Romans 9:1-3

I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit--I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.

Chapters 9-11 of Romans form a unit. The subject matter of these three chapters is Israel, both as a spiritual people and a physical nation. These chapters are somewhat parenthetical. The flow of thought could have gone from chapter 8 right into chapter 12. In the first eight chapters Paul has set forth the Gospel of God, that is, the bad news of the sinful state of all mankind (Romans 1-3), the good news of justification (Romans 3-5), sanctification (Romans 6-8) and glorification (Romans 8). In chapter 12 he deals with the practical implications of the Gospel (how the truth of the Gospel ought to affect our daily living toward God and toward our neighbors). Meanwhile Paul gives us a helpful three-chapter aside, beginning with great sorrow and ending with a famous doxology, so we can (and Paul’s audience at the time could) better understand where the nation Israel fits into the purpose and plan of God.

This is as difficult a portion of Scripture as most people will ever come across. It’s not difficult for most to understand; but accepting what Paul says takes some extra grace in the heart. Also, this is the place to turn if you’re looking for Biblical answers to the hard theological questions regarding salvation. There is no place in the Bible that more systematically or comprehensively addresses soteriological issues than Romans 9-11. Lastly, we’ll be talking about God’s sovereignty in salvation, and I love to talk about God’s sovereignty. Talking about God’s sovereignty exalts His grace, and this is a great place to focus on that. God’s sovereign grace is not the only thing we’ve talked about in the course of our Romans study. But it does come up quite often. When you talk about Paul’s Gospel, God’s sovereignty comes up a lot. So, notice several points in these verses:

V1-3 – Paul offers a prologue to a problem. The problem stems from what was said at the end of chapter 8. His audience is wondering how or why, if nothing can separate “us” from God and His love, are so many, indeed the majority, of God’s special people – the Jews – rejecting the Messiah preached by Paul, rejecting the message of Paul’s Gospel. Why are Paul’s kinsmen in the flesh not embracing Jesus as their Redeemer? And this is a significant problem. The question is this: What about Israel? Are God’s promises to “us” failing? This is essentially the question that so many of the Old Testament prophets wrestled with. Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and most of the Minor Prophets, wrote answers to how God purposed certain events in light of the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David. We’ll look at three answers Paul gives to this problem in this three-chapter portion of Romans.

First though, Paul offers his heart. And does so in order to soften us for the teaching he is about to give on election. And it works. His teaching, like Christ’s, is hard – not hard to understand, just hard to accept. And so by revealing his feelings towards the Jewish people, Paul is preparing his audience for his hard-to-accept teaching on election. Paul shows his heart of love and mercy and compassion toward the lost, and that’s exactly what a sound understanding of the doctrine of election should produce.

In v1-5, Paul seems to be responding to a charge that has been brought against him. The charge is this: “Paul, you don’t care about your people, you have abandoned and rejected your own heritage by preaching this Gospel, by going to the Gentiles. By saying the same things that you have said about Israel and about Israel’s spiritual leaders, you have rejected Judaism, you have rejected Israel, you have turned your back on your own people, you don’t care about them.” So Paul is saying, “Before I get into this explanation, I want you understand what I really think about my people. I want you to see a glimpse of my heart.” Indeed he agonizes over them. He rebuts this charge of having antipathy for Israel by asserting in the most emphatic way imaginable his love for Israel – to the point of almost wishing he was accursed or lost for their salvation, and the word he uses is “anathema.” I say “almost” because Paul could wish himself accursed. He doesn’t. He knows it’s impossible for him to be accursed.

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Paul had a heart of mercy and the attitude that he would lay down his life for his fellow countrymen, just like Moses (Exodus 32:32), just like Christ; and we should too have a heart of mercy toward the lost. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” But we could also reverse that statement and say, “Blessed are those who have been shown mercy for they will be merciful.” It ought to be true! If we really understand the doctrine of election, we will not be judgmental or proud; we will be messengers of God’s mercy. “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)? Are you merciful? Do you have a heart of mercy? Are you humble? Why?