Roma 2:28

2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh,

Roma 9:7

9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ¹ 

Roma 10:1

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ²  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ³  is for their salvation.

Roma 11:16

11:16 If the first portion ⁴  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ⁵ 

[9:7]  ¹ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

[9:7]  sn A quotation from Gen 21:12.

[10:1]  ² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ³ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ⁵ sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.