die in your sinsV Let this then be borne in mind in reference to that unhappy people, yes, and in reference to ourselves also, if we be not truly and unfeignedly devoted to God, as a peni- tent, believing, and obedient people ]
2. What is expressed —
[The terms, especially those in the third verse of our text, are so strong, that commentators have been at a loss to explain them, so as to render them consistent with what may reasonably be supposed to have been the actual experience of St. Paul. As for his wishing himself eternally banished from God for his brethren's sake, it could not be : though he might, like Moses, be contented to be blotted out from the list of God's people here in this world c, or even to be treated as accursed after the example of Christ, for his brethren's sake. But we need not have recourse to either of these interpretations ; for by only putting a part of the Apostle's words into a parenthesis, the sense will be perfectly simple. He once was as full of enmity against Christ, and determined to have no connexion with him, as any of his brethren : and he knew that, in effect, this was to " wish himself accursed from Christ d." He tells them there- fore, that, having been in the same perilous circumstances with themselves, he felt the more deeply for them. Thus by putting into a parenthesis those words, " I once wished myself accursed from Christ," the sense will exactly accord with what the Apostle says in his Epistle to the Galatians, " Be ye as I am : for I was as ye aree."
But though by this explanation of the text we get rid of that from whence it seems to derive its greatest force, enough remains in it to serve as an example to the whole world. St. Paul know- ing that his brethren, whilst they continued in unbelief, were perishing in their sins, " had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart on their account/' and regarded nothing too much to do or suffer, if by any means he might be instrumental to their salvation. This is what every Christian should feel ; and it is a shame to the whole Christian world that so little of it is felt amongst us. How few can truly join in the solemn appeal which is here made to the heart-searching God ! Instead of an appeal to God respecting the greatness and continuance of our sorrow on behalf of the Jewish nation, does not con- science rather call for a confession, that we have had no more heaviness or sorrow of heart for them, than if they had been
b John viii. 24. c Exod. xxxii. 32.
d See Isai. xxviii. 15. where the effect is put for the cause precisely in a similar way.
e Gal. iv. 12. For a fuller explanation of the text, see the pie- ceding Discourse.