“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. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh who are Israelites; 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.”
Romans 8 ended with confidence in the security of those who are in Christ. God justifies them, Christ intercedes for them, and nothing in creation can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Romans 9 turns from that assurance to Paul’s anguish over his fellow Israelites.
The problem is substantial because Israel’s privileges are substantial. Israel received the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, and the promises. The patriarchs belong to their history, and Christ himself came from them according to the flesh. Yet Paul speaks of these same people with “great sorrow and unceasing pain.”
Paul does not resolve that tension by diminishing Israel’s place in God’s redemptive history. He begins by affirming it. Israel’s privileges were genuine, and the Messiah arose from within that history. Neither does he treat those privileges as though they made Israel’s response to Christ irrelevant. His grief shows otherwise.
Romans 9:1–5 therefore establishes the problem before attempting to resolve it. Paul loves his fellow Israelites, recognizes everything God entrusted to them, and grieves over their condition. Israel’s unbelief matters precisely because this is the people to whom God gave such extraordinary privileges and from whom Christ came.
Great Sorrow and Unceasing Pain
Romans 9:1–2
“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 begins with an unusually forceful declaration of sincerity. “I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying.” He adds the testimony of his conscience “in the Holy Spirit.” The accumulation of these expressions emphasizes the seriousness of what he is about to say.
His attitude toward Israel is one of profound grief. He has “great sorrow and unceasing pain” in his heart. The language does not describe a passing disappointment but continuing anguish over the condition of his people.
That emotional setting is important for understanding everything Paul says here. Israel is not merely a theological category to him. These are people to whom he is personally connected, and their relationship to Christ matters deeply enough to cause him continuing pain.
His grief also demonstrates that the question facing Israel cannot be dismissed by appealing to Israel’s historical privileges alone. Paul knows those privileges better than most and will enumerate them himself. Yet he still grieves. Whatever Israel received within God’s covenant dealings, those gifts do not make their present condition before Christ insignificant.
Paul therefore begins his discussion of Israel neither with detachment nor hostility. He begins with sorrow over people he loves.
Accursed for My Brothers
Romans 9:3
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh”
Paul expresses the depth of his grief in extraordinary language. He “could wish” himself accursed from Christ for the sake of his brothers.
He does not claim that such an exchange can actually occur. Romans 8 has just declared that nothing can separate those who are in Christ from the love of God, and Paul nowhere presents one sinful human being as capable of becoming the saving substitute for another. His statement expresses the extremity of his desire for his people rather than proposing a means by which they might be saved.
The language recalls Moses after Israel’s sin with the golden calf:
Exodus 32:31–32
“Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, ‘Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.’”
Moses pleaded for Israel after their rebellion and expressed willingness to be blotted from God’s book rather than simply standing apart from the people under judgment. Paul’s words carry a similar intercessory anguish. He speaks as an Israelite grieving for Israelites.
He calls them “my brothers” and “my relatives according to the flesh.” Paul has not ceased to recognize his natural kinship with his people because he belongs to Christ. Their shared ancestry remains real, and that relationship intensifies rather than diminishes his sorrow.
The people for whom Paul grieves are the Israelites themselves.
Who Are Israelites
Romans 9:4
“who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises”
Paul openly identifies his relatives according to the flesh as “Israelites” and then recounts the privileges God gave them. His grief does not cause him to rewrite Israel’s history or deny the distinctive place the nation occupied within God’s redemptive work.
“The adoption” recalls God’s identification of Israel as his son:
Exodus 4:22
“You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn.’”
God had chosen Israel from among the nations and established a covenant relationship with them. Israel’s sonship was therefore not merely a later Christian description imposed upon their history. God himself had called the nation his son.
“The glory” recalls God’s manifested presence among Israel. His glory filled the tabernacle and later the temple. The God of Israel made his presence known among this people in a distinctive way, dwelling in their midst and ordering their life around his holiness.
“The covenants” encompass the covenantal structure through which God carried forward his purposes with Israel. Their identity was rooted in divine commitments rather than merely common ancestry or political organization.
“The giving of the law” refers to the revelation entrusted to Israel through Moses. Paul has already argued that possession of the law could not justify sinners, but its inability to produce justification did not make its reception insignificant. Israel had been entrusted with God’s revealed commandments and thereby given knowledge that distinguished them from the surrounding nations.
“The service” refers to Israel’s ordered worship. The priesthood, sacrifices, tabernacle and temple, festivals, and other elements of Israel’s worship belonged to the covenant life God established among them. Their worship testified to God’s holiness, human sin, sacrifice, cleansing, and the possibility of dwelling in the presence of God.
Finally, theirs are “the promises.” Israel’s history was shaped by what God had pledged to do. Their identity cannot be understood apart from divine promise, beginning with God’s commitments to the patriarchs and continuing throughout the history of the nation.
Paul therefore does not explain his sorrow by denying Israel’s privileges. The people over whom he grieves really are the people to whom God gave these gifts. Their significance makes Paul’s anguish more understandable, not less.
The Fathers
Romans 9:5
“of whom are the fathers”
Paul includes the patriarchs among Israel’s privileges. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob belong to their history, and Israel’s identity cannot be separated from the promises God made to them.
The patriarchs were not merely revered ancestors. God’s dealings with them established the historical foundation upon which Israel’s covenant identity rested. God called Abraham and promised blessing, descendants, and a future through which the nations would be blessed. Those promises continued through Isaac and Jacob, whose name became the name of the nation itself.
Israel could therefore look backward through its history and see that its existence arose from God’s initiative and faithfulness. The nation did not create the promises that gave it identity. Israel existed because God had acted and spoken.
Paul’s acknowledgment of the fathers reinforces the seriousness with which he treats Israel’s place in redemptive history. His sorrow concerns a people whose history reaches back to the patriarchs and whose national existence bears witness to generations of divine faithfulness.
That history reaches its highest point in the Messiah.
From Whom Is Christ
Romans 9:5
“and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul places Christ at the climax of Israel’s privileges. The Messiah came “from” Israel “as concerning the flesh.” Jesus belongs historically and genealogically to the people over whom Paul grieves.
Paul had established this connection at the beginning of the letter:
Romans 1:3–4
“concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”
The gospel concerning Jesus Christ is therefore inseparable from Israel’s history. Jesus came from the offspring of David according to the flesh. The Messiah promised within Israel’s Scriptures arose from Israel itself.
Paul then describes Christ in language that reaches beyond his human descent: “who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.” On the natural reading of the sentence, the description refers to Christ and constitutes one of Paul’s strongest direct statements concerning his deity. The Messiah who came from Israel according to the flesh is also the one who is over all and is called “God, blessed forever.”
The verse therefore holds together Christ’s genuine human descent and his divine identity. He came from Israel according to the flesh, but his identity cannot be exhausted by that ancestry. The one produced within Israel’s historical line is Lord over all.
This makes Christ the supreme privilege in Paul’s catalogue. Israel received the law, worship, covenants, promises, and patriarchs, but the history carried forward through those gifts culminated in the coming of the Messiah himself.
The Israelites, the Promises, and the Christ
Paul begins his discussion of Israel with grief because the people over whom he grieves possess a remarkable history with God. They are his relatives according to the flesh, and he speaks of them with such love that he can imagine himself accursed for their sake. His theological treatment of Israel grows out of that personal anguish.
Their privileges make their condition especially significant. God called Israel his son, manifested his glory among them, established his covenants with them, entrusted them with his law, ordered their worship, and gave them his promises. Their history reaches back through the patriarchs, and from them came Christ according to the flesh.
Paul affirms all of this without treating Israel’s privileges as though they settled the question of Israel’s relationship to Christ. His sorrow itself demonstrates the distinction. Possession of a remarkable covenant history does not make unbelief inconsequential, even when that history culminates in the Messiah.
Romans 9:1–5 therefore leaves the reader with the tension Paul himself has established. The Israelites remain the people to whom these privileges belong, and Christ himself arose from their history. Yet Paul looks upon his fellow Israelites with great sorrow and unceasing pain.
The seriousness of that tension comes from the faithfulness of the God who gave Israel its privileges in the first place.