Journal

Please use one of the prompts below to get your journaling started.

• Explore your fears and what’s behind them.
• Write about a relational conflict you are experiencing.
• List out all that you are grateful for.
• Recall a significant reaction, conversation or event.

• Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:
  • A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
  • A Guide to Self-Reflection
  • A Chart to help articulate feelings

Romans 9 Commentary

Bible Text: Romans 9:1-5 (ESV)

¹ I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. ⁴ They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵ To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Reflection Questions: Romans 9:1-5

“These verses reveal a fact about Paul that is easy for us to forget: He was a Jew and never lost his sense of Jewish identity or his love for his fellow Jews […] Because he was used by God to bring so many Gentiles into the people of God, Paul was viewed by a good number of Jews as a traitor and as one who had lost any natural affection for his own people.” ^[1]

• How can I cultivate a heart like Apostle Paul’s, of “great sorrow and unceasing anguish,” for people’s salvation?
• Given all the historical spiritual advantages of the Jews listed in this passage, their rejection (for the most part) of Jesus is particularly painful to Apostle Paul.  What can I learn from this?

[1] Douglas J. Moo, The NIV Application Commentary – Romans (Zondervan, 2000) 290.

Prayer