Romans 9:3

Romans 9:3. For I could wish that I myself, etc. The order of the better established reading makes ‘accursed' (lit., ‘anathema') more emphatic, and forbids our taking ‘I myself' as the subject of ‘could wish,' which was grammatically possible with the order of the common reading.

The Greek verb rendered ‘could wish' is in the imperfect tense, and might mean ‘was wishing;' but the same tense is constantly used of what is termed ‘arrested action.' The latter sense is preferable here. (1.) The other view would seem to require ‘I myself' as subject of ‘was wishing.' (2.) The reference to the past makes an anti-climax, or at best a common place sense: if the past wish were before his conversion, referring to his blind zeal for Israel against Christ, then the terms are strangely chosen to express that sense; to explain the wish as a past one, but occurring since his conversion, is open to all the objections that are urged against the common view, without having the same reasons in its favor. We therefore accept the obvious meaning: ‘I could wish that I myself were devoted to destruction from Christ for the sake of my brethren,' etc. The implication is that the wish was not formed, either because it was impossible thus to wish, or, because the wish could not be fulfilled, or, both. The Apostle, however, is not using a hyperbole, nor is his language a senseless straining of the idea of self denial. The objective impossibility did not destroy or diminish the subjective intensity of Paul's feeling, which thus seeks expression. This feeling, too, is most akin to the self-sacrificing love of the Lord he preached. Comp. the language of Moses (Exodus 32:32). There is no wish to be separated from the holy will of Christ which would be wicked but only from the enjoyment of Christ, temporarily, as Christ Himself, on the cross, was separated from the enjoyment of His Father's presence, when He cried: ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.' And it detracts nothing from our estimate of Paul's affection to know, as he did, that the very feeling he expresses was the result of Christ's love to him, and would be impossible were he sundered from fellowship with Christ. ‘It is the expression of an affectionate and self-denying heart, willing to surrender all things even, if it might be so, eternal glory itself if thereby he could obtain for his beloved people those blessings of the gospel which he now enjoyed, but from which they were excluded. Others express their love by professing themselves ready to give their life for their friends: he declares the intensity of his affection by reckoning even his spiritual life not too great a price, if it might purchase their salvation' (Alford). It is not implied that this is the constant and conscious state of every Christian, still less that our salvation depends upon our attaining to such a height of disinterested affection.

Accursed, lit., ‘anathema.' This word, which occurs several times in the New Testament, as well as in the Septuagint, is the Hellenistic form of a word, originally meaning ‘dedicated to God.' Cut as a rule, this form in the Bible denotes something dedicated to God in a bad sense. There is little reason to doubt that in the New Testament (see references) the word has the uniform sense of ‘having become obnoxious to the wrath or curse of God.' Efforts have been made to prove that ‘anathema,' in the time of Paul, meant only ‘Jewish excommunication.' Others have explained it of banishment from church fellowship; some, of temporal death. But the idea of excommunication was first attached to this term in later times, and this sense is altogether inappropriate in the other New Testament passages where the word occurs, and to our mind unsatisfactory here also. The notion of' temporal death' is entirely foreign to usage. These remarks hold good in regard to the corresponding verb, which is found several times in the New Testament. Wieseler, after a full investigation (see his Galatians, Galatians 1:8; comp. Lange, Romans, pp. 302 - 304), says: ‘ Anathema, in entire congruity with the Old Testament cherem, is used of a person who is dedicated to God, subjected to the Divine curse for his death, not, however, to bodily death, as in the more ancient formula (this reference, however, being not necessarily contained in the root, but resulting only from the historical relations of the Jews in ancient times), but to spiritual and eternal death.'

From Christ. Separated from Christ, from the fellowship with Him.

For the sake of my brethren. Not, ‘instead of,' which the preposition, of itself, does not mean, but for their benefit, just as the same term is used in Ephesians 3:13; Colossians 1:24 to indicate that Paul's sufferings might result advantageously for others.

My kinsmen according to the flesh. Notice the tender way in which the Apostle characterizes the Jews. But the phrase suggests as its antithesis ‘brethren in the Lord.' Paul's patriotism grew out of the human consanguinity, but as the following description shows, has its deepest ground in the gracious gifts and religious privileges hitherto possessed by his countrymen.