Gen 17:19  And God said, Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ASV

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. KJV

Gen 17:19  And God said, Your wife Sarah truly shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I have established My covenant with him for a perpetual covenant with his seed after him. LITV

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed. And you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. MKJV

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                                                        COMMENTARY

When we incorporate the rule of interpretation given to us in the NT, i.e. "The NT interprets the OT" Heb. 1:1,2 we then discover the correct meaning of this vs.

This vs is talking about the New Covenant and the Church. How do we know? Simple; the New Testament is the -infallible- interpretation of the Old and it tells us...

 Rom 9:6  Not as though the word of God has taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

There are -Two-  "Israels" folks. One is Physical, those born 'after the flesh'; the blood-line descendants of father Abraham and Isaac, and the other is Spiritual, those who are born according to the promise, which is a reference to the elect whom God has chosen to salvation from before the foundation of the world. And Spiritual Birth is just another way of saying Regeneration. See John 1:12,13 and John 3:1-6.

 Rom 9: 7  Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Can words be any clearer? Being born a Jew does not constitute one a child of God! Only those who are "in Isaac" are the children of God. What does "in Isaac" mean? Answer; next verse in Romans 9...

  :8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are  -not-  the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Remember... man does not live by bread alone but by ~Every~ word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That includes the word ~Not~ in this verse!

This one verse alone destroys three heresies being propagated today;
1; Dispensationalism
2; Premillennialism
3; The biggest one of them all... Covenant Theology.

  Paul tells us here in no uncertain terms that flesh-born human beings are ~Not~ the children of God. But the three heresies noted say... "Oh yes they are!" -- thereby contradicting Scripture and calling the Living God a liar! These people reject the teaching of Messiah in Matthew 4:3,4! They change the word of God just like Satan did in the garden. They say that this verse is talking about Literal, Physical born children. Premillennialists  & Dispensationalists say it means Physical Jews while Covenant Theology says it's "children of believers". But the Living GOD dispenses with such doctrines of darkness with one fell swoop in Romans 9 alone. The only true children of God are those born according to God's Promise which is the Promise of the Gospel.  That's what it means to be "in Isaac". It means to be one of the chosen of God; one of the Elect.

  That’s why its called an everlasting covenant! By taking this vs in a "literal" sense and applying it to the ~Physical~ nation of Israel, Premillennialists, Dispensationalists & Covenant Theologians stumble & come up with their false doctrines of eschatology & the Church. Thus, they say, since this covenant was made to Isaac and to the ~Physical~ Nation of Israel, and since it is referred to as an "everlasting" covenant, the ~Physical~ nation will realize this promise in its fullness some time in the future when God regathers the Jews before/during the Tribulation/1000 year Millennium.

  Covenant Theologians make the same stupid mistake of taking this verse in a strict literal sense and applying it to "children of believers" who are born after the flesh! Yet Romans 9 plainly tells us that this covenant is not applicable to those born after the flesh!

 Covenant Theology, in taking a literal view says that since Old Testament Israel was "the church" we must take the elements of that OT church and apply them to the NT church. So they call their church the "covenant community" and since flesh-born children were in the OT 'church' so too flesh-born "children of believers" are in the NT church. And since children were circumcized we gotta do the same with our kiddies. And since circumcizion is done away because that was part of the so-called "ceremonial law" which is another unbiblical heresy, we baptize Little Willie. Then in order to maintain their heresy they come up with more strange doctrine, one of which is "Presumptive Regeneration" whereby they ~presume~ Little Willie to be regenerate because, after all he -is- "in the covenant" ya know! But you will find such teachings nowhere in the entire Bible. What you -will- find tho is...
Esau, who was both -in the covenant- and was circumcised,... went to Hell!

Genesis

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