Scripture Daily

Context No. 106 of 4322 · Romans

Context · Reflection

Romans 9:1-5: in context

1I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh 4who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; 5of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

Paul has just finished Romans 8, which ends with the claim that nothing in all creation can separate believers from the love of God. This passage is the very next sentence, and the change of tone is abrupt. He goes from that height straight into grief.

He swears to it three times over, in Christ, not lying, conscience confirming in the Holy Spirit, because what he is about to say is hard to believe. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Then the wish: I could pray that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people. He has spent a chapter saying nothing can separate him from Christ, and now says he would accept exactly that separation if it would save his kindred.

Then he lists what belongs to them, and the list is generous: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs, and from them the Messiah himself. Paul is writing about the people who have driven him out of synagogues and had him beaten. He names their advantages rather than their failures. When I describe the people who have hurt me most, does my description include what is genuinely theirs?

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