But it is not that God's word has failed. For not everybody that is descended from Israel really belongs to Israel,

And Isaiah cries out about Israel, "Although the sons of Israel are as numberless as the sands of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

while Israel, though ever in pursuit of a law that would bring right standing, did not attain to it.

But again I ask, Israel did not understand, did they? For in the first place Moses says: "I will make you jealous of a nation that is no nation; I will provoke you to anger at a senseless nation."

But of Israel he said: "All day long I have held out my hands to a people that is disobedient and obstinate."

No, God has not disowned His people, on whom He set His heart beforehand. Do you know what the Scripture says in Elijah's case, how he pleaded with God against Israel?

What are we then to conclude? Israel has failed to obtain what it is still in search for, but His chosen ones have obtained it. The rest have become insensible to it,

For to keep you from being self-conceited, brothers, I do not want to have a misunderstanding of this uncovered secret, that only temporary insensibility has come upon Israel until the full quota of the heathen peoples comes in,

and so in that way all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says: "From Zion the Deliverer will come; He will remove ungodliness from Jacob;

Yes, I mean that Christ has become a servant to Israel to prove God's truthfulness, to make valid His promises to our forefathers,