The Rejection of Part of Israel Does Not Nullify God’s Promises (Romans 9:5–9)

Rom. 9:5. To them belong the patriarchs, and from them according to the flesh comes the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

“And from them the patriarchs.” “Those glorious and illustrious ones, whom God called his God” (Blessed Theodoret). These are understood to be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Though all the notable figures of the Old Testament are called patriarchs, these above all are the patriarchs, as the founders of the nation and as those with whom God made a covenant—the beginning and foundation of the Old Covenant and all the promises. This is why, just as God called himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so the Jews also called God the God of their fathers, and gloried in their names, and valued the privilege of being descendants of such patriarchs and fathers.

“And from them according to the flesh comes the Messiah.” “In conclusion the Apostle brings the greatest of goods” (Blessed Theodoret). Here is the foundation of all other privileges. Therefore the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship—because the predetermined Deliverer of mankind was to be born in their race, and all the promises referred to him. The entire Old Covenant rested on Christ the Lord. This is why estrangement from the Lord Saviour made all other privileges valueless.

“Who is God over all, blessed forever.” Having said “from them according to the flesh comes the Messiah,” the Apostle gave us to understand that Christ is one thing according to the flesh and another thing not according to the flesh. According to the flesh he is man; what is he not according to the flesh? “God over all.” Blessed Theodoret writes: “Although the addition of ‘according to the flesh’ alone was sufficient to make plain the Godhood of the Master Christ, yet just as at the very beginning, having said ‘who was descended from the seed of David according to the flesh,’ the Apostle added ‘was declared to be the Son of God in power’ (Rom. 1:3–4); so here, having said ‘from them according to the flesh comes the Messiah,’ he added ‘who is God over all, blessed forever,’ both showing the distinction of natures and teaching that the Jews have solid reason to lament, because from them according to the flesh comes the God over all, and yet they have lost this nobility and become alienated from this kinship.”

“God over all”—both by nature as God and because he is the Creator (Jn. 1:3), by whom “all things were created” (Col. 1:16). The Almighty, “sustaining all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3), and the Providence, who, having authority “over heaven and over earth” (Matt. 28:18), guides all things to the final end, “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). Oecumenius writes: “Here most brilliantly the Apostle calls Christ God. Blush, thrice-wretched Arius, hearing Paul praise Christ as the true God. Though the Jews may pour out blasphemies against him, I, knowing the ineffable economy in him and knowing his providence, proclaim that Christ is rightly praised as ‘God over all and blessed forever.’”

In conclusion of the depiction of such privileges of the Jews, in which the Apostle’s sorrow at their loss was so evident, Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle is like mourning women who in their lamentation over the dead and the lamented depict both the beauty of the body, the blooming age, the renown of ancestors, wealth, and power.”

b) The rejection of part of the Jews does not contradict God’s promises (Rom. 9:6–29)

Rom. 9:6. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

You grieve, someone might say, that such a significant part of the Jews remained without the benefits promised; this means you acknowledge that God’s promises have not been fulfilled: “He promised to some and gave to others; Christ was born of some but saved others; God gave promises to the ancestors of the Jews and, leaving their descendants, gave their blessings to those who never knew him. The Jews labored, were taught the law, read the Prophets, while the Gentiles had hardly abandoned their altars and idols when they became superior to the Jews. Thus, why did those who received the promise lose it, while those who never heard of the promise were saved before the first? To this the Apostle answers: I said this not in the sense that the word of God has become ineffective, but to prove love for Christ (and in Christ for them [Oecumenius]). Regarding your question, continues the Apostle, though the present state of affairs appears thus, we are not shaken in defending God and maintaining that the promise is inviolable” (Holy Chrysostom). “Though they oppose and refuse (in faith) to reap the fruits of salvation, the promises given to the fathers remain true” (Blessed Theodoret). “I,” he says, “am inflamed because they blaspheme God, as if he did not fulfill his promise, and therefore I expressed the desire that all might be saved. But if not all will be saved, it does not follow that God lied in his promises given to the fathers and that his word failed. He fulfilled what he promised, even though the blasphemers say that he promised to some and gave to others” (Blessed Theodoret).

To prove that this is indeed so, the Apostle puts forward: “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” This is a general proposition which continues in the following verses: “and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants” (Rom. 9:7). You who object, he says, as it were, do not properly understand the force of the promise; in your view, if you are born only of Israel and Abraham, you are thereby already a partaker of the promise, but in reality this is not so: physical descent from the fathers who received the promise does not make one a partaker of it, but something else, something higher. What exactly this higher thing is, the Apostle does not state directly, but clearly gives us to understand in the name Israel and the children of the promise (verse 8). Israel means a seer of God. To see God is the highest spiritual perfection, which is given, comes, and is received through the mortification of the passions, as with Jacob in his struggle with the spiritual man, signifying the mortification of passions. The children of the promise are those born like Isaac; Isaac was formed and born by the word of God: “I will return at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” “Though the womb of the woman and her inward parts contributed to the birth, it was not the power of the womb that produced the child” (Holy Chrysostom). Power from above came to nature through the word, the fruit was conceived, and Isaac was born. Behold what those to whom the promise belongs should be like: to be born by power from above through the word and then to ascend to the vision of God! Now consider with whom this is fulfilled. With none but true Christians, who are born again in the font through the word and then have their life hidden with Christ in God. Consequently, in what you see now being accomplished “before your eyes,” there is exact fulfillment of the power of the promise, and it should not occur to any one of sound mind that “the word of God has failed.”

Such is the thought our interpreters convey, beginning with this verse and beyond. But it is only discerned by the mind; the Apostle himself did not state it aloud. Having to deal with minds that thought after the flesh, he sought to lead them to such a thought by tangible fleshly examples. Having said “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel”—and thereby giving us to understand, those with purified understanding, that kinship with him is determined not by natural birth but by virtue that leads to the vision of God (Blessed Theodoret, Photius in Oecumenius)—he should, for those without such understanding, show an example of visible separation of someone from the fleshly descendants of Israel from the general mass of the people descended from him. But since history provided no such example, and all sons and daughters of the twelve sons of Israel were uniformly called Israel without visible separation of anyone from their midst and without clear indication of separation according to the spirit, though it was invisibly always being accomplished and known to God alone, holy Paul finds a tangible example of this separation earlier, in those born from Abraham and Isaac. He speaks, as it were: from Abraham was born not only Isaac, but he alone is a child of the promise, while the others were separated from this line; similarly, from those born of Isaac, Esau was separated and Jacob alone was recognized as the heir of the promise. Thus, just as there was tangible and visible separation of those not deemed worthy of the promise, so after that from among the descendants of Israel a like separation was made, but invisibly, not openly. Now it has been made visible through the word of the gospel—those who did not receive the gospel were separated, while those who believed were accepted. As on the threshing floor, when the winnowed grain is tossed with a shovel, the chaff is blown to the side while the grain remains and is gathered into the granary, so it is now—the unbelieving are blown to the side to soon be scattered over the face of the earth, while the believing remain in God’s place within the enclosure of the Church, to enter God’s granary. Thus, let no one think that the word of God has failed; for not all who are of Israel according to the flesh are Israel also according to the spirit.

The thought of the Apostle, laid out in this manner, sheds light on all the subsequent discourse up to verse 13 and makes it clear. Let us, however, review it both in our own minds and in the words of our wise theologian interpreters.

Rom. 9:7. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but ‘In Isaac shall your offspring be named.’

Not only because one is born of Abraham according to the flesh is he a child of Abraham. Not all who are born of Abraham are thereby his true children, that is, children of Abraham truly so-called, corresponding to God’s intention, or children of the promise, God’s children (verse 8). And Ishmael was from Abraham, and later the children of Keturah (Gen. 25:1, 4; 1 Chron. 1:32–33) were also Abraham’s fleshly children, but neither he nor they were accepted as heirs of the promise. Isaac alone was declared to be the heir: “In Isaac shall your offspring be named,”—that is, offspring worthy to partake of the benefits of the promise. Holy Chrysostom says: “If you understand who is called the seed of Abraham, you will see to whom the promise was given, and you will learn that the word of God has not failed. So tell me, who is called the seed? I do not speak, answers the Apostle, but the Old Testament explains itself, saying: ‘In Isaac shall your offspring be named’ (Gen. 21:12).” Here is the first example of separation from the inheritance of the promise of those born according to the flesh from the father who received the promise!

For the Apostle’s purpose—to show visible examples of separation from the inheritance—what has been said would suffice; but since he had in mind to present these examples in such a way that in them would be seen a reflection of what was accomplished before all eyes in Christ Jesus in the work of the proclamation of the gospel, which he now defends, he does not limit himself to what has been said but gives an interpretation of the entire event such that one cannot but see a reference to what is accomplished in Christ Jesus, which cannot be understood without presupposing this reference. This is why Holy Chrysostom says that the Apostle “in his explanation links the present (happening in Christ) with the Old Testament.”

Rom. 9:8. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Word for word, the deeds in the Old Testament did not proceed in this manner. Not all counted as seed were born according to the promise, and in such a way that they should be called children of God rather than children of their fleshly fathers who bore them. In Jacob, the son of Isaac, this can still be seen as the holy Paul shortly shows; but after that all were counted as seed without visible and open division of the worthy from the unworthy of the promise. God’s eye certainly saw both, but God did not openly and visibly rebuke some and approve others. The separation of one from the other began to happen visibly only when Christianity was established, when those who believed in Christ entered into the inheritance of the promise as true children of Abraham and God’s children, while those who disbelieved were alienated from him. Our interpreters directly see in these and the following words a reference to what happens in Christ Jesus our Lord. Holy Chrysostom says: “The meaning of these words of the Apostle is: those born in the manner of Isaac are children of God and seed of Abraham. This is why it is said: ‘In Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ But how was Isaac born? Not according to the law of nature, not by the power of flesh, but by the power of the promise.” That is, by the action of the power of God, as we are born in the font (Blessed Theophylact). Blessed Theodoret directly writes: “The Apostle calls the flesh-born according to the natural order ‘children of the flesh,’ but those who became sons by grace ‘children of the promise.’” So too Ambrosiaster explains: “The Apostle gives us to understand that not all are worthy simply because they are sons of Abraham, but only those are worthy who are sons of the promise, that is, those whom God foreknew would receive the promise, whether they are from the Jews or from the Gentiles. For only those are worthy to be called Israelites, that is, ones who see God, who believe. If we simply understand according to the flesh: ‘In Isaac shall your offspring be named’—then all Jews are sons of Abraham, because their whole race is from Abraham through Isaac. But since, as I have said, only those who truly are sons of Abraham are those who inherit what was given in Isaac, it is evident that the rest (who do not inherit this promise) ought not to be reckoned as sons of Abraham. Abraham, the believer, received Isaac (and in him the promise) because of faith, because he believed God (Rom. 4:3). In this is prefigured the mystery of the future faith, so that those who would have the same faith by virtue of which Isaac was born would be brothers of Isaac. Isaac, moreover, was born as a type of the Saviour according to the promise; so that the one who believes in Christ Jesus, promised to Abraham, is a son of Abraham, a brother of Isaac. To Abraham it was said: ‘In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed’ (Gen. 22:18); this was not fulfilled in Isaac, but was fulfilled in him who in Isaac was promised to Abraham, that is, in Christ, in whom all believing nations are blessed. It is evident therefore that the rest of the Jews (the unbelieving) are children of the flesh, since they are deprived of the promise and should not be reckoned as the seed of Abraham, as those who do not follow the faith by which Abraham showed himself worthy of the promise. This is why the Apostle added: ‘That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.’ And can ‘children of the flesh’ be children of God? These are born from fleshly lust, while the others are born through faith by the Spirit. Those only should be reckoned in the seed of Abraham who believe.‘We add from Blessed Theophylact:’Consequently, the word of God has not failed, but God gave what was promised to the true seed, that is, to the believing from the Gentiles, who became children of God, as Isaac did, because they too are of the promise. If the Jews say that the words ‘In Isaac shall your offspring be named’ mean that those born of Isaac are counted in the seed of Abraham, then the Edomites and all descended from Isaac must be reckoned as the seed of Abraham, because their patriarch Esau was the son of Isaac. But the Edomites are not only not called the sons of Abraham, but even are very foreign to the Israelites and are called strangers.”

Thus our interpreters see in the Apostle’s words an indication of what in the proper sense has already been fulfilled in Christ Jesus, in those who believe in him. But they see this tangibly in the words that follow:

Rom. 9:9. For this is the word of the promise: ‘About this time I will return, and Sarah will have a son’ (Gen. 18:10).

According to the course of the discourse, it follows that only those are the seed of Abraham and children of the promise who are born in this manner, that is, by the power of a special action of God on nature. But if we understand this of the fleshly children of Abraham, even apart from those who are plainly excluded from his descendants, such as Ishmael, Esau, and the children of Keturah, with all the peoples descended from them, this is not borne out by history. But since God’s word is infallible, so too is this, and consequently it has its full fulfillment somewhere. Where shall we find it? Nowhere but in Christ Jesus. The Apostle says that children of the promise are counted as the seed of Abraham; but the word of the promise gives us to understand that only those are children of the promise who are born by the action of God, like Isaac. “Such is the promise,” says Holy Chrysostom; “Isaac was formed and born by the word of God! Though the womb of the woman and her inward parts contributed to the birth, it was not the power of the womb but the power of the promise that produced the child. So too are we born by the word of God; for what gives birth to us and forms us in the water of baptism is the word of God, for when we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are born. Such a birth is not according to nature, but according to God’s promise. Just as he who foretold the birth of Isaac himself then brought it about, so he also proclaimed beforehand our birth long ago through the mouths of all the prophets, and then brought it to fulfillment. Do you see how much evidence and with what ease he who made great promises fulfilled them? Do you see that the children of the flesh are not God’s children, but rather that in the very nature (in birth from Sarah) is prefigured birth from above through baptism? If you speak to me of the womb (that is, that flesh participated there), I will speak to you of the water (that is, that something material participates here as well). But as here all is from the Spirit, so there all is from the promise; the womb, weakened by old age, was colder than water. Therefore, let us consider our nobility with complete attention and show a life worthy of it. In our birth there is nothing fleshly and earthly; let there be nothing of the sort in us. Not sleep, not fleshly lust, not embraces, not stirring of desire, but God’s love for mankind accomplished all. And as there, when age offered no hope, so here, when sinful old age had come, suddenly a new man was born, and we all became sons of God, seed of Abraham.”