Romans 9:6-9 (NIV)
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
Paul now turns his attention to a common argument: since the Jewish people are all descendants of Abraham, and thus are all God’s chosen people, doesn’t that mean that they are all already saved? This was an argument that some of the Jewish leaders used: “Since we are God’s chosen people, we don’t need Jesus to save us – we’re already saved by God’s election.”
But Paul had already shown that to be a false paradigm in chapters 5-8. Instead, salvation and the transformation that come with it, are only available through faith in Jesus, no matter who we are, no matter what we do, no matter what our ancestry or heritage.
The foundational fallacy, as Paul points out, is that all Jewish people are among God’s chosen people simply because they descended from Abraham. Instead, according to the Scriptures, God chose Abraham, and Abraham responded by choosing God and choosing to follow and obey Him. Thus, he became the father of the people through whom God would build His covenant people.
Of the first two sons of Abraham, God chose Isaac to pass the covenant to. It was not caprice that caused God to choose Isaac over Ishmael. Instead, Isaac was the son that God had promised to Abraham shortly after He called him. Ishmael was the son born, not by God’s miraculous power, but by the machinations of Abraham and Sarah, their trying to work around God’s timing. Even though God blessed Ishmael and his descendants at Abraham’s imploring, it was Isaac who received the covenant, the promise, to pass on (Genesis 17:18-22).
Again, Isaac had two sons, twins, but very different in character and temperament. And, again, God was not capricious when He chose Jacob, the younger, over Esau, the older. Yes, Jacob was self-centered and arrogant, grasping and conniving. But, as God looked ahead, he could see that, in the end, Jacob would be the one who would choose Him (Romans 8:29-30), and so He chose Jacob as the bearer of the covenant.
Unfortunately, the Jewish people believed that they were all part of God’s chosen people simply by reason of having Abraham’s DNA in their blood, even though many of them rejected God’s Son, Jesus, thus rejected God (Luke 10:16) and opted out of the New Covenant, and thus opted out of being part of God’s chosen people. Accepting Jesus as God in the flesh, God the Son, was a step they were unwilling to take.
Meanwhile, the gentiles receive the good news and Jesus gladly. And all of them who chose Jesus, chose God. And in choosing God, they chose to live in God’s New Covenant, and thus opted in to being part of God’s chosen people, grafted into the vine (Romans 11:17-21).
Father, this is a great mystery, sometimes difficult for us to understand – that You chose us, and then we validated that choice and made it real by choosing Jesus, choosing You, choosing Your New Covenant, and thus, through our choice we became a part of Your chosen people. By opting into Your covenant, made in the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20), we opted into You and were grafted into the vine of Your chosen people, destined for eternal life. And we also know that, since Jesus was “lifted up,” that He now draws all people to Himself (John 12:32-33), and that it is Your great desire that all people find salvation (2 Peter 3:9), so You have opened the gates into Your kingdom wide enough for anyone to choose that destiny by choosing You. What a grand and glorious truth! Thank You, Lord! Amen.