Romans 9.3-Paul Expresses His Deep Love And Concern For The Nation Of Israel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday February 17, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:3-Paul Expresses His Deep Love And Concern For The Nation Of Israel
Lesson # 293
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This past Wednesday we presented an overview to Romans chapter nine.
Then, on Thursday we studied Romans 9:1 and in this passage the apostle Paul appeals to Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses as to the veracity of his statements in Romans 9:2-3.
Sunday we noted Romans 9:2 and in this passage Paul expresses his great sorrow and unceasing grief over the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
This evening we will study Romans 9:3 and in this passage the apostle communicates to his readers his great love for the nation of Israel by expressing his desire to be separated from Christ for their sake.
Let’s read the first paragraph in the chapter and then concentrate on verse 3 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:1-5, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
Here is the corrected translation of Romans 9:1-2.
Romans 9:1-3, “I am speaking the truth in accordance with the code of Christ. I am by no means lying, while my conscience does confirm to me in accordance with the code of the Holy Spirit, that, as far my feelings are concerned, there is always great sorrow as well as unceasing anguish in my heart. In fact, I could almost wish that I myself could be accursed, totally and completely separated from Christ as a substitute for my brothers, specifically, my fellow countrymen with respect to racial descent.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 3.
Romans 9:3, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
Paul’s statement in Romans 9:3 advances upon his statement in Romans 9:2 and intensifies it in the sense that it provides the ultimate proof of the sincerity of the intensity of his grief.
“I could wish” is the first person singular imperfect (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb euchomai (eu&xomai) (yoo-khom-i), which expresses a strong desire or wish.
The imperfect tense of euchomai is a “voluntative” or “tendential” or “desiderative” imperfect, which is used to indicate that an attempt was almost desired to be made.
This usage is frequently present time in which the action is entirely unrealized in the present.
Therefore, Paul is saying with the imperfect tense of this verb “I was attempting to wish” to be accursed.
The “desiderative” imperfect expresses Paul’s intense desire to deliver unregenerate Israel from eternal condemnation and the impossibility and inability of him to do so.
“Accursed” is the nominative neuter singular form of the noun anathema (a)navqema) (an-ath-em-ah), which refers to Paul’s desire to be the object of God’s wrath, i.e. righteous indignation in place of his unregenerate countrymen.
It refers to being under eternal condemnation and expresses Paul’s great self-sacrificial love for the nation of Israel.
Every unbeliever will experience the righteous indignation of God forever in the eternal Lake of Fire.
They will face the wrath of God at the Great White Throne Judgment that will take place at the end of human history and is the judgment of all unregenerate humanity in human history for their rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior (Rev. 20:11-15).
Revelation 20:11-15, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Unbelievers will “not” be judged according to their sins at the Great White Throne Judgment since Jesus Christ died for all men, Jew and Gentile and for every sin that they have committed-past, present and future.
The unbeliever will be judged according to their self-righteous human good works, which do not measure up to the perfect work of the impeccable Christ on the Cross (Rev. 20:11-15).
The unbeliever goes to the lake of fire because of his rejection of Christ as his Savior since 1 Timothy 2:4 and John 3:16-17 clearly indicates that God desires all men to be saved, thus, He has made provision for all men to be saved through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The difference between righteous indignation and anger is that the former is based upon concern for the holiness of God whereas the latter is emotional, selfish, self-centered, vindictive and intent on harming another.
Normally, anger expressed by human beings is emotional and selfish but sometimes human beings manifest righteous indignation as in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ who displayed righteous indignation towards the moneychangers in the Temple whose actions stood in opposition to the holiness of God (Jn. 2:13-17).
In fact, in Ephesians 4:26-27, the apostle Paul commands believers to display righteous indignation towards injustice, sin and evil and to reject the emotional, selfish, self-centered, vindictive and revengeful form of human wrath and anger.
Ephesians 4:26-27, “BE ANGRY, AND YET DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”
God’s righteous indignation is the legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature.
In fact, God’s righteous indignation expresses His holiness.
God hates sin so much and loves the sinner so much that He judged His Son Jesus Christ for every sin in human history-past, present and future and provided deliverance from sin through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
If the sinner will not exercise faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, then they will face His righteous indignation at the Great White Throne Judgment.
The wrath of God is inescapable unless one trusts in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
So in Romans 9:3, the noun anathema refers to Paul’s desire to be the object of God’s wrath, i.e. His righteous indignation in place of his unregenerate countrymen.
It speaks of eternal condemnation and expressed Paul’s great self-sacrificial love for the nation of Israel.
Romans 9:3, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
“Separated from Christ” refers to Paul’s desire to be totally and completely separated from Christ for the sake of his unsaved Jewish countrymen.
“For the sake of my brethren” denotes Paul’s desire to suffer eternal condemnation in the place of his fellow Jewish countrymen or as their substitute.
“My kinsman” is the adjective sungenes (suggenhv$) (soong-ghen-ace), which is used to describe Paul’s “fellow” Jewish “countrymen” to whom he was related by blood and race.
“According to the flesh” is composed of the preposition kata (katav) (kat-ah), “according to” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun sarx (savrc) (sarx), “flesh.”
The preposition kata denotes the biological relationship between Paul and his fellow Jewish countrymen.
The noun sarx refers to the genealogical or biological or racial descent of the Jews.
Moses’ intercession for Israel at Mount Sinai after the golden calf incident recorded in Exodus 32 is similar to Paul’s desire that he expressed in Romans 9:3.
However, Moses’ request of God was for saved individuals and Paul’s was not.
1 Corinthians 10:1-10 reveals that those Israelites that Moses led through the Red Sea and took part in the worship of the golden calf were saved.
So Paul’s desire here in Romans 9:3 is more impressive by virtue that he is expressing his willingness to suffer eternal condemnation in the place of unregenerate Jews.