- May 15, 2005
- 11,935
- 1,498
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- CA-Conservatives
This important and widely misunderstood section of scripture begins, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen” (Romans 9:1-5)
Here the Apostle’s great stress is his personal concern for his “countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” But in considering these words, we need to remember that, although we are reading words written by a man, we are actually reading words that come from the Holy Spirit. Before we can fully understand what the Holy Spirit is saying here we need to clearly understand who these words are written about. The object of these words is “my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” Thus we see that there can be no question whatsoever that the object of the Apostle’s concern is those who are Israelites “according to the flesh.” That is, members of the fleshly nation of Israel. These words leave no chance whatsoever that the group he is talking about is actually the church. The specific words that were used completely eliminate that possibility.
But what does this passage say about these people? It explicitly says “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God,and the promises.” As we have already noticed, the words “my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites,” just before these words, prove beyond a possibility of rational debate, that this is about those who are members of the fleshly nation of Israel. So here the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, has given us a list of things that pertain to the fleshly nation of Israel. This list is:
“to whom pertain
the adoption,
the glory,
the covenants,
the giving of the law,
the service of God,
and the promises.”
(Some may challenge this stress on the words “to whom pertain,” because the word pertain was not actually in the Greek text, but was added by the translators to complete the meaning. That is why the NKJV, which we are using, put this word in italics. But while this word was not actually in the Greek text, essentially every translation agrees that this is the true meaning of the Greek words actually used. The KJV gives exactly the same reading, while the ESV, the ISV, the NRSV and the HCSB all say to them belong, as does the MANT except it changes the word belong to belongs. The NASB says to whom belongs, as does the Douay, except that it says belongeth. Young’s literal translation says whose are, which Darby also said, but he bracketed the word are. The CEV and the GWN use is theirs. The ASV gives whose is, while The NCV gives they have.)
It is critical to understand that the Holy Spirit is not here saying that these things pertain to (or belong to) the church. Rather, He expressly says that these things pertain to (or belong to) Paul’s “countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
While everything in this list is important, for our present purposes we need to notice two specific items in this list. At the time this was written, “the covenants” and “the promises” still pertained to (or belonged to) Paul’s “countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” This was written long after Jesus had said, “your house is left to you desolate,” (Matthew 23:38 and Luke 13:35) long after Jesus had been crucified, long after that day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the church, and long after Stephen had been stoned, completing Israel’s rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. Yet “the covenants” and “the promises” still pertained to (or belonged to) the fleshly nation of Israel. This conclusively proves that the time Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, “the covenants” and “the promises” had not been transferred to the church. They still pertained to (or belonged to) the fleshly nation of Israel.
We now need to take a detailed look at the next verse. Romans 9:6 says, “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,” We need to examine the last portion of this in the Greek. The Greek words translated “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” are “ου γαρ παντες οι εξ ισραηλ ουτοι ισραηλ.” (In our alphabet, “ou gar pantes ho ex israel outoi israel” These Greek words translate literally to “not for the out of Israel these Israel.” We need to carefully notice the words “not ... the out of Israel these Israel.” Some think that these words mean that the true Israel is something different from “the out of Israel.” If these words were taken by themselves, they could indeed be interpreted that way. But that is not the only possible interpretation of these words. They can fully as legitimately be interpreted to mean that not every one out of Israel is Israel. That is, that just being an Israelite by birth does not make someone a true Israelite. In order to determine which of these possible interpretations is correct, we need to consider what the rest of this passage says.
The true meaning of these words is clearly shown in the next verse, for Romans 9:7 says, “nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’”
This statement has two parts, which we must examine separately. The first part is “nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.” The actual Greek words used here are “ουδ οτι εισιν σπερμα αβρααμ παντες τεκνα” (in our alphabet “oud hoti eisin operma abraam pantes tekna.” These Greek words translate literally to “not however that am seed Abraham all children.” We need to particularly notice the Greek words ουδ (oud) and παντες (pantes.) These translate literally to not and all. So we see that individual words that literally meant not and all were explicitly used in the Greek text. This, then, clearly shows the meaning of the previous sentence. It was most certainly not that the true Israel was something different from the physical descendants of Abraham. Instead it was saying that just being a physical descendant of Abraham did not make someone a true Israelite.
This is the same concept we see in John 1:47, where “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!’” Jesus was here saying that the fact that there was no deceit in Nathanel made him true Israelite. And Paul said that not every one out of Israel is an Israelite. The principle expressed in both passages is the same.
The second part of this statement is “but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’” This is a direct quotation from Genesis 21:9-13, where we read, “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.’ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
“But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.’”
Here God explicitly recognized that Ishmael was physically of the seed of Abraham, but said that he would not be counted as Abraham’s seed. Thus, the example the Apostle used was not a case of substituting someone of faith (Abraham’s spiritual seed) for Abraham’s physical seed. It was rather a case of recognizing some, but not all, of Abraham’s physical seed. This again shows that the Greek words which translate literally to “not for the out of Israel these Israel.” Do not mean that the real Israel is something different from the physical descendants of Abraham. Rather, they mean that just being a physical descendant of Abraham does not make someone a true Israelite.
This leads us into the next statement, where in Romans 9:8 we read, “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.” Some imagine that while the words “the children of the flesh” clearly mean the physical descendants of Abraham, the words “the children of promise” mean the church. But this is an explanation of the meaning of the previous words. And we have just seen that those words mean that only some of the physical descendants of Abraham are counted as his seed. This sentence explains which of Abraham’s physical descendants will be counted as his seed. Not all of Abraham’s physical descendants are his seed, but only the ones to whom the promise applied.
The Apostle continues, “For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’” (Romans 9:9) The promise was that Sarah would have a son. And only the son of promise was counted as Abraham’s seed. Now Sarah’s son is not the church. Sarah’s son was Isaac, and there is no passage anywhere in the Bible than can even be interpreted to mean that the church was ever called Isaac. So the promised son the Holy Spirit was referring to was Isaac, a physical son of Abraham, and not the church.
We see this again in the next example the Holy Spirit gave us. For we read in Romans 9:10-12, “And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’” There is not even one scripture that ever even hints at the idea that the church is Esau’s younger brother, nor does any scripture whatsoever associate the name Jacob with the church. So we see that neither of these two examples of God’s election speak of the church. They both speak of God choosing some of the physical seed of Abraham, but not all of it.
Next, we read “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” (Romans 9:14-16) This passage is critically important to coming to an understanding of what God is saying, particularly when considered in the light of the preceding one.
In verses 10-12, the Holy Spirit stressed that He made the choice between Jacob and Esau before they had done “any good or evil.” Now we are told that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Why is this so important to understanding the overall message of this part of the word of God? Because those who claim that Israel has been replaced by the church base that claim on an allegation that all the promises made to Israel were conditional. They reason that since Israel failed to keep the conditions, they lost the promises. But Romans 9:10-16 makes it exceedingly plain that God’s election is not conditional; that his choices stand, regardless of what men do.
This is stated in exceeding plainness in the 89th Psalm, where God makes his eternal promise to David: After the promise is made, God says:
“If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,
“If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments,
“Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.
“Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
“My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.” (Psalm 89:30-34)
Here God very explicitly said that his promise to David could not even be nullified by sin. He made it clear that He would deal with any sin that might be committed, but that the promise would still stand unchanged. And Romans 9:10-16 teaches us that this is because God’s promises to Israel are based upon his election, not upon their obedience.
God’s sovereignty in such matters is stressed again in the two verses that follow. “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” (Romans 9:17-18) Here God declares that He not only has mercy on whoever He wills, He also hardens whoever He wills.
But this generates a potential problem. Men object to this doctrine because they imagine it would make God unfair. But God’s answer is not to explain why this is indeed fair. Instead, He simply says: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Romans 9:19-21) God therefore does not defend this course of action on the basis of its fairness, even though it is fair, but on the basis of his right as the creator to do as He pleases.
So He continues in Romans 9:22-24:
“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”
Here the Apostle’s great stress is his personal concern for his “countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” But in considering these words, we need to remember that, although we are reading words written by a man, we are actually reading words that come from the Holy Spirit. Before we can fully understand what the Holy Spirit is saying here we need to clearly understand who these words are written about. The object of these words is “my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” Thus we see that there can be no question whatsoever that the object of the Apostle’s concern is those who are Israelites “according to the flesh.” That is, members of the fleshly nation of Israel. These words leave no chance whatsoever that the group he is talking about is actually the church. The specific words that were used completely eliminate that possibility.
But what does this passage say about these people? It explicitly says “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God,and the promises.” As we have already noticed, the words “my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites,” just before these words, prove beyond a possibility of rational debate, that this is about those who are members of the fleshly nation of Israel. So here the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, has given us a list of things that pertain to the fleshly nation of Israel. This list is:
“to whom pertain
the adoption,
the glory,
the covenants,
the giving of the law,
the service of God,
and the promises.”
(Some may challenge this stress on the words “to whom pertain,” because the word pertain was not actually in the Greek text, but was added by the translators to complete the meaning. That is why the NKJV, which we are using, put this word in italics. But while this word was not actually in the Greek text, essentially every translation agrees that this is the true meaning of the Greek words actually used. The KJV gives exactly the same reading, while the ESV, the ISV, the NRSV and the HCSB all say to them belong, as does the MANT except it changes the word belong to belongs. The NASB says to whom belongs, as does the Douay, except that it says belongeth. Young’s literal translation says whose are, which Darby also said, but he bracketed the word are. The CEV and the GWN use is theirs. The ASV gives whose is, while The NCV gives they have.)
It is critical to understand that the Holy Spirit is not here saying that these things pertain to (or belong to) the church. Rather, He expressly says that these things pertain to (or belong to) Paul’s “countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
While everything in this list is important, for our present purposes we need to notice two specific items in this list. At the time this was written, “the covenants” and “the promises” still pertained to (or belonged to) Paul’s “countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” This was written long after Jesus had said, “your house is left to you desolate,” (Matthew 23:38 and Luke 13:35) long after Jesus had been crucified, long after that day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the church, and long after Stephen had been stoned, completing Israel’s rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. Yet “the covenants” and “the promises” still pertained to (or belonged to) the fleshly nation of Israel. This conclusively proves that the time Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, “the covenants” and “the promises” had not been transferred to the church. They still pertained to (or belonged to) the fleshly nation of Israel.
We now need to take a detailed look at the next verse. Romans 9:6 says, “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,” We need to examine the last portion of this in the Greek. The Greek words translated “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” are “ου γαρ παντες οι εξ ισραηλ ουτοι ισραηλ.” (In our alphabet, “ou gar pantes ho ex israel outoi israel” These Greek words translate literally to “not for the out of Israel these Israel.” We need to carefully notice the words “not ... the out of Israel these Israel.” Some think that these words mean that the true Israel is something different from “the out of Israel.” If these words were taken by themselves, they could indeed be interpreted that way. But that is not the only possible interpretation of these words. They can fully as legitimately be interpreted to mean that not every one out of Israel is Israel. That is, that just being an Israelite by birth does not make someone a true Israelite. In order to determine which of these possible interpretations is correct, we need to consider what the rest of this passage says.
The true meaning of these words is clearly shown in the next verse, for Romans 9:7 says, “nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’”
This statement has two parts, which we must examine separately. The first part is “nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.” The actual Greek words used here are “ουδ οτι εισιν σπερμα αβρααμ παντες τεκνα” (in our alphabet “oud hoti eisin operma abraam pantes tekna.” These Greek words translate literally to “not however that am seed Abraham all children.” We need to particularly notice the Greek words ουδ (oud) and παντες (pantes.) These translate literally to not and all. So we see that individual words that literally meant not and all were explicitly used in the Greek text. This, then, clearly shows the meaning of the previous sentence. It was most certainly not that the true Israel was something different from the physical descendants of Abraham. Instead it was saying that just being a physical descendant of Abraham did not make someone a true Israelite.
This is the same concept we see in John 1:47, where “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!’” Jesus was here saying that the fact that there was no deceit in Nathanel made him true Israelite. And Paul said that not every one out of Israel is an Israelite. The principle expressed in both passages is the same.
The second part of this statement is “but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’” This is a direct quotation from Genesis 21:9-13, where we read, “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.’ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
“But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.’”
Here God explicitly recognized that Ishmael was physically of the seed of Abraham, but said that he would not be counted as Abraham’s seed. Thus, the example the Apostle used was not a case of substituting someone of faith (Abraham’s spiritual seed) for Abraham’s physical seed. It was rather a case of recognizing some, but not all, of Abraham’s physical seed. This again shows that the Greek words which translate literally to “not for the out of Israel these Israel.” Do not mean that the real Israel is something different from the physical descendants of Abraham. Rather, they mean that just being a physical descendant of Abraham does not make someone a true Israelite.
This leads us into the next statement, where in Romans 9:8 we read, “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.” Some imagine that while the words “the children of the flesh” clearly mean the physical descendants of Abraham, the words “the children of promise” mean the church. But this is an explanation of the meaning of the previous words. And we have just seen that those words mean that only some of the physical descendants of Abraham are counted as his seed. This sentence explains which of Abraham’s physical descendants will be counted as his seed. Not all of Abraham’s physical descendants are his seed, but only the ones to whom the promise applied.
The Apostle continues, “For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’” (Romans 9:9) The promise was that Sarah would have a son. And only the son of promise was counted as Abraham’s seed. Now Sarah’s son is not the church. Sarah’s son was Isaac, and there is no passage anywhere in the Bible than can even be interpreted to mean that the church was ever called Isaac. So the promised son the Holy Spirit was referring to was Isaac, a physical son of Abraham, and not the church.
We see this again in the next example the Holy Spirit gave us. For we read in Romans 9:10-12, “And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’” There is not even one scripture that ever even hints at the idea that the church is Esau’s younger brother, nor does any scripture whatsoever associate the name Jacob with the church. So we see that neither of these two examples of God’s election speak of the church. They both speak of God choosing some of the physical seed of Abraham, but not all of it.
Next, we read “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” (Romans 9:14-16) This passage is critically important to coming to an understanding of what God is saying, particularly when considered in the light of the preceding one.
In verses 10-12, the Holy Spirit stressed that He made the choice between Jacob and Esau before they had done “any good or evil.” Now we are told that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Why is this so important to understanding the overall message of this part of the word of God? Because those who claim that Israel has been replaced by the church base that claim on an allegation that all the promises made to Israel were conditional. They reason that since Israel failed to keep the conditions, they lost the promises. But Romans 9:10-16 makes it exceedingly plain that God’s election is not conditional; that his choices stand, regardless of what men do.
This is stated in exceeding plainness in the 89th Psalm, where God makes his eternal promise to David: After the promise is made, God says:
“If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,
“If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments,
“Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.
“Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
“My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.” (Psalm 89:30-34)
Here God very explicitly said that his promise to David could not even be nullified by sin. He made it clear that He would deal with any sin that might be committed, but that the promise would still stand unchanged. And Romans 9:10-16 teaches us that this is because God’s promises to Israel are based upon his election, not upon their obedience.
God’s sovereignty in such matters is stressed again in the two verses that follow. “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” (Romans 9:17-18) Here God declares that He not only has mercy on whoever He wills, He also hardens whoever He wills.
But this generates a potential problem. Men object to this doctrine because they imagine it would make God unfair. But God’s answer is not to explain why this is indeed fair. Instead, He simply says: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Romans 9:19-21) God therefore does not defend this course of action on the basis of its fairness, even though it is fair, but on the basis of his right as the creator to do as He pleases.
So He continues in Romans 9:22-24:
“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”
Last edited: