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Tzedakah Moment Romans 9:1-5 Part Three
Tzedakah Moment Romans 9:1-5 Part Three
| Romans 9 Part Three |
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The Anguish of Paul’s Heart and Life:I tell (you) the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my own conscience testifying in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I am (in) great sorrow and constant distress (in) my heart. The premise established by Paul in verse one (see parts one and two) lays the groundwork for his expressions of how deep his emotions run for the Jewish people. This he accomplishes in verse two by the use of two nouns serving in a sense as predicates (luvph and ajdiavleipto?)i and one “I am” verb (moi ejstin) that “explains or clarifies”ii what is begun in verse one. One interesting side note to the construction of the sentence is that even though the “I am” verb is in the present tense and the writer has translated this verse to be read as “that I am (in) great sorrow and (in) constant distress in my heart,” most other versions translate the verse to have the passive context of “I have.”iii From the perspective of the writer of this paper, and the reason for the paper’s translation of the passage, the “I am” construction provide a context of more immediacy and reality to the verse. In other words, Paul is “in” the state of sorrow and distress and not merely “having” these emotive feelings. Paul identifies with two physical/emotional states due to the eternal condition of the Jewish people (v. 3-5). Paul is first in “great sorrow” (also translated as “great grief”iv), luvph . . . megavlh. A sorrowful state of mindv compounded by the rejection of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah by the Hebrew people. Second, Paul finds himself in a position of “constant distress” (ajdiavleipto? ojduvnh). This is possibly an emotive state by which Paul is expressing a physical state and not simply a mental frame of mind.vi However, H. P. Liddon conceives of Paul’s distress as having a positive attribute because even though he is in pain, it is a pain which can co-exist with the emotion of joy found in chapter eight.vii Adolf Schlatter also finds evidence to agree with Liddon in principle when he writes, “suffering together with Christ is part and parcel of the relationship with Christ that fills him with exultation (8:17). The torment caused by Israel’s fall is part of the suffering he bears for the sake of Jesus.”viii Another perspective, and contradictory to Liddon and Schlatter, for ajdiavleipto? ojduvnh is the one in which Paul senses the reality and “anguish of a final separation.”ix A final interpretation of this verse is from Donald Sneen who sees the ajdiavleipto? ojduvnh as similar to the “apocalyptic birth-pangs” found in Mark 13:8.x In other words, Paul is expressing the agony that one would find in a woman giving birth but yet not being confident that his labor will result in the joy of the salvation of his people. Truth and potential could be found in all of the interpretations listed. However, the commentaries of Liddon, Schlatter and Sneen provide the best entrance in exegeting the penultimate verse of the passage – verse three. This potential is especially evident when one considers that the depth of sorrow and pain expressed by Paul has a parallel passage from the Old Testament – Isaiah 53 and the picture of the Suffering Servant.xi Next Part …What is the extent of Paul’s love for the Jewish people? Previous Part |
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