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 

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.

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.

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.