Romans 10.1-Paul Desires and Prays to The Father for Israel's Salvation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 5, 2009
Romans: Romans 10:1-Paul Desires And Prays To The Father For Israel’s Salvation
Lesson # 329
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.
This evening we will study Romans 10:1 where Paul relates to his readers in Rome that he desires and prays to the Father for Israel’s salvation.
Let’s read the first paragraph in the chapter, which appears in verses 1-4 and then concentrate on verse 1 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 10:1-4, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Let’s now look at verse 1 in detail.
Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
As was the case in Romans 9:1, here in Romans 10:1, the apostle Paul is employing the figure of “asyndeton” in order to make a solemn affirmation regarding his attitude toward the nation of Israel, thus refuting the Judaizers who accused Paul of being an enemy and a traitor to the nation.
It expresses his great love for the nation of Israel and his concern for their failure to accept Jesus of Nazareth as their Savior so as to receive the gift of righteousness resulting in being declared justified by God because they sought to establish their own righteousness and be justified based upon their own merits.
“Brethren” is the vocative masculine plural form of the noun adelphos (a)delfov$), which refers to members of the royal family of God who are related to each other and the Lord Jesus Christ through spiritual birth, i.e., regeneration, thus, the word refers to a “fellow-believer, fellow-Christian, spiritual brother or sister.”
In the Greek text, following adelphos, “brethren” and the definite article that modifies the noun eudokia, “desire” but not translated is the particle of affirmation men (me\n) (men), which could also be classified as emphatic or intensifying.
The word is emphasizing Paul’s statement that his heartfelt desire and prayer to the Father is for his Jewish countrymen to be saved.
“My heart’s desire” is composed of the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun eudokia (eu)dokiva) (yoo-dok-ee-ah), “desire” and the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun kardia (kardiva) (kar-dee-ah), “heart” and the genitive first person singular form of the adjective emos (e)mov$) (em-os), “my.”
In Romans 10:1, the noun eudokia refers to Paul’s “desire” that the nation of Israel comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 10:1, the noun kardia denotes those aspects of the soul that deal with Paul’s mental activity and emotions indicating that every aspect of his soul (volition, mentality, conscience, sub conscience, emotions) desires the salvation of his fellow Jewish countrymen.
The word indicates that the salvation of his fellow Jewish countrymen was a consuming desire and weighed on his mind continually throughout his day.
The noun kardia functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that the word “produces” the noun to which it stands related indicating that this desire for Israel’s salvation is “produced by” the heart of the apostle Paul.
In Romans 10:1, the possessive personal pronoun emos is modifying in an emphatic way the noun kardia, “heart” emphasizing that the salvation of his fellow Israelites was the consuming desire of Paul’s heart.
Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
“My prayer to God” is composed of the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun deesis (devhsi$) (deh-ay-sis), “my prayer” and the preposition pros (pro$), “to” and the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), “God.”
In Romans 10:1, the noun deesis means “specific detailed requests.”
It refers to intercessory prayer where Paul offered up to the Father specific detailed requests on behalf of the citizens of the nation of Israel that the Father would bring in circumstances and people that would cause them to see their need for the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Intercessory prayer refers to praying for both the temporal and spiritual needs of believers and unbelievers, friends and enemies (Luke 23:34; Eph 1:16-23; 3:14-19; 6:18; 1 Ti 2:1-4).
It is an expression of the love of God in our lives and, therefore, directly relates to what the Scriptures teach on love.
The Lord Jesus Christ expressed love for those who mocked, scourged, vilified, and crucified Him by interceding for them before the Father in Luke 23:34.
Luke 23:34, “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.”
Paul prayed for the nation of Israel even though they hated him and considered him a traitor.
When praying for unbelievers, we should pray that God would bring in people and circumstances, which would expose them to the Gospel and cause them to have the humility to give the Gospel a hearing and make a decision to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior.
Nowhere do the Scriptures sanction or command believers to pray that God save the unbeliever, since God, because He is just and righteous, cannot coerce or make the unbeliever do anything against his will.
Although God’s will is that all men be saved, God cannot force any human being to believe in His Son Jesus Christ against his will; thus, people go to the Lake of Fire, not because God desires it, because they choose to.
The Scriptures do not sanction or command believers to pray that God deliver the unbeliever from eternal condemnation, since God’s justice and righteousness cannot coerce or make the unbeliever do anything against his will.
Since God cannot save the unbeliever unless the unbeliever makes a decision to accept Christ as Savior, there is no need for us to pray He deliver him or her from condemnation.
Rather, we should pray that God would bring in whatever circumstances and people necessary to cause the unbeliever to have the humility to give the Gospel a hearing.
Then, it is up to the person as to whether or not they make the decision to believe in Christ in order to be saved.
The noun deesis in Romans 10:1 refers to intercessory prayer where Paul offered up to the Father specific detailed requests on behalf of the citizens of the nation of Israel that the Father would bring in circumstances and people that would cause them to see their need for the Savior, Jesus Christ.
The fact that Paul interceded in prayer for his fellow Israelites was an expression of the love of God in his life.
The preposition pros is employed with the articular accusative construction ton theon, “God the Father” and expresses Paul’s close personal intimacy with the Father in prayer.
The articular construction of the noun theos signifies that the word is a reference to God the Father since it is commonly used in this manner in the Greek New Testament to indicate this.
Also indicating that theos is a reference to the Father is that the Lord Jesus Christ taught that all prayer is to be directed to the Father and not Himself or the Holy Spirit.
First and foremost in God’s protocol for prayer, the believer-priest must address God the Father in prayer (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Peter 1:17; Revelation 1:6).
When His disciples asked Him how to pray, His response was, “pray to your Father” (Mat 6:6) and the apostle Paul taught the churches, throughout the Roman Empire, to address the Father in prayer (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6; Eph 2:18; 3:14; Col 1:3; 1:12).
Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
“For their salvation” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “for” and the genitive masculine third person plural form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), “their” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun soteria (swtheriva) (so-tay-ree-ah), “salvation.”
In Romans 10:1, the noun soteria is used with reference to the unregenerate citizens of the nation of Israel and refers to “deliverance” from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation, the moment one exercises faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 3:17; 5:34; Acts 2:21; 16:30-31).
Therefore, the preposition eis is employed with the accusative form of soteria as a marker of intent indicating that the desire and the intent of Paul’s intercessory prayer to the Father for the nation of Israel was always “for” their deliverance from eternal condemnation, sin, Satan and his cosmic system.