The Two Lives

At a glance

Relevant Scripture

“That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”

Romans 9:8 KJV

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Chapter 3 of the LibriVox recording of According to Promise, streamed directly from the Internet Archive (public domain, CC0).

UECF.NET summary

Having established that Isaac and Ishmael differed in origin, Spurgeon now shows that they differed just as clearly in the shape of their daily lives. Genesis gives few direct words from Isaac; instead it shows him meditating in the field at evening, submitting to his father at Moriah, and living a settled, unhurried life. Ishmael, by contrast, is described in terms of skill, conflict, and a hand raised against others — a capable man, but one whose life bears the marks of the flesh rather than the Spirit.

Spurgeon's argument is that conduct flows from birth: the carnal mind, however religious its surroundings, cannot produce the meekness, faith, and spiritual appetite that mark those born of the promise. This is not a claim that natural people cannot be moral, generous, or even remarkably disciplined; Ishmael himself became a great nation. It is a claim that a particular quality of life — communion with God, delight in His word, willingness to be tried — belongs distinctly to those in whom the Spirit has done His deepest work.

The chapter presses readers to examine the pattern of their own lives rather than only the moment of their beginning. If the fruit consistently looks like Ishmael's — self-assertion, restlessness, indifference to God's voice — no amount of early religious experience can be trusted as evidence of the new birth. But where a life increasingly shows Isaac's marks, however imperfectly, that pattern itself becomes a quiet confirmation of the promise at work.

Main theological themes

• Spiritual origin inevitably shapes spiritual conduct over time
• The contrast between a life organized around self-assertion and one organized around trust in God's word
• Genuine fruit, not a single past experience, is Scripture's ordinary test of a life joined to the promise

Key ideas

• Isaac's meditative, submissive life in Genesis illustrates what Paul later calls being led by the Spirit.
• Ishmael's skill and independence were real, yet Scripture never credits them to a walk with God.
• Outward morality can exist without inward spiritual life, and inward spiritual life will, in time, always produce some outward fruit.
• A believer should examine the settled pattern of years, not only a single dramatic memory, when seeking assurance.

Important concepts

• The carnal mind — Paul's term in Romans 8 for a mind still governed by unaided human nature, unable to delight in the things of the Spirit of God.
• Fruit as evidence — Not the ground of salvation, but Scripture's ordinary way of confirming, over time, whether a profession of faith is genuine.

Related Bible references

• Romans 8:5–6
• Genesis 24:63
• Genesis 22:9
• Galatians 5:22–23

Practical Christian application

• Look honestly at the settled pattern of your last year, not just a single spiritual memory, and ask what fruit it has shown.
• Set aside unhurried time, as Isaac did in the field, simply to be quiet before God.
• Where you find Ishmael's restlessness in yourself, bring it to God rather than hiding it.

Questions for study