Session 4.23: June 5, 2026
Study session scripture: Romans 9:1-13
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Study session topics:
God's Saving Promises to Israel
Paul's sorrow for the Jews
Paul desires salvation for his people so greatly that he would be willing to not just lose his salvation, but become an enemy of God if it would save Israel
Paul is speaking hypothetically here (I could wish) because he knows and has shown that only one person giving of themselves sacrificially could achieve salvation for others
Earlier, at the start of Ch. 3, Paul stated that there is much benefit to being an ethnic Jew. Here, he lists those benefits:
Adoption
Glory
Covenants
The Law
Worship
Promises
Patriarchs
Human Ancestry of Christ
Despite all of these advantages, a great many Jews remain unsaved (as it is today). Advantages do not save:
Paul's explanation of how God has kept His promises -"[I]t is not as though the word of God has failed"--this is a theme for the next few chapters
This passage echoes and expands on what Paul says in Ch. 2:28-29
Abraham as example again
Paul further makes his point by pointing to Jacob and Esau
This is another example of God's foreknowledge (choice)
2 big points to be made from these examples:
God's choice is emphasized in both cases by choosing the second-born
Given how wicked all mankind is, God's choice is the only way anyone will be saved
Study session audio: