Charles Spurgeon Commentary Romans 9:3

"For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren`s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh:" — Romans 9:3 (ASV)

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

He had just that self-sacrificing spirit of Moses, that he would lose anything and everything if they might only be saved. And this is the spirit which ought to animate every Church of Christ. The Church that is always caring for her own maintenance is no church.

The Church that would be willing to be destroyed if it could save the sons of men – which feels as if, whatever her shame or sorrow, it would be nothing if she could only save sinners – that Church is like the Lord, of whom we read, He saved others: himself he could not save. Oh, blessed heart-break over sinful men, which makes men willing to lose everything if they might only bless and win people to Christ! "My kinsmen," he says, "according to the flesh."