Romans 9:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Paul wished to be anathema so that you might understand how deeply he was crushed by the opinion that God's promise to Abraham had remained unfulfilled: "To you I will give this land, and to your seed" (Gen. 12:7). See also Rom. 9:6.

Blessed Paul was appointed a minister of the divine gospel (cf. Rom 1:1). He proclaimed Christ to the Gentiles, saying everywhere that those of Israel's blood had fallen away. He affirmed that those once in demonic darkness had become servants called according to God's foreordination and foreknowledge.

Therefore, lest some unlearned person think that he was almost trampling those cast down from Israel's race and mocking the fallen, he offers the necessary defense and says: "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie," and what follows.

One may indeed grieve over those who reached such folly that they withdrew from love for God and then suffered punishments for this. It would not be unreasonable to shed tears over them from kindred love. Rather, in this is the fullness of love.

Yet to wish oneself to be cut off from Christ for their sake finally goes beyond love. No one, if he is of sound mind, would dare oppose God for the salvation of others, count his own life as nothing, and prefer that it belong to others.

What, then, does he mean by offering his own salvation as a ransom for the salvation of the Jews? Clearly this speech is hyperbolic and contains the declaration of most perfect love. "I could wish," he says, "that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

It is as though he were saying: "If Israel were saved again through my opposition to Christ, I, who said to those justified in faith, 'I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified' (1 Cor 2:2), and who proclaim to all, 'Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' (Rom 8:35), would choose to take upon myself such a dreadful evil and alone go to perdition for all."

By this he was catching the Jews into obedience and repelling the slander of the senseless. Some of the Jews thought that the divine Paul, having lost his reason, opposed the laws given through Moses. For this reason, writing to believers, he said: "For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you" (2 Cor 5:13).

Thus, he says, I would most gladly prefer, in order to save again those who sprang from Israel's blood, to be cut off from Christ.

He does not stop there. He shows that the cause of his grief over them is by no means slight. It could produce in him such a disposition that he would not regard it as grievous or absurd to say that he offers his own life as a ransom for the life of others.

For first, he says, they are Israelites. To them belong the adoption, the glory, and the covenants. From them, according to the flesh, is Christ Himself.

If they were among those who had only recently come to know Him Who is God by nature and in truth, the sorrow over them could be more moderate. If they had not possessed the law given through Moses, which crowned them with nearness to Him, the sorrow could be more moderate.

If they had not sprung from the root of the holy fathers and had not been appointed heirs of their glory, the sorrow could be more moderate. If they had not been the first taught the ways of serving God, the sorrow could be more moderate.

But if these are their fathers and the rest, and if, while their affairs were almost carried by a fair wind, they strayed toward an unexpected end and did not attain what they hoped for, is not what befell these wretched ones truly terrible?

He who is over all, God, is from them according to the flesh, yet they have lost this nobility and have become estranged from that kinship. The Apostle resembles women who lament. In their dirges over the dead whom they mourn, they describe beauty of body, blooming age, nobility of ancestors, wealth, and power. Thus, having disclosed his tender love for the Jews, he now begins to set forth the thought he had proposed.

Therefore almost all the Fathers and teachers of the Church who defended the divinity of Jesus Christ against the heretics cited this passage. These include Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria, Athanasius the Great against the Arians, and Theodoret. On it they based the teaching on the two natures of Jesus Christ. In the Syriac and Latin translations this passage is read in the same way. But there are two or three codices and two or three interpreters, Cyprian and Hilary, who omit or do not clearly read the word "God." On this basis Grotius considered it an interpolation. Erasmus of Rotterdam, in his editions of the New Testament, placed a period before Θεὸς. Lachmann and Tischendorf followed him. In this way the expression "God blessed forever" is no longer referred to Christ, but becomes a separate sentence, an address to God. Such an address was customary among the Hebrews, and therefore may either be omitted altogether or placed in parentheses. The forced nature of such a reading is obvious, especially when the words "who is over all" are read. They become entirely superfluous and meaningless.

Second, the connection of the discourse: after saying that Christ is from the Jews only according to the flesh, the Apostle naturally leads us to expect the thought of who Christ is not according to the flesh. Third, the aim of the discourse: the Apostle points to the origin of Jesus Christ from the Jews according to the flesh as one of the privileges of the chosen people, and indeed as the greatest privilege. But in what would this privilege consist if Christ were a mere man, and if the last words, "who is over all, God blessed forever," did not refer to Him? The importance of this testimony is equally indisputable. First, in it Jesus Christ is called God, who is over all, that is, supreme, just as elsewhere God the Father is called so (Eph. 4:6). Second, He is called blessed God, likewise in a way similar to God the Father (2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:8). Third, He is called God blessed forever, again in complete agreement with what is said of God the Father (2 Cor. 11:31). Finally, all this is sealed with the particle "Amen," which, according to the usage of Holy Scripture, always strengthens or seals the truth. The same Apostle elsewhere concluded a similar doxology to the one true God with it, in contrast to false gods: "they served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen" (Rom. 1:25).

He explains the meaning of the Old Testament promises, the reasons for the rejection of the Hebrews, and gives them possible counsels and, through them, consolations (chapters 9-10). Earlier also the Apostle proved by many arguments the necessity of the Hebrews' conversion to Christ.

Here, so to speak, he sets Judaism before the face of Christianity. Having presented its former meaning and its present emptiness, he indicates Christianity as its most natural and necessary outcome.

Entering wisely and with feeling into judgment about this important and difficult matter, the conversion of his stubborn countrymen to Christ, the Apostle says that the conversion of the Hebrews is so desirable to him that it constantly troubles him. Salvation is possible only through Christ.

Presenting all the greatness of the divine works accomplished among the Hebrews, his own kin, the Apostle so grieves over their error and their turning aside from salvation that he would be ready to sacrifice himself and his eternal life completely. He would do this only somehow to draw them to Christ and save them.

Here the Apostle expressed his great spirit of devotion to his countrymen, together with a special zeal for the faith of Christ. It is equal to the zeal of Moses, who also was ready to perish himself, if only the Hebrews might be saved (Ex 32:32).

What especially pained the Apostle's heart was that the Messiah was born among the Hebrews, and they did not wish to receive Him. Yet both formerly and now the Hebrews passionately and impatiently awaited the coming of the Messiah.

They did not always conceive Him as "He Who Is," that is, as consubstantial with God the Father. Therefore they did not always conceive Him as worthy of the same eternal glorification as Creator and Provider. The Apostle explains further why this rejection of the Messiah by the Hebrews happened and what will come of it.

Dwelling on the words, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed," and so forth, St. John Chrysostom says: "The Apostle did not speak these words without cause. He did so because, accusing God, they said that those were driven out and deprived of honor who had been counted worthy to be called sons of God, received the law. Knew God before other nations, enjoyed a special glory, served God when no one else yet served Him, received the promises, and, most important of all, became the forefathers of Christ Himself. They said that in their place people from the Gentiles, who had never known God, were being brought in. Since those who spoke thus blasphemed God, Paul, hearing this, was torn and grieved for the glory of God. He wished to be accursed, if that were possible, only that the Jews might be saved and the blasphemy cease. Paul wished to be accursed so that you might know how deeply he was crushed by the thought which could arise in many, as though God's promise had remained unfulfilled."

"Just as Moses seemed to intercede for the Jews, but did everything for the glory of God, and said, 'Cease from wrath. Lest they say that You were not able to save and brought them out to destroy them in the wilderness' (Deut 9:28), so Paul also says: I would wish to be accursed, only let them not say that God's promise remained unfulfilled."

"Let us delight in the sea of the Apostle's love. Let us set before our minds this ineffable flame, about which, whatever one says, one will not speak worthily. For Paul's love was broader than the sea and stronger than any fire."

Blessed Theodoret, attending to the Apostle Paul's description of the advantages of the Jews, writes: "The Apostle resembles mourning women, who in their laments over the dead and those being mourned describe the beauty of the body, the bloom of youth, the nobility of ancestors, wealth, and power."

"And from whom is Christ according to the flesh." "In conclusion, the Apostle brings forward the greatest of the blessings" (blessed Theodoret). Here lies the foundation of all the other privileges. The adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, and the service were theirs because the predestined Deliverer of the human race was to be born among them. To Him all the promises also referred. Everything in the Old Testament rested upon Christ the Lord. Therefore alienation from the Lord and Savior made all the other privileges of no account. "Who is over all, God blessed forever." Having said, "from whom is Christ according to the flesh," the Apostle gave us to understand that Christ is one thing according to the flesh, and another not according to the flesh. According to the flesh He is man. What, then, is He not according to the flesh? "Who is over all, God." Blessed Theodoret writes: "Although the addition 'according to the flesh' was sufficient to reveal the Godhead of the Master Christ, nevertheless, as at the beginning, after saying, 'born of the seed of David according to the flesh,' the Apostle added, 'declared to be the Son of God in power' (cf. Rom. 1:3-4), so here also, after saying, 'from whom is Christ according to the flesh,' he added, 'who is over all, God blessed forever.' He both shows the distinction of the natures and teaches that the Jews have good reason to weep, because He who is over all, God, is from them according to the flesh. Yet they have lost this nobility and have become estranged from that kinship." "Who is over all" means both by nature, as God, and because He is Creator (cf. Jn. 1:3), through whom all things were created (cf. Col. 1:16). He is the Almighty, upholding all things by the word of His power (cf. Heb. 1:3), and the Provider. Ruling in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18), He leads all things to that final end, "that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). Oecumenius writes: "Here the Apostle most splendidly calls Christ God. Be ashamed, thrice-wretched Arius, when you hear how Paul glorifies Christ as true God. Let the Jews, he says, heap blasphemies upon Him, but I, knowing the ineffable divine economy in Him and understanding His providence, proclaim that Christ is rightly glorified as God. Who is over all and blessed forever." At the conclusion of this portrayal of the Jews' privileges, in which the Apostle so plainly shows sorrow over their loss of them, blessed Theodoret writes: "The Apostle resembles women who lament. In their dirges over the dead whom they mourn, they describe beauty of body, blooming age, nobility of ancestors, wealth, and power."