It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel.
- KJV Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
- ESV But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
- NKJV But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
- NASB But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
- NLT Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel's widespread unbelief does not mean God's word has failed, because not all who descend from Israel are the true Israel. God's promise always targeted a believing people, not mere physical descent.
Overview
Paul addresses the obvious objection: if God's chosen people have rejected Christ, has God's promise collapsed? His answer is no, for the promise was never to ethnic Israel as such. There is an Israel within Israel, the true children of promise. This distinction governs the rest of chapter 9 and upholds both God's faithfulness and his freedom in election.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 2:28–29A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.
- Gal 6:16Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God.
- Rom 11:1–2I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
- Rom 4:12–16And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
- Rom 3:3What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
- John 1:47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”
- Isa 55:11so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- 2 Tim 2:13if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
- John 10:35If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—
- Heb 6:17–18So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 9:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.