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Not all of them are true descendants of Abraham. God told Abraham, ‘It is only Isaac that I will call the father of your descendants.’

This means that not all of Abraham's children are really God's children. It is only those children who were born as a result of God's promise. Only they are the people that God calls true descendants. This is what God promised to Abraham: ‘At this time next year I will come back. Then Sarah, your wife, will have a son.’[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 9:9 See Genesis 17:21; 18:10,14.

Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[a](A) In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,(B) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.(C) For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”[b](D)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
  2. Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14