Useful Bible Studies > Romans Commentary > chapter 9
Elsewhere, Paul urged Christians to be joyful at all times (Philippians 4:4). Here, however, he says that he is deeply sad in his heart; he feels like someone in constant pain. Clearly, we must examine Paul’s words carefully to understand his meaning.
Paul has just referred to a kind of deeply sad attitude, which is in fact a form of prayer (compare Romans 8:23 and 8:26). In this sense, Christ was deeply sad too (Isaiah 53:3); you can read a description of his prayers in Hebrews 5:7. God’s people have every reason to be joyful about what God is doing in their lives (Isaiah 55:12; Luke 15:7). However, at the same time, they are deeply sad about the troubles in our world; and that causes them to pray desperately (Psalm 13:1-2; Psalm 74:1-11).
Paul’s prayer here is completely unselfish (9:3). That fact helps us to recognise that Paul is not just expressing his personal desires and feelings to God. Rather, Paul is praying as God’s Holy Spirit has directed him to pray.
That prayer is for the Jewish people, in other words, the people who belong to Israel. Many of them were not serving God properly; a few of them were even actively opposing the first Christians.
Paul understood that there is a relationship between God’s plan for Israel, and his plans for people from every nation (11:11-12). Therefore, Paul’s subject is still, as in chapter 8, how God will complete his plans for his people (8:17-30).
Next part: The love that God gave Paul for the Jewish people (Romans 9:3)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2022, Keith Simons.