Fighting For Real Estate: Part #17: God’s Sovereign Choice is the Answer!

“They Are Not All God’s People Who Are Descendants of Jacob” (Romans 9:6)

By Richard Allen – March 24, 2025

As we’ve journeyed through Romans Chapter 11, we noted that while Paul makes a distinction between the Natural Branches of the Olive Tree, being the Physical Descendants of Abraham, and the Wild Branches, being Gentile Believers – Paul makes it clear they are both part of the Same Olive Tree, representing God’s People! There are no longer “two distinct people” with different Salvations or Destinies. The Redeemed are part of the Church – The Body of Christ!  This fact is referred to as a Mystery in several of Paul’s letters. The Book of Ephesians makes this quite clear:

“For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles – assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you,  how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:1-6).

I don’t think the New Testament could be any clearer on the status and standing of both Jews and Gentiles as part of the company of the redeemed, that is, the Church of Jesus Christ!  As I’ve alluded to in previous blogs, Paul makes several arguments as he explains New Covenant Theology to the Church in Rome, Ephesus, Colossi and Galatia. Of particular interest is Paul’s concern in three Chapters of the Book of Romans regarding his ethnic Jewish brothers, who do not believe Jesus was their promised Messiah. The Apostle Paul starts Chapters 9, 10 and 11 of the Book of Romans with a lament over the Natural Branches, who it appeared, were “broken off.”  Here’s what Paul said in each Chapter:

“I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit –  that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:1-3).

“Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness” (Romans 10:1-3).

“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.  God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2).

The strain between Jewish and Gentile Believers at the Church in Rome is a common theme that permeates Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Paul alluded to this struggle throughout this Epistle. Right from the start in Chapter 2, Paul admonishes the arrogance of Jewish members of the Roman Church.  They thought that “just having the Law” made them special. Paul corrects them, making it clear that if you sin – with or without having the Law – you stand condemned. As most of us Gentile Believers now understand, Paul reminds these Jews in the Roman Church:

“For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Romans 2:13).

Paul hammers home a powerful gospel message, giving a lengthy discourse on “Justification By Faith,” the foundation of a right relationship with God in the New Testament. And after building a solid doctrinal foundation in Chapters 2-8, Paul ends Chapter 8 with those memorable verses listing the “golden chain of salvation.”  Here is Paul’s exhortation:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30).

The obvious question for the Jewish Believers in Rome was: “How are things working out for good for the Jewish People? We Jews are still being oppressed by the Romans in our own native land. And even for those of us who live in Rome, we undergo periodic persecution.  How is God showing His love and working out His purposes in our lives?” 

It’s here that Paul begins a lengthy discourse on God’s purposes for the Jews and Gentiles – starting in Romans Chapter 9 – possibly one of the most debated and difficult chapters in the Bible. To his credit, Paul doesn’t build a straw man from their complaints and arguments – he repeats every complaint they’ve brought up.  While Paul argues that “he has great sorrow and anguish, and if possible, could wish himself accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his Jewish kinsmen,” he makes it clear that God’s purposes have not failed!  So, what exactly is Paul’s rationale as to why God’s purposes are on schedule and coming to pass? It is God’s Electing Grace!  Some saints I know hate the word doctrine, and are especially repulsed by the doctrine of God’s Sovereign Choice.  They avoid Romans Chapter 9 like the plague. Whereas Paul goes right for the jugular, teaching that God’s Sovereign Choice proves that God is fulfilling His purposes toward Israel after the flesh. Here’s Paul’s continuing argument in Romans 9:

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:6-8).

When Paul says that God’s purposes have not failed, Paul makes it clear that “not all who are descended from Israel (Jacob) belong to Israel” – and “not all are Children of Abraham just because they are his physical descendants.”  No, like Isaac and Ishmael (his brother), both were physical descendants of Abraham, but only Isaac was the son of promise.

Paul continues to develop this doctrinal argument through Chapters 9 and 10, leading to a crescendo in Romans Chapter 11. We’ll continue these thoughts for a few blogs, so we can develop Paul’s rationale and understand his meaning in Chapter 11, where he shows us another Mystery: 

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:  a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob;’ and ‘this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins’ ” (Romans 11:25-27).

In Romans Chapters 9, 10 and 11 Paul will explain God’s Sovereign Purpose in Salvation, and the method He uses to bring it to pass for both Jews and Gentiles. There are many who believe Romans Chapter 11 teaches that God has a National Salvation for every Jew on earth, just because of their physical lineage.  This is not a New Covenant teaching, in fact, God is “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), but rather is pleased by Faith Alone (Hebrews 11:6). They would twist the teaching of God’s Sovereign Choice and Purposes in Christ away from the “children of promise” (Romans 9:8), and teach once again, that God’s focus is on the “children of flesh.”  Again, here’s Paul making his case:

“For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: ‘About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls – she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’ ” (Romans 9:6-13). 

Paul anticipates pushback from his readers, for in the very next verse he asks: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!” (Romans 9:14).  Paul doesn’t go on to say what we’d like him to say, rather, he teaches that God’s Sovereign Choice, and not some concept of human fairness is exactly why God is just in all He does.  We’ll continue our trek through Romans 9-11 in our next blogs. Trust me, it will be worth your sticking with me for the journey! To give you a preview of where we’re going, let me propose three take-aways from Romans Chapters 9-11 that we really need to grasp:

1. here is no other Salvation offered through Christ except by grace through faith in Him. There is no National Salvation apart from repentance and faith in Jesus.

2. God’s Sovereign Choice is not just a flimsy excuse. Paul repeatedly uses God’s winnowing choice as the ground of his arguments that God has fulfilled His word to save Israel.

3. By God rejecting the “exclusivity of Judaism” and its “inadequate access to God,” He now provides men with only one option for Salvation – Faith Alone!  Never again can men be justified through distinctions based upon Law.

Soli Deo Gloria