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!
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:
- BSB It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are 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;
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 2:28–29For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
- Gal 6:16As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.
- Rom 11:1–2I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
- Rom 4:12–16He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.
- Rom 3:3For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
- Isa 55:11so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- 2 Tim 2:13If we are faithless, he remains faithful. For he can’t deny himself.”
- John 10:35If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),
- Heb 6:17–18In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed 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.