John Calvin Commentary Romans 9:6

"But [it is] not as though the word of God hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel:" — Romans 9:6 (ASV)

Not however, etc. Paul had been carried away by the fervor of his wish, as it were, into an excess of feeling (in ecstasin); but now, returning to fulfill his duty as a teacher, he adds what may be viewed as somewhat qualifying what he had said, as if he would restrain immoderate grief.

Since, by deploring the ruin of his own nation, it seems to follow that the covenant made by God with the seed of Abraham had failed (for the favor of God could not have been lacking for the Israelites without the covenant being abolished), he reasonably anticipates this inconsistency. He shows that despite the great blindness of the Jews, the favor of God still remained with that people, so that the truth of the covenant remained firm.

Some read, “But it is not possible,” etc., as though it were in Greek οἷον τε, but as I find this reading in no copy, I adopt the common reading, Not however that it had failed, etc. According to this sense, it means: “That I deplore the destruction of my nation is not because I think the promise, given formerly by God to Abraham, is now void or abolished.”

For not all, etc. The statement is—that the promise was so given to Abraham and to his seed that the inheritance did not belong to every seed without distinction. Therefore, it follows that the defection of some does not prove that the covenant does not remain firm and valid.

To make it more evident on what condition the Lord adopted the posterity of Abraham as a peculiar people to Himself, two things are to be considered here.

1. The promise of salvation given to Abraham belongs to all who can trace their natural descent to him, for it is offered to all without exception. For this reason, they are rightly called the heirs of the covenant made with Abraham; and in this respect, they are his successors, or, as Scripture calls them, the children of the promise. For since it was the Lord’s will that His covenant should be sealed no less in Ishmael and Esau than in Isaac and Jacob, it appears that they were not wholly alienated from Him. This is true unless, perhaps, you disregard circumcision, which was conferred on them by God’s command; but it cannot be so regarded without dishonor to God. This status belonged to them, according to what the Apostle had said before, whose are the covenants, though they were unbelieving; and in Acts 3:25, they are called by Peter the children of the covenants, because they were the descendants of the Prophets.

2. The children of the promise are strictly those in whom its power and effect are found.

On this account, Paul denies here that all the children of Abraham were the children of God, though a covenant had been made with them by the Lord, for few continued in the faith of the covenant. And yet God Himself testifies, in Ezekiel 6, that they were all regarded by Him as children.

In short, when a whole people are called the heritage and the peculiar people of God, what is meant is that they have been chosen by the Lord, the promise of salvation having been offered them and confirmed by the symbol of circumcision. But as many by their ingratitude reject this adoption, and thus enjoy its benefits in no degree, another difference arises among them with regard to the fulfillment of the promise.

So that it might not then appear strange to anyone that this fulfillment of the promise was not evident in many of the Jews, Paul denies that they were included in the true election of God.

Some may prefer such a statement as this— “The general election of the people of Israel is no hindrance to God’s choosing from them by His hidden counsel those whom He pleases.” It is indeed an illustrious example of gratuitous mercy when God deigns to make a covenant of life with a nation; but His hidden favor appears more evident in that second election, which is confined to a part only.

But when he says that all who are of Israel are not Israelites, and that all who are of the seed of Abraham are not children, it is a kind of change in the meaning of words (παρονομασία); for in the first clause he includes the whole race, in the second he refers only to true sons, who had not become degenerate.