The Children of Abraham-Part III

The Children of Abraham—Part III

Romans 9:3-16

            We’ve talked about Ishmael and Isaac.  Now we come to Paul.  What does he have to say about the children of Abraham?  Sometimes trying to follow his logic is difficult.  He has a tendency to develop his arguments slowly, piece by piece, so we have to go way back to find the beginning.  Here, Paul has been talking about how distressed he is that many of his fellow Jews have not accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah. 

            We should remember that at first Paul (then called Saul) was among those who not only did not believe Christ was the Messiah, but actively fought against and oppressed those who did.  Then, in an instant, his whole world was turned upside down, and his outlook radically changed.  Here we find him in his calling as apostle to the Gentiles.  Still, he has not forgotten from whence he came, and to which people he belongs by birth.

            His kinsmen—by human birth—are Israelites, “and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.”—all the elements of Judaism going back to the wilderness experience following the Exodus, the time that made them into a nation, God’s holy, chosen people.

            Paul adds, “To them belong the patriarchs,” tracing God’s calling even farther back—all the way to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the three with whom God first established the covenant.  Paul sees his people as cut off from God because they missed the next step in their spiritual development—recognizing Jesus Christ as who he said he was:  The Son of God.

            Paul makes the case that perhaps not all Israelites are really children of Israel.  If that sounds confusing, it’s because Paul is developing his argument carefully.  We have to read farther to see where he’s going.  Paul will make a difference between those born of the flesh and those born of the spirit.

            “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God,” Paul says, “but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”  Paul says that it isn’t enough to be a physical offspring of Abraham.  One must have accepted the promise of God in order to be a true child of Abraham.  This sounds very much like what John says in the prologue to his gospel (1:13):  “…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

            Paul expresses deep sorrow over his fellow Jews’ refusal to accept Jesus Christ as Messiah.  At the same time he makes it clear that he believes God has extended the promise to include all those who chooses to follow Christ.  As he says in his letter to the Galatians (3:7-8):  “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham…”

            This may sound a little strange to us—the idea that God preached the gospel to Abraham—until we remember that the word “gospel” means “good news.”  The good news to Abraham was that God wanted to make a covenant with him, to set him and his descendants apart for God’s holy purpose.

            And now—according to Paul—that’s us!  We are the inheritors of the promise.  We are the people of the covenant.  We are the ones whom God has made, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…” (1 Peter 1:9).

            What does this mean for civilization today?