Romans 9:3

I could wish (ἠυχόμην) Or pray as 2 Corinthians 13:7, 2 Corinthians 13:9; James 5:16. Lit., I was wishing; but the imperfect here has a tentative force, implying the wish begun, but stopped at the outset by some antecedent consideration which renders it impossible, so that, practically, it was not entertained at all. So Paul of Onesimus: "Whom I could have wished (ἐβουλόμην) to keep with me," if it had not been too much to ask (Plm 1:13). Paul would wish to save his countrymen, even at such sacrifice, if it were morally possible. Others, however, explain the imperfect as stating an actual wish formerly entertained. Accursed from Christ (ἀνάθεμα ἀπὸ τοῦ χριστοῦ) Compare Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Corinthians 16:22. See on offerings, Luke 21:5. Set apart to destruction and so separated from Christ (Philippians 1:21; Philippians 3:8, Philippians 3:20). An expression of deep devotion. "It is not easy to estimate the measure of love in a Moses and a Paul. For our limited reason does not grasp it, as the child cannot comprehend the courage of warriors" (Bengel). Compare Moses, Exodus 32:32.

For I could wish that myself were {a} accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the {b} flesh: (a) The apostle loved his brethren so completely that if it had been possible he would have been ready to have redeemed the castaways of the Israelites with the loss of his own soul forever: for this word accursed signifies as much in this place. (b) Being brethren by flesh, as from one nation and country.

I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ; or, separated from Christ. This verse hath greatly vexed interpreters. Some read it, I did wish myself accursed from Christ: q.d. Before my conversion, I was willing to be accursed from Christ, to be a violent persecutor of the Christians, and so to be held of them as accursed for my brethren’s sake. The vulgar Latin, and many Romanists, thus render the word hucomhn, in the text; but the generality of interpreters read it as we do, not indicatively, but potentially; and they make an ellipsis in the words, hucomhn pro hucoimhn an; the like is frequent; see Acts 25:22 1 Corinthians 2:8 2 Corinthians 11:1 . But then still the difficulty is, how, and in what sense, the apostle wished himself accursed, or separated from Christ. The received opinion is, that out of zeal to the glory of God, and love to his brethren, he was willing to be damned, that they all might be saved.

Many of the ancients did thus expound this place: "Christ became a curse for us; and what marvel is it" (says one) "if the Lord would be made a curse for the servants, that a servant should be willing to become an anathema for the brethren." "He doth not wish" (says another) "for his brethren’s sake to be separated from the love and grace of Christ, but from the comforts of Christ, and the future happiness that we have by him: he is content to lose his part in the heavenly glory, if that might promote the glory of Christ, which would be more illustrated by the saving a whole nation, than a particular person: q.d. If this might be the fruit of it, if it would gain this end, I could, methinks, be content to part with all my hopes in Christ, even my eternal happiness, upon condition my brethren might be partakers thereof; so passionate and abundant love have I to and for them." This exposition is not satisfactory; therefore so, he think the apostle here speaks of being accursed only for a season, or of being an anathema in this world. An anathema sometimes signifieth corporal death and destruction: of old, in times of common calamity, they were wont to sacrifice men to their idols and infernal gods, for the pacifying of their anger; such a sacrifice they called anathema, which is the word here used: q.d. For my brethren’s sake, that so they might be saved, I could be content to be cut off, to be made a sacrifice, to die the worst of deaths.

(3) I could wish . . . —Rather, I could have wished. The wish, of course, related to what was really impossible. Still it is a nobly generous impulse, at which some weak minds have been shocked, and out of which others have made sentimental capital. Let us leave it as it is. Accursed from Christ.—Separated from Christ, and devoted to destruction. Does not the intensity of this expression help us to realise one aspect of the Atonement—“being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13)? (The Greek word for “curse” is different, but comes to be nearly equivalent.)

Romans 9:3 . For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ ( The word αναθεμα , here rendered accursed, answers to the Hebrew word חרם , cherem, which signifies what is devoted to destruction. And, as the Jewish nation was now an anathema, destined to destruction, Mr. Locke supposes that Paul, to express his affection for them, here says that he could wish, provided he could thereby save them from it, to become an anathema, or to be devoted to destruction himself, in their stead. In other words, that he could be content “that Christ should give him up to such calamities as these, to which the Jewish people were doomed for rejecting him; so that if they could all be centred in one person, he would be willing they should unite in him, could he thereby be a means of saving his countrymen. This is the interpretation of Dr. Samuel Clarke, (see his Seventeen Sermons, p. 340.) To the same purpose nearly is Goodwin’s exposition of the passage: “It seems,” says he, “to mean, that he was willing to be looked upon, and in every respect dealt with in the world, as if he were accursed by Christ, and so worthy of all ignominy, punishment, tortures, and death, that could be inflicted on him: such as were wont to be inflicted on persons, who, for some hateful crime, were devoted to utter destruction.

The Greek word is indifferently applied either to persons or things, and in Scripture commonly signifies such, in either kind, as were consigned, either by God himself, or men, or both, to destruction, in the nature of piacular sacrifices.” Such a sacrifice Paul was willing to become for his brethren’s sake, supposing that he could thereby “procure deliverance for them from that most heavy curse of an eternal separation from God, which he certainly knew hung over their heads, for their obstinate refusal of the gospel.” According to these interpretations, αναθεμα απο Χριστου , must be rendered, made an anathema by, or from Christ. But Dr. Waterland observing, as απο προγονων , 2 Timothy 3:3 , signifies, after the example of my forefathers, απο του Χριστου , in this passage, may signify, after the example of Christ. This exposition is adopted by Dr.

Romans 9:3 . ηὐχόμην γὰρ ἀνάθεμα εἶναι κ . τ . λ . For I could wish that I myself were anathema, etc. For the omission of ἂν see Acts 25:22 , Galatians 4:20 . Paul could wish this if it were a wish that could be realised for the good of Israel. The form of expression implies that the wish had actually been conceived, but in such sentences “the context alone implies what the present state of mind is” (Burton, Moods and Tenses , § 33). ἀνάθεμα is to be construed with ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ : the idea of separation from Christ, final and fatal separation, is conveyed. For the construction cf. Galatians 5:4 ( κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ ). ἀνάθεμα Galatians 1:8 f., 1 Corinthians 12:3 ; 1 Corinthians 16:22 is the equivalent of the Hebrew חֶרֶם , Deuteronomy 7:26 , Joshua 7:12 —that which is put under the ban, and irrevocably devoted to destruction. It is beside the mark to speak of such an utterance as this as unethical. Rather might we call it with Dorner “a spark from the fire of Christ’s substitutionary love”. There is a passion in it more profound even than that of Moses’ prayer in Exodus 32:32 . Moses identifies himself with his people, and if they cannot be saved would perish with them; Paul could find it in his heart, were it possible, to perish for them. τῶν συγγενῶν μου κατὰ σάρκα distinguishes these from his Christian brethren.

3. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for—"in behalf of" my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh—In proportion as he felt himself severed from his nation, he seems to have realized all the more vividly their natural relationship. To explain away the wish here expressed, as too strong for any Christian to utter or conceive, some have rendered the opening words, "I did wish," referring it to his former unenlightened state; a sense of the words too tame to be endured: others unwarrantably soften the sense of the word "accursed." But our version gives the true import of the original; and if it be understood as the language rather of "strong and indistinct emotions than of definite ideas" [Hodge], expressing passionately how he felt his whole being swallowed up in the salvation of his people, the difficulty will vanish, and we shall be reminded of the similar idea so nobly expressed by Moses (Ex 32:32).