Romans 9:4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Romans 9:1-5

We have here the apostle's solemn profession of a great concern for the nation and people of the Jews?that he was heartily troubled that so many of them were enemies to the gospel, and out of the way of salvation. For this he had great heaviness and continual sorrow. Such a profession as this was requisite to take off the odium which otherwise he might have contracted by asserting and proving their rejection. It is wisdom as much as may be to mollify those truths which sound harshly and seem... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Romans 9:1-6

In Romans 9:1-33 ; Romans 10:1-21 ; Romans 11:1-36 Paul tries to deal with one of the most bewildering problems that the Church has to solve--the problem of the Jews. They were God's chosen people; they had had a unique place in God's purposes; and yet when God's Son had come into the world they had rejected him and crucified him. How is this tragic paradox to be explained? That is the problem with which Paul seeks to deal in these chapters. They are complicated and difficult, and,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Romans 9:1-6

9:1-6 I tell you the truth as one who is united to Christ is bound to do. I do not lie. My conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit when I say that my grief is great and there is unceasing anguish in my heart. I could pray that I myself might be accursed so that I was completely separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen as far as human relationship goes. For my kinsmen are the Israelites, and theirs is the special sonship of God, and the glory and the covenants... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 9:4

Who are Israelites ,.... Which were their national name, as descended from Jacob, whose name was Israel; and it was accounted a very honourable one; see Philemon 3:5 ; and the very name they bore gave the apostle some concern that they should be cut off; and then he proceeds to enumerate the several distinguishing favours and privileges they had been partakers of: to whom pertaineth the adoption ; not that special adoption, which springs from eternal predestination, is a blessing of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 9:4

Who are Israelites - Descendants of Jacob, a man so highly favored of God, and from whom he received his name Israel - a prince of God, Genesis 32:28 ; from which name his descendants were called Israelites, and separated unto God for his glory and praise. Their very name of Israelites implied their very high dignity; they were a royal nation; princes of the most high God. The adoption - The Israelites were all taken into the family of God, and were called his sons and first-born, ... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 9:4

Verse 4 4.Who are Israelites, etc. Here the reason is now more plainly given, why the destruction of that people caused him so much anguish, that he was prepared to redeem them by his own death, namely because they were Israelites; for the relative pronoun is put here instead of a causative adverb. In like manner this anxiety took hold on Moses, when he desired that he should be blotted out of the book of life, rather than that the holy and chosen race of Abraham should be reduced to nothing.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 9:1-5

(1) Deep regret expressed for the present exclusion of the Jewish nation from inheritance of the promises. This section is not necessary for the main argument of the Epistle, which would have been complete without it for an exposition of God's righteousness, Romans 12:1-21 . following naturally the conclusion of Romans 8:1-39 ., and these intervening chapters having no immediate connection with the preceding or succeeding context. But it was a subject too deeply fixed in St. Paul's mind... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 9:1-5

The sympathy of a Christian patriot. If our Christianity is genuine, it will not destroy our natural affections, but will purify and ennoble them. Domestic affection is all the stronger and the brighter under the influence of Christianity. The Christian patriot is the truest patriot. So it was with St. Paul. Because he had embraced, so to speak, a new religion, he does not turn in bitterness against his former coreligionists. Because he has become wiser than they, he does not look down... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 9:1-5

The honour of Israel. These verses open up to us the great problem discussed in the three following chapters, "the rejection of the elect people" (Godet). God had chosen his people; he now repudiates them. And as the apostle in the previous chapter has been transported into an ecstasy of exultation in contemplating the final victory of God's true people, he is now brought back to sorrow and pain of heart by a thought of the contrasted lot of Israel. "Who shall separate us from the love of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 9:1-5

Christian patriotism. We saw in last chapter how a "Paradise" may really be experimentally " regained, " and how Christian experience culminates in a triumphant assurance. But the apostle could not contemplate this as a mere personal matter. He could not rejoice in personal salvation and be indifferent to the salvation of his brethren. The case of his countrymen accordingly comes forward for review, and in the review of it the apostle is seen as the Christian patriot. Though the... read more

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