It's interesting that you bring up the Abrahamic Covenant because that is usually my next step. The Abrahamic covenant is effective only insofar as it is applied to those faithful believers.
Some will try to say that all of Abraham's descendents are inheritors of the Abrahamic blessing. That isn't true, even within his immediate progeny.
The Abrahamic Covenant isn't too effective for Ishmael...Abraham's son.
The Abrahamic Covenant isn't too effective for Esau...Abraham's grandson.
The Abrahamic Covenant isn't too effective for Eliphaz...Abraham's great grandson.
Just saying, maybe we're misunderstanding the Abrahamic Covenant. Maybe it has more to do with faithfulness than genetics.
Exactly. That was Paul's point in Romans 9 about "the children
of the promise are regarded as descendants."
When God gave Abram the promise, He said that his "offspring" would be as the sand of the sea. God told Abram this
before he had any children.
Now, Abram's lack of faith produced Ishmael through Hagar. Ishmael was
technically a descendant of Abraham, but he was not a "child of promise." The promise was that "Sarah shall have a son."
Even still, it was then not that all
Isaac's descendants that would be of promise either because Isaac had
twin sons, but only Jacob was a child of promise; Esau wasn't. The point was not that anyone who was born physically of Abraham inherited Abraham's promise, but that God would progress the promise through covenants
within the physical descendants of Abraham. The promise was always with a
subset of Abraham's physical descendants
who were faithful to the types and shadows that pointed
to Christ Who is
the Seed to Whom the promise was made.
The promise to Abraham was a promise of the Gospel of Christ that would save people from all nations of the world. "
The gospel was preached to Abraham, saying 'In thee shall all families be blessed.'" The promise was all about the instrumental lineage through which Messiah Prince would come, and all "are blessed with faithful Abraham"
in Christ.
