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First of all he puts forward this thesis:
"Not all who are out of Israel, are Israel."
The second mention of Israel here does not refer to the man Jacob, but to the nation,
the thought being that fleshly descent does not constitute the seed or the election, for both
are by promise and by grace.
Abraham had eight sons--Ishmael, by Hagar; Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian,
Ishbak and Shuah, by Keturah; and Isaac, by Sarah. Ishmael was "cast out" for he
could not be the heir together with Isaac (Gen. 21: 10). Of the sons of Keturah it is
written: "Abraham gave them gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son" (Gen. 25: 6).
But of Isaac we read: "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac" (Gen. 25: 5). If
mere physical descent from Abraham had constituted a claim, then seven other nations
descended from these seven other sons might have disputed Israel's rights. The deciding
factor was God's sovereign election.
Again, coming closer to the problem, the apostle carries the argument a stage further.
The other nations referred to above were descended from different mothers, but the
apostle goes on to show that even sons born to Isaac by the same mother do not share
equal privileges. Esau was the elder, Jacob was the younger, both children of the same
mother, yet Esau was rejected and Jacob chosen:
"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it
was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger" (Rom. 9: 11, 12).
This is not the only place where a distinction is made between the true seed and the
merely natural seed. For example, when the Lord looked upon Nathaniel he said:
"Behold, an Israelite indeed" (John 1: 47). And again, in John 8:, we read:
"They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, If
ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham . . . . . Ye do the deeds
of your father . . . . . Ye are of your father the devil" (John 8: 39-44).
In the Epistle to the Romans itself we have already had the distinction between the
natural and the spiritual seed brought forward:
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is
outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God"
(Rom. 2: 28, 29).
These words are immediately followed by the question:
"What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?"
(Rom. 3: 1).