Romans Chapter 9 Vs. 7

 

God's Sovereign Choice

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Rom 9:7

In Isaac shall... The 2nd Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in Romans (Rom. 9:7-14; Gen. 17:15-19; 18:10; 25:1-34; Mal. 1:1-3). Next, Rom. 9:25.

Isaac was the son of promise. He represented the Spirit. Abraham had a son of the flesh (Ishmael). The promises God had made to Abraham came through the Spirit, not through the flesh. You see from this that the Spirit of God and the promises thereof are for the Spirit, and not for the flesh.

Gal. 3:29 “And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

To illustrate the truth of verse 6, Paul reminds his readers that even the racial and national promises made to Abraham were not made to every physical descendant of his, but only to those who came through Isaac.

Then Paul gave three Old Testament illustrations of God’s sovereignty (Isaac and Ishmael, Rom. 9:7-9; Jacob and Esau, Rom. 9:10-13; and Pharaoh, Rom. 9:14-18). The first two show that God made a sovereign choice among the physical descendants of Abraham in establishing the spiritual line of promise. Ishmael, born to Hagar (Gen. 16:1-16) — and the six sons of Keturah as well (Gen. 25:1-4) — were Abraham’s descendants (sperma), but they were not counted as Abraham’s children (tekna, “born ones”) in the line of promise.