Romans 9.10-The Story Of Rebekah And Her Twins Illustrates The Principle That True Israel Is Based Upon God's Sovereign Grace Rather Than Race
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 10, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:10-The Story Of Rebekah And Her Twins Illustrates The Principle That True Israel Is Based Upon God’s Sovereign Grace Rather Than Race
Lesson # 303
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter 9, which begins the fifth major section in the book of Romans that ends with chapter eleven.
In Romans 9:1, Paul implicitly appeals to Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses as to the veracity of his statements in Romans 9:2-3.
Then in Romans 9:2, Paul expresses his great sorrow and unceasing grief over the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
Paul in Romans 9:3 communicates to his readers his great love for the nation of Israel by expressing his desire to be separated from Christ for their sake.
Then, in Romans 9:4-5, he lists eight privileges that were given to the nation of Israel by God that helps the reader understand the depth of his sorrow and grief.
In Romans 9:6, Paul presents the premise that not all Israel is Israel and that God’s Word has not failed and for the rest of the chapter he illustrates this premise.
Then in Romans 9:7 continues to develop further the principle that not all those who are Israelites racially or biologically are considered by God as the true or spiritual Israel.
In this passage, he supports this distinction between racial or ethnic and spiritual Israel and explains its basis in Romans 9:7-13.
Paul’s argument is divided into two sections: (1) Verses 7-9: Illustration with the selection of Isaac (2) Verses 10-13: Illustration with selection of Jacob over Esau.
He proves his point in these verses through the presentation of Old Testament passages.
In Romans 9:7, he cites Genesis 21:12 to prove this point with his readers that being a spiritual child of Abraham is not a birthright or in other words it is not based upon one’s racial heritage but rather it is based upon faith in the promises and in particular faith in the promised Messiah.
Ultimately, it is based upon God’s sovereign grace rather than race.
Then, in Romans 9:8, Paul teaches that the racial descendants of Abraham are not considered by God to be His children but rather He considers the children of the promise as being such and that the children of the promise are regarded by God as being Abraham’s spiritual descendants.
Lastly, in Romans 9:9, Paul paraphrases Genesis 18:10 and 14 to identify specifically the content of the Lord’s promise to Abraham, which was that the Lord would fulfill His promise to Abraham and they would have a son named Isaac.
This evening we will begin to study Romans 9:10-13, which further illustrates the principle that true Israel was founded upon God’s sovereign grace rather than race.
This passage presents a second illustration that supports this distinction between racial or ethnic and spiritual Israel.
We will begin this study by noting Romans 9:10, in which Paul cites the account of Rebekah and her twins that illustrates this principle.
Therefore, in Romans 9:10, Paul teaches that the story of Rebekah and her twins illustrates the principle that true Israel is based upon God’s sovereign grace rather than race.
It also illustrates the principle that even though the majority of Jews had rejected Christ, this did not constitute a failure on God’s part since He had not broken any promises to the patriarchs and their descendants.
Let’s read Romans 9:1-13 and then concentrate on verse 10 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:1-13, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’”
Now, let’s concentrate on verse 10.
Romans 9:10, “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac.”
This statement advances upon Paul’s statements in Romans 9:7-9 regarding the selection of Isaac over Ishmael and intensifies these statements.
It is not only presenting “additional” information regarding the selection of the nation based upon God’s sovereign grace rather than race but it also is “advancing” and “intensifying” this spiritual principle.
Next, we have four words in the Greek text that form a correlative clause.
“Not only…but also” is composed of the emphatic objective negative particle ou (ou)), “not” and the accusative neuter singular adverb monon (movnon), “only.” “But also” is composed of the adversative use of the conjunction alla (ajllaV), “but” and the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai (kaiV), “also.”
These four words emphatically state that “not only” (ou monon) did God select Isaac over Ishmael based upon His sovereign grace “but also” (alla kai), this was the case with Rebekah’s twin sons, Jacob and Esau.
The adverb monon is employed with emphatic negative objective particle ou in order to state in emphatic terms that God’s selection of Isaac over Ishmael based upon His sovereign grace is “not limited to” Sarah’s son, Isaac.
The emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo) emphatically negates the idea that Sarah’s son, Isaac is the only other example in Scripture.
The expression alla kai, “but…also” is used “ascensively” meaning they introduce an “additional” individual who illustrates the principle that true Israel was founded upon God’s sovereign grace rather than race.
Therefore, these two words indicate that in addition to God sovereignly choosing Sarah’s son Isaac over Ishmael, He also sovereignly chose Rebekah’s son Jacob over his twin brother Esau as well.
With these words, Paul is saying that not only do the Scriptures present an example of the election of a son of Abraham, Isaac through Sarah and a rejection of his son, Ishmael, by Hagar but also the Scriptures present the election and rejection of the children of the same woman, Rebekah and her twins, Jacob and Esau.
He is saying that not only is there a distinction among the biological descendants of Abraham with those who are both his biological and spiritual descendants but also this distinction is further illustrated with Rebekah’s two sons, Jacob and Esau.
So here in verse 10, after emphasizing Sarah’s role in giving birth to the heir of the covenant promises in verse 9, Paul seeks to advance his argument further by presenting the matriarch of the next generation, Rebekah.
Like Sarah, Rebekah was barren and like Sarah’s infertility, Rebekah’s was overcome by the Lord’s intervention.
Rebekah’s son like Sarah’s was called by God to become heir of the covenant promises.
Furthermore, both Jacob and Isaac had a rival.
Esau was a rival to the former while Ishmael was a rival to the latter.
However, Isaac’s rival was only a half-brother whereas Jacob’s was his own twin.
Paul’s emphasis in verse 10, which advances his argument from verses 7-9 is that since through one act of conception that produced twins Jacob and Esau, there was absolutely no biological distinction between the twins.
Therefore, God’s selection of Jacob over Esau was not based upon race but rather God’s sovereign grace since they shared the same biological parents and were conceived at the same point in time, thus neither of them received the covenant promises based upon race or being biological descendants of Rebekah and Isaac.
Romans 9:10, “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac.”
“Rebekah” is the nominative feminine singular form of the proper name Rhebekka (‛Rebevkka) (herb-bek-ah), whose father was Bethuel and whose brother was Laban and whose husband was Isaac and whose children were Esau and Jacob.
Like Sarah, the book of Genesis presents the account of Rebekah.
The name “Rebekah” (hq*b+r!) (Hebrew: rivqah pronounced: riv-kaw) whose name is related to the Akkadian rabaku, “to be soft or springy,” thus her name means, “soft, supple.”
“Rebekah” was a sister to Laban and a second cousin to Isaac whose father of course is Abraham.
Romans 9:10, “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac.”
“When she had conceived” is composed of the nominative feminine singular present active participle form of the verb echo (e&xw) (ekh-o), “when she had” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun koite (koivth) (koy-tay), “conceived.”
Originally, the noun koite meant, “bed” (cf. Luke 11:7) and later came to refer especially to the “marriage bed” (e.g. Hebrews 13:4) and hence referred to “sexual intercourse” (Leviticus 15:21-26; Romans 13:13) and could also refer to the semen itself (Leviticus 15:16-17, 32; 18:20; 22:4; Numbers 5:20)
The idiom is very close to the English: “having sex with one man.”
The idea of this expression ex henos koiten echousa, “when she had conceived by one man” is not simply that Jacob and Esau had the same father since that was true of Isaac and Ishmael but rather they were conceived in the very same act of sexual intercourse.
It means that Rebekah conceived both sons through the seminal emission of one man, Isaac.
The verb echo is used in a transitive sense and means, “to have” denoting the possession of persons to whom one has a close intimate relationship.
It is used of Rebekah having a sexual union with Isaac.
The noun koite is used in a figurative sense meaning “pregnant, conception.”
“By one man” is composed of the preposition ek (e)k), “by” and the genitive masculine singular form of the cardinal number heis (ei!$) (hice), “one man.”
The cardinal number heis means, “one man” and is a reference to Isaac as indicated by the expression Isaak tou patros hemon, “our father Isaac.”
The preposition ek is used with the genitive form of cardinal number heis as a marker of means constituting a source.
The cardinal number heis as a “genitive of means” indicates that one man, Isaac was “the means constituting the source by which” Rebekah had gotten pregnant with twins.
Paul uses ek not only because he wants to emphasize the means by which Rebekah had gotten pregnant but that this means constitutes the source of her pregnancy.
Romans 9:10, “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac.”
“Our father” is composed of the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun pater (pathVr), “father” and the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$), “our.”
The noun pater denotes Isaac as being one of the “racial” or “biological” fathers or progenitors of the Jews, the other being of course Abraham and Jacob, aka Israel.
The personal pronoun hemeis indicates that Paul is identifying with the Jews.
“Isaac” is the genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Isaak (’Isaavk) (ee-sah-ak), which refers of course to Abraham and Sarah’s son.
The implication of this statement in Romans 9:10 is that there was nothing to discriminate or distinguish Jacob from Esau.
They had the same father and mother and were conceived from the very same act of sexual intercourse.
Therefore, God’s selection of Jacob over Esau was not based upon race but rather God’s sovereign grace since they shared the same biological parents and were conceived at the same point in time, thus neither of them received the covenant promises based upon race or being biological descendants of Rebekah and Isaac.