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ROMANS

Chapter Nine

9:1-11:36 DISPENSATIONAL

A 9:1-5. Paul’s sorrow regarding Israel’s failure.

B 9:6-13. God’s purpose had respect only to a portion.

C 9:14-29. God’s purpose regarded only a remnant.

D E-1 9:30-33. Israel’s failure in spite of the Prophets.

E-2 10:1-13. Israel’s failure in spite of the Law.

E-3 10:14-21. Israel’s failure in spite of the Gospel.

D-1 11:1-10. God’s purpose regarding the remnant accomplished.

D-2 11:11-32. God’s purpose will ultimately embrace the whole

A 11:33-36. Paul’s joy regarding God’s purpose.

9:1-5 (A, above). PAUL’S SORROW REGARDING ISRAEL’S FAILURE.

A F 9:1-3. Paul’s kinship to Israel according to flesh (kata sarka). His former wise to be accursed,

And his present sorrow.

G 9:4. What belongs to Israel?

G 9:5-. Who belong to Israel?

F 9”-5. Christ’s kinship to Israel according to flesh (kata sarka). His eternal existence as God

Over all, blessed for ever.

Luther's Preface to Romans

In chapters 9; 10 and 11, St. Paul teaches us about the eternal providence of God. It is the original source which determines who would believe and who wouldn't, who can be set free from sin and who cannot. Such matters have been taken out of our hands and are put into God's hands so that we might become virtuous. It is absolutely necessary that it be so, for we are so weak and unsure of ourselves that, if it depended on us, no human being would be saved. The devil would overpower all of us. But God is steadfast; his providence will not fail, and no one can prevent its realization. Therefore we have hope against sin.

But here we must shut the mouths of those sacrilegious and arrogant spirits who, mere beginners that they are, bring their reason to bear on this matter and commence, from their exalted position, to probe the abyss of divine providence and uselessly trouble themselves about whether they are predestined or not. These people must surely plunge to their ruin, since they will either despair or abandon themselves to a life of chance.

You, however, follow the reasoning of this letter in the order in which it is presented. Fix your attention first of all on Christ and the Gospel, so that you may recognize your sin and his grace. Then struggle against sin, as chapters 1-8 have taught you to. Finally, when you have come, in chapter 8, under the shadow of the cross and suffering, they will teach you, in chapters 9-11, about providence and what a comfort it is. [The context here and in St. Paul's letter makes it clear that this is the cross and passion, not only of Christ, but of each Christian.] Apart from suffering, the cross and the pangs of death, you cannot come to grips with providence without harm to yourself and secret anger against God. The old Adam must be quite dead before you can endure this matter and drink this strong wine. Therefore make sure you don't drink wine while you are still a babe at the breast. There is a proper measure, time and age for understanding every doctrine. (From Luther: Preface to Romans, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

ROMANS CHAPTER NINE

Rom 9:1-5

9:1 Israel's Rejection of Christ

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. NKJV

Israel's Rightful Place

9:1-3. Paul's love and willingness to sacrifice himself for his people would remind his biblically informed hearers of Moses (Exodus 32:32), although God did not permit Moses to sacrifice himself, either (Exodus 32:33-34).

9:4-5. "Covenants" may be plural to include an allusion to God's covenants with the patriarchs, or to his frequent renewing of his covenant with his people in the *Old Testament, also recognized in later Jewish texts. The blessings Paul had assigned to believers in Jesus (8:2,15,18,29) belonged to Israel, according to the Old Testament. By recognizing Christ as God (NIV and other translations of 9:5; cf. 1:25 for the same construction), Paul makes the point even more emphatically: God himself came to humanity through Israel.

III. Israel and the Gentiles in the Plan of God.

Paul looks at the plan of God as it relates to the two divisions of mankind that he, as a Jew, saw-Israel or the Jewish people and the Gentiles.

A. Concern of Paul for His Own People, Israel. 9:1-5.

Verse 1-5. This chapter begins with an array of proof that Paul had great grief and unceasing pain in his heart with reference to his own people. Here is the proof: he speaks truth in Christ; he is not lying; his conscience testifies for him in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The apostle told this because he knew how the Jews maligned him (see, e.g., Acts 21:28-an event that occurred after he wrote Romans but indicative of how the Jews felt.)

3. So deeply did Paul feel about his people that he here employs the language of an unattainable wish (potential imperfect in Greek): I could wish that I myself would be under a curse (and thus separated) from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen with respect to earthly descent. The language here sounds like that of Moses when he pleaded that God would blot him out of His book (Ex 32:31-32). Paul now lists the blessings that belonged to his fellow countrymen.

4. They were Israelites to whom belonged the adoption-i.e., a people whom God made his own (cf. Isa 43:20-21). They had the glory. This could be either the honor of being God's people or the glory of God that appeared in the midst of his people (Ex 24:16-17). The word covenants are in the plural because God spoke to his people about his covenant relation with them on a number of occasions. It might also be rendered decrees or assurances. To them also belonged the legislation, i.e., the Mosaic Law, and the service or worship of God-the ritual of the Tabernacle and the Temple. They had the promises of God, especially the Messianic promises.

ROMANS CHAPTER NINE

5. The fathers-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-also belonged to them. But the most important blessing was that Christ, with respect to his flesh, came from Paul's fellow countrymen, the Israelites. But this one (Christ), who on the human side came from Israel, was much more than a fellow Israelite; he was God over all, blessed forever. (For evidence that this last clause refers to Christ, see Sanday and Headlam, Epistle to the Romans, ICC, pp. 232-238). Knowing Christ's exalted place only increased Paul's anguish over the blindness of his people. They had refused such a Messiah. These lines are not a doxology to God, for that does not fit the train of thought. Rather, the lines show how exalted Christ is, which fits the train of thought perfectly.

Rom 9:1

Luther says: "Who hath not known passion, cross, and travail of death, cannot treat of foreknowledge (election of grace) without injury and inward enmity toward God. Wherefore take heed that thou drink not wine while thou art yet a sucking babe. Each several doctrine hath its own reason and measure and age."

1. In Christ. Not "by" Christ, as the formula of an oath, "Christ” is never used by the apostles in such a formula, but "God." Rom 1:9; 2 Cor 1:23; 11:31; Phil 1:8. For this favorite expression of Paul, see Gal 2:17; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 2:14, 17; 12:19, etc.

2. Conscience. See the note at 1 Peter 3:16.

3. Bearing me witness. The English Revised Version (1885): "bearing witness with me." See the note at Rom 8:16.

4. Concurring with my testimony. Morison remarks that Paul speaks of conscience as if it was something distinct from him, and he cites Adam Smith's phrase, "the man within the breast."

5. In the Holy Ghost. So the English Revised Version (1885). The concurrent testimony of his declaration and of conscience was "the echo of the voice of God's Holy Spirit" (Morison).

(9:1-3) Alford explains the inclusion of chapters 9-11 as follows: “The gospel being now established in its fullness and freeness, as the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, - a question naturally arises, now unaccompanied with painful difficulty, respecting the exclusion of that people, as a people, to whom God’s promises were made. With this national rejection of Israel the apostle now deals:

1. The Abrahamic covenant, promising Israel the possession of the land from the Nile on the southwest to the Euphrates on the northeast and east, actually, from the Mediterranean Sea on the west to the Euphrates on the east, and the

2. Davidic covenant, promising to Israel an eternal dynasty of kings of whom the last one would be an eternal Person, had never up to the time of the writing of Romans, been fulfilled.”

Paul explains this by calling Israel’s attention to the fact that these covenants were designed for a spiritual people, whereas Israel at that time was apostate. He goes on to explain that Israel will be:

ROMANS CHAPTER NINE

A. Brought back in sovereign grace,

B. Saved, Remember Paul was Prophet, Historian

C. And restored to its land,

D. Under its covenanted King, the Lord Jesus.

Denney says of Paul’s opening words: “This solemn asseveration is meant to clear him of the suspicion that in preaching to the Gentiles he is animated by hostility or even indifference to the Jews.” The same authority says of the phrase “in Christ,” that it means that he speaks in fellowship with Christ, so that falsehood is impossible.

Romans 9:1

Concerning the A.V. “My conscience also bearing me witness,” [‘Truth I-am-saying in anointed not I-am-falsifying of-together-witnessing to-me the conscience of-me in Spirit Holy Concordant Greek Text] The words “Ghost” and “Spirit” being the translation of the same Greek word pneuma, the former designation being obsolete English for the word “Spirit.”

(9:2) “Heaviness” is Lupe, and means, “sorrow, pain grief,” used of persons mourning.

1. “Sorrow” is odune, “consuming grief.”

2. Its verbal form, odunao and means, “to cause intense pain, to be in anguish, to be tormented.”

3. “Continual” is adialeiptos, from dialeipo, “to intermit, leave off,” and Alpha privative which negates the word [makes it negative instead of positive], namely, “unintermitted, unceasing, without leaving off.”

(9:3) in the words, “I could wish,” Paul uses the optative mode in the imperfect tense,

Alford says, “The imperfect is not historical, alluding to his days of Pharisaism, as Pelagius and others, but quasi-optative, as in I was wishing had it been possible… The sense of the imperfect in such expressions is the proper and strict one: “the act is unfinished, an obstacle intervening.”

Rom 9:3

I could wish eeuchomeen (NT: 2172). Or "pray," as 2 Cor 13:7, 9; James 5:16. Literally, "I was wishing;" but the imperfect here has a tentative force, implying the wish "begun," but stopped at the outset by some antecedent consideration which renders it impossible, so that, practically, it was not entertained at all. So Paul of Onesimus: "Whom I could have wished eboulomeen (NT: 1014) to keep with me," if it had not been too much to ask (Philem 13). Paul would wish to save his countrymen, even at such sacrifice, if it were morally possible. Others, however, explain the imperfect as stating an actual wish formerly entertained.

(NOTE: Some make the words "I could wish-from Christ," parenthetical, and suppose Paul to refer to his own attitude toward Christ before his conversion, by way of illustrating the sad spiritual condition of his countrymen. and thus accounting for his sorrow of heart.

Others retain the same sense without the parenthesis. The word may also mean "I prayed" (2 Cor 13:7; James 5:16). In Classical Greek, though not in the New Testament, it has the meaning "vow."

1. Lange renders "I made a vow," saying that he probably made some fearful pledge when he received authority to persecute the Christians.

2. The student will find the various interpretations fully discussed in Morison's monograph on Rom 9 and Rom 10, and in Schaff's Lange.)

ROMANS CHAPTER NINE

Accursed from Christ [anathema apo tou Christou] anathema (NT: 331) apo (NT: 575) tou (NT: 3588) Christou (NT: 5547). Compare Gal 1:8-9; 1 Cor 12:3; 16:22. See the note on "offerings," Luke 21:5. Set apart to destruction and so separated from Christ (Phil 1:21; 3:8, 20). An expression of deep devotion.