Romans 9:6-13, "True Israel"

Paul quickly runs to the defense of the veracity of the Scriptures despite a seemingly failed promise on the part of God. Paul had previously plead his compassionate love on his Jewish brethren, to the point he was willing to give up his own salvation (if that were possible) for the sake of their accepting the Messiah. He, however, remained firm with them in regards to their rejection of Christ, "he was saying that, in rejecting Jesus Christ, Israel rejected God and lost her status as God's favored, divinely blessed nation. She would no longer be the apple of God's eye, no longer be the people upon whom God would pour out His great blessings of care and protection" according to MacArthur. This would obviously bring to mind the question, 'doesn't this make God a liar, He did not follow through with His promises to us?' This reasoning would in turn bring about the questioning of Jesus as Messiah. For if Jesus was rejected, and God's promise is true, He is surely not the Messiah. Paul approaches this subject in v.6 as he says, "But it is not as though the word of God has failed". Paul reassures his people that in no way, does your rejection nullify God's promise to Israel. MacArthur writes, "The Lord had not abrogated or in any way invalidated the ultimate fulfillment of His unconditional promises to the Jews". Instead, Paul states, "They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel". Paul is basically saying that although one may be in the line of Isaac and Jacob and were termed an 'Israelite', this did not make them 'true Israel', or the ones to whom salvation was promised. Paul, once again, was reaffirming that salvation is not through ones heritage, but only through Jesus Christ. He reiterates this again by saying, "neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants". Paul will pull from Jewish history and God's word to show them this is the case. MacArthur writes, "The first male descendants of Abraham was Ishmael, whom he had by Hagar, the Egyptian maid of his wife Sarah. Disbelieving God's promise that Abraham would have an heir through her, the barren Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as another wife and insisted that her husband would father a male heir through her (Gen 16:1-3). As soon as Hagar became pregnant, however, Sarah became resentful and jealous. In due time Ishmael was born, and, had he been Abraham's only son, would have become the only heir. Sarah soon demanded that Hagar and her newly-weaned son be driven out of the household (vv.4-6) . . . Although Ishmael was a son of Abraham, and although Sarah was past the age of normal child-bearing, it was through her, Abraham's true wife, that God gave assurance that the true son of His promise would be born: "Sarah you wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting convenant for his descendants after him . . . My covenant I will establish with Isaac". Abraham also went on to have other children with Keturah after Sarah died, therefore having many children in the flesh, however, there was only one child of promise. Therefore, the promise was meant only for Isaac not all children from Abraham. Paul's point is that not everyone that is physically a descendant of Abraham was included in the promise, just as not everyone who is physically a descendant of Abraham receives God's spiritual promise. It is saved only for true Israel. MacArthur points out, "The unbelief, sin, rejection, and hostility of Israel toward Christ is not proof He is not Messiah. To the contrary, they fit perfectly with God's promise, which anticipated that not all Jews would believe in Jesus and be saved".

What we can see is that several times in the Old Testament, there were many ungodly and unfaithful Israelites, who were physically descendants of Abraham, however, did not have faith in God, and therefore would not attain salvation. In Rom. 11:3-4, "Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have torn down Thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life. I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (cf. I Kings 19:10, 18). God held for himself a remnant, which tells us that the majority of physically descended Jews would not receive the promise of salvation, because they were not considered true Israel which had always necessitated faith in God and ultimately Jesus Christ.

Another example in OT history is the story of Jacob and Esau. Paul starts, "And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac". If it were true that all the descendants of Abraham would receive the promise, surely twins born of the same mother at the same time would equally share in this promise, however, God in His sovereignty chose one over the other. Paul also brings up the point that these men had not even been born yet when their status was already decided. "For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might 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". Even going against Jewish culture in which the older was given the inheritance and the superiority over the younger, in God's plan he chose the opposite, to show His sovereign power. MacArthur writes, "God did not choose both sons to continue the physical line of promise but sovereignly elected Jacob and passed over Esau before they were even born. And just as He chose them without any regard for what they would do in their lives but purely that God's purpose . . . might stand with no regard for any human work, so God has chosen some Jews, not all, for salvation".

Paul has once again used their history and heritage, scriptures they had lived by their whole lives to show them that God's promises are always true, and that salvation has the promise to his elect has always involved faith in God rather than heritage or good works. The very foundation on which the Jews had stood on was being destroyed by Paul and scripture. Paul wanted to make clear that God chooses some in His sovereignty, and that not all the physical descendants are included in God's promise as scripture has clearly shown.