“St. Paul” painting by El Greco (1541-1614).
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
[Romans 9:3-4 WEB]
Romans 9:1-5
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OBSERVE:
Paul’s focus shifts away from the powerful climax of Romans 8, and he begins to address a subject that is painful for him — he grieves for the majority of his fellow Jews, who have rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
It is extremely important to note that the first believers in Christ were Jews — the twelve disciples, the folks in the Upper Room on Pentecost, the three thousand converted on that day, and Paul himself. In fact, until Paul began his aggressive missionary work to the Gentiles, the new “Christian” movement centered in Jerusalem was actually somewhat reluctant to branch out beyond the Jews.
Paul has the vision to see that the Gospel is God’s gift to all people. He wasn’t the first or the only to see that. Peter’s vision that led to his visit with the Roman centurion, Cornelius, was a breakthrough for the early church (Acts 10). But it is Paul who has the spiritual and intellectual gifts, and the drive, to carry the message into the Gentile world in his missionary journeys.
Nevertheless, Paul is grieved that so many of his own people have rejected the Gospel. Throughout Romans 9 to 11, he will explore the paradox that Israel has been chosen by God, and yet has rejected God’s Messiah.
But here, he is expressing his own deep feelings:
I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
Paul even makes this extraordinary statement:
For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites…
Paul loves his own people so deeply that he is willing to be damned for their sake!
We are reminded that Paul was no marginal, cultural Jew. He was deeply committed to Judaism prior to his Damascus Road experience and conversion (Acts 9:1-21). Paul speaks of his own life prior to his conversion:
For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it. I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers (Galatians 1:13-14).
When his “credentials” are questioned by some in the Corinthian church, Paul says of himself in comparison to some of his detractors:
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I (2 Corinthians 11:22).
And when he seeks to point out that his own accomplishments are rubbish as compared to knowing Christ, he points out that his accomplishments are not meager by human standards:
If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless (Philippians 3:4-6).
And Paul does not minimize or denigrate the important relationship that God bestowed upon Israel as his chosen people:
whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
Although Paul is very clear that salvation is not a work of the law but a work of grace received by faith (Romans 3:27), he doesn’t demean the law of Moses. The Israelites were chosen (adopted) by God, to them were entrusted the covenants of Abraham, the law of Moses, the Patriarchs.
And, above all, Israel is the vessel through which the Messiah was to come. The Hebrew Scriptures prophesied his coming. Jesus is the descendant of David, according to the Scriptures, and is therefore the rightful heir of David. Jesus is clearly the Jewish Messiah, as well as the Savior of the world.
APPLY:
There is a tension in relations between Christianity and Judaism. Christians were persecuted harshly by the Jewish priestly authorities early in the history of the church, and later as the Christian movement moved into the Gentile world. Paul made it a point to go first to the synagogues in the Greek and Roman cities he visited so that he could interpret the prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures concerning the Christ. When he was rejected, he was free to go out among the Gentiles and evangelize.
Unfortunately, when Christianity became the dominant religion after Constantine’s ascent to Imperial status, and recognition of the church in 313 A.D., the Christian treatment of Jews has been frankly deplorable. The Jews were expelled from Jerusalem in 325 A.D.; in 1096, one third of the Jews in Northern France and Germany were massacred. In 1215, the Lateran Council in Rome decreed that all Jews were to wear the “badge of shame” in all Christian countries. Jews were denied all public sector employment, and were burdened with extra taxes. These, and many more persecutions, pogroms and massacres have plagued the Jews — all the way down to the Holocaust by Nazi Germany.
Paul would be appalled. When his people did not embrace Jesus as Messiah, or his evangel, Paul’s response was not anger, but grief:
I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
We as Christians owe a profound debt to our Jewish heritage. From them come:
the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises.
And because of the salvation history of Israel, we are led inexorably to the coming of the Christ, who fulfills the Jewish expectations of a Messiah.
RESPOND:
I wonder what I am willing to sacrifice for the sake of the salvation of someone I love? Paul says:
I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites.
I am reminded of a funny tale a seminary professor once told me years ago. It seems that a young ministerial candidate in Scotland was being interviewed by the Presbytery concerning his hope for ordination.
The questioning was rigorous and critical. The young candidate was sweating. Finally, someone asked him this question:
Are you willing to be damned for the glory of God?
The harried young man answered:
Yes, and I’d be even more willing to see the entire Presbytery damned for God’s glory.
A funny anecdote. But there is a rather serious application. Paul was willing to be damned for the sake of his nation. For whom would we be willing to be damned?
I have stated often that I would be willing to take a bullet for members of my family. Would I be willing to be damned for them? I think so.
I know a man who was a rebel and a mocker of the Christian faith. His father was a saintly, devout seminary professor, who from time to time would ask his son, “How is it with your soul?” But only after his father died unexpectedly did this rebel turn to God and say: “O.K. You have my attention.” He returned to faith, and has lived faithfully ever since.
This seems a radical method of evangelism. But perhaps until we are willing to die — or even be accursed for the lost — those whom we seek to save won’t really see how serious we are. What are we really willing to pay to see the lost saved?
Jesus was willing to give his very life and, in my theology, descend into hell on our behalf.
Lord, I deeply regret the persecutions of Judaism by Christians over the centuries. I pray that we may be a vessel of reconciliation rather than repudiation. I also pray for those whom I love who do not have faith in you — if it is necessary that I die, or even be accursed, that they may be saved, help me to say yes to that. Amen.
PHOTOS:
"San Pablo Apóstol" by El Greco is in the Public Domain.
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