Who is a Jew

For they are not all Israel who are of Israel. (Romans 9:6)

In the Old Testament, when ancient Israel went after other gods, every Jew in Israel was aware of the contrast made by the prophets between the nation as a whole and the remnant (Romans 111:5).

Paul’s prime example of a true Israelite was Abraham. Abraham was not saved by circumcision, because he was declared to be righteous before God in Genesis 15:6, which was years before his circumcision. Abraham was not saved by keeping the law, because the law was not given until the time of Moses, which was 400 years after Abraham’s time. Abraham became a true Israelite by faith, not works, as indicated in Genesis 15:6. “And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord (faith), and He (the Lord) counted it to him (Abraham) for righteousness.

Paul demonstrates that Israel is a matter of election rather than birth. Not all those called children of Abraham (natural descendants) are actually his “seed” as demonstrated in Genesis 21:12, which states, “In Isaac you seed shall be called.” Abraham had 2 sons. His first son was Ishmael, born to the Egyptian maid, Hagar. But, Paul says, Ishmael, though a physical descendant of Abraham, was not of the “seed” that produced Isaac, the spiritual child. Ishmael was reproduced when Abraham was still able to have children in his own sexual strength. Isaac was born by a supernatural act of God, when both Abraham and Sarah were well past the age of childbirth. In Romans 9:8 Paul shifts from “children of the flesh (Abraham)” to “children of God.” The shift is subtle but significant. If Abraham’s spiritual seed comes through God’s promise and power, the Jewish people are not simply Abraham’s seed, but literally God’s children.