Useful Bible Studies > Romans Commentary > chapter 9
The Jewish people are different from other nations because they exist only as the result of God’s promise to Abraham. The Jewish people are the people who come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham was the father of Isaac and the grandfather of Jacob - in Romans 9:6-13, Paul explains the history of this family. Here, Paul refers to the promise in Genesis 18:10 and to the birth of Isaac.
Paul has already discussed this part of Abraham’s life (4:16-22). In chapter 4, his subject was Abraham’s belief (or faith) in God’s promises; here, the subject is the promise itself. Our reaction to God’s promises can either be faith, or the opposite, which is unbelief (11:20). Faith comes from God (10:17), but unbelief comes from our own wrong attitudes (Hebrews 3:12-19; 1 Corinthians 10:1-10). Unbelief is when we refuse to believe God’s promises; with such wrong attitudes, we must not expect to receive anything from God (James 1:6-8).
God’s people should learn from this history that they must live by faith in the promises of God. God gives those promises so that they will not depend on themselves - on their feelings, their efforts or their successes. Instead, they must depend on God himself. It is only God who can carry out his promises to them.
Verse 8 calls God’s people: ‘the children of the promise’. In other words, their relationship with God exists because of God’s promise (John 1:12-13). In the life of Abraham, both Ishmael and Isaac were his sons - but only Isaac was born as a result of God’s promise. Therefore the Jewish people, God’s special people, came from the family of Isaac and not Ishmael.
Next part: God does not make his decisions by natural, human reasons (Romans 9:10)
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