Romans 9 is a bit complicated, so I am going to break it up into bite-size pieces (I hope).
1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.[a] I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.[b] God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.[c]
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”[d] though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”[e]
Paul is saying some stuff here that has to truly challenge his Jewish brothers and sisters. He is saying that even though they are Jews, they are not necessarily saved. Yikes! That would be quite the opposite of what the Jews believe!
See, what Paul is saying is that you do not need to be a blood relative of Abraham – you have to be a child of the promise. And what is that promise?? That Abraham’s descendents would be more numerous than the stars. This is where I get lost – can anyone help me with this??? Frank?