• I tell the truth in Christ, i am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (2) that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. (3) For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, (4) who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; (5) of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul. His discussion of God’s plan of salvation ended in chapter 8 and now Paul addresses the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews. Most Jews refused the Messiah and now we have Paul’s lamentation – he is trying to settle the Jewish mind on Christ and avoids antagonizing them but concedes nothing against the truth of the gospel. Paul begins by asserting his conscience bore this testimony guided by the indwelling Spirit. Paul was not an indifferent spectator of this sorrow – both temporal and spiritual – which is about to come on his countrymen. They rejected Christ as the Messiah; refused God’s blessings and their heritage as God’s chosen people. This rejection is not God’s final word – He has in the past and is now working through a Jewish remnant. Lost people won’t care what we know/think until they know how much we care. God’s truth impels us to work for the salvation of lost souls.
Paul’s sorrow over the rejection of the Jews he expresses in the strongest terms and the term he uses is applied to only such conditions as could not be redeemed. Paul is now offering/volunteering to be in their place – he professes such a love for his countrymen and brethren to wish for himself instead the condemnation that he saw looming for the Jews. But this was hypothetical and conditional – he knew this was impossible for he had been called according to God’s plan and will. The object of these verses was to assure the Jews of his love. They were the chosen of God; a people of innumerable blessings and privileges and of great distinction – and of whom the Christ came.
These five verses teach us that fidelity does not mean we should make the truth offensive – we want our words and actions to do work on the heart and conscience of unbelievers – we want them to want what we have.