2 Cents

In this series of blog posts we are examining Romans 9 - the chapter in the Bible most often used to prove Calvinsim - to show show that it does not actually support Calvinism at all.  You can read part one here.

(6) But it is not as though the word of God has failed.  For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, (7) and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named."

Verse 6 begins by saying God's word has not failed.  The whole point of this section of Romans is to show us that God has not been unfaithful to his promises regarding Israel simply because now that Jesus has come some have rejected the gospel and are now cut off from God.  

Why is this the case?  Because God never promised that all Israel would be saved!  He only promised that he would use them in service to his kingdom to bring the Messiah into the world.  Israel was unconditionally elected to service not to salvation.

Next, in the latter half of verse 6 we see that there are really two Israels.  One is physical Israel composed of anyone who is a physical descendant of Israel (Jacob).  But the other is spiritual Israel - those who in the OT placed their faith in God, and now that Christ has come, those who have placed their faith in Christ.

And Paul is saying, Just because you're a physical Israelite does not automatically mean you're part of spiritual Israel.  God doesn't have to save you just because you are physically descended from Israel.  

So Paul's point in verse six is that physical Israel was unconditionally chosen for service, not for salvation.  This is very important to understand and keep in mind as we move through the rest of Romans 9 in future posts.

Then we come to verse 7.  Jack Cottrell notes in his Romans commentary that the most common error here is to think v. 7 is talking about the same thing as the last half of v. 6 - spiritual Israel.  But that's not the case.  While the last half of v. 6 talks about spiritual Israel, "children of Abraham" in v. 7 does not refer to those who are saved but to those whom God unconditionally elected to service - physical Israel.

We see this because Paul says they are not all his children simply because they are his offspring, but rather his children are the one's that came through Isaac.

What Paul's talking about here is the fact that Abraham had descendants through multiple women.  He fathered Ishmael through Hagar (See Gen. 16:15) and he also had children through a woman named Keturah (See Gen. 25:1-2).

But it was only the descendants that came through Sarah and through Isaac that God chose to serve him and become physical Israel - the nation through whom eventually the Messiah would come into the world.

Finally let's look at Romans 9:8...

This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring.

In other words it is not the children Abraham had in the natural way that end up being God's chosen people, the Israelites.  Rather it is only the "children of the promise," who are chosen - God's promise to Abraham and Sarah (See Rom. 9:9) - the children Abraham had as a result of the miracle God worked in the body of Sarah.

 So this sets an important foundation for us going forward as Paul introduces the idea that God has unconditionally elected the physical nation of Israel to service and not to salvation.

Check back later this week for more posts on how Romans 9 does not support Calvinism.  Special thanks to Dr. Jack Cottrell and his work in the College Press NIV Commentary on Romans.