Desire for Separation:  For the Salvation of Other

For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for my brothers my kin according to (the) flesh,

    The phrase, “For I could wish¹ I myself to be accursed,” leaves little room for any other exegetical outcome other than the realization that apart from Christ, the Jewish people, and consequently all people, are destined to be eternally separated from Messiah Jesus.  The reality of this destiny is first found in the analysis of the verb, “I could wish.”  Wallace is correct when he considers this to be a verb indicating potentiality as it presupposes what could be but not what actually is going to occur.²  However, his translation “For I could almost [writer’s emphasis] wish”³ is incorrect because the use of the word “almost” implies that Paul thought about it but did not actually follow through on it.  If Wallace was correct in his translation, then the tenor and lament of the whole passage would be lost because why would Paul be in “great sorrow” or “constant distress” over a thought and not an emotional reaction?
    The more accurate translation is “I could wish myself.”  This connotation provides for the inference that Paul not only considered this option in the past but also still continued to consider it, even at the time of the writing of the epistle.⁴  It was, however, only a consideration and not something that Paul admits in his own words (8:31-39) he could have done.⁵
    However, his wish was for something that few could even imagine – “to be accursed from Christ.”  The word in Greek, anathema, came originally from two Greek words which mean “that which is set up” specifically for sacrifice to the gods.⁶  The Septuagint translated this as it regards the Hebrew word for “ban” and for “punishment.”⁷  Therefore, the concept of anathema should be seen in the original languages as nothing other than banishment or separation from the subject of the preposition which is Christ himself.⁸
    The correct translation for this passages as noted above to read, “For I wish that I myself to be accursed from Christ,” is that he was willing to be turned over to the consequences of “divine wrath” or “devoted to destruction” for their salvation.⁹  In other words, Paul’s love for Christ was so grand and his passion for the Jewish people so enormous that even though he understood what would be the possible consequences if in some way his wish could be granted, he was still willing to take the march to damnation for the salvation of someone else.  John Calvin in his explanation of this phrase probably summarized Paul’s heart and willingness best when he wrote, “So Paul did not connect God’s election with his wish, but the remembrance of that being passed by, he was wholly intent [writer’s emphasis] on the salvation of the Jews.

⁵Ibid. (for all notations).

⁶H. Aust and D. Müller, “Curse, Insult, Fool (ajnavqema),”The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, vol. 1, gen. ed. Colin Brown (Grand Rapids:  Zondervan Publishing House, 1973), 413.

⁷Ibid., 413-14.

⁸Martin Luther discounted those who attempted to say that this expression of separation should be seen as reflective of Paul’s state before the Damascus Road experience.  Luther listed six reasons why this interpretation would have been impossible including the idea that ajnavqema for Paul before Christ was directed towards Jesus and his followers and not the idea of being separated “from.”  Wilhelm Pauck, trans. and ed., Luther:  Lectures on Romans, vol. 15, The Library of Christian Classics, gen. ed. John Baillie (Philadelphia:  The Westminster Press, 1961), 260-61

⁹A. Andrew Das, Paul and the Jews (Peabody, MA:  Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 102; Steven A. Kreloff, God’s Plan for Israel:  A Study of Romans 9-11 (Neptune, NJ:  Loizeaux, 1995), 20; John Piper, The Justification of God:  An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 1993), 44-45;  Bell, 173; Sanday, 228; and Cranford, 31.

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