Romans 9:1-5

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Romans 9:1–5 NLT

1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

Point 1: Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone.

2 parts: grace meaning ALL up to God - his work

Look at all of the beauty of what God has done for his people at the end of Chapter 8:

Romans 8:31–38 “31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death n…”

But now a pause. . .

Paul gets emotional - remember his story.

A Jew

A persecutor of the way of Jesus

Romans 9:2 “2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief”

Sorrow

Grief

When truth has traveled the 18 inches from your head to your heart - the implications of what is true move you in the realm of emotion, desire, and volition.

This window into Paul’s heart is an indication of another part of God’s plan for making all things new - once we understand the ferocity of God’s love for us (Romans 8) the next natural thing is that we would have a fierce love for others - and desperately want them to know what is true.

Romans A. The Gospel: The Intersection of Responsibility and Sovereignty (9:1–5)

Paul is acknowledging the great chasm that existed between God’s original plan for Israel—“You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6)—and the recent and present reality—“The chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death” (Matt. 27:1). What had happened? How did the nation that was to act like a conglomerate of priests end up being led by priests who put their own Messiah to death?