John Gill Commentary Romans 9

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not
The apostle being about to discourse concerning predestination, which he had mentioned in the preceding chapter, and to open the springs and causes of it, and also concerning the induration and rejection of the Jewish nation; he thought it necessary to preface his account of these things with some strong assurances of his great attachment to that people, and his affection for them, lest it should be thought he spoke out of prejudice to them; and well knowing in what situation he stood in with them, on account of his preaching up the abrogation of the ceremonial law, and how difficult it might be for him to obtain their belief in what he should say, he introduces it with a solemn oath, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not": which refers not to what he had said in the foregoing chapter, but to what he was going to say; and is all one as if he had said, as I am in Christ, a converted person, one born again, and renewed in the spirit of my mind, what I am about to speak is truth, and no lie; or I swear by Christ the God of truth, who is truth itself, and I appeal to him as the true God, the searcher of hearts, that what I now deliver is truth, and nothing but truth, and has no falsehood in it.

This both shows that the taking of an oath is lawful, and that Christ is truly God, by whom only persons ought to swear:

my conscience bearing me witness .
The apostle, besides his appeal to Christ, calls his conscience to witness to the truth of his words; and this is as a thousand witnesses; there is in every man a conscience, which unless seared as with a red hot iron, will accuse or excuse, and bear a faithful testimony to words and actions; and especially a conscience enlightened, cleansed, and sanctified by the Spirit of God, as was the apostle's: hence he adds,

in the Holy Ghost ;
meaning either that his conscience was influenced and directed by the Holy Ghost in what he was about to say; or it bore witness in and with the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost with that; so that here are three witnesses called in, Christ, conscience, and the Holy Ghost; and by three such witnesses, his words must be thought to be well established.

That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my
heart. This is the thing he appeals to Christ for the truth of, and calls in his conscience and the Holy Ghost to bear witness to.

These two words, "heaviness" and "sorrow", the one signifies grief, which had brought on heaviness on his spirits; and the other such pain as a woman in travail feels: and the trouble of his mind expressed by both, is described by its quantity, "great", it was not a little, but much; by its quality it was internal, it was in his "heart", it did not lie merely in outward show, in a few words or tears, but was in his heart, it was a heart sorrow; and by its duration, "continual", it was not a sudden emotion or passion, but what had been long in him, and had deeply affected and greatly depressed him:

And what was the reason of all this? It is not expressed, but may pretty easily be understood; it was because of the obstinacy of his countrymen the Jews, the hardness of their hearts, and their wilful rejection of the Messiah; their trusting to their own righteousness, to the neglect and contempt of the righteousness of Christ, which he knew must unavoidably issue in their eternal destruction; also what greatly affected his mind was the utter rejection of them, as the people of God, and the judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, he full well knew was coming upon them, and which he was about to break unto them.

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ

Some consider this as the reason of the apostle's great heaviness, and continual sorrow of heart, because he had made such a wish as this, and read the words, "for I have wished", or "did wish"; that is, in my unregenerate state, while I was a persecutor of Christ, and a blasphemer of his name, I wished to be for ever separated from him, and to have nothing to do with him; for then I thought I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, and this I did out of respect to the Jewish nation, and because I would not relinquish the Jewish religion; but oh! what a trouble of mind is it to me? what uneasiness does it give me when I think of it, and reflect upon it?

But this can never be the apostle's meaning, for he would never have appealed to Christ in so solemn a manner, and took an oath upon it, for the truth of his enmity to Christ, and alienation from him before conversion, which everybody knew; nor was it anything strange, that while he was an unbelieving Jew, he should wish himself separated from Jesus of Nazareth, and always to remain so; and his having done this before his embracing of Christianity could be no evidence of his present affection for the Jewish nation, especially since he repented of it, and was sorry for it.

But this wish, whatever is meant by it, is mentioned as an instance of his great love to his countrymen the Jews. Many have thought that his meaning is, that he had so great a value for them, that he could even wish himself, and be content to be eternally separated from Christ, everlastingly banished from his presence, never to enjoy communion more with him, or in other words, to be eternally damned, that they might be saved. But this is what could never be, and which he knew, was impossible to be done, and was contrary to that strong persuasion he had just expressed in the close of the foregoing chapter.

Nor is it consistent with his love to Christ, to wish anything of this kind; it would make him to love the Jews much better than Christ; since, according to this sense, he must wish to be parted from him, that they might be saved, and consequently must love them more than Christ: nor is it consistent with, but even contrary both to the principles of nature and grace; it is contrary to the principles of nature, for a man to desire his own damnation upon any consideration whatever; and it is contrary to the principle of grace, which always strongly inclines to be with Christ, and not separated from him; in a word, to be accursed from Christ in this sense, could be no proper means of the salvation of the Jews, and therefore it cannot be thought to be desirable, or wished for.

Some things are said indeed for the qualifying of this sense of the words, as that the apostle said this inconsiderately, when he was scarcely himself, through an ecstasy of mind, and intemperate zeal, and an overflow of affection for his nation; but this is highly to reflect upon the apostle, and to represent him in a very unworthy manner, when it is certain he said this with the greatest deliberation and seriousness; he introduces it in the most solemn manner, with an appeal to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and his own conscience, and therefore it could never drop from him through incogitancy, and an overheated affection. Again, it is said, that this wish was made with a condition, if it was the will of God, but that he knew was not; or if it could be for the good of these people, this also he knew it could never be: the best qualification of it is to say it is an hyperbolical expression; and so if it is, it must be with a witness, being such an hyperbole, as is not to be matched in sacred or profane writings. The words of Moses are thought to be a parallel one, "blot me, I pray you, out of the book which you have written", (Exodus 32:32); but that is not to be understood of the book of eternal life; but either of the book of the law, as R. Sol. Jarchi expounds it, which God had ordered him to write, and his desire is, that his name might not stand there; or rather of the book of this temporal life, that he might die and not live. It remains then that these words must have another meaning.

Now let it be observed, that the word (anayema) , here translated "accursed", answers to the Hebrew word (Mrx) , which, among the Jewish writers, is one sort of excommunication in use among them, and the greater sort; the form of it, as given by them, is very horrible, and shocking ^F18 ; (See Gill on John 9:22); and so we may observe the word "anathema" here used is mentioned as a form of excommunication in (1 Corinthians 16:22) (Galatians 1:8Galatians 1:9); of all such as love not Christ and his Gospel, and make it appear by their principles or practices, or both, that they do not, and so ought to be removed from the communion of churches. Now, taking the word in this sense, the apostle's meaning is, that he could wish to be excommunicated from Christ; that is, from the body of Christ, from the church of Christ, Christ mystical, as the word "Christ" is used, (1 Corinthians 12:12); to be deprived of the ordinances of Christ's house, to be degraded from his office in it, and not to be so much as a member in it. He saw that these branches, the people of the Jews, were going to be cut off, and no longer to be of the church of God; and such was his affection to them, that he could have wished rather to be cut off himself, that they might be spared; and this was an instance of great love to them, since, next to Christ, the church and the ordinances of it were exceedingly dear to, and highly valued by the apostle.

Again, it is worthy of observation, that the Hebrew word (Mrx) , which the Septuagint render by (anayema) , the word in the text, is used for anything devoted to God, and which could not be alienated to any other use or service; and if it was a man, or any among men that was devoted, it was not to be redeemed, but was "surely to be put to death", (Leviticus 27:29) . Some have thought that Jephthah's daughter was put to death upon this law; but be that as it may, the apostle here may reasonably be thought to allude to it, and his sense be this, that he could wish himself (anayema einai apo tou cristou) , "to be devoted to death", not from Christ, but "by" Christ; and some copies read (upo) , "by": I could wish that my dear Lord and Master, as if he should say, would appoint and order me to die, if only this nation of mine might escape that ruin and destruction I see is coming upon them, as a nation and a church; I could be content to die the most accursed death, and be treated in the most ignominious manner, if only they might be saved.

A similar expression is that of R. Ishmael {s}, (Ntrpk yna larvy ynb) "may I be an expiatory sacrifice for the children of Israel"; which (says one commentator ^F20) he said, (Ntbx Kwtm) , "because of his love to them"; and it is as if he should say, all the punishment which is right to come upon them, I will take it on myself, in order to atone for them;'' and says another ^F21 , ``the sense is, he took upon him their redemption, and this he said, (wtbha bwrl) , "because of the greatness of his love":'' now for a man to die for his country, that a whole nation perish not, was agreeable to the sentiments both of Jews and Gentiles, and was the highest instance of love among men; "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", (John 15:13); and this is carrying the sense of the apostle's wish high enough, and not too far.

The persons on whose account he could have expressed this wish, he describes them by their natural relation to him, my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh : he calls them his brethren, not in a spiritual sense, nor in a strict natural sense, but in a general way, as being of the same nation: it is a saying among the Jews ^F23 , (Myxa larvy lk) , "all the Israelites are brethren"; for the same reason he calls them kinsmen; and these appellations he uses to remove that ill will and prejudice they had conceived against him, and to signify the reason for his affection for them: and he adds, "according to the flesh", to distinguish them from his spiritual brethren and relations; for though they were brethren in a national sense, not all of them were so in a spiritual relation.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: Vid. Buxtorf. Lexic. Rabbinic. p. 827, 828.
• F19: Misn. Negaim, c. 2. sect. 1.
• F20: Bartenora in ib.
• F21: Maimon. in Misn. Negaim, c. 2. sect. 1.
• F23: Caphtor, fol. 38. 1.

Who are Israelites
Which were their national name, as descended from Jacob, whose name was Israel; and it was accounted a very honourable one; see (Philippians 3:5) (2 Corinthians 11:22) ; and the very name they bore gave the apostle some concern that they should be cut off; and then he proceeds to enumerate the several distinguishing favours and privileges they had been partakers of:

to whom pertains the adoption ;
not that special adoption, which springs from eternal predestination, is a blessing of the covenant of grace, comes through the redemption of Christ, and is received and enjoyed only by believers in him; for all that were Israelites, were not in this sense the children of God; but national adoption is here meant, by which the whole body of the people, as nation, were the sons of God, his firstborn:

and the glory ;
either the ark of the covenant, which is so called in (Psalms 63:2) , according to Kimchi; or the clouds in the tabernacle and temple, which were called the glory of the Lord, and were symbols of his presence, the same with the Shekinah; and so Aben Ezra interprets power, the ark, and glory, the Shekinah, (Psalms 63:2) ,

and the covenants ;
not the two Testaments, Old and New, but the covenant of circumcision, made with Abraham their father, and the covenant at Sinai they entered into with the Lord; some copies, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read, "the covenant":

and the giving, of the law :
(hrwt Ntm) , a way of speaking the ^F24 Jews make use of when they take notice of this privilege; for it was peculiarly given to them with great solemnity by God himself, through the disposition of angels into the hands of Moses the mediator, and by him to them; and on account of this, they reckoned themselves more beloved of God than the rest of mankind ^F25

and the service of God ;
or "the service", as in the Greek text. So the Jews ^F26 are used to call it (hdwbe) , "the service"; and false worship is called by them (hrz hdwbe) , "strange service", which is the title of one of their Misnic tracts; and here it signifies the whole worship of God, in the whole compass of it, sacrifices, prayer, praise daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly:

and the promises ;
both temporal and spiritual, especially such as related to the Messiah, and which now had their accomplishment.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 116. 1. Zohar in Lev. fol. 5. 2, 3.
• F25: Tzeror Hammor, fol. 103. 2.
• F26: Vid. Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 2.

Whose are the fathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for, according to the ^F1 Jewish writers, "they call none in Israel (twba) , 'fathers', but three, and they are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and they call none 'mothers' but four, and they are, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah:" their descent from these fathers was a privilege, though they valued themselves too highly upon it; but what was the crown and glory of all, and which they took the least, though the apostle took the most notice of, is,

and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came ;
that is, either of the fathers, or of the Israelites, from whom Christ, according to his human nature, sprung; being a son of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of David, and the son of Mary; hence the Messiah is called (larvyd ahyvm) , "the Messiah or Christ of Israel" ^F2 :

who
is described as

over all ,
angels and men, being the creator, upholder, and governor of them; and as having another nature, a divine one, being

God ,
truly and properly God,

blessed for evermore ;
in himself, and to be blessed and praised by all creatures. The apostle alludes to that well known periphrastic name of God so much used by the Jews, (awh Kwrb vwdqh) , "the holy, blessed God"; to which, by way of assent and confirmation, the apostle puts his

Amen .

Now all these particular privileges are mentioned by him, as what heightened his concern for these people; it filled him with heaviness and sorrow of heart, when he considered, that persons who had been partakers of such favours, and especially the last, that the Messiah should spring from them, be born of them, and among them, and yet that they should be given up to ruin and destruction.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 16. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
• F2: Targum in Isa. xvi. 1, 5. Mic. iv. 8.