Jacob and Esau as Christians and Jews

Romans 9:1–18

55–57

1I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. 4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

6It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all Israelites truly belong to Israel, 7and not all of Abraham’s children are his true descendants; but “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you” (Genesis 21:12). 8This 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 descendants. 9For this is what the promise said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son” (Genesis 18:10). 10Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebekah when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac. 11Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, 12not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 23:25). 13As it is written,

“I have loved Jacob,
but I have hated Esau.” (Malachi 1:2–3)

 

14What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Exodus 33:19)

 

16So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.

Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.

Credits

New Revised Standard Version Bible copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

Engage with this Source

This passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans draws on verses from the Hebrew Bible to articulate the relationship between followers of Jesus and Jews who did not follow him. It shows that as early as the mid-first century CE, the first community of Christ followers began to identify with the younger son, Jacob, and to identify the Jews who did not follow Christ with the rejected elder son, Esau (see Isaac and His Family). In contrast, Jews identified their own community with Jacob and eventually came to identify Rome and, later, Christianity with Esau (see Genesis Rabbah).

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Biblical Narratives in Early Jewish Imagination

4th Century BCE–6th Century CE
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