Romans 9:7-9

9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ¹  9:8 This means ²  it is not the children of the flesh ³  who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants. 9:9 For this is what the promise declared: ⁴  “About a year from now ⁵  I will return and Sarah will have a son.” ⁶ 

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¹ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

sn A quotation from Gen 21:12.

² tn Grk “That is,” or “That is to say.”

³ tn Because it forms the counterpoint to “the children of promise” the expression “children of the flesh” has been retained in the translation.

sn The expression the children of the flesh refers to the natural offspring.

⁴ tn Grk “For this is the word of promise.”

⁵ tn Grk “About this time I will return.” Since this refers to the time when the promised child would be born, it would be approximately a year later.

⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 18:10, 14.