All Israel Is Not Israel

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

Paul begins this section of his letter to the Ekklesia at Rome by expressing his great sorrow and unceasing anguish for his brothers after the flesh, natural Israel. Why such intense feelings and sorrow? A great number of them have not believed the Witness of God through the Gospel of Christ. Even though they have been given every advantage, they still refused to believe.

For God gave to the Israelites,

• the adoption,
• the glory,
• the covenants,
• the giving of the law,
• the worship,
• the promises, and
• to them belong the patriarchs [vss.4-5].
• Even from them came Christ, the One over all things, God blessed forever.

With all these advantages and advanced insight into the plans and purposes of God, when the day of their visitation came, they failed to recognize it [Luke 19:44].

However, even though many failed to recognize this day, many had the eyes of faith and believed.
9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

Here, Paul begins to instruct us as to what constitutes true Israel, or the Israel of God. He begins by stating, that just because one can claim physical descent from Jacob (natural Israel), does not mean that he is counted among God’s Israel (His covenant people). It is not just being physically related to the fathers that makes one a child of Abraham. Paul makes it clear that the true people of God are counted from the promised seed. In this, he reveals a very important truth not recognized by many, and actually ignored by others.

The New Covenant clarifies who is Israel in the eyes of God.

Paul states it in this way.

All who are descended from Israel (Jacob) are not counted as Israel (God’s covenant people). It is not the natural seed of Abraham, who are counted as his children. It is only those from the Seed of Promise (Christ Jesus) who are counted for Abraham’s seed.

What is Paul saying here? If being a physical descendant of Abraham was all that was required to be considered a child of God, i.e., a member of God’s covenant people, then this would apply to all of Abraham’s offspring. Abraham’s son from Hagar, Ishmael, would also be considered the spiritual child of God because he was of the seed of Abraham. Not only Ishmael, but his twelve sons and their multitude of offspring would also be counted as children of God. Yet, what does the Scriptures say,

Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.[Gen. 21:10;Gal. 4:30]

Only Isaac was considered the true heir of Abraham, because he was the son of promise. Also after Sarah’s death, Abraham remarried and had more children.

[Gen. 25:1] Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

This does not count all the offspring from his concubines [Gen. 25:6]. Abraham was truly a father of many nations.

It is only those out of the promised Seed who are counted as the children of Abraham for the purpose of covenant. Who was the promised Seed? In the immediate sense, Isaac was the one promised to Abraham, not Ishmael. It was those who were descended from the promised seed, Isaac, with whom God made the Sinai covenant. So only those descended from Isaac could be reckoned as the natural descendants of the promised Seed. The natural Jew would heartily agree with this.

However, the Apostle Paul declares that Christ is the true and ultimate Seed of Promise.

16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. [Gal. 3:16-18]

The promises God made to Abraham concerning land and offspring, would not be the result of Abraham’s flesh or the Law but the result of faith and the power of God.

13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law (Sinai covenant), but through the righteousness of faith (in Christ).
14 For if they which are of the law (the Israel of Sinai) be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: [Rom. 4:13-14]

If the promises made to Abraham could be fulfilled by the Law, then faith is of no use. The promises made to Abraham must be fulfilled by faith, not by law. Verse 14 clearly states that if those who are of the law, i.e., Israel created at Sinai, are the true heirs of the Abrahamic Promises, then Faith in Christ is made void. Those who argue that the Israel created at Sinai are the true People of God, and heirs to the promises, are nullifying faith in Christ as the true Promised Seed. They are denying the very foundation of the New Covenant. They cannot truly be considered New Covenant believers. They are an anomaly.

The promise to Abraham was not fulfilled by the works of his flesh, resulting in Ishmael. The seed of Promise was to be fulfilled by the power of God and faith. Abraham,

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. [Rom. 4:18-22]

The fulfillment of the promise to Abraham was removed from the realm of natural force. That is, the fulfillment was placed in a realm where Abraham had no power to make it happen. Abraham knew his own body and Sarah’s womb were powerless to bring forth life [Rom. 4:19]. God waited to fulfill His promise to Abraham until no human power could be relied upon to bring it about.

Even though he knew the deadness of his body and Sarah’s womb, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” He was fully persuaded what God had promised, He was also able to deliver.

Abraham believed that God did not need his effort to bring about what he had promised. He believed in God who “calls those things which be not as though they were.”[Rom. 4:17] Just as the promised Seed was delivered to Abraham by the power of God through the birth of Isaac, so also the ultimate promised Seed of Messiah was delivered by the power of God through being born of a virgin. Both fulfillments, Isaac and Christ, in similitude were accomplished without the natural energies of man, but by the power of God, so all glory goes to God alone.

The one Seed of Promise which God had destined to be the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, was Christ Jesus [Gal. 3:16]. It is only by faith in this promised Seed of Christ, that one can be counted as the true offspring of Abraham, thereby being heirs of the promise [Gal. 3:6-7, 26-29; 4:28].

Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. [Gal. 3:7]

So what does all this say about not all Israel is Israel? Paul’s point is this. Those who are counted as Israel, i.e., the covenant people of God, are those who are connected to Him by promise, and that, through faith in Christ (New Covenant), not works of the Law (Sinai Covenant).

There is no value in claiming a relationship with God based upon genetics. The flesh profits nothing [Jn. 6:63a], It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. ESV. The connection God looks for is faith. This is the connection He has always looked for in His people. It is not being naturally born of Abraham, but being born of His Spirit. It is not circumcision of the lesh that God looks for, but circumcision of the heart.

It has always been about being born of God.

The apostle John says this most clearly in the opening of his gospel.

1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power (the right, the privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Christ came unto his own people, but as a whole, they did not welcome him.
However, as many as did receive or welcome Him, to them He gave the power, i.e., the right or privilege, to become the children of God.

The right to be called the sons of God is,

• not by blood- Not by hereditary means, not through DNA.
• not of the will of the flesh- It is not through the efforts of man or his activities.
• not of the will of man- It cannot be accomplished by the will of any man. A king cannot decree that all those who live in his kingdom, are Christian, just because he wills it to be so.

So how was this right to be called the children of God given? It could only be given by being born of God. This is the simple message Jesus had for Nicodemus. Even though he was the Teacher of Israel, he could not grasp it.

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and(even) of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Jesus could not say it any clearer. Unless you are born of the Spirit, born from above, you cannot enter nor see the kingdom of God.

The flesh cannot produce a spiritual being. That which is born out of the flesh is fleshly, and that which is born of the Spirit is spiritual. Every seed produces after its own kind. Besides,

. . . Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. [1 Cor. 15:50]

The kingdom of God is a Spiritual Kingdom. Therefore one must be born of the Spirit to see it or enter into it. The flesh profits nothing. No one’s flesh! Even Jewish flesh.

Rom. 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

There are no degrees of acceptance of flesh. Jewish flesh is no more acceptable to God than Gentile flesh. It does no good to boast of Abraham as your ancestor, considering he was a Chaldean (a Gentile by modern definition), a son of Adam. It is all fallen, Adamic flesh, which is why you must be born again out of the Last Adam, Christ Jesus.

Paul states it like this in his closing remarks of Galatians.

6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Paul is clear that the only thing he can find to boast in, is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is the method by which God made the New Covenant with Israel. It is the blood of Jesus the Messiah by which the New Covenant stands forever. Therefore, it is only in the cross that one might glory. As stated before, the foot of the cross is level ground. No one stands higher or lower than anyone else.

Rom. 11:32 For God hath concluded them all (both Jew and Gentile) in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

For in Christ Jesus, or the New Covenant, whether one is a Jew or a Gentile holds no sway with God.

Rom. 2:11 For there is no respect of persons (favoritism) with God.

All God looks for is whether one is a new creation in Christ, wherein the old has passed away and all things are made new [2 Cor. 5:17]. The New Covenant makes new creatures, who walk according to His Spirit, having the Law of God written upon their circumcised hearts.

Paul states, “As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” What rule do they walk by? The Greek word translated rule here is kanon, meaning the standard by which something is judged or measured.

This kanon or standard cannot be whether one is circumcised in the flesh or not. This has already been ruled out. The only acceptable standard is that of a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Upon those who order their life (walk) according to the standard of the new creature in Christ Jesus, Peace and Mercy be upon the Israel of God, i.e., New Covenant Israel. Those who belong to New Covenant Israel are the same as those who are born from above, who have been made new creations in Christ, who have the Law of God written upon their circumcised hearts, who walk according to the Spirit, placing no confidence in the flesh, but glory in the cross of Jesus Christ.

This is the Israel of God, New Covenant Israel. This is the one who remains, after the dust settles, and everything has been said and done.

Natural Israel are those who seek to rely upon their circumcised flesh, as the basis of their acceptance with God. New Covenant Israel are those who have been circumcised of heart, and glory in the cross of Christ, as the basis of their acceptance with God.

So not all who are born out of Israel (Jacob), is counted as Israel, (God’s covenant people).