Sunday School Notes: Romans 9:1-5

¹ I speak the truth in Christ, I am not lying–my conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit–² that there is great sorrow in me, and unceasing distress in my heart. ³ For I pray I myself may be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites, whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the worship, and the promises, ⁵ whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, the one who is over all things God blessed forever. Amen.

We began this week’s discussion with a reminder on the importance of letting Scripture speak, especially given some of the statements in this chapter which some find difficult. When dealing with hard passages of Scripture, we have three choices: we can accept them as true and deal with them, we can reject them (which then brings into question our view of the inspiration of Scripture), or we can try to make them say what we would prefer them to say, not what they actually say. To be fair to the Word of God, we really ought to pursue the first option, and that is our intention here.

Chapters 9-11 seem to break from the flow of the letter. Romans 8 concluded Paul’s teaching on justification by faith alone, sanctification with the abiding help of the Spirit, and the believers’ position as God’s adopted, beloved children and a beautiful statement of God’s love for us. From that, we might expect Paul to move on to some practical application–a discussion on how we should live given these truths. Rather he waits until chapter 12 for that, moving instead to a discussion of Israel and election.

We need to remember the overall context: Paul is writing to a divided church where there is squabbling between Jewish and non-Jewish Christians. It seems Paul is saying that, since we are all on the same level, and we are all saved by grace whether Jew or Gentile, all God’s work in the Old Testament among the descendants of Abraham is irrelevant, and there is no value at all in being Jewish. Paul started to respond to this back at the beginning of chapter 3, but now he appears to be making a much fuller response, perhaps because his statements in chapter 8 warrant dealing with the topic more thoroughly.

He starts with a very bold statement that challenges us. He expresses his deep sorrow and never-ending pain over his kinsmen. Paul is concerned that this expression is not perceived as false empathy, so he insists he is telling the truth, and further the indwelling Spirit of God–who knows his heart perhaps better than he does–testifies that what he’s saying is true. And what he says is quite remarkable: he would pray to be “accursed” (the Greek is anathema), cut off from Christ, for the sake of his kinsmen. If it would mean they would all be saved, he would spend eternity separated from God. We know, and I daresay he knew. this wouldn’t be possible–especially given what he’s just said at the end of chapter 8, but that gives us a sense of how strongly he feels about this. This is reminiscent of Moses’s reaction to the Golden Calf incident in Exodus 32, when Moses pleaded with God to forgive the people, even if it meant blotting his own name out of the book of life (verse 32). Can we say we feel that strongly about our unsaved kin–parents, brothers, sisters, or other family members who aren’t saved? How deeply do we long for them to come to Christ?

Paul talks more about who these people are. First he calls them “Israelites.” Up to now Paul has referred to them as Jews. This is a reminder of their spiritual heritage–they are descendants of Israel, the name God gave to Jacob. He then lists a series of blessings they have received from God as a people: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law-giving, the worship, and the promises.

Just as there is a difference between church (i.e., the people who attend the worship service, who may even be members, and who might even have professed faith in Christ), and Church (i.e., those who are truly saved), there is a difference between the nation of Israel (i.e., those who were a part of the nation God chose to bless), and the real Israel (i.e., the people within that nation who were truly God’s and, by their faith in God’s promises–particularly in the Savior to come–were saved). The blessing Paul describes are blessings that were poured out upon the entire nation, but that doesn’t mean they all appreciated and embraced them for themselves.

They were all “adopted” not in the sense that Paul has just been speaking of in the previous chapter, where we are God’s precious children and given the same benefits as Christ, but in the sense that God calls Israel His son, and guides, disciplines, and cares for the nation as a parent. He treats them in a way He does not treat any other nation. He gave them victory in battle and made their name of great repute; He made covenant promises with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David–not least of which was the promise of the Messiah; He gave them the Law so they would know how to please Him and be holy in His sight; He gave them the Temple and taught them how to worship Him; and He gave them promises which He was faithful to keep. Paul’s point, I think, is that God would not do all these things for these people without reason.

Furthermore, God gave the Israelites the fathers of their faith, one of whom, Abraham, Paul has already set forth as an example of justification by faith (see chapter 4). Finally, and perhaps the greatest indication that God had blessed Israel and had a purpose for them: the Messiah, Jesus was a Jew by the flesh. He was born into this nation as one of them. If that doesn’t make them special, and show that God hasn’t abandoned them, what else would?

Paul says that Christ is “over all things God blessed forever.” This is quite a strong Christological statement. It seems that Paul is asserting the deity of Christ unequivocally. Some scholars take issue with this and prefer to translate this “… who is Christ according to the flesh. May God be praised forever. Amen” or something like that. However, there is no reason to do this from the text, and this is by no means a more natural translation of the Greek. Such scholars justify their translation by insisting that Paul wouldn’t have believed in Christ’s deity so he can’t have made such a statement. They say that Paul doesn’t make such blatant statements elsewhere. However, we know he does (Titus 2:13, for example), but even if they don’t accept that, they just need to look at the work Paul ascribes to Christ. Would a mere Jewish prophet be capable of atoning for the sins of God’s people by his death and resurrection? Would Paul claim that a mere mortal was the source of creation, by whom all things were made (Colossians 1:16)? In light of this, it seems only natural that Paul would have regarded Christ to be God.

So God has richly blessed this nation, but they have turned their back on Him–hence Paul’s anguish and sorrow. Does this mean that God’s word has failed? Have all the promises God made to Abraham about his seed being a mighty nation come to nothing? If all that Paul has said in chapters 1-8 is true, why aren’t the Israelites repenting and turning to Christ in droves? That’s where we’ll start our discussion next week.