Romans 9:2

That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. THAT I HAVE GREAT HEAVINESS AND CONTINUAL SORROW ('GREAT GRIEF AND UNCEASING ANGUISH') IN MY HEART - the bitter hostility of his nation to the glorious Gospel, and the awful consequences of their unbelief, weighing heavily and incessantly upon his spirit. The grace which revolutionized the apostle's religious views and feelings did not (we see) destroy, but only intensified and elevated his natural feelings; and Christians should study to show that the same is true of them also....

2._That I have great sorrow, etc. _He dexterously manages so to cut short his sentence as not yet to express what he was going to say; for it was not as yet seasonable openly to mention the destruction of the Jewish nation. It may be added, that he thus intimates a greater measure of sorrow, as imperfect sentences are for the most part full of pathos. But he will presently express the cause of his sorrow, after having more fully testified his sincerity. But the perdition of the Jews caused very great anguish to Paul, though he knew that it happened through the will and providence of God. We hence learn that the obedience we render to God’s providence does not prevent us from grieving at the destruction of lost men, though we know that they are thus doomed by the just judgment of God; for the same mind is capable of being influenced by these two feelings: that when it looks to God it can...

1-5 Being about to discuss the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, and to show that the whole agrees with the sovereign electing love of God, the apostle expresses strongly his affection for his people. He solemnly appeals to Christ; and his conscience, enlightened and directed by the Holy Spirit, bore witness to his sincerity. He would submit to be treated as "accursed," to be disgraced, crucified; and even for a time be in the deepest horror and distress; if he could rescue his nation from the destruction about to come upon them for their obstinate unbelief. To be insensible to the eternal condition of our fellow-creatures, is contrary both to the love required by the law, and the mercy of the gospel. They had long been professed worshippers of Jehovah. The law, and the national covenant which was grounded thereon, belonged to them. The temple worship was typical of...

GREAT HEAVINESS - Great grief. CONTINUAL SORROW - The word rendered “continual” here must be taken in a popular sense. Not that he was literally all the time pressed down with this sorrow, but that whenever he thought on this subject, he had great grief; as we say of a painful subject, it is a source of constant pain. The cause of this grief, Paul does not expressly mention, though it is implied in what he immediately says. It was the fact that so large a part of the nation would be rejected, and cast off....

EXPOSITION ROMANS 11:1 2. _The present position and prospects of the Jewish nation con-sidereal._ ROMANS 9:1 (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. following naturally the conclusion of Romans 8:1., and these intervening chapters having no immediate connection with the preceding or succeeding context. But it was a subject too deeply

THAT I HAVE GREAT HEAVINESS AND CONTINUAL SORROW IN MY HEART. This is the thing he appeals to Christ for the truth of, and calls in his conscience and the Holy Ghost to bear witness to. These two words, "heaviness" and "sorrow", the one signifies grief, which had brought on heaviness on his spirits; and the other such pain as a woman in travail feels: and the trouble of his mind expressed by both, is described by its quantity, "great", it was not a little, but much; by its quality it was internal, it was in his "heart", it did not lie merely in outward show, in a few words or tears, but was in his heart, it was a heart sorrow; and by its duration, "continual", it was not a sudden emotion or passion, but what had been long in him, and had deeply affected and greatly depressed him: and what was the reason of all this? it is not expressed, but may pretty easily be understood; it was because...

Romans 9:1. _I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:_ The apostle is evidently about to make an extraordinary statement a statement which would probably not be believed, and therefore, he gives as a preface the most solemn asseverations that are permitted to Christian men declaring that he is speaking the truth, and also that the Holy Ghost is bearing witness with his conscience that it is so that he so loves the souls of his fellow-countrymen that, though the thing could never be, yet in a sort of ecstasy of love he could devote himself to anything so long as his countrymen might but be saved. «My kinsmen according to the flesh.»...

II. DISPENSATIONAL. GOD'S DEALINGS WITH ISRAEL. Chapter s 9-11. 1. Israel and God's Sovereignty. CHAPTER 9 _ 1. Paul's Yearning over Israel. (Romans 9:1 .)_ 2. What Israel Possesseth. (Romans 9:4 .) 3. God's Unconditional Election. (Romans 9:6 .) 4. God's Sovereignty. The Vindication of His Justice and Mercy. (Romans 9:14 .) 5. Mercy for the Remnant. (Romans 9:27 .) 6. Israel's Rejection of God's Righteousness. (Romans 9

SORROW OVER THE REPROBATION OF THE JEWS. Paul's rapture passes into anguish at the exclusion of his kinsmen from this blessedness. So the second theme of the epistle comes into view; see Introd. § 5. ROMANS 9:1 F. The apostle was denounced as a renegade (Acts 21:28, etc.); hence his solemn protest (_cf. Romans 1:9_, 2 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:5). Romans 9:3. His deeply-wounded love prompts the wish almost a prayerthat I were m

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 and the giving of the law and the worship of the Temple and the promises. To them the fathers belong. And from them, on his human side, came the Anointed One of God. Blessed for ever be the God who is over all! Amen. Paul begins his attempt to explain the Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ. He begins, not in anger, but in sorrow. Here is no tempest of anger and no outbreak of enraged condemnation; here is t...