Brothers and Kinsmen

Excerpt

In v. 3 Paul calls his fellow Jews his brothers as well as his kin according to the flesh. Here “brother” is used not in the spiritual sense of fellow Christian, nor in the literal sense of a member of Paul’s own physical or extended family, unless one includes all Jews as his extended family. In v. 4 he describes them as “Israelites,” indicating something of their spiritual nature as God’s chosen people. He is probably already setting up the argument which is to follow, because he wants to maintain that God has not rejected non-Christian Jews as no longer part of Israel. Indeed, the term Israel is going to be used in 11:26 to refer quite specifically to non-Christian Jews. But Paul will go on to say in v.6 that not all those who are from Israel are Israel. He does not use the qualifier “true” Israel, and it is probably not appropriate to bring it into the discussion. He is saying that the term “Israel” does not apply to some Jews. He will use the righteous remnant concept in his discussion, as we shall see. More

Witherington, Ben, III, and Darlene Hyatt. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004. Print