08.09.2015 New Testament: Rom 9.6–8

To read the Bible in a year, read Romans 9 on August 9, In the year of our Lord 2015

By Don Ruhl

Most of the Jews have not accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Does that mean that since God had chosen them to deliver the Scriptures and the Messiah to the world, that His word has lost its power, since those very people for the most part do not believe? No, listen to Paul,

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed (Romans 9.6–8). 

If being a child of Abraham automatically made one a child of God, then consider that only through Isaac would the promise come. That is, it was not a matter of the flesh, for then the promise would have come through Ishmael, but it is a matter of the Spirit, so it comes through Isaac. That means that those born of the flesh do not make up the children of God, but those born of the Spirit.