We believe that God’s people are still important and, in some ways, kept distinct in the New Testament. The subject of Romans 9-11 is Israelites according to the flesh. The phrase, “according to the flesh,” is mentioned twice in Rom. 9:3-5. Paul then goes on to describe the exact line they come from: Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob. Romans 9:1-13 establishes that it is a specific line of Abraham’s descendants that received the promises initially. Paul is specifying Isaac over Ishmael, Abraham’s first son, and then Jacob over Esau, who had the same father and mother. When Paul says in verse 8:

“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring,”

He is referring to a specific promise that he quotes in Verse 9:

“For this is what the promise said: ‘About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.’”

This establishes that the promise God made to Abraham for an offspring will be fulfilled in Sarah’s child, not Hagar’s. Paul then further establishes that he is talking about the physical descendants of Israel by referring to Rebekah’s promise that it would be Jacob, not Israel, in which the promise was fulfilled.

This is despite Esau being of Abraham’s flesh also. Again, this is not because Jacob deserved it over Esau, but by God's sovereign choice. Romans 9:13 then becomes a proof-text for Paul to make his point:

“As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’”

This reinforces Paul’s point by reminding his audience that, although Jacob’s descendants still exist, Esau’s descendants were destroyed by the Babylonians. They no longer exist. This is in fulfillment of a couple of Old Testament promises to judge Israel differently than their enemies.