To answer your good question, let’s read Romans 9:1-4 where the Apostle Paul says, “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.”

Paul’s words here do not reflect his desire to be cursed, rather they reflect his love and concern for the people of Israel.  Of course, Paul did not want to be cursed and spend eternity in Hell, but he had such love and concern for the nation of Israel, that he expressed that he would give up his salvation if that in some way would cause this disbelieving nation to repent of its sins and own the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. 

It is impossible for one person to make such a sacrifice for someone else.  There is only one who can reconcile us to God and that is the Lord Jesus.  We read in 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  We also read in John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” 

To any who receives the Lord Jesus as savior, they instantly become children of God as we read in Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”  However, we cannot be born again by blood, which means we cannot inherit salvation from our parents.  We cannot be born again by the will of the flesh, which means we cannot save ourselves.  And, we cannot be born again by the will of man, which means no one else can save us.  It is only God who can work in our hearts to convict us of our sin and bring us to put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul certainly knew that he could not save Israel by forfeiting his salvation.  That is impossible, but I believe he simply wanted Israel to understand how greatly they were in peril and how greatly he longed for them, as a nation, to be saved.

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. (Read Romans 11:3, 1 Timothy 2:7, and 2 Timothy 1:11).  However, Paul was a Jew.  He wrote in Acts 22:3, “I am verily a man WHICH AM A JEW, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.”  Tarsus was a city in ancient Cilicia located in the modern-day province of Mersin, Turkey.  Although Paul was not born in Israel, his heritage was that of a Jew and he had a great love for his nation and his people. 

I remember singing in Sunday School an old song that said:

Lord lay some soul upon my heart,

And love that soul through me.

And may I always do my part,

To win that soul for thee.

May the Lord give all us believers such a burden for the lost.  May we be willing to be used of the Lord to win lost souls to Him.  May we submit ourselves so completely to the Lord that we are willing to follow His lead, no matter what it might cost us in money, time, or inconvenience.  May we truly be burdened for the lost souls around us and faithfully share the Gospel with them.  (CC)  (596.6)