Romans 9.2-Paul's Great Sorrow And Unceasing Grief Over The Nation Of Israel's Rejection Of Jesus Christ As Their Messiah
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 15, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:2-Paul’s Great Sorrow And Unceasing Grief Over The Nation Of Israel’s Rejection Of Jesus Christ As Their Messiah
Lesson # 292
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
Wednesday evening we presented an overview to Romans chapter nine.
Thursday evening we studied Romans 9:1 and in this passage the apostle Paul appeals to Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses as to the veracity of his statements in Romans 9:2-3, which express his sorrow and grief regarding unregenerate Israel.
This morning we will note Romans 9:2 and in this passage Paul expresses his great sorrow and unceasing grief over the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
Let’s read the first paragraph in the chapter and then concentrate on verse 2 for the rest of the morning.
Romans 9:1-5, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 2.
Romans 9:1-2, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.”
In Romans 9:1, Paul attracts his reader’s attention by not only using the figure of “asyndeton” but also by forcefully proclaiming his sincerity by expressing it positively “I am speaking the truth” and negatively “I am not lying.”
His positive assertion “I am speaking the truth” is confirmed by the prepositional phrase “in Christ,” which refers to the code of Christ who is truth and which code is truth.
His negative assertion “I am not lying” is confirmed by his conscience in accordance with the code of the Holy Spirit, which is also truth.
This is all to emphasize to his readers that he is speaking the truth when he says that he has great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart because of his unregenerate Jewish countrymen and that he wishes he was separated from Christ for their sake.
He does this because he is attempting to refute the Judaizers who stridently contended that he was an enemy of the nation of Israel because he taught that the Jew is not justified through the works of the Law but through faith alone in Christ alone.
“In Christ” means that Paul’s statements in verses 2 and 3 are “in conformity with” or “in accordance with” the standard of his union with Christ and of Christ Himself, namely truth.
It means that Paul is speaking according to a code of conduct and speaking that is based upon Christ Himself, the truth of God incarnate.
This implies that he is writing while consciously aware of his position in Christ and that he is in the presence of Christ and is thus in fellowship with Christ.
It also implies that he is accountable to Christ and that he is writing with the authority delegated to him by Christ and that his statements in verses 2 and 3 were as true as if Christ Himself were making them.
Therefore, all of this makes it impossible for him to lie and thus ensures the fact that what he says in verses 2 and 3 is truthful.
“In the Holy Spirit” indicates that Paul’s conscience, which contains his norms and standards, is “in accordance with” or “in conformity with” the code of the Holy Spirit, which like Christ is truth.
Thus Paul is saying that his attitude toward unregenerate Israel is based upon the holy standards of the Spirit (Compare John 15:26-27; 16:13; 1 John 5:6).
The code of Christ and the code of the Spirit is truth since this is one of their divine attributes that help to compose their divine essence.
Thus, Paul is saying in Romans 9:1 that his attitude towards unregenerate Israel, which he expresses in Romans 9:2-3 is based upon Christ and the Holy Spirit’s code of truth.
Corrected translation of Romans 9:1: “I am speaking the truth in accordance with the code of Christ. I am by no means lying, while my conscience does confirm to me in accordance with the code of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 9:2, “That I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.”
In this passage, Paul identifies with his Jewish countrymen after the flesh by expressing his great sorrow and unceasing grief.
Even though he does not mention what causes this grief and sorrow, it is clear from his statements in Romans 9-11 that it is due to the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
“Great sorrow” is composed of the nominative feminine singular form of the noun lupe (luvph) (loo-pay), “sorrow” and the nominative feminine singular form of the adjective megas (mevga$) (meg-as), “great.”
In Romans 9:2, the noun lupe refers to Paul’s sorrow over the fact that the majority of Jews in the nation of Israel had rejected Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah.
“Unceasing grief” is composed of the nominative feminine singular form of the adjective adialeiptos (a)diavleipto$) (ad-ee-al-ipe-tos), “unceasing” and the nominative feminine singular form of the noun odune (o)duvnh) (od-oo-nay), “grief.”
This expression continues the rhetorical doubled expressions of verse 1 (‘I am speaking the truth’’I am not lying’; ‘in Christ’’in the Holy Spirit’), which continue in verse 2 with the expression lupe megale, “great sorrow” and adialeiptos odune, “unceasing grief.”
There is no real difference in meaning between the noun odune and lupe.
Some contend that the former refers to the outward expression of grief whereas the latter they say refers to the inner feeling of grief.
However, there is no evidence that this is the case in the Greek New Testament and in the Septuagint the two are indistinguishable.
Therefore, Paul is using these two nouns as a matter of style to continue the rhetorical doubled expressions that appear in verse 1.
The noun odune like lupe is used figuratively for the state of severe emotional distress and anxiety.
Together, they express the intensity of Paul’s suffering when contemplating his fellow Jewish countrymen.
Romans 9:1-2, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.”
“In my heart” is composed of the preposition en (e)n), “in” and the articular dative locative feminine singular form of the noun kardia (kardiva) (kar-dee-ah)., “heart” and the genitive first person singular form pronoun ego (e)gwv), “my.”
The noun kardia denotes those aspects of the soul that deal with Paul’s mental activity and emotions indicating that every time he thinks about unregenerate Israel, it causes him great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his mental attitude.
The apostle Paul expresses this emotional distress for Israel to the Philippians.
Specifically, he writes concerning the Judaizers who he describes as “enemies of the cross.”
Philippians 3:17-19, “Brothers, all of you continue being joint-imitators of me and continue observing carefully those who are living in this manner just as all of you continue having us as an example because many, about whom I often told all of you, but I now say even weeping, are living as the enemies of the cross of the Christ whose destiny is certain destruction, whose god is the stomach, and whose glory will certainly result in their shame, those who are continually occupied with earthly matters.”
They are the enemies of the cross of Christ because of their antagonism to the message of Christ’s cross.
The Lord Jesus Christ also expressed great outward emotion with regards to Israel’s rejection of Himself as Messiah when He entered Jerusalem and He publicly presented Himself to the nation of Israel as their Messiah (Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-15).