{"id":1895,"date":"2010-07-25T17:39:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-25T22:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2010-07-25T17:39:42","modified_gmt":"2010-07-25T22:39:42","slug":"romans-93-faith-not-flesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-93-faith-not-flesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 9:3 – Faith, not Flesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Romans 9:3 <\/strong>– Faith, not Flesh<\/span><\/h2>\n

For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We need to pray for the unsaved and witness to them for God\u2019s sake, not our own.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Some translations have the opening phrase of this verse as \u201cFor I was wishing<\/span>\u201d whereas others have translated it as, \u201cFor I could wish.<\/span>\u201d The reason for the difference is in the form of the verb euchomai<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto express a wish, a vow, or a prayer.\u201d It is expressed here in the imperfect tense which normally implies continuous past action (I was wishing) or the commencement of past action (I began to wish). However, this is seen by most Greek scholars as an \u201cidiomatic imperfect,\u201d which would be roughly translated as \u201cI was at the point of wishing.\u201d This is one of those examples where a literal translation that makes complete sense in English is probably not possible. I think the closest to it would be our idiomatic expression \u201cI almost wish that \u2026\u201d It expresses a situation that can\u2019t happen, but if it could then I might wish it to be so.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccursed<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek word anathema<\/span><\/em>. It is made up of ana<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cup\u201d or \u201cagain\u201d but is used here as an intensifier, and a form of tith\u0113mi<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto place.\u201d It refers to an offering that has been wholly given over to God even to the point that it is no longer any possible use to man. An example is a drink offering which is poured out in dedication to God and is no longer useful as a drink for man. Hence, anathema <\/span><\/em>is often used to express something that is given over to destruction.<\/p>\n

The word \u201ccountrymen<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word sungen\u0113s<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of sun<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cwith\u201d or \u201ctogether\u201d and a form of genos<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201coffspring, family, or nation.\u201d Hence, this word refers to a family relative.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

There is some disagreement among theologians regarding this verse, but by carefully looking at the Greek, I think we can get a better sense of what Paul was trying to say. You see, he did not actually wish himself to be accursed (given over to destruction); rather, he was implying that he was at a point where he was almost willing to endure being accursed for the sake of his lost brethren. However, he has just spent the last few chapters of this letter explaining that only the elect are saved, and knowing that he was one of the elect he knew he could not unsave himself even if he wanted to.<\/p>\n

Paul is making some very strong statements in the opening of this chapter to indicate to his fellow Israelites that not only has he not turned against them, but he has a very strong desire to see them saved. Since he grew up as a very devout Jew (he even studied under Gamaliel, one of the most respected teachers of his time), he knows how trapped they are in trying to keep the law as a means of salvation. Since his conversion, however, Paul has learned that salvation cannot be attained through obedience. It can only be attained through faith.<\/p>\n

He will show later in this chapter that neither the Law nor the Jewish lineage have any effect when it comes to righteousness.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s all quit trying to earn God\u2019s favor through obedience and simply trust Him and obey Him because we love Him.<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –<\/p>\n

If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 9:3 – Faith, not Flesh For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, Truth to Learn We need to pray for the unsaved and witness to them for God\u2019s sake, not our own. Behind the Words Some translations have the opening phrase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1062,1063,1064,1065,1066,1067],"class_list":["post-1895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-accursed","tag-anathema","tag-countrymen","tag-euchomai","tag-sungenes","tag-wish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-uz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}