Commentaires bibliques

I could wish (ἠυχόμην)

Or pray as 2 Corinthians 13:7, 2 Corinthians 13:9; James 5:16. Lit., I was wishing; but the imperfect here has a tentative force, implying the wish begun, but stopped at the outset by some antecedent consideration which renders it impossible, so that, practically, it was not entertained at all. So Paul of Onesimus: "Whom I could have wished (ἐβουλόμην) to keep with me," if it had not been too much to ask (Plm 1:13). Paul would wish to save his countrymen, even at such sacrifice, if it were morally possible. Others, however, explain the imperfect as stating an actual wish formerly entertained.

Accursed from Christ (ἀνάθεμα ἀπὸ τοῦ χριστοῦ)

Compare Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Corinthians 16:22. See on offerings, Luke 21:5. Set apart to destruction and so separated from Christ (Philippians 1:21; Philippians 3:8, Philippians 3:20). An expression of deep devotion. "It is not easy to estimate the measure of love in a Moses and a Paul. For our limited reason does not grasp it, as the child cannot comprehend the courage of warriors" (Bengel). Compare Moses, Exodus 32:32.

I could wish (ηυχομην). Idiomatic imperfect, "I was on the point of wishing." We can see that ευχομα (I do wish) would be wrong to say. Αν ηυχομην would mean that he does not wish (conclusion of second class condition). Αν ηυχομην would be conclusion of fourth class condition and too remote. He is shut up to the imperfect indicative (Robertson, Grammar, p. 886). Anathema (αναθεμα). See for this word as distinct from αναθημα (offering) 1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 1:8 I myself (αυτος εγω). Nominative with the infinitive εινα and agreeing with subject of ηυχομην. According to the flesh (κατα σαρκα). As distinguished from Paul's Christian brethren.

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Romans 9:3. ηὐχόμην γὰρ ἀνάθεμα εἶναι κ.τ.λ. For I could wish that I myself were anathema, etc. For the omission of ἂν see Acts 25:22, Galatians 4:20. Paul could wish this if it were a wish that could be realised for the good of Israel. The form of expression implies that the wish had actually been conceived, but in such sentences “the context alone implies what the present state of mind is” (Burton, Moods and Tenses, § 33). ἀνάθεμα is to be construed with ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ: the idea of separation from Christ, final and fatal separation, is conveyed. For the construction cf. Galatians 5:4 (κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ). ἀνάθεμα Galatians 1:8 f., 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Corinthians 16:22 is the equivalent of the Hebrew חֶרֶם, Deuteronomy 7:26, Joshua 7:12—that which is put under the ban, and irrevocably devoted to destruction. It is beside the mark to speak of such an utterance as this as unethical. Rather might we call it with Dorner “a spark from the fire of Christ’s substitutionary love”. There is a passion in it more profound even than that of Moses’ prayer in Exodus 32:32. Moses identifies himself with his people, and if they cannot be saved would perish with them; Paul could find it in his heart, were it possible, to perish for them. τῶν συγγενῶν μου κατὰ σάρκα distinguishes these from his Christian brethren.

Romans 9:3. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ ( The word αναθεμα, here rendered accursed, answers to the Hebrew word חרם, cherem, which signifies what is devoted to destruction. And, as the Jewish nation was now an anathema, destined to destruction, Mr. Locke supposes that Paul, to express his affection for them, here says that he could wish, provided he could thereby save them from it, to become an anathema, or to be devoted to destruction himself, in their stead. In other words, that he could be content “that Christ should give him up to such calamities as these, to which the Jewish people were doomed for rejecting him; so that if they could all be centred in one person, he would be willing they should unite in him, could he thereby be a means of saving his countrymen. This is the interpretation of Dr. Samuel Clarke, (see his Seventeen Sermons, p. 340.) To the same purpose nearly is Goodwin’s exposition of the passage: “It seems,” says he, “to mean, that he was willing to be looked upon, and in every respect dealt with in the world, as if he were accursed by Christ, and so worthy of all ignominy, punishment, tortures, and death, that could be inflicted on him: such as were wont to be inflicted on persons, who, for some hateful crime, were devoted to utter destruction. The Greek word is indifferently applied either to persons or things, and in Scripture commonly signifies such, in either kind, as were consigned, either by God himself, or men, or both, to destruction, in the nature of piacular sacrifices.” Such a sacrifice Paul was willing to become for his brethren’s sake, supposing that he could thereby “procure deliverance for them from that most heavy curse of an eternal separation from God, which he certainly knew hung over their heads, for their obstinate refusal of the gospel.” According to these interpretations, αναθεμα απο Χριστου, must be rendered, made an anathema by, or from Christ. But Dr. Waterland observing, as απο προγονων, 2 Timothy 3:3, signifies, after the example of my forefathers, απο του Χριστου, in this passage, may signify, after the example of Christ. This exposition is adopted by Dr. Doddridge as the most probable, who thus paraphrases the verse: “I could even wish, that as Christ subjected himself to the curse, that he might deliver us from it, so I myself, likewise, were made an anathema after his example; like him exposed to all the execrations of an enraged people, and even to the infamous and accursed death of crucifixion itself, for the sake of my brethren: &c., that they might thereby be delivered from the guilt they have brought upon their own heads, and become entitled to the forfeited and rejected blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom.” Many commentators have shown how very absurd it would be to suppose the apostle meant, that he could be content to be delivered over to everlasting misery for the good of others. The apostle here mentions his near relation to the Jews, in order that what he had expressed concerning the greatness of his affection for them, might be the more easily believed by them.

Romans 9:3. That myself were accursed, &c.— That I myself were to be devoted to death [or made a sacrifice] after the example of Christ. Pere Simon has it, For the sake of Christ:—Propter Christum. But the first is preferable. See also Dr. Waterland's Sermons, vol. 1: p. 77. The word rendered accursed is 'Αναθεμα, by which the LXX translate the Hebrew word חרם cherem, which signifies "persons or things devoted to destruction and extermination." The Jewish nation were now an anathema, destined to destruction. St. Paul, to express his affection to them, says, he could wish, to save them from it, to become an anathema, and be destroyed himself. Elsner, with Dr. Clarke, joins 'Απο του Χριστου with Ηυχομην, I could wish, or desire from, or of Christ, that, &c. And he shews well, as has been frequently done, how very absurd it would be to suppose that the Apostle meant, that he could be content to be delivered over to everlasting misery for the good of others. "I am so far from taking pleasure," says the Apostle, "in the rejection of the Jewish nation, that on the contrary it gives me continual pain to think of it; insomuch, that [as Moses formerly when God proposed to cut them off, and in their stead to make of him a great nation, begged that he himself might rather die, than the children of Israel be destroyed, so] I could even wish that the exclusion from the visible church, which will happen to the Jewish nation, might fall to my own share, if thereby they might be kept in it." See Locke, and Grotius, and the note on Exodus 32:32; Exodus 32:35.

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For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Were accursed — Devoted to destruction, αναθεμα , as those malefactors among the heathens were, that in time of common calamity were sacrificed to their infernal gods, for pacifying their displeasure, that the plague might cease. Out of greatest zeal to God and love to his countrymen, the apostle wisheth himself anathema, that is, not to be separated from the Spirit and grace of Christ (for so he should have sinned), but from the comforts of Christ, the happiness that comes in by Christ, as one well interpreteth it. Charitas exuberans optat etiam impossibilia, saith Luther; his over abounding charity wishs impossibilities; but his wish was voluntas conditionata, saith one. His love to the Church was like the ivy, which if it cleave to a stone or an old wall, will rather die than forsake it. Somewhat like to this holy wish was that of Ambrose, that the fire of contentions kindled in the Churches might (if it were the will of God) be quenched with his blood. And that of Nazianzen, that (Jonah-like) he might be cast into the sea, so by it all might be calm in the public.

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Romans 9:3

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, etc. The word anathema (Attic ἀνάθημα, Hellenistic ἀνάθεμα,) means any thing consecrated to God, τὸ ἀνατιθέμενον τῷ Θεῷ, as Suidas explains it. The Attic form of the word occurs in the New Testament only in Luke 21:5. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word to which it answers occurs very frequently, and probably the root originally meant to cut off, to separate. Hence, the substantive derived from it, meant something separated or consecrated. In usage, however, it was applied only to such things as could not be redeemed,‹43› and which, when possessed of life, were to be put to death. It is evident from the passages quoted in the margin, that the word usually designates a person or thing set apart to destruction on religious grounds; something accursed.

In the New Testament the use of the Greek word is very nearly the same. The only passages in which it occurs, besides the one before us, are the following; Acts 23:14, “We have bound ourselves under a great curse, (we have placed ourselves under an anathema,) that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.” The meaning of this passage evidently is, ‘We have imprecated on ourselves the curse of God, or we have called upon him to consider us as anathema.’ 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed (anathema);” 1 Corinthians 16:22, “Let him be anathema maranatha;” Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:9, “Let him be accursed (anathema).” In all these cases it is clear that the word is applied to those who were regarded as deservedly exposed, or devoted to the curse of God. In this sense it was used by the early Christian writers, and from them passed into the use of the church. “Let him be anathema,” being the constant formula of pronouncing any one, in the judgment of the church, exposed to the divine malediction.

Among the later Jews, this word, or the corresponding Hebrew term, was used in reference to the second of the three degrees into which they divided excommunication (see Buxtorf’s Rabbinical Lexicon.) But no allalogous use of the word occurs in the Bible. Such being the meaning of this word in the Scriptures, its application in this case by the apostle admits of various explanations. The most common interpretations of the passage are the following.

As those men or animals pronounced anathema in the Old Testament were to be put to death, many consider the apostle as having that idea in his mind, and meaning nothing more than ‘I could wish to die for my brethren,’ etc. But the objections to this interpretation are serious. Even in the Old Testament the word expresses something more than the idea of devotion to death. An anathema was a person devoted to death as accursed; see the passages quoted above. And in the New Testament this latter idea is always the prominent one.

The connection is also unfavorable to this interpretation. The phrase is, “accursed from Christ.” How are the words from Christ to be explained? Some say they should be rendered by Christ. ‘I could wish myself devoted to death by Christ.’ But this is an unusual use of the preposition (ἀπό) which our version correctly renders from; and the whole expression is, besides, unusual and unnatural. Others, therefore, say that the passage should be rendered thus: ‘I could wish from Christ, that I might be devoted to death.’ But this, too, is an unusual and forced construction.

Others think that Paul has reference here to the Jewish use of the word, and means only that he would be willing to be cut off from the church, or excommunicated. In this view the word Christ is commonly taken for the body of Christ, or the church. But, in the first place, this is not a scriptural use of the word anathema, and is clearly inapplicable to the other cases in which it is used by the apostle; and, in the second place, it gives a very inadequate sense. Excommunication from the church would not be a great evil in the eyes of the Jews.

Others render the verb which, in our version, is translated, ‘I could wish,’ I did wish. The sense would then be, ‘I have great sorrow on account of my brethren, because I can sympathize in their feelings, for I myself once wished to be accursed from Christ on their account.’ But,

1. Had Paul intended to express this idea, he would have used the aorist, the common tense of narration, and not the imperfect.‹44›

2. It is no objection to the common translation, that the imperfect indicative, instead of some form of the optative, is here used, and that, too, without an optative particle, see Acts 25:22.

3. This interpretation does not give a sense pertinent to the apostle’s object. He is not expressing what was his state of mind formerly, but what it was when writing. It was no proof of his love for his brethren that he once felt as they then did, but the highest imaginable, if the ordinary interpretation be adopted.

4. The language will hardly admit of this interpretation. No Jew would express his hatred of Christ, and his indifference to the favors which he offered, by saying he wished himself accursed of Christ. Paul never so wished himself before his conversion, for this supposes that he recognized the power of Christ to inflict on him the imprecated curse, and that his displeasure was regarded as a great evil.

The common interpretation, and that which seems most natural, is, ‘I am grieved at heart for my brethren, for I could wish myself accursed from Christ, that is, I could be willing to be regarded and treated as anathema, a thing accursed, for their sakes.‹45› That this interpretation suits the force and meaning of the words, and is agreeable to the contest, must, on all hands, be admitted. The only objection to it is of a theological kind. It is said to be inconsistent with the apostle’s character to wish that he should be accursed from Christ. But to this it may be answered,

1. Paul does not say that he did deliberately and actually entertain such a wish. The expression is evidently hypothetical and conditional, ‘I could wish, were the thing allowable, possible, or proper.’ So far from saying he actually desired to be thus separated from Christ, he impliedly says the very reverse. ‘I could wish it, were it not wrong; or, did it not involve my being unholy as well as miserable, but as such is the case, the desire cannot be entertained.’ This is the proper force of the imperfect indicative when thus used; it implies the presence of a condition which is known to be impossible. Speaking of the use of the imperfect ἐβουλόμην in Acts 25:22, Dr. Alexander says: “Most interpreters, and especially the most exact philologists of modern times, explain the Greek verb, like the similar imperfect used by Paul in Romans 9:3, as the indirect expression of a present wish, correctly rendered in the English version. The nice distinction in Greek usage, as explained by these authorities, is that the present tense would have represented the result as dependent on the speaker’s will (as in Romans 1:13, Romans 1:16, Romans 1:19; 1 Corinthians 16:7; 1 Timothy 2:8); the imperfect with the qualifying particle ἄν would have meant, I could wish (but I do not); whereas this precise form is expressive of an actual and present wish, but subject to the will of others, ‘I could wish, if it were proper, or if you have no objection.’‹46›

2. Even if the words expressed more than they actually do, and the apostle were to be understood as saying that he wished to be cut off from Christ, yet, from the nature of the passage, it could fairly be understood as meaning nothing more than that he was willing to suffer the utmost misery for the sake of his brethren. The difficulty arises from pressing the words too far, making them express definite ideas, instead of strong and indistinct emotions. The general idea is, that he considered himself as nothing, and his happiness as a matter of no moment compared with the salvation of his brethren.‹47›

Brethren according to the flesh. Paul had two classes of brethren; those who were with him the children of God in Christ; these he calls brethren in the Lord, Philippians 1:14, holy brethren, etc. The others were those who belonged to the family of Abraham. These he calls brethren after the flesh, that is, in virtue of natural descent from the same parent. Philemon he addresses as his brother καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ ἐν Κυρίῳ, both in the flesh and in the Lord. The Bible recognizes the validity and rightness of all the constitutional principles and impulses of our nature. It therefore approves of parental and filial affection, and, as is plain from this and other passages, of peculiar love for the people of our own race and country.

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