by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Romans 9 shows that there are two “Israels” under consideration before God, and that God has a right to reject anyone who does not meet His predetermined terms of acceptance. “They are not all Israel who are of Israel<\/em>” (Romans 9:6).<\/p>\n You can be of fleshly descent in physical Israel and still not be of the true Israel of God. In other words, you cannot claim physical lineage to Abraham as your qualifying credentials for being children of Abraham because God links the faith of Abraham as more important than physical lineage (Romans 9:7). Ishmael could claim physical lineage to Abraham, but physical lineage does not qualify them to claim Abraham as their father. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were more related to the devil than to Abraham (John 8 ). God chose Isaac over Ishmael to carry the lineage to the Messiah, but also chose that rejection of the Messiah by anyone <\/b>would not qualify one to have God’s favor. Children of the flesh “are not the children of God<\/em>” (Romans 9:8).<\/p>\n God chose to call people of both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9:24). Thus, being a physical Jew did not make one a child of God (Romans 9:8). He called to hearts by the gospel and from the power of the gospel gathered the real children, true Israel, from among Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9:24). Gentiles “have attained to righteousness<\/em>” (Romans 9:30). Believers in Jesus from among Jews and Gentiles are the true Israel of God. In other words, the church of Christ is the true Israel of God. The “church” is the called out.<\/p>\n Any Jew who refuses to hear the call of the gospel of Christ is of their father, the devil (John 8), and any Gentile who refuses to hear the call of the gospel of Christ remains under condemnation. There is no condemnation to those who are in <\/b>Christ (Romans 8:1), and these are the spiritually called, justified, and sanctified.<\/p>\n Are you in the true Israel of God?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Romans 9 shows that there are two “Israels” under consideration before God, and that God has a right to reject anyone who does not meet His predetermined terms of acceptance. “They are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). You can be of fleshly descent in physical Israel and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,557],"class_list":["post-95929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-israel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88382,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/true-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":95929,"position":0},"title":"True Israel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof\" (Matthew 21:43). Here, Jesus was speaking to physical Israelites, people who claimed physical lineage to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, that physical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":95929,"position":1},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael’s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-abraham-a-gentile-or-a-jew\/","url_meta":{"origin":95929,"position":2},"title":"Was Abraham a Gentile or a Jew?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Abraham a Gentile or a Jew? I heard that he was first a Jew, but I also heard that He was a Gentile before and then a Jew. Answer: \"Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8418,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-gentiles-also-descendants-of-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":95929,"position":3},"title":"Are Gentiles also descendants of Abraham?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we Gentiles are also descendants of Abraham, then from whose mother: Hagar, Sarah or Keturah? Is it from Keturah to whom she bore Abraham six legitimate sons after Abraham married her after Sarah died? Am I correct to say that Muslims are descendants of Ishmael who later intermarry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20655,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-job-a-gentile\/","url_meta":{"origin":95929,"position":4},"title":"Was Job a Gentile?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Job a Gentile? Answer: The word Gentile means \"belonging to a nation, tribe, or clan.\" The Israelites used it to refer to people who were not Israelites, foreigners who belonged to other nations. Job is believed to be a contemporary of Abraham because of some of the references\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17459,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-saving-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":95929,"position":5},"title":"The Saving of Israel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 2:17-29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In these days of troubled times in the middle East, those who believe that physical Israel is central to God\u2019s plans for the future have come to the forefront. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cReaders of the Bible know that the Book of Revelation tells of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}