^9:1 I speak the truth in Christ: I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit: [n. 735]
^9:2 That I have great sadness and continual sorrow in my heart. [n. 737]
^9:3 For I wished myself to be an anathema from Christ, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, [n. 739]
^9:4 Who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption of sons and the glory and the testament and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises, [n. 742]
^9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, and of their race is Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed forever. Amen. [n. 745]

735. Having shown the need and power of grace, the Apostle begins to discuss the origin of grace and ask whether it is conferred solely by God’s choice or from the merits of previous works. He raises this question because the Jews, seemingly called to God’s special protection, had fallen from grace; whereas the gentiles, previously alienated from God, had been admitted to it.

First, therefore, he discusses the election of the gentiles;

second, the fall of the Jews, at brethren, the will of my heart (Rom 10:1).

In regard to the first he does two things.

First, he recounts the greatness of the Jews;

second, he shows how the gentiles have been drawn into that greatness, at not as though the word of God has failed (Rom 9:6).

In regard to the first, he does two things.

First, the Apostle shows his affection for the Jewish people, lest anything he had said or was about to say against them should seem to proceed from hatred;

second, he shows their dignity, at who are Israelites.

Concerning the first he does two things.

First, he confirms what he was about to say;

second, he demonstrates his affection, at that I have great sadness.

736. Concerning the first he does two things.

First, he confirms what he is about to say with a simple assertion, I speak the truth, which especially befits the preacher who is a witness to the truth: my mouth will utter truth (Prov 8:7); love truth and peace (Zech 8:19).

And because a person sometimes mixes falsehood with the truth, he excludes this when he adds, I am not lying: putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth to his neighbor (Eph 4:25).

Second, he confirms what he is about to say with an oath, which is a confirmation supported by the testimony of infallible truth. Such are the witnesses of the saints. First, God himself, as it says in Job: my witness is in heaven (Job 16:19). Hence Paul says, in Christ, i.e., through Jesus Christ who is the truth without falsehood: the Son of God whom we preached among you was not yes and no (2 Cor 1:19). Second, the infallible witness of the saints is their conscience; hence he adds: my conscience bearing me witness: our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience (2 Cor 1:12). But because one’s conscience is sometimes erroneous unless it is corrected by the Holy Spirit, he adds: in the Holy Spirit: the Spirit himself gives testimony to our spirit (Rom 8:16).

737. Then he shows his affection for the Jews by the pain he suffered from their fall, when he says, that I have great sadness.

First, he describes this pain;

second, he mentions a sign of it, when he says, for I wished myself.

738. He emphasizes how much pain he has suffered in three ways.

First by its magnitude: that I have great sadness, because it concerns a great evil, namely, the exclusion of such a great people: vast as the sea is your ruin (Lam 2:13).

But this seems to conflict with Sirach where it says, give not up your soul to sadness (Sir 30:22), which seems to agree with the opinion of the Stoics, who admitted no sadness at all in the soul of a wise man. For since sadness is a reaction to a present evil, it cannot exist in a wise man to whom no evil is present. For they supposed that virtue was the only good and sin the only evil.

But this opinion is refuted in two ways. First, because bodily defects, although they are not such evils as make men evil, are nevertheless among the evils which nature abhors. Hence, even the Lord is described as saddened by them: my soul is sorrowful, even to death (Matt 26:38).

Second, since charity requires that a person love his neighbor as himself, it is laudable for a wise man to grieve over a son of his neighbor as over his own. Hence the Apostle says: I fear that I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned (1Cor 12:2).

Thus, worldly sadness, which works death, springing from love of the world, is rejected, but sadness which is godly and springs from divine love works salvation (2 Cor 7:10). Such was Paul’s sadness.

Second, he emphasizes his grief by its duration, when he says, and continual sorrow; not that he never ceased to grieve actually, but habitually: that I might weep day and night for the slain of my people (Jer 9:1).

Third, he emphasizes how real it was when he says, in my heart; for it was not superficial but rooted in the heart: my eyes are spent in weeping and my heart is poured out in grief (Lam 2:11).

739. Then he presents the sign of his sadness, saying, for I, who am so fervent in the love of Christ, as was shown above, wished myself to be an anathema from Christ, for my brethren.

Here it should be noted that anathema is a Greek word formed by combining ana which means ‘above’ and thesis which means ‘placing,’ so that something placed above is said to be anathema. For when they found among the spoils of war something they did not wish men to use, they hung it in the temple. From this, the custom arose that things cut off from the common use of men were said to be anathema; hence, it says in Joshua: let this city be anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord (Josh 6:17).

740. He says, therefore: for I wished myself to be an anathema from Christ, i.e., separated from him. One is separated from Christ in two ways.

In one way by a sin, through which one is separated from the love of Christ for not obeying his commandment: if you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). But the Apostle could not wish to be separated from Christ in this way for any reason, as is clear from what was said above (Rom 8:35). For this is against the order of charity, by which a person is bound to love God above all things and his own salvation more than that of others. So he does not say, I wish, but, I wished, during his days of unbelief. But according to this explanation the Apostle is not saying anything great, because in those days he was willing to be separated from Christ even for himself. Hence, a Gloss explains that he says, I have great sadness, referring to the sorrow with which he grieved over his past state of sin, during which he willed to be separated from Christ.

In another way one can be separated from Christ, i.e., from the fruition of Christ possessed in glory.

This is the way the Apostle wished to be separated from Christ, for the salvation of the gentiles, not to mention the conversion of the Jews. For he says in Philippians: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account (Phil 1:23). This he now says: I wished, namely, if it were possible, to be an anathema, i.e., separated from glory either absolutely or temporarily from Christ’s honor, which would be enhanced by the conversion of the Jews, as it says in Proverbs: in the multitude of the people is the dignity of the king (Prov 14:28). Hence, Chrysostom says: love so ruled his mind that to please Christ he would not only sacrifice being with Christ, which he deemed more desirable than anything else, but also the kingdom of heaven, which would be the reward of his labor for Christ.

741. The cause of this attitude is shown when he says: for my brethren. Hence Sirach says: three things are approved before God and men: the concord of brethren, the love of neighbors, and a wife and husband who live in harmony (Sir 25:1). Then to show that he was not referring to those who were his spiritual brethren in Christ, he adds: and all you are brethren, adding who are my kinsmen according to the flesh: are they descendants of Abraham? So am I (2 Cor 11:22).

742. Then, when he says who are Israelites, he shows the greatness of the Jews in order that his sadness appear reasonable on account of the ancient dignity of a deteriorating people, for it is a weightier evil to lose greatness than never to have possessed it, as the Gloss says, and not as though it arose solely from worldly love.

743. But he shows their greatness in three ways.

First, from their race when he says, who are Israelites, i.e., descending from the stock of Jacob who was called Israel (Gen 32:28). This pertains to their greatness, for it is said: neither is there any nation so great as to have their gods coming to them (Deut 4:7).

744. Second, he shows the greatness of that race from God’s blessings: first, the spiritual blessings, one of which refers to the present: to whom belongs the adoption of sons of God. Hence it says in Exodus: Israel is my son, my firstborn (Exod 4:22). This refers to the spiritual men who arose among that people: but as to worldly men he stated above that they received the spirit of slavery in fear (Rom 8:15). Another spiritual blessing refers to the future when he says, the glory, namely, of the sons of God promised to them. A reference to this is found in Exodus: the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exod 40:32).

Then he sets out other, figural benefits, of which three are figures of present spiritual benefit. The first of these is the testament, i.e., the pact of circumcision given to Abraham, as is recorded in Genesis 17, although this could be referred to the new covenant preached first to the Jews. Hence, the Lord himself said: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24); and Jeremiah: I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (Jer 31:31). The second is the law given through Moses; hence, he continues: the giving of the law: Moses commanded a law to us (Sir 24:33). The third is divine worship when he says: the service with which they served God, when all the other nations were serving idols: but now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen (Isa 44:1).

Then he mentions the blessing which pertains to future glory when he says: and the promises. For the promises made in the Old Testament and fulfilled by Christ seem made especially to the Jews; hence he says below: I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs (Rom 15:8). Now many other promises were made to them about earthly goods, as is recorded in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 18, but by these temporal goods spiritual things were prefigured.

745. Third, he describes the Jews’ dignity by their origin, when he says, whose fathers, because they were begotten according to the flesh by those ancestors who were especially acceptable to God: I love your fathers and chose their descendants after them (Deut 4:37); like the first fruit on the fig tree I saw their fathers (Hos 9:1).

746. Fourth, he shows their greatness from a descendant when he says, and of whom is Christ, according to the flesh who says: salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22).

747. Then to prevent this from being underestimated he shows the greatness of Christ, saying: who is over all things, God blessed forever. Amen: this is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).

In these words four heresies are refuted: first, Manichean, which held that Christ had not a true but imaginary body. This is refuted when he says, according to the flesh. For he has true flesh, as it says in Luke: a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have (Luke 24:39).

Second, Valentinus’ heresy which claims that Christ’s body was not taken from the human line but brought from heaven. This is excluded when he says that Christ was from the Jews according to the flesh, in keeping with Matthew: the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matt 1:1).

Third, the heresy of Nestorius according to whom the Son of man was other than the Son of God. Against this the Apostle says here that whose fathers and of whom is Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all things, God.

Fourth, the Arian heresy, which claimed that Christ was less than the Father and created from nothing. Against the first he says that he is over all things; against the second that he is blessed forever. For it is true of God alone that his goodness remains forever.