Israel is not just another random nation on earth. God has placed his stamp on them: 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 the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ…
(Romans 9:4–5a).
Paul is very familiar with this rich heritage. God himself named this people when he gave Jacob a new name, Israel
(which means man of God
). The Israelites are God’s people on earth. God adopted them (huiothesia) as his children from among the nations of mankind. It was specifically to them that the glorious presence (doxa) of the Most High appeared on Mount Sinai and in the pillar of cloud above the tabernacle. For them God made special ordinances (diathèkai, that is covenants
), such as the sacrificial priesthood of Aaron and the prophecies concerning David’s royal house. This is the only people that God placed under his divine governance and law (nomothesia). The worship service (latreia) in the temple of the one true God was in Jerusalem, and he gave them promises for the future (epangeiliai), such as the promise of a righteous Ruler and a restored world. They are the people of the fathers (pateres), and no other nation can claim such an ancestral tradition. Israel has a unique position on earth. As God’s special child, this nation is adorned with many ornaments—so much so that it even rendered the Queen of Sheba speechless (1 Kings 10:1–13).
Yet this ancient queen did not even see the true highlight yet: Christ the Saviour himself descends from this nation—he who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen
(Romans 9:5b). Paul’s love for his people is the truth in Christ
(Romans 9:1), for out of Israel Immanuel, God with us, is born! When we bend the knee to Christ, we cannot ever forget that on earth he descended from Israel, lived under the law, went up to the temple in Jerusalem, and saw himself as the great Son of Abraham. Jesus’ ministry can only be understood in the context of the history of Israel.
Paul rhetorically structures Romans 9:1–5 in such a way so as to make his readers share in his sorrow. Even through they are not Israelites, they are truly Christians. For this reason Paul’s grief does not pass them by. Because Christ as God stands above everyone and everything, the fate of the people from which he descended as a man is relevant to everyone and everything.1
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.