So, what do you think “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” means, in Romans chapter 9? Who is Isaac?
Isaac was the son of Abraham, who was called on by God to sacrifice his own son as an act of obedience.
See Genesis 22: 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.”
Both instances, Romans 9, and in Genesis 22, God is making reference to ONE seed. Paul clarifies that further in Romans. but why did the Jews run off and think they were better then? Did they have a sepcail deal from Godno one else has? No. Paul was clearly making a distinction between being “of the Chosen”, an Israelite, by being a descendant of the Promise to Abraham, his Seed (not “seeds); between the Israelite bloodline result and the true Believers who live by the same faith, as Isaac did, in God and His promises.
Salvation is by Faith in God ALONE, Trusting in what He says, what He does. God said go and do, and Isaac did, he had faith God was trustworthy, ISAAC BELIEVED GOD COULD BE TRUSTED. He even went so far as to commit to stabbing his own son – And Faithful God stopped Him. Isaac was SO committed, he knew that whatever happened God would do what is RIGHT, and so should you.
We trust in God, not in ourselves, we trust in Him being worthy of our Trust…
The Chosen are “of the Promise” God gave to Abraham, but remember Paul defined Salvation as by faith alone IN JESUS. Faith? Faith in what? Faith IN GOD’s promised One, the “Seed” God Promised to Abraham.
Paul was speaking to Believers in Rome, in his letter to the Roman Believers, who were struggling with the Jews in their midst, the “judaizers” in their midst arguing that salvation is by works, or by inheritance through a bloodline. The Jews had, and always did, misread the Scripture, thinking all along God was saying you must be a Jew, or must become one, to be saved, to be considered righteous enough to enter Heaven. But they stumbled, they erred, they were dead wrong, because they looked to themselves. YES, it IS true that if you are “perfect in thought, word and deed”, the dictionary definition of righteous, you will enter Heaven. But NONE ever were, BUT God.
There is none Good but God… (see Psalms 51)
See, only God is good, as the Psalmist said. So then, only God could ever be good enough to enter Heaven. So the Almighty “made a way, when there was no way” as the popular song is sung in many Churches. God became a man so when he lived perfectly as God He would be righteous enough to not only be considered the only perfect one, but also so he would be the perfect sacrifice, for you (see Leviticus for why that is important). And so, all who trust in what Jesus did, sacrificing Himself willingly (because He could have at any time not allowed the Romans to crucify him by calling down a legion of Angels to defend Him – believe me, they were READY). And since Jesus did sacrifice Himself to pay for the sins of “whosover will” we can now say also:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (go find it in the Bible)
Never let anyone tell you that you must be “Chosen” to be saved; We trust in the Name of THE LORD, our God, Jesus. We become one with Jesus by Faith, are made His by Faith in His name; But we do not become Jews to be Christ’s, we become Disciples of Jesus.
Too many have confused the Gospel of Jesus with works righteousness; Don’t fall for it.
Patrick
