Romans 9:2

9:2-3 Paul does not explicitly say why he has such bitter sorrow for his Jewish brothers and sisters. Yet his willingness to become cursed on their behalf if that would save them makes clear that the failure of most Jews to respond to Jesus and be saved stimulated his agony (see also 10:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 9:2. Λύπη, grief, [heaviness]) In spiritual things grief and (see the end of the eighth chapter) joy in the highest degree may exist together. Paul was sensible, from how great benefits, already enumerated, the Jews excluded themselves, and at the same time he declares [makes it evident], that he does not say those things, which he has to say, in an unfriendly spirit towards his persecutors.—μοι—τῇ καρδίᾳ μου, to me—in my heart) These are equivalent in each half of the verse.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 9:2 . The fact of Paul’s sorrow is stated here; the cause of it is revealed in Rom 9:3 . Weiss remarks on the triple climax: λύπη being intensified in ὀδύνη , μεγάλη in ἀδιάλειπτος , and μοι in τῇ καρδίᾳ μου . Paul cannot find words strong enough to convey his feeling.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 2. Rom 9:2-3 contain the matter of that truth so solemnly announced in Rom 9:1. The parallelism of the two propositions of the verse, as always, is the indication of a rising feeling. A triple gradation has been remarked between the two propositions. First, between the two subjects: λύπη, grief, which denotes an inward sadness; ὀδύνη, lamentation, which refers to the violent outburst of grief, though it should only be inwardly; then a gradation between the two epithets μεγάλη, great, and ἀδιάλειπτος, continual: it is so intense that it accompanies all the moments of his life; finally, between the two regimens μοι, to me, and τῇ καρδίᾳ μου, to my heart, the latter term denoting the deepest spring of the emotions of the me.

Here still Paul leaves us to read between the lines the tragical word which expresses the cause of this grief.

Vv. 3. “For I could wish that myself were anathema away from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

This inward fact is the proof of the intensity of the feeling expressed in Rom 9:2 (for); and it is to this almost incredible fact that the exceptional affirmations of Rom 9:1 applied.

The imperfect indicative ηὐχόμην, literally, I was wishing, has in Greek the force of throwing this wish into the past, and into a past which remains always unfinished, so that this expression takes away from the wish all possibility of realization. The meaning therefore is: “I should wish, if such a desire could be realized.” If the apostle had meant to speak of a wish really formed by him, though under certain conditions, he would have expressed this idea by the present optative εὐχοίμην, or by the aorist εὐξαίμην with ἄν (Act 26:29); comp. Gal 4:20, and also Act 25:22 (where Agrippa expresses his desire, while stating it as unrealizable, that he might not have the appearance of encroaching on the authority of Festus). It is from not understanding or applying the meaning of the Greek imperfect indicative that recourse has been had to so many unnatural explanations, intended to spare the apostle a wish which seemed to have in it something offensive to Christian feeling. Thus the interpretation of the Itala (optabam), Ambrosiaster, Pelagius, the Vulgate, Luther, Chalmers: “I wished (formerly when in my blind fanaticism I persecuted the church of Christ).” The apostle would, on this view, be recalling the fact that it was his ardent love for his people which had then driven him away from the Christ (who had appeared in Jesus). But it is not of what he was formerly, it is of what he is now, as the apostle of the Gentiles, that Paul wishes to bear testimony; and that the expression: far from Christ, may prove the strength of his love to Israel, the testimony must go forth from a heart which has recognized Jesus as the Christ, and is able to appreciate Him at His proper value. Finally, some indication or other of the time when he formed this wish would have been necessary (ποτέ, formerly, Rom 7:9).

Some English expositors, among the last Morison and Tregelles, have made the first half of Rom 9:3 a parenthesis, and joined the end of the verse “for my brethren”..., with Rom 9:2. What Paul, according to this view, meant to express by the wish, was the profound misery of Israel, a misery in which he himself also was formerly involved. But Morison has withdrawn this explanation, which is really inadmissible, and he now proposes to translate: I might desire (to go all that length). The examples which he quotes to justify this meaning appear to me insufficient, and the idea itself lacks precision. Finally, Lange, after Michaelis, has made a still more unfortunate attempt. He translates: “I made a vow,” and explains it of an engagement, accompanied no doubt with an imprecation, which he took, it is held, at the hands of the high priest when he was preparing to set out to Damascus, there to persecute the Christians (Act 9:2). He undertook in some way or other, at the peril of his Messianic blessedness, to save Judaism by extirpating the heresy. To set aside such an explanation it is enough to point to the imperfect ηὐχόμην, which would require, since the matter in question is a positive fact, to be replaced by the aorist ηὐξάμην, or at least accompanied with some kind of chronological definition.

It need not be asked how this vow could ever be realized. Paul himself declares that it is an impossibility; but if its accomplishment depended only on his love, he would certainly express such a wish before the Lord.

The word ἀναθεμα, anathema, from ἀνατίθημι, to expose, to set in view, always denotes an object consecrated to God. But this consecration may have in view either its preservation as a pious offering in a sanctuary (donaria)—in this case the LXX. and the N. T. use the form ἀνάθημα, for example 2Ma 5:16, and Luk 21:5—or it may be carried out by the destruction of the consecrated object, as in the case of the ban (chérem); the LXX. and the N. T. prefer in that sense using the form ἀνάθεμα (for example, Jos 7:12; Gal 1:8-9; 1Co 16:22). This distinction between the two forms of the word did not exist in classic Greek.

The expression is so strong, especially with the regimen ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, away from Christ, that it is impossible to apply it either, with Grotius, to ecclesiastical excommunication, or, with Jerome, to a violent death inflicted by Christ (substituting ὑπό, by, for ἀπό, for from). Paul has evidently in mind the breaking of the bond which unites him to Christ as his Saviour. He would consent, if it were possible, to fall back again forever into the state of condemnation in which he lived before his conversion, if by the sacrifice of his salvation he could bring about the conversion of his people Israel. The words: away from Christ, express the bitterness that such an anathema would have for his heart; and yet he would face it, if it were possible thus to exchange lots with his people. Here is, as it were, the paroxysm of patriotic devotion. The pronoun myself, if placed, as in the Byz. text, before the term: to be anathema, sets Paul in contrast to the Jews who are really in this state: “I should myself like to be anathema (rather than they).” But if, with the other documents, it be placed after the words: to be anathema, it serves to contrast the real with the alleged Paul, who was made the mortal enemy of the Jews in consequence of the mission which he carried out among the Gentiles: “to be anathema myself, I who am represented as the despiser of my nation, and who have in fact the sad mission of consecrating the divorce between Israel and her God!” To the notion of spiritual and theocratic kinship denoted by the title brethren, the expression: kinsmen according to the flesh, adds the idea of natural human kinship by blood and nationality.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_9:2

That I have great heaviness, etc. This it is which Paul so solemnly asserts. He was not an indifferent spectator of the sorrow, temporal and spiritual, which was about to come on his countrymen. All their peculiar national advantages, and the blessings of the Messiahs kingdom which they had wickedly rejected, were to be taken away; they were, therefore, left without hope, either for this world or the next. The consideration of their condition filled the apostle with great and constant heaviness. The sincerity and strength of this sorrow for them he asserts in the strongest terms in the next verse.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That I have, &c.--"That I have great grief (or, sorrow) and unceasing anguish in my heart"--the bitter hostility of his nation to the glorious Gospel, and the awful consequences of their unbelief, weighing heavily and incessantly upon his spirit.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2. That I have great sorrow, etc. He dexterously manages so to cut short his sentence as not yet to express what he was going to say; for it was not as yet seasonable openly to mention the destruction of the Jewish nation. It may be added, that he thus intimates a greater measure of sorrow, as imperfect sentences are for the most part full of pathos. But he will presently express the cause of his sorrow, after having more fully testified his sincerity.

But the perdition of the Jews caused very great anguish to Paul, though he knew that it happened through the will and providence of God. We hence learn that the obedience we render to God’s providence does not prevent us from grieving at the destruction of lost men, though we know that they are thus doomed by the just judgment of God; for the same mind is capable of being influenced by these two feelings: that when it looks to God it can willingly bear the ruin of those whom he has decreed to destroy; and that when it turns its thoughts to men, it condoles with their evils. They are then much deceived, who say that godly men ought: to have apathy and insensibility, (ἀπάθειαν καὶ ἀναλγησίαν) lest they should resist the decree of God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

2. that I have, &c.] More lit. that I have great grief, and my heart has incessant pain.—Very wonderful, and profoundly true, is this expression of intense grief just after the “joy unspeakable” of ch. 8. The heart is capable of a vast complexity of emotions, and none the less so when it is “spiritual.” Cp. 1Pe_1:6.—No doubt the expressions here are the more intense because of the contrasted recent view of the coming glory of believers, and their security in the love and covenant of God.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. This is the thing he appeals to Christ for the truth of, and calls in his conscience and the Holy Ghost to bear witness to. These two words, "heaviness" and "sorrow", the one signifies grief, which had brought on heaviness on his spirits; and the other such pain as a woman in travail feels: and the trouble of his mind expressed by both, is described by its quantity, "great", it was not a little, but much; by its quality it was internal, it was in his "heart", it did not lie merely in outward show, in a few words or tears, but was in his heart, it was a heart sorrow; and by its duration, "continual", it was not a sudden emotion or passion, but what had been long in him, and had deeply affected and greatly depressed him: and what was the reason of all this? it is not expressed, but may pretty easily be understood; it was because of the obstinacy of his countrymen the Jews, the hardness of their hearts, and their wilful rejection of the Messiah; their trusting to their own righteousness, to the neglect and contempt of the righteousness of Christ, which he knew must unavoidably issue in their eternal destruction; also what greatly affected his mind was the utter rejection of them, as the people of God, and the judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, he full well knew was coming upon them, and which he was about to break unto them.

That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. This is the thing he appeals to Christ for the truth of, and calls in his conscience and the Holy Ghost to bear witness to. These two words, "heaviness" and "sorrow", the one signifies grief, which had brought on heaviness on his spirits; and the other such pain as a woman in travail feels: and the trouble of his mind expressed by both, is described by its quantity, "great", it was not a little, but much; by its quality it was internal, it was in his "heart", it did not lie merely in outward show, in a few words or tears, but was in his heart, it was a heart sorrow; and by its duration, "continual", it was not a sudden emotion or passion, but what had been long in him, and had deeply affected and greatly depressed him: and what was the reason of all this? it is not expressed, but may pretty easily be understood; it was because of the obstinacy of his countrymen the Jews, the hardness of their hearts, and their wilful rejection of the Messiah; their trusting to their own righteousness, to the neglect and contempt of the righteousness of Christ, which he knew must unavoidably issue in their eternal destruction; also what greatly affected his mind was the utter rejection of them, as the people of God, and the judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, he full well knew was coming upon them, and which he was about to break unto them.

Romans 9:3

rom 9:3

rom 9:3

rom 9:3For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ,.... Some consider this as the reason of the apostle's great heaviness, and continual sorrow of heart, because he had made such a wish as this, and read the words, "for I have wished", or "did wish"; that is, in my unregenerate state, whilst I was a persecutor of Christ, and a blasphemer of his name, I wished to be for ever separated from him, and to have nothing to do with him; for then I thought I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, and this I did out of respect to the Jewish nation, and because I would not relinquish the Jewish religion; but oh! what a trouble of mind is it to me? what uneasiness does it give me when I think of it, and reflect upon it? But this can never be the apostle's meaning, for he would never have appealed to Christ in so solemn a manner, and took an oath upon it, for the truth of his enmity to Christ, and alienation from him before conversion, which everybody knew; nor was it anything strange, that whilst he was an unbelieving Jew, he should wish himself separated from Jesus of Nazareth, and always to remain so; and his having done this before his embracing of Christianity could be no evidence of his present affection for the Jewish nation, especially since he repented of it, and was sorry for it. But this wish, whatever is meant by it, is mentioned as an instance of his great love to his countrymen the Jews. Many have thought that his meaning is, that he had so great a value for them, that he could even wish himself, and be content to be eternally separated from Christ, everlastingly banished from his presence, never to enjoy communion more with him, or in other words, to be eternally damned, that they might be saved. But this is what could never be, and which he knew, was impossible to be done, and was contrary to that strong persuasion he had just expressed in the close of the foregoing chapter. Nor is it consistent with his love to Christ, to wish any thing of this kind; it would make him to love the Jews much better than Christ; since, according to this sense, he must wish to be parted from him, that they might be saved, and consequently must love them more than Christ: nor is it consistent with, but even contrary both to the principles of nature and grace; it is contrary to the principles of nature, for a man to desire his own damnation upon any consideration whatever; and it is contrary to the principle of grace, which always strongly inclines to be with Christ, and not separated from him; in a word, to be accursed from Christ in this sense, could be no proper means of the salvation of the Jews, and therefore it cannot be thought to be desirable, or wished for. Some things are said indeed for the qualifying of this sense of the words, as that the apostle said this inconsiderately, when he was scarcely himself, through an ecstasy of mind, and intemperate zeal, and an overflow of affection for his nation; but this is highly to reflect upon the apostle, and to represent him in a very unworthy manner, when it is certain he said this with the greatest deliberation and seriousness; he introduces it in the most solemn manner, with an appeal to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and his own conscience, and therefore it could never drop from him through incogitancy, and an overheated affection. Again, it is said, that this wish was made with a condition, if it was the will of God, but that he knew was not; or if it could be for the good of these people, this also he knew it could never be: the best qualification Of it is to say it is an hyperbolical expression; and so if it is, it must be with a witness, being such an hyperbole, as is not to be matched in sacred or profane writings. The words of Moses are thought to be a parallel one, "blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written", Exo 32:32; but that is not to be understood of the book of eternal life; but either of the book of the law, as R. Sol. Jarchi expounds it, which God had ordered him to write, and his desire is, that his name might not stand there; or rather of the book of this temporal life, that he might die and not live. It remains then that these words must have another meaning. Now let it be observed, that the word here translated "accursed", answers to the Hebrew word which, with the Jewish writers, is one sort of excommunication in use among them, and the greater sort; the forth of it, as given by them, is very horrible, and shocking (r); See Gill on Joh 9:22; and so we may observe the word "anathema" here used is mentioned as a form of excommunication in Co1 16:22; of all such as love not Christ and his Gospel, and make it appear by their principles or practices, or both, that they do not, and so ought to be removed from the communion of churches. Now, taking the word in this sense, the apostle's meaning is, that he could wish to be excommunicated from Christ; that is, from the body of Christ, from the church of Christ, Christ mystical, as the word "Christ" is used, Co1 12:12; to be deprived of the ordinance of Christ's house, to be degraded from his office in it, and not to be so much as a member in it. He saw that these branches, the people of the Jews, were going to be cut off, and no longer to be of the church of God; and such was his affection to them, that he could have wished rather to be cut off himself, that they might be spared; and this was an instance of great love to them, since, next to Christ, the church and the ordinances of it were exceeding dear unto, and highly valued by the apostle. Again, it is worthy of observation, that the Hebrew word which the Septuagint render by the word in the text, is used for any thing devoted to God, and which could not be alienated to any other use or service; and if it was a man, or any among men that was devoted, it was not to be redeemed, but was "surely to be put to death", Lev 27:29. Some have thought that Jephthah's daughter was put to death upon this law; but be that as it will, the apostle here may reasonably be thought to allude unto it, and his sense be this, that he could wish himself , "to be devoted unto death", not from Christ, but "by" Christ; and some copies read "by": I could wish that my dear Lord and Master, as if he should say, would appoint and order me to die, might this nation of mine but escape that ruin and destruction I see is coming upon them, as a nation and a church; I could be content to die the most accursed death, and be treated in the most ignominious manner, might they but be saved; a like expression is that of R. Ishmael (s), "may I be an expiatory sacrifice for the children of Israel";

"which (says one commentator (t)) he said, , "because of his love to them"; and it is as if he should say, all the punishment which is right to come upon them, I will take it on myself, in order to atone for them;''

and says another (u),

"the sense is, he took upon him their redemption, and this he said, , "because of the greatness of his love":''

now for a man to die for his country, that a whole nation perish not, was agreeably to the sentiments both of Jews and Gentiles, and was the highest instance of love among men; "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", Joh 15:13; and this is carrying the sense of the apostle's wish high enough, and not too far. The persons on whose account he could have expressed this wish, are described by their natural relation to him,

my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh: he calls them his brethren, not in a spiritual sense, nor in a strict natural sense, but in a general way, as being of the same nation: it is a saying with the Jews (w), , "all the Israelites are brethren"; for the same reason he calls them kinsmen; and these appellations he uses to remove that ill will and prejudice they had conceived in their minds against him, and to signify the ground of his affection for them: and he adds, "according to the flesh", to distinguish them from his spiritual brethren and relations; for though they were brethren in a national sense, they were not all so in a spiritual relation.

(r) Vid. Buxtorf. Lexic. Rabbinic. p. 827, 828. (s) Misn. Negaim, c. 2. sect. 1. (t) Bartenora in ib. (u) Maimon. in Misn. Negaim, c. 2. sect. 1. (w) Caphtor, fol. 38. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

Ver. 2. Continual sorrow] Such as a woman in travail hath, οδυνη. So Gal 4:19.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Great heaviness - Great grief.

Continual sorrow - The word rendered “continual” here must be taken in a popular sense. Not that he was literally all the time pressed down with this sorrow, but that whenever he thought on this subject, he had great grief; as we say of a painful subject, it is a source of constant pain. The cause of this grief, Paul does not expressly mention, though it is implied in what he immediately says. It was the fact that so large a part of the nation would be rejected, and cast off.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

His grief for his nation and people he expresseth,

1. By the greatness of it; it was such as a woman hath in travail so the word imports.

2. By the continuance of it; it was continual, or without intermission.

3. By the seat of it; it was in his heart, and not outward in his face. The cause he doth not here set down, but it is easily gathered from what follows, viz. the obstinacy and infidelity, together with the rejection, of the Jews.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 2, 3. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. He does not say what for, leaving it to appear in what follows. The broken sentence is significant of emotion. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. None of the ways that have been suggested for evading the obvious meaning of this assertion are tenable. One such way is to take the imperfect hucomhn as expressing what he once wished, viz. before his conversion; so that the meaning would be, "My interest in my own people is such that, in my zeal for them, I once myself desired to be entirely apart from Christ; I myself said, Anayema , (1Co_12:3) and persecuted his followers." Neither the natural force of the imperfect here, (as to which cf. Act_25:22 Gal_4:20) nor that of anayema einai , nor the context, allow this subterfuge. Another way is to understand anayema einai as implying only devotion to temporal destruction, i.e. to a violent death. In Le 27, every animal devoted to the Lord (in the LXX anayema) is surely to be put to death; and this has been conceived as all that is implied here. So Jerome, "Quaest. 9, ad Algas.," and Hilary, "Ad Psalm 8." But how then about apo Cristou ? The words anayema and anayhma , from anatiyhmi , both denote primarily what is offered or set apart; the latter being applied to things devoted to God"s honour and service, (cf. Luk_21:5) the latter always in the New Testament used to denote rejection or devotion to evil. It occurs in Act_23:14 1Co_12:3 1Co_16:22 Gal_1:8, Gal_1:9. It certainly means here separation from the communion of Christ, in the same sense as kathrghyste apo tou Cristou . (Gal_5:4) Even if the expression anayema einai be understood as meaning in itself excommunication only (as anayema estw in ecclesiastical usage), the addition of apo tou Cristou evidently implies more than mere separation from outward Church communion. The apostle can hardly mean otherwise than that he would forfeit his own communion with Christ on behalf of (uper) his countrymen, if so they as a nation could be brought to accept the gospel. This certainly was a strong thing to say, and it may seem to us to imply an impossibility, if we compare it, for instance, with Rom_8:38, "I am persuaded," etc. But we need not understand a passing expression of feeling, however real, as a deliberate utterance. The imperfect hucomhn implies only that the fact had passed through his mind in the intensity of his desire for the salvation of his brethren. It corresponds with the saying of Moses under the like strong emotion, "Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written". (Exo_32:32) Bengel remarks well," Ex summa fide (cap. 8) nunc summum ostendit amorem, ex amore divine accensum. Res non poterat fieri, quam optarat: sed votum erat pium et solidum, quamlibet cum tacita conditione, si fieri posset. " Also, "De mensura amoris in Mose et Paulo non facile est existimare. Eum enim modulus ratiocinationum nostrarum non capit; sieur heroum bellicorum animos non capit parvulus.

St. Paul proceeds, in the spirit of a patriotic Jew, which he ever retained, to enumerate the peculiar privileges of the chosen people, their possession of which rendered their present failure to realize their purpose so peculiarly disappointing and distressing.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I have great sorrow - A high degree of spiritual sorrow and of spiritual Joy may consist together, chap. viii, 39. By declaring his sorrow for the unbelieving Jews, who excluded themselves from all the blessings he had enumerated, he shows that what he was now about to speak, he did not speak from any prejudice to them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The original word signifies such sorrow as is found with women in travail; a sorrow continually affecting his heart, and afflicting his spirit, for his countrymen and kinsmen the Jews, upon the account of their obstinate infidelity, obduration of heart, and spirit of slumber which was fallen upon them, which had provoked God to resolve to cast them off, to reject their nation, and to scatter them up and down throughout the world.

Behold here, 1. What are the dismal effects and dreadful consequences of obstinate unbelief, under the offers of Christ tendered to persons in and by the dispensation of the gospel, without timely repentance; the issue will be final rejection, inevitable condemnation, and unutterable.

Behold, 2. The true spirit of Christianity: it puts men upon mourning for the sins and calamities of others in a very sensible and affectionate manner. Good men ever have been, and are men of tender and compassionate dispositions; a stoical apathy, an indolency of heart, or want of natural affection, is so far from being a virtue, or matter of just commendation unto any man, that the deepest sorrow and heaviness of soul, in some cases, well becomes persons of the greatest piety and wisdom.

Learn, 3. That great sorrow and continual heaviness of heart of the miseries of others, whether imminent or incumbent, but especially for the sins of others, is an undoubted argument, sign, and evidence of a strong and vehement love towards them. The apostle’s great heaviness and continual sorrow for the Jews, his brethren, was a great instance and evidence of his unfeigned love and affection to them.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart . [Paul, in the depth of his passion, does not deliberately state the cause of his grief, but leaves it to be implied. His grief was that the gospel had resulted in the rejection of his own people, the Jews. He had closed the first part of his Epistle in a triumphant outburst of praise at the glorious salvation wrought by the gospel of belief in Christ, but ere praise has died on his lips, this minor wail of anguish opens the second part of his Epistle because Israel does not participate in this glad salvation. "The grief for his nation and people," says Poole, "he expresseth, 1. By the greatness of it; it was such as a woman hath in travail; so the word imports. 2. By the continuance of it; it was continual, or without intermission. 3. By the seat of it; it was in his heart, and not outward in his face." And why does Paul asseverate so strongly that he feels such grief? 1. Because only himself and God (and God had to do with him through Christ and the Holy Spirit) knew the hidden secrets of his bosom. 2. Because without some such asseveration the Jews would hardly believe him in this respect. Even Christian Jews looked upon his racial loyalty with suspicion ( Act_21:20-21 ); what wonder, then, if unbelieving Jews recorded him as the most virulent enemy of their race (Acts 28:17-19), and believed him capable of corrupting any Scripture to their injury, of inventing any doctrine to their prejudice, of perverting any truth into a lie to work them harm? (See 2Co_6:8 ; 2Co_1:17 ; 2Co_2:17 ; 2Co_4:1-2 ; 2Co_7:2 ; etc.) In their estimation Paul was easily capable of giving birth to this doctrine of salvation by faith for no other end than the joy of pronouncing their damnation for their unbelief. Yea, they could readily believe that his joy expressed at Rom_8:31-39 was more due to the fact that Israel was shut out from salvation, than that there was salvation. To thoroughly appreciate the full bitterness of the Jewish mistrust and hatred toward Paul we must remember the constancy with which for years they persecuted him, and that very soon after the writing of this Epistle they occasioned his long imprisonment in Rome, and relentlessly persisted in their accusations against him till they became the immediate cause of his martyrdom. Therefore, in expressing his sorrow over the rejection of Israel, Paul pledges his truthfulness in Christ for whom he had suffered the loss of all things, and in the Holy Spirit who was wont to strike down all lying Ananiases ( Act_5:3-5 ), for it was necessary, before another word be said, that every Jew should know that Paul's doctrine was not his own, that it did not arise in his mind because of any spleen, malice, hostility, illwill, or even mild distaste for the Jewish people. On the contrary, his personal bias was against the doctrine which he taught; and none knew this so well as the Christ with whom the doctrine arose, and the Holy Spirit who inspired Paul to teach it.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. That I have great heaviness, etc. Not so much that his countrymen are estranged from him, as that they were without the blessing of Christ.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

2. ἀδιάλειπτος. 2Ti 1:3 only. Adv. Rom 1:9 and 1 Thes. (3) only.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. ὅτι: ‘that,’ introducing the subordinate sentence dependent on the idea of assertion in the previous sentence. St. Paul does not mention directly the cause of his grief, but leaves it to be inferred from the next verse.

λύπη (which is opposed to χαρά Joh 16:20) appears to mean grief as a state of mind; it is rational or emotional: ὀδύνη on the other hand never quite loses its physical associations; it implies the anguish or smart of the heart (hence it is closely connected with τῇ καρδίᾳ) which is the result of λύπη.

With the grief of St. Paul for his countrymen, we may compare the grief of a Jew writing after the fall of Jerusalem, who feels both the misfortune and the sin of his people, and who like St. Paul emphasizes his sorrow by enumerating their close relationship to God and their ancestral pride: 4 Ezr 8:15-18 et nunc dicens dicam, de omni homine tu magis scis, de populo autem tuo, ob quem doleo, et de haereditate tua, propter quam lugeo, et propter Israël, propter quem tristis sum, et de semine Iacob, propter quod conturbor. Ibid. 10:6-8 non vides luctum nostrum et quae nobis contigerunt? quoniam Sion mater nostra omnium in tristitia contristatur, et humilitate humiliata est, et luget validissime … 21-22 vides enim quoniam sanctificatio nostra deserta effecta est, et altare nostrum demolitum est, et templum nostrum destructum est, et psalterium nostrum humiliatum est, et hymnus noster conticuit, et exsultatio nostra dissoluta est, et lumen candelabri nostri extinctum est, et arca testamenti nostri direpta est. Apoc. Baruch. xxxv. 3 quomodo enim ingemiscam super Sione, et quomodo lugebo super Ierusalem? quia in loco isto ubi prostratus sum nunc, olim summus sacerdos offerebat oblationes sanctas.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heaviness, sorrow [λυπη οδυνη] . Heaviness, so Wyc. and Tynd., in the earlier sense of sorrow. So Chaucer :

"Who feeleth double sorrow and heaviness But Palamon?"

"Knight's Tale," 1456

Shakespeare :

"I am here, brother, full of heaviness."

2 "Henry iv," 4, 5, 8

Rev., sorrow. Odunh is better rendered pain. Some derive it from the root ed eat, as indicating, consuming pain. Compare Horace, curae edares devouring cares. Only here and 1Ti 6:10, Heart. See on ch. Rom 1:21.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.