For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,
Parallel translations
- WEB For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh,
- KJV For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
- NKJV For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
- NASB For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my countrymen, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
- NLT for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul says he could wish himself cursed and cut off from Christ if it would save his fellow Israelites. His self-sacrificing love for his people echoes Moses' plea for Israel.
Overview
Paul expresses an almost unthinkable willingness: to be accursed, separated from Christ, for the sake of his kinsmen according to the flesh. The wish is hypothetical, for he knows nothing can separate him from Christ (8:39), yet it reveals the depth of his love. His longing mirrors Moses (Exodus 32:32) and points beyond both to Christ, who actually became a curse for his people (Galatians 3:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Exod 32:32Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”
- Esth 8:6For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
- Rom 11:14in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.
- Gal 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- 1 Cor 16:22If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!
- Deut 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
- Rom 11:1I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
- Acts 13:26Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.
- 1 Sam 14:44And Saul declared, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if you, Jonathan, do not surely die!”
- 1 Cor 12:3Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
- Josh 6:17–18Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent.
- Acts 7:23–26When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
- Gen 29:14Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
- 1 Sam 14:24Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted any food.
- Gal 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- Gal 1:8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 9:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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