Paul’s Concern for His Kinsmen

Excerpt

Paul took special pains to let his readers know how deeply concerned he was about his kinsmen of the Jewish race. Were he to forget his roots and feel no pain for the spiritual state of his fellow countrymen, his integrity as an apostle to the Gentiles could have been called into question. What he was about to say was absolutely true. He spoke the truth “in Christ,” that is, in the presence of and accountable to the one who in his very nature is truth (John 14:6). Paul’s conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, assured him that he was speaking the truth. The conscience of those outside of Christ, while faulty, is nevertheless their best guide for conduct. But the believer has the privilege of a conscience informed by the Holy Spirit. Only then does conscience become a reliable guide for moral conduct.

Paul was burdened with a great weight of sorrow. His heart was continually in anguish for his Jewish family.2 In fact, he could almost wish himself cursed by God and cut off from Christ if that would in some way benefit his kinsmen by race.3 Paul was not speaking of excommunication from the church but of final and fatal separation from Christ in the age to come. More

Mounce, Robert H. Romans. Vol. 27. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995. Print. The New American Commentary.