Children of God

 “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.”

(‭‭Romans‬ ‭9‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Christians, today, have some really strange ideas when it comes to the desire of God. We have some really strange ideas when it comes to the work of God. Some of us believe, for example, that God was interested in only one nation of people in Old Testament times while, today, he is interested in all. 

Many Christians tend to believe that the Israelites, that the Jews, were and are God’s people because of their bloodline. We believe that the Israelites, that the Jews, are God’s people because of their physical lineage. We believe that the Israelites, that the Jews, are children of God because they are descended from Abraham.

This, then, leads to our focus on world events, as they pertain to the modern-day nation of Israel. It leads to our anticipation of the rebuilding of a Jewish temple and the restoration of the sacrifice, even though we believe Jesus’ sacrifice to be sufficient. And it leads to our belief that the Jews are saved apart from faith in Christ, even though this contradicts the very gospel that we confess and proclaim.

This is addressed  in the above passage and, really, Romans 9 as a whole. Paul makes clear to us, in this chapter, that God’s people have never been identified or defined based on their bloodline. They have always been identified, rather, by faith. They have been defined based on their trust in the promises of God.

Paul tells us in Romans 9 that not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. In other words, the fact that they are Jews, the fact that they are Israelites, does not make them the people of God. Their heritage plays no role whatsoever in their standing before God.

He then, in the passage above, explains to us what it is that does so. He explains what it is that makes us the people of God. And he explains to us what changes our standing with God, placing us in a right relationship with him.

It is not the children of flesh, he says, who are the children of God. It is the children of promise. It is those who have received the promises of God by faith.

He goes on to use Isaac as a case in point. He was not Abraham’s offspring because he was his naturally born son. He was the offspring of Abraham because he had been promised to Abraham by God. And,  more than that, he was the offspring of Abraham because he received this promise of God by faith.

In this way, you see, we are children of Abraham. Even though we are not descended from him in a physical sense, we are his offspring. And we are his offspring because we have received his promise in faith.

From the beginning of time, God has desired not only one people to be his own, but all people. He has desired not one nation to be his own, but all nations. And he has enabled us all to become his people, to become his children, by faith.