Open Your Bibles Romans 9 1-5

 Welcome folks to the Grave two Gospel Podcast where you are encouraged to not only know what you believe, but why you believe it. I'm your host, Will Hunsaker, and today we're going to continue with our teaching of Paul's magnificent epistle to the Romans as we launched season eight, 2026 of your open your Bible series.

We're gonna cover verses one through five of Romans nine. Now you might think that, uh, Paul, after talking about the amazing kindness and love shown through Jesus in chapter eight, that he would now start explaining in chapter nine what this means for how we should live as believers. However, that's not the case.

Each chooses to wait till chapter 12. So what do we do then with the next three chapters? Nine through 11? 9, 10, 11? Well, in this section, Paul's going to begin to explain that there really can't be true, a true message of good news without connecting it to the overall plan God had in mind from the beginning, as we see developed in the Old Testament covenant flow.

Because of this, Paul wants to discuss the significance of Israel in this good news, and he begins by highlighting a very crucial issue he had. Most of the Jews have not responded as they should over and over again. Throughout scripture, we see Paul preached the gospel to the Jews and repeatedly the response was minimal at best and often very hostile.

So he turned to the Gentiles, everyone that's not a Jew, essentially, and the response from them was much greater. So in today's text, we see Paul write this. I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I'm, I'm 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 cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsman, 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 to patriarchs and from their race. According to the flesh is the Christ who is God overall blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9, 1 5. So these verses essentially set the stage for Paul's major argument.

Contrasting what Israel was promised with their being cut off now because of the gospel, this matter is of great concern to Paul. Many of us often forget Paul's heritage here. He was a Jew who never lost sight of that heritage, nor of his love for his fellow Jews. This point, he makes perfectly clear in that opening set of verses one through three, he said, I'm speaking the truth in Christ.

I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, or I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake. My brothers, my kinsman, according to the flesh. Romans 9, 1, 2, 3. Now, not many people would be willing to make such a serious sacrifice.

I certainly couldn't be separated from Christ for the benefit of somebody else. That's a heavy lift, and the word Paul uses here for a curse comes from the Greek term anathema. The biggest Greek word you can use for cursed, and it means literally someone who has rejected, uh God and has been rejected from his community and is facing serious consequences.

And we know that since anyone who is close to Christ and Union with him can't truly be cut off from him. So it seems that Paul is expressing just how deeply he is suffering over this situation. And in Moo Douglas Moo and his commentary on Romans, he emphasized that in that last verse, verse three, Paul identifies the Jews as his kinsman according to the flesh.

But then in verse four, he transitions and refers to his fellow Jews as Israelites. This is in light of the Divine Promise, and this distinction illustrates a historically prevalent practice among the Jews who often would identify themselves through their national heritage, geopolitically as Jews and their connection to the divine covenants as Israelites.

Paul writes that there are Israelites and to them belong. The adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. Romans nine, four that finally in verse five, highlights Paul to significant blessings attributed to the Jews, the patriarchs, and the Messiah. He wrote to them, belonging to patriarchs and from their race.

According to the flesh is the Christ who is God overall blessed forever. Amen. Romans nine, five. The patriarchs you see hold a significant importance is God established a covenant with them, one that is eternal and extends to their descendants. The greatest blessing of the Covenant Promise is the promise of a Messiah, specifically Christ who would arise from the people of Israel.

Now, while this perspective may be viewed through a secular lens, it does carry profound divine significance. He is God, as Paul writes, who is overall blessed forever. Amen. You see folks, what Paul is experiencing here is significant, significant emotional turmoil as he confronts the reality of Israel's rejection of Christ Promised Messiah, he wrestles with the imp implications of their unbelief in God's promise, Messiah, and the inclusion of the Gentiles now within the covenant community.

That's a wrestle for Paul. We'll see through the coming chapters we, we, that Paul really does not advocate for a replacement theology, which holds that the church has supplanted God's covenant with Israel. He doesn't advocate for that, but similarly, he will not, uh, we will not see Paul endorsing a bi covenantal theology where separate promises exist for Israel, and then separate promises regarding salvation for the church.

Paul's emphasizing that Jesus fulfills all the covenant promises of God. So when we recognize God's sovereignty over all things in this, we hold that at the top. It becomes very clear that there was never a moment when Christ was not the culmination of the covenants. Paul's argument underscores this.

It's a sovereign principle. God's election and mercy transcend ethnic boundaries, legal distinction, geopolitics and ritual identities, affirming that righteousness before God is achieved solely by his grace through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone. Thank you for listening folks, and next up on Open Your Bibles.

We're going to explore Romans nine, six through 13 and the sovereignty of God and salvation, grace, and peace to you all and remember, again, know what you believe and why you believe it. Now, folks, we absolutely love hearing from our wonderful subscribers, so if you have any thoughts or questions about this episode or really anything.

We invite you to reach out to us via email info@gravetogospel.com, or you can go to our website, gravetogospel.com and click on a very convenient link we have there for you to interact. And each week we're going to pick a couple emails and respond at the beginning of our next episode. We thought that would be fun.

So thank you so much for being part of our community and God bless you all.