'I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.'
(Romans 9:1-5)
Hello there,
Paul was a Jew, and also a Pharisee prior to his conversion.
His love for his brethren, according to the flesh, was not diminished after his conversion. He loved them so much that he could say what he did in the verses above. This whole chapter was not about the spiritual salvation of individual sinners, but about racial and dispensational privilege and blessing, and that is the light in which Romans 9:13, 'Jacob (have) I loved, but Esau (have) I hated' should be taken. It was the race of which Esau was the head which God hated, (because of their behaviour towards His People Israel) just as it was the race of which Jacob was the head which God loved. The sin of Esau, which led to this is clearly seen in Genesis 25, Esau despised his birthright, and bartered it for 'a mess of pottage' , which showed his profanity, and so a place of repentance was denied him, and he forfeited his birthright. This was not about his eternal destiny, but of his birthright, as the firstborn son.
Jacob who was re-named ISRAEL (and his offspring) God loves still, even though they are, 'not my People,' at present:- and therefore so should we.
In Christ Jesus
Chris