God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶ It is not as though God’s word^(A) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(B)

²⁸ A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,^(A) nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.^{(B) 29} No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,^(C) by the Spirit,^(D) not by the written code.^(E) Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.^(F)

¹⁶ Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to^[a] the Israel of God.

The Remnant of Israel

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!^(A) I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham,^(B) from the tribe of Benjamin.^{(C) 2} God did not reject his people,^(D) whom he foreknew.^(E) Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:

³ What if some were unfaithful?^(A) Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?^(B)

¹² And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise^(A) that he would be heir of the world,^(B) but through the righteousness that comes by faith.^{(C) 14} For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless,^{(D) 15} because the law brings wrath.^(E) And where there is no law there is no transgression.^(F)

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace^(G) and may be guaranteed^(H) to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.^(I)

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite^(A) in whom there is no deceit.”^(B)

¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging^(A) nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised,^(B) he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,^(C) we who have fled to take hold of the hope^(D) set before us may be greatly encouraged.