Romans 9:8

That means that it is not all the natural-born descendants of Abraham whom God considers as his children. Instead, it is those who believed what God promised whom he considers to be his children.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

In Context

7And it is also not all of Abraham’s natural descendants that God considers to be his people. Instead, God considers only some of them to be Abraham’s children. This agrees with what God told Abraham: “It is Isaac, not any of your(sg) other sons, whom I will consider to be the true father of your descendants.”

9You know that what God promised to Abraham was this: “About this time next year Sarah your wife will bear a son as a result of my enabling [MTY] her to do so.” So Abraham knew that it was not through Ishmael, the son that he already had, that God would fulfill what he had promised him (OR, that his true descendants would come).

Read all of Romans 9

Cross References

Genesis 31:15He treats us as though we were foreigners [RHQ]! Your working for him all these years was like a payment that you gave him as a price for us, but we will not inherit any of that money that he got as a price for us. He has spent it all!

Psalms 87:6Yahweh will write a list of the names of the people of various groups who belong to him, and he will say that he considers them all to be citizens of Jerusalem. (Think about that!)

Romans 4:11Many years later, God commanded that Abraham be circumcised. Abraham’s accepting that ritual simply showed that he knew that God had accepted him. He knew that God had erased the record of his sins because he trusted in God while he was still, in effect, a non-Jew because he had not been circumcised. So we can understand that Abraham became ◄a spiritual ancestor/like an ancestor► to all of us whose record of sins has been erased {whose sins God has erased the record of} because we believe in God’s promise, even though some of us are not circumcised.

Galatians 3:26Now all of you Jews and non-Jews are as though you are God’s children because you trusted Christ Jesus.

1 John 3:1Think about how much our heavenly Father loves us! He allows us to ◄say that we are/be called► his children! And it is indeed true that we are his children. But people in the world [MTY] who are unbelievers have not understood who God is. So they do not understand who we are, that we belong to God.

Matthew Henry on Romans 9:7-14

The Divine Sovereignty. ( a. d. 58.) 6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 10 And not only this; but when… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Romans 9:8