Romans 9:8 “It is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”

One day a man came up to Jesus and asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” As he did so often, Jesus didn’t answer the man’s question directly. He answered as if to say, “That’s an interesting question. But here’s the question you really should have asked…”

The relative number of people who are going to be saved is something of an abstract, theoretical question. It’s more of a theological football to toss around than a truth you desperately need to know. It’s poking your nose into God’s business.

So Jesus personalized his answer and answered the man this way: “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” “Before you are concerned about the percentages,” Jesus is telling the man, “You should be concerned about yourself. Will YOU be saved? Make every effort to enter through the narrow door…” And then, without going into detail about the ratio of lost to saved, Jesus does tell him that the number of people who don’t make it will be a large one.

God is not obligated to answer every question we might have about why some are saved and some are lost. Attempts to figure this out often lead to even bigger problems for our faith. But in Romans 9, the Apostle Paul’s words about the Jewish people reveal that ethnic heritage and personal pedigree are not contributing factors on either side.

Pedigree, family heritage, racial descent was a very important concern to the Jews. They took pride in being Abraham’s “natural children.” The “natural children” are literally “the children of the flesh,” physical, biological descendants of Abraham.

This direct family connection did not mean a free pass to heaven. Some of the rabbis of Jesus day had the idea that if you were born a Jew, then you had won the spiritual lottery. They wrote things like, “The worst Israelite is not profane like the heathen,” and “No Israelite can go into hell.”

You may remember a little exchange between Jesus and his fellow countrymen in John’s gospel: Jesus offers that his teachings will set these people free. He has in mind setting them free from their sins. But they shot right back, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.” “We don’t need you,” they were saying. “We have the right pedigree.”

To the best of my knowledge, I have no Jewish pedigree in me. My family tree is northern European. Chances are, you don’t trace your ancestry to Abraham, either. But this idea of special pedigree, being God’s child because you have the right background, still spooks around with Christians. Years ago I met a neighbor whose yard backed up to my church. After a little conversation I learned that he was not attending any church. I hinted that he might try ours. “No thanks,” he said. “My grandfather was a missionary to the Congo, and my father was a pastor, so I think I’m good.” As if his family’s Christian activity somehow counted for him.

We are citizens of a nation that seems to have played an exceptional role in world history. In the past we have often been described as a “Christian nation.” It is true that most of America’s founding fathers were Christian men. But American citizenship and being a true child of God are not remotely related things.

Our ethnicity, our nationality, won’t count against us at heaven’s door. Jesus came to save the world, all of it. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16). There is nothing wrong with appreciating your family’s ethnic heritage, whatever it might be. But don’t think that pedigree provides any advantage for winning God’s favor.