⁶ It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israelites,^(A)

²⁸ For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical.^{(A) 29} Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.^(B)

¹⁶ As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Israel’s Rejection Is Not Final

11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.^{(A) 2} God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?^(B)

³ What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?^(A)

¹² and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

God’s Promise Realized through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.^{(A) 14} For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵ For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.^(B)

¹⁶ For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us,^(C)

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

³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.^(A)