Discovery BoxRomans 9:7-13 
Context9:7 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 9:10 Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, 7 our ancestor Isaac – 9:11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election 8 would stand, not by works but by 9 his calling) 10 – 9:12 11 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” 12 9:13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 13
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.
7 tn Or possibly “by one act of sexual intercourse.” See D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 579.
8 tn Grk “God’s purpose according to election.”
9 tn Or “not based on works but based on…”
10 tn Grk “by the one who calls.”
sn The entire clause is something of a parenthetical remark.
11 sn Many translations place this verse division before the phrase “not by works but by his calling” (NA27/UBS4, NIV, NRSV, NLT, NAB). Other translations place this verse division in the same place that the translation above does (NASB, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV). The translation has followed the latter to avoid breaking the parenthetical statement.
