Romans 9.7-Paul Cites Genesis 21.12 To Prove That Being A Spiritual Child Of Abraham Is Not A Birthright
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 4, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:7-Paul Cites Genesis 21:12 To Prove That Being A Spiritual Child Of Abraham Is Not A Birthright
Lesson # 300
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter nine and by way of review we have noted the following thus far:
In Romans 9:1, Paul implicitly appeals to Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses as to the veracity of his statements in Romans 9:2-3.
Then in Romans 9:2, Paul expresses his great sorrow and unceasing grief over the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
Paul in Romans 9:3 communicates to his readers his great love for the nation of Israel by expressing his desire to be separated from Christ for their sake.
Then, in Romans 9:4-5, he lists eight privileges that were given to the nation of Israel by God that helps the reader understand the depth of his sorrow and grief.
Lastly, in Romans 9:6, we have the start of a new paragraph and in this verse Paul presents the premise that not all Israel is Israel and that God’s Word has not failed and for the rest of the chapter he illustrates this premise.
This evening we will study Romans 9:7 in which Paul continues to develop further the principle that not all those who are Israelites racially or biologically are considered by God as the true or spiritual Israel.
In this passage, he supports this distinction between racial or ethnic and spiritual Israel and explains its basis in Romans 9:7-13.
Paul’s argument is divided into two sections: (1) Verses 7-9: Illustration with the selection of Isaac (2) Verses 10-13: Illustration with selection of Jacob over Esau.
He proves his point in these verses through the presentation of Old Testament passages.
In this passage, he cites Genesis 21:12 to prove this point with his readers that being a spiritual child of Abraham is not a birthright or in other words it is not based upon one’s racial heritage but rather it is based upon faith in the promises and in particular faith in the promised Messiah.
So in verse seven Paul calls into question the erroneous presumptuous assumption held by his fellow unregenerate Jewish countrymen that their racial heritage is the basis for salvation.
In this verse he demonstrates that more than just physical descent from Abraham is required if one would inherit the promises given to the patriarchs and receive eternal salvation.
The Jews failure to agree with Paul’s argument would be admitting Ishmael and the sons of Keturah to the same status as the Jew since they too are descended from Abraham.
Therefore, in Romans 9:7 Paul is teaching that even though the Jew is descended from Abraham, this does not constitute the basis for eternal salvation.
Let’s read Romans 9:1-13 and then concentrate on verse 7 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:1-13, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’”
Corrected translation of Romans 9:6-7:
Romans 9:6-7, “Now, this does not by any means imply that the word originating from God is nullified because each and every person who descended from Israel, these are, as an eternal spiritual truth, by no means, Israel. Nor because they are, as an eternal spiritual truth, Abraham’s biological descendants are they, as an eternal spiritual truth, spiritual children. On the contrary, ‘by means of the line of Isaac for your benefit, spiritual descendants will be effectually called.’”
Romans 9:6-7, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’”
“Nor” is the adverb oude (ou)dev) (oo-deh), which is used with the negative ou, “not by any means” that appears in Romans 9:6 and together, they combine two negative clauses together.
Oude and ou serve to connect two concepts: (1) Verse 6: “Each and every person who descended from Israel, these, are, as an eternal spiritual truth, by no means, Israel.”: Even though the Jew is racially descended from the patriarch Israel (aka Jacob), this by no means indicates that they are spiritual Israel or recognized by God as being Israel. (2) Verse 7: “Nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.”: Even though the Jew is racially descended from Abraham, this does not indicate that they are spiritual descendants of Abraham.
Romans 9:6-7, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’”
“Because” is the conjunction hoti (o^ti) (hot-ee), which introduces a “causal” clause that expresses the fact that a Jew is not a spiritual child of Abraham “because” they are his biologically descendants.
“They are” is the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee), which denotes individuals that “belong to a particular class of members of the human race” who are identified as sperma Abraam, “Abraham’s descendants.”
“Abraham’s” is the genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Abraam ( )Abraavm) (ab-rah-am), which refers to the father of the nation of Israel, who was a believer whom God established a covenant with that is called by theologians, the “Abrahamic Covenant.”
“Descendants” is the nominative neuter singular form of the noun sperma (spevrma) (sper-mah), which refers to Abraham’s biological descendants and refers to ethnic or racial Israel since it is used in contrast the noun teknon, which as we will note refers to Abraham’s spiritual children through faith in Christ.
The word is functioning as a “collective” singular meaning that although it is in the singular form it is referring to group of individuals.
“All children” is the nominative masculine plural form of the adjective pas (pa$), “all” and the nominative neuter plural form of the noun teknon (tevknon) (tek-non), “children.”
Some contend that teknon refers specifically to the children of God and support this with Paul’s statement in verse 8.
Romans 9:8, “That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.”
However, the noun teknon in Romans 9:7 is used with reference to Abraham’s spiritual children since it is used in a clause that stands in contrast to the hoti clause which makes reference to those who have descended biologically from Abraham.
Of course, those who are Abraham’s spiritual children are God’s children as well since both have accepted by faith Jesus of Nazareth as their promised Messiah.
But Paul’s emphasis is upon Abraham’s spiritual children in contrast to those who descended biologically from him.
Romans 9:7, “Nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’”
“But” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a statement that is a quotation from Genesis 21:12, that supports Paul argument that ethnic or racial Israel does not constitute the spiritual children of Abraham.
The statement “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED” is quotation from Genesis 21:12, which supports Paul’s argument that there is a distinction between the biological or racial descendants of Abraham and those who are his spiritual descendants.
This quotation agrees exactly with the Septuagint, thus it is a literal translation of the Massoretic Text.
Genesis 21:12, “But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.’”
The promise “through Isaac your descendants shall be named” indicates that the Promised Seed, the Savior, Jesus Christ would come through the line of Isaac rather than Ishmael.
“THROUGH ISAAC” is composed of the preposition en (e)n), “THROUGH” and the dative masculine singular form of the proper name Isaak (’Isaavk) (ee-sah-ak), “ISAAC.”
Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah and his name means “laughter” and was designated by God expressing Abraham’s joyful faith in the Lord’s ability to fulfill this promise.
The birth of Isaac was the second step in forming the nation of Israel, from whom Jesus Christ would come since Isaac’s son Jacob, later named by God as Israel, had twelve sons who were heads of the twelve tribes of Israel (1 Chronicles 1:34; 2:1-2; Acts 7:8).
Through the nation of Israel would come the Savior of the world (John 4:22; Romans 9:3-5).
To the nation of Israel would be given the Old Testament Scriptures, the adoption as sons, the Mosaic Law, the Shekinah Glory, the promises and the unconditional covenants (Davidic, Palestinian, New and Abrahamic) (see Romans 9:1-5).
Romans 9:6-7, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’”
“YOUR DESCENDANTS” is composed of the dative second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (suv) (soo), “YOUR” and the nominative neuter singular form of the noun sperma (spevrma) (sper-mah), “DESCENDANTS.”
The noun sperma refers to the spiritual descendants of Abraham since Paul is speaking of the context of the line of Isaac from which individuals would become beneficiaries of the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant in contrast to the line of Ishmael.
The personal pronoun su refers of course to Abraham and functions as a “dative of advantage” meaning that “for the benefit of” Abraham, his spiritual descendants would be called by God through the line of Isaac.
It would be to the advantage of Abraham since God promised to make his name great, which the Lord promised He would do for Abraham (See Genesis 12:1-3).
It would also be to his advantage since the nation of Israel, from whom the Messiah would come, would pass through the line of his son Isaac (See Genesis 22:18).
Romans 9:6-7, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’”
“WILL BE NAMED” is the third person singular future passive indicative form of the verb kaleo (kalevw) (kal-eh-o), which refers to the “effectual call” of God since Paul is emphasizing God’s sovereign decision to use the line of Isaac, which would produce spiritual descendants for Abraham.
Some commentators suggest that the verb kaleo in Romans 9:7 means no more than “shall be” or “be named” or “be recognized as.”
However, in context, Paul is quoting Genesis 21:12 in which God informs Abraham that his spiritual descendants will come through the line of Isaac rather than Ishmael’s line.
Abraham believed that God would use Ishmael’s line and desired that this would be the case since he loved the boy.
However, God overrules Abraham, which emphasizes that God is wishing to impress upon Abraham that it is His sovereign decision that He would use the line of Isaac to produce spiritual descendants for him that would contribute to further making his name great.
Therefore, in Romans 9:7, the verb kaleo is referring to God “effectually calling” the spiritual descendants of Abraham by means of the line of Isaac since Paul is emphasizing God sovereignly choosing Isaac’s line over an against Ishmael’s in order to produce spiritual descendants for Abraham.