11 which seems to contrast his opening for chapter 9.Glenn