Romans 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
There is an amazing thing that happens when Jesus becomes part of your life, and we see it right here in the testimony of Paul, (and he is not lying,) you become sacrificial in your thoughts.
It is really amazing to think Paul would sacrifice himself to hell for all eternity, if only his brethren the Jews would be saved in his place. There are few people who have ever lived who have had a clearer view of hell than Paul. After all, Paul had been caught up into the third heaven, to learn the gospel from Christ Himself. Paul had seen the glory of the kingdom, a glory inexpressible by mere words. (2 Cor 12)
Not only does Paul know what heaven is actually like from a first-hand view, he also knows what hell must be like by comparison, and by the express proclamations of Jesus. Yet he willingly offers himself a sacrifice for the Jewish people, if only they could attain what they appear to have no interest in: heaven.
Paul, called to be Christ’s apostle to the gentiles, never loses his passion or his desire for the Jews. We must note he was one, and knows how they think and act, and perhaps this explains his great love for the Jewish people. They are his people. They are his family.
But they are also the ones who rejected his teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are the ones who stoned Paul and left him for dead, spit on him, reviled him, drove him from town to town, and hated him mercilessly – plotting and scheming continuously to take his life. Paul knew all about that. (See 2 Cor 11)
What then could make any man profess here what Paul professes, that he would “go to hell’ rather than see the Jewish people go there? To understand this, you have to understand the nature and character of Christ. This is no hollow boast Paul is offering as a means to make himself look better. It is a statement of love for those who hate him – because he knows they are his brothers. And how badly it hurt Paul to be hated so by his brothers. We really see Christ in Paul here, don’t we?
- Pastor Bill
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