This Week's Focus Passage

‘for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh.’

Focus Passage: Romans 9:3

‘for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh.’

We are first introduced to Saul in his connection with the martyrdom of Stephen. The first information that we are given concerning this man is that those who stoned the proto-martyr laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.—Acts 7:58. Only a few verses later as Stephen ‘fell asleep,’ we are advised that Saul was consenting unto his death. So this man was not only an accessory to the murder by keeping the garments of the men that actually cast stones upon Stephen until he was dead, but he was consenting to that action; he probably had cast his vote for the death penalty against the servant of Christ. After devout men had buried their deceased comrade, we then read of this lion-like Pharisee wreaking havoc upon other members of the body of Jesus Christ;

But Saul laid waste the church, entering into every house, and dragging men and women committed them to prison.

This is very likely—almost certain—that to which the apostle Paul refers recorded by Luke in Acts 26:10;

And this I also did in Jerusalem: and I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.

These solemn words—a confession in fact—were spoken by the apostle to the king Agrippa in the course of making his defense to this pagan king of the charges which had been laid against him by the Jewish leaders and articulated by an orator of theirs, one Tertullus. Paul is not confessing to the charges set against him by this orator, but rather, in the course of his defense, acknowledges that he had been a stern and convinced persecutor of the church and people of Jesus Christ. Just what had become of this stern and convinced persecutor, and just how had the Pharisaical lion of Jewry become this preaching lamb of the flock of Christ?

At the beginning of the ninth chapter of Acts, we find Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, but as he made his way to Damascus to execute those threatenings and those slaughters, he was about to have the most profound experience of his earthly life. This experience was nothing less than regeneration; the new birth, and it would seem plausible to assert that out of the ashes of a lion, to put it that way, this lamb was born. Paul, in his epistle to the church at Galatia referenced the predominate conclusion that had been reached by the most of folk in the church, they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc.—Galatians 1:23.

We rightly expect to see the effects of regeneration and conversion set out in manifest changes in attitude and behavior, not that such things are of any merit in themselves; they are only the fruits, if you will, of the work done by God in a soul because of the merits of Jesus Christ. Christ was quite emphatic when He told His disciples (Matthew 7:20)—and thus has told us—that, therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Show me your faith by your works, James has told us. And again, faith without works is dead. One of the effects of a new heart is a concern for the salvation of others beside yourself. A selflessness comes with the new heart; a true concern for the eternal welfare of the many is part of the new creation in Christ. The new life is one that is being conformed to our Savior; it has been renewed. It is being transformed, reformed, and conformed to the nature of our King. It will weep over the plight of lost souls as Christ wept over Jerusalem;

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!—Matthew 23:37.

Charles Spurgeon added his imprimatur to our comments when he said of our apostle, in a sermon on this text, “What a change was worked in Saul of Tarsus, that he who was so ardent a persecutor should become so fervent a preacher! His conversion is one of the proofs of the divinity of Christianity.” Here in these few words written by Paul to the church at Rome is his exposed heart for the souls of men; for the souls of his countrymen. He has called them my kinsmen according to the flesh. We are not told in the Scriptures that Paul had any other family. He speaks in 1st Corinthians 9:5, of himself and Barnabas having the right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles. Yet we are unable to determine from the Word that Paul himself was ever married, so that the Church of Christ was his family, and his Jewish brethren were his kinsmen according to the flesh. And his heart yearned for their salvation. “When you remember what he was by nature, you will marvel at the extraordinary change of thought and feeling which was worked in him.” (ibid, Spurgeon). He had become tenderhearted as a nurse toward her child. Indulge us as we offer yet one more citation from 19th century London’s ‘Prince of Preachers.’ He said of Paul, “The lion had become a lamb and he that breathed out threats breathed out prayers! He who seemed to burn with enmity became a flame of love.” This is all well displayed in Paul’s deep and sincere concern for his kinsmen according to the flesh, even suggesting a willingness to surrender his own eternal welfare if it were possible. His own words intimate this depths of this desire when he allows of great heaviness, continual sorrow in his heart. And he brings in his conscience to bear witness to the reality of his breaking heart that causes him to utter such utterly profound words; For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh. All he can do is to pray for them and, if they will listen, to preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is all that we can do for our siblings, our children, and others that belong to our own kinsmen according to the flesh, but what a glorious blessing it is to be able to do that much. May we be found faithful in exercising these things.

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church

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