Romans 9:6-7 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
Paul now defines “Israel” more specifically. His basic point is that Israel is a spiritual entity and not simply an ethnic group. God made promises to Abraham and to Israel that will be fulfilled. God’s word is sure and his promises will come about. God made promises in the past that Israel would be restored and that a messiah would come to save his people. Many Jews of Paul’s day interpreted this to be in political and ethnic terms. As long as a person was a descendant of Abraham and part of the covenant people, that person was assured of God’s favor and salvation, which was often interpreted in political or material ways. Paul agrees with Peter’s statement in Acts 4:12 that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” A person becomes a child of the promise experience through the birth of Isaac through faith. That means that even Gentiles and anyone from any place in the world can participate in God’s promise of blessing that was first experienced through the birth of Isaac. Paul will go even further and say that physical descendants of Abraham are not part of this promise unless they believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The key factor in this is faith.
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