Romans 9.9-Paul Cites Genesis 18.10, 14 To Identify Specifically The Content Of The Lord's Promise To Abraham
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 8, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:9-Paul Cites Genesis 18:10, 14 To Identify Specifically The Content Of The Lord’s Promise To Abraham
Lesson # 302
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This morning 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.
Romans 9:1-5, “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.”
Next, 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.
Paul in Romans 9:7 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.
This past Thursday we noted Romans 9:8 and in this passage, Paul teaches that the racial descendants of Abraham are not considered by God to be His children but rather He considers the children of the promise as being such and that the children of the promise are regarded by God as being Abraham’s spiritual descendants.
This morning, we will study Romans 9:9 and in this passage, the apostle cites Genesis 18:10 and 14 to identify specifically the content of the Lord’s promise to Abraham, which was that the Lord would fulfill His promise to Abraham and Sarah and they would have a son named Isaac.
Romans 9:6-13, “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.’”
Let’s concentrate on verse 9.
Romans 9:9, “For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’”
“For” is the “explanatory” use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that “identifies” specifically the content of the promise that the Lord made to Abraham.
“This” is the nominative masculine singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (ou!!to$) (hoo-tos), which is “kataphoric” meaning that it is pointing to the quotation from Genesis 18:10, 14 that immediately follows it, which identifies that the Lord promised Abraham and Sarah a son.
“The word of promise” is composed of the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun logos (lovgo$) (log-os), “the word” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun epangelia (e)paggeliva) (ep-ang-el-ee-ah), “of the promise.”
The noun logos is a reference to a statement made by the Lord.
The word’s adjunct, epangelia, “promise” and the quotation from Genesis 18:10, 14 indicates that this statement refers to the Lord’s prophetic promise to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years of age that he and his wife Sarah would have a son a year later.
The noun epangelia refers to the prophetic promise that the Lord made to Abraham when he was ninety-nine of age that he and his wife Sarah would have a son a year later as indicated by the quotation from Genesis 18:10, 14, which follows it.
The word appears in the emphatic position of the sentence for emphasis.
Romans 9:9, “For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’”
The statement “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH WILL HAVE A SON” is a loose paraphrase of Genesis 18:10 and 14.
Genesis 18:10, “He said, ‘I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.”
Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
The promise recorded in Genesis 18:10, 14 is a reiteration of a promise that the Lord made earlier to Abraham that is recorded in Genesis 17:15-16.
Genesis 17:15-16, “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’”
“AT THIS TIME” is composed of the preposition kata (katav), “AT” and the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun kairos (kairov$) (ki-ros), “TIME” and the accusative masculine singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (ou!!to$) (hoo-tos), “THIS.”
In Romans 9:9, the noun kairos refers to a specific, precise moment in the future.
The preposition kata is employed with the accusative form of the noun kairos as a marker of a specific moment in human history.
That moment is when the Lord would deliver on His promise to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child together exactly one year after the Lord made this promise according to a comparison of Genesis 18:10 and 14.
Romans 9:9, “For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’”
“I WILL COME” is the first person singular future (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb erchomai (e*rxomai) (er-khom-i), which means, “to return” in the sense of intervening on behalf of Abraham and Sarah by empowering them to have a child together at their advanced age.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that erchomai is translating is the Hebrew verb shuv (bWv), “to return,” which is translated by the New American Standard Updated Version and the New International Version as “return” in Genesis 18:10 and 14.
When the Lord says He will return, this does not mean that the Lord would visibly appear to Abraham again in a theophany or Christophany at the same time the following year.
But rather it means that He would intervene on behalf of Abraham and Sarah and exercise His omnipotence to fulfill this promise that Sarah would have a child with Abraham.
This interpretation is confirmed since the Lord did not visibly appear to Abraham the following year but rather the Lord exercised His omnipotence and enabled Abraham to impregnate Sarah.
“Sarah” is the articular dative feminine singular form of the proper name Sarrha (Savr)r(a) (sar-hrah), which refers to Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother who is commended by God for her faith.
Her name was originally “Sarai,” which means, “my princess” and suggests that rulers would come from her lineage and that she was a woman of a measure of social standing.
Her name was later changed to “Sarah” in the covenant ceremony that appears in Genesis 17:5.
The name “Sarai” indicated her honor was confined to one family into which she was born whereas “Sarah” means, “princess of multitudes” signifying that the kings of Israel would descend from her, even the greatest of Israel’s kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Sarai” her birth-name looks back on her noble descent whereas “Sarah” emphasizes her covenant relationship with Abraham and the transcendent God and looks ahead or foreshadows her noble descendants.
“Sarah” is the only woman in the Bible whose name is changed and whose age at death is detailed (Gen. 23:1), which reveals her importance to the plan of salvation.
Sarai was the daughter of Terah by a different mother than Abraham’s (20:12).
Therefore, she was the half-sister of Abraham.
Like Abraham, Sarah is mentioned as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11 since she trusts in the Lord to give her a child even though she was past the age of childbearing.
Hebrews 11:11, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Genesis 17:15-22 records the Lord promising Abraham that his wife Sarai will be the progenitrix or in other words, the mother of numerous nations and kings.
Romans 9:9, “For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’”
“SHALL HAVE” is the third person singular future (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee), which means, “to exist.”
The verb denotes that for the benefit of Sarah, the Lord “will bring into existence” a son.
The future tense is a “predictive” future tense indicating that the Lord predicted to Abraham that “it will come to pass” that for the benefit of Sarah there will be a son.
“A SON” is the nominative masculine singular form of the noun huios (ui(ov$) (hwee-os), which is used in a literal sense for the male of offspring of Abraham and Sarah whose name was Isaac.
Romans 9:9 emphasizes that the nation of Israel as the covenant people of God was brought into existence through God’s initiative and intervention and power.
This verse explains Paul’s teaching in Romans 9:8 that the racial descendants of Abraham are not considered by God to be either His children or Abraham’s spiritual descendants but rather He considers the children of the promise as being both.
It also supports his argument from Romans 9:6 that not all racial Israel constitutes spiritual Israel and that God’s Word has not failed.
Romans 9:9 illustrates this principle in Romans 9:6 since it emphasizes that the nation of Israel, as the covenant people of God, was brought into existence through God’s sovereign grace and intervention and power rather than through the will of men or human merit.