1Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them."[1] 6But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'[2] " (that is, to bring Christ down) 7"or 'Who will descend into the deep?'[3] " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,"[4] that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."[5] 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."[6]
In chapters 9-11, Paul is responding with three points to the hypothetical question, “What about Israel?” Paul’s audience
might be wondering why Israel, for the most part, has rejected the Messiah. In chapter 9, he explains first that God
chooses some and not others. In other words, God is sovereign in salvation. At the very end of chapter 9 and throughout
most of chapter 10, Paul explains secondly that Israel failed to believe the Gospel. They rejected the Christ. In other
words, man is responsible to believe. And Paul will reveal the third point (the divine decree) in chapter 11. But notice
several points in these verses:-
V1 – Paul’s heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. Paul begins, just as he did
in chapter 9, expressing his passion for the Jews, that they be saved. He does this, because he has shared some harsh
sentiments, and he wants to ensure his audience that he does indeed care about his own countrymen. Though his words to
them and about them are hard, he loves them with all of his heart. Notice that Paul prays to God that the Israelites
would be saved. Do we pray for loved ones to be saved? Of course we do! Why? Because we know that God is sovereign in
salvation, just as chapter 9 explained. God is the only One who can work salvation in an unbelieving human.
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V2-3 – The Jews are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. They did not know or submit to God’s
righteousness. Evidence of that was their effort to establish their own. Paul can testify that the Jews are zealous
for God, because he was just as many of them are. Philippians 3:4-6 “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put
confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic
righteousness, faultless.” Their religion is sincere. So was Paul’s. They believe that they are doing God’s will
and trusting Him completely and striving with the right motive to please the right God. So did Paul. J.C. Ryle said:
“Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every
possible way. A zealous man is a man of one thing. He only sees, cares, and lives for one thing, he is swallowed up
in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. He feels that, like a wick, he is made to burn; and if consumed in
burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him.”
Now when Paul says that the zeal of the Jewish people is without knowledge, or not based on knowledge, we can’t even
begin to imagine how insulting that is to them. Paul says that the Jews are ignorant to the fact that submitting to
God’s righteousness means receiving the gift of “Christ for righteousness” (v4) by faith alone. He’s saying they were
wrong-headed and wrong-hearted. That’s why he begins with explaining his passion for his countrymen. He’s about to cut
them down, so he wants to make sure they realize that he speaks the truth in love. And when he uses the word, “establish,”
he’s pointing to covenant language. He’s saying, “Look, God ‘established’ His covenant with you, not the other way around.
And by striving to ‘establish’ your own righteousness, you’re saying to God, ‘I’m the one in charge of this covenant.’”
In American culture, most people consider sincerity to be key in one’s beliefs. If something is done or believed with
sincerity, with good intentions, with right motives, with piety, then it is true, it is good, it is right for that person.
But Paul says, “No, sincerity and zeal are of no value if knowledge and understanding are lacking.” And of course,
knowledge and understanding come from the Word of God. So Paul is essentially saying that the Israelites have not
understood the Scriptures which came to them and from them through their ancestors. And again, we can’t imagine how
angry and insulted they would be with Paul over this claim. Perhaps they’d reply with something like this: “Paul, it
is precisely our effort to establish righteousness in our lives that is our submission to God’s righteousness. What
else would submission to God’s righteousness look like, except the zeal to establish righteousness in our lives so
that our lives come into conformity to God’s commandments? We must not be indifferent to whether we are righteous or
not.” So they’re just not buying Paul’s claim. But we’ll get Paul’s answer, his rebuttal to their rebuttal, in just
a minute.
But first we need to see here that we must come near to God in the way He prescribes. We cannot approach the Lord of
Lords casually however we please. He has given us a specific route, through faith in Jesus Christ, and no other way
is valid. It is not by works as the Jews thought. It is not by sincere desire as Oprah or the post-modern relativist
might think. The Scriptures tell us this still today, just as they told the Jews of Paul’s day. 2 Timothy 3:14-15
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom
you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.” That last part is the key: The Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament for Timothy) are able
to make you wise for salvation, how?, through faith in Christ Jesus. The Old Testament guides a person into the wisdom
of salvation only if it points that person to Christ. Most of the Jews missed it. They misunderstood their own
Scriptures. And Paul tells them that they tried to establish their own righteousness and thereby rejected God’s
righteousness – the Messiah; they refused to submit to Him.
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V4 – Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. He is the righteousness
that the Jews should have pursued. V4 is one of the most disputed verses in the New Testament. Scholars disagree on
exactly what Paul is saying. The NIV reads, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone
who believes.” The ESV reads, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Other versions
read, “Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who believes may be justified.” Literally (and I think the best way
for us to understand the text) the Greek text reads like this: “For the goal of the law is Christ for righteousness to
every believing one.”
V4 is Paul’s rebuttal to their rebuttal that I mentioned earlier. Paul says, “The reason that it is not submission
to God’s righteousness when you try to establish your own righteousness, when you seek justification by trying to obey
God, even with God’s help, is that it dishonors ‘Christ for righteousness,’” as v4 declares. Paul here begins a two-part
contrast between salvation by faith in Christ and salvation by our works. First he teaches that faith in Christ equals
the end of our attempts to be righteous on our own. Paul is actually saying here that “Christ for righteousness” is the
end of the law. In other words, Christ is both the goal and the fulfillment of the law. Christ abolishes the law or makes
it obsolete for believers, because we no longer strive to establish righteousness through it. Philippians 3:8b-9 “I
consider [all things] rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes
from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Paul is not saying that the law, prior to the sacrifice of Jesus, was a separate way of salvation. We’ve already seen that
the law was sent to show the people their sin and drive them to the Messiah for righteousness. In fact, the very point of
Paul’s quoting Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the next series of verses is to show that the Old Testament teaches salvation
by grace. That might be hard to see, given the context of the Old Testament passages that Paul chose. But let me attempt
to explain it.
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V5-8 – The right way to be right with God is by faith and not by law. Paul’s point in quoting Leviticus is that Moses’
“gospel,” (“Do and live,” i.e., perfect obedience to the law brings life), is “the righteousness that is by the law;”
Yes, it’s simple to understand, but it’s not really “good news,” not really “gospel,” because, as we saw in Romans 3,
it is impossible for sinful man to obey the whole law. (This was also evident to the Old Testament readers from verses
like 1 Kings 8:46). Thus, what man could not do by law, God did do by grace. Romans 8:3-4 “For what the law was powerless
to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a
sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully
met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” So Paul sees that perfect obedience
brings life, but he also sees that perfect obedience is impossible for all but Christ. Therefore, Paul sees Christ in
Moses’ gospel. Christ’s perfect obedience brings life for all who believe. This is fairly straightforward.
But then Paul moves on to quote Deuteronomy 30:12-14, and when we examine that context, we must wonder why Paul chose
this passage to explain the righteousness according to faith, given that Moses says in Deuteronomy 30:11, “Now what I
am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.” This passage seems a strange place to turn
if Paul is trying to point out the impossibility of self-righteousness and trying to drive people to Christ for
righteousness. Most Jews, as we’ve seen, were striving to establish their own righteousness, so this passage seems
to support their efforts. Moses seems to be saying that self-righteousness is not only possible, but that it’s “not
too difficult.” Paul, however, found the reality to be that is was too difficult. Not a single person other than Jesus
Christ attained the law’s requirements. So what do we make of this? Several interpretations of this have been offered.
Perhaps, say some scholars, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30:12-14 to show, as Moses did, that we don’t have to go up to heaven
or down to the deep to gain righteousness. Christ has already come down from heaven to bring righteousness to us, and He
has already been raised from the dead to justify us. Righteousness is near to us. Paul says, “Just believe.” Other
scholars modify this view slightly, saying that Moses was pointing out how close and how simple the law was. It was
written for them on tablets, “do and live;” it was even in their hearts and mouths. Thus Paul takes the simplicity
and nearness of Moses’ “gospel,” “the righteousness that is by the law,” and says, “You thought that was easy and
near, just check out my Gospel, ‘The righteousness that is by faith.’ It really is easy and near!”
Another view of this text is much more complicated. See if you can follow me: In v6, Paul begins the quote of Deuteronomy
30:12 with a quote from Deuteronomy 9:4-6, which is God’s warning to Israel not to think that their own righteousness was
the reason for God giving them possession of the Promised Land. “After the LORD your God has driven them out before you,
do not say to yourself, (or “do not say in your heart”) ‘The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land
because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive
them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession
of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to
accomplish what He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your
righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.” It’s
not about you.
Now keep that text in mind and look back in the context of Deuteronomy 30 a little further, specifically to v1-6, where
Moses anticipates the return from exile or judgment. V6 says, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the
hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” Paul sees
that the perfect obedience of Israel would only come in the day when God fulfills His new covenant promise perfectly
and forever changes the heart of Israel. To seek one’s own righteousness at this time would be like trying to do what
only God could and did do. Paul reads this with Christ in mind. Christ would bring this to pass. His blood would be
the blood of the new covenant. Someday there would not only be perfect justification, there would also be perfect
sanctification. The commandments really would be easy, as Moses seems to say. But it would only be through Christ.
So each time Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30 in our Romans passage, he sees Christ. Each time Moses refers to the commandment
being easy and near, Paul substitutes Christ. In v6-7, Paul quotes Moses saying, “Who will ascend into heaven or descend
into the deep (to make the commandment doable and easy)?” Moses is saying that you don’t have to ask those questions,
you don’t have to do those things, because the commandment is already doable and easy. And Paul is applying that to
Christ. He is saying, “You can’t go up to heaven or down to the depths to make Christ come down or to make Christ be
raised. There is nothing you can do to earn Christ’s righteousness.” Paul puts the earthly life of Christ and the risen
life of Christ in the place of our obedience to the commandments.
In other words, Paul sees in this Old Testament text as pointing to the day when Christ would be both our justification
and our sanctification (both our righteousness and obedience). Moses teaches that we must have a perfect righteousness
that is doable—but none do it. Therefore, Paul infers that Christ will come, live, die, rise, and thus do the perfect
obedience for us and credit it to us. And then, because of that great justification, we will one day, with a perfectly
circumcised heart, obey God perfectly with ease and joy.
And there’s one final interpretation here that I’d like to offer: Paul, in quoting Moses from Deuteronomy 30, is using
two phrases (Go up to heaven or down to the deep) that had become very common in Jewish literature to stand in for
things that are impossible. Paul is saying, “Look, in the way of salvation by faith, God is not asking you to perform
some monumental task of ascending into heaven, or descending into the abyss to gain righteousness.” And as Paul says
as we move into v8, just believe, because the word is near you. God hasn’t required us to do “Mission: Impossible.”
Jesus has come from heaven to be near us, and He has been raised up from the dead to be near us, in order that we
believe on Him. Those are just a few interpretations, and there are others. But take them for what they’re worth.
So Paul’s quote in v8: “What does Moses say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’” is intended
to show that all along Moses was teaching that the way to righteousness was through faith and not by works. It might be
hard for us to see that. But we know it’s true. And Paul says, “The word that is near you is the word of faith that we
are proclaiming!” And so as we move into v9-10, we see that we respond with faith, with the confession from our mouth
that Jesus is Lord as we believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead and the result is that we will be saved.
That’s amazing!
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V9-10 – The word of faith is this: Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead to be saved. What a great couplet of verses! “Confess” is a powerful word. It literally means “to agree
with another.” In this case, when a person confesses that Jesus is Lord, he or she is agreeing with God the Father that
what He said about His Son is true. 1 John 5:9-12 “We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it
is the testimony of God, which He has given about His Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in
his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God
has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who
has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Since the time of Christ, believers have been demanded to denounce Christ as King and confess allegiance to the king of
the land. Failure to do so meant death. The Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s offered supposed
witches the opportunity to confess and be saved. If they refused to confess to being a witch, they were killed via
burning, drowning, etc. In Scotland in the 1700’s, a woman and her mother were captured by loyalists to the king.
They were taken to the ocean and strung on crosses that were stuck in the sand during low tide. The mother was placed
20 feet farther out than the woman. They were then given the opportunity the confess loyalty to the king of Scotland
rather than Christ. And as the tide came in, and as the mother was taking her last few breathes before the water covered
her over, the loyalists mocked the woman and asked her what she saw. She replied, “I see Christ and victory over the
grave.” Moments later, the waters covered her over as well. During Reformation times, Confessions of Faith were drafted
to unify believers in the truth of Scripture. The Belgic Confession of Faith, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and
the London Baptist Confession of Faith are three such confessions. It would do us well to familiarize ourselves with the
theology of these confessions, as they have much to offer as we strive for consistent theology in our day. What a powerful
word Paul chooses in “confess.”
And what is it that must be confessed? “Jesus is Lord!” Paul uses this same language in Philippians 2:11. The context of
the Old Testament he just quoted referred to the Lord, and Paul is now applying that to Jesus Christ. Isaiah 43:11 “I am
the LORD, and apart from Me there is no savior.” 45:21 “Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from
Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but Me.” So Paul is telling us that this Jesus whom we must confess is
none other than the Creator God of the Universe, the Almighty, the Lord, Jehovah. He is the Savior. And the Savior is
the Lord. There is no other. We cannot separate, as many liberal theologians do today, the Lord and Savior aspects of
Jesus Christ. He is not one or the other. He is both.
A Christian by dictionary definition is one who professes to follow or confesses faith in Jesus Christ. But we also learn
from Scripture that profession or confession does not mean possession. There’s more to it than mere confession. 2 Timothy
2:19 “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,'
and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” Titus 1:16 “They claim to know God,
but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” 1 John 2:3-4
“We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not do what
He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” So confession requires possession, and that’s basically what Paul
is saying in these two verses. Confessing with the mouth is part of it, but belief from the heart is another. This
confession that Jesus is Lord requires action, and that action only results from genuine belief from the heart.
Notice that the believing actually precedes the confessing (v10). Confession is the outward and audible expression of
one’s inward faith. Many have an intellectual, head-knowledge concerning Christ, but this is not enough (see Acts 8:37 –
the missing verse). God works in a person’s heart to bring them to salvation (Acts 16:14). When Paul tells us in 1
Corinthians 12:3 that “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit,” he is not saying that intellectual
assent cannot be achieved by unbelievers. He is saying that a genuine confession, which requires more than lip-service,
cannot be made by unbelievers. Everyone who truly believes will confess Christ. However not everyone who confesses
Christ is a true believer. Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I
never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’” The gospel must be obeyed from the heart. Notice again Paul’s prayer in
Romans 6:17 “Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching
to which you were entrusted.” It is from the heart that our actions become realities. Luke 6:45 “The good man brings
good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in
his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Matthew 15:19 “Out of the heart come evil thoughts
[and deeds], murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
So we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that what? God raised Him from the dead. Belief in the bodily
resurrection of Christ is essential for salvation. Our faith is in a living Savior. Romans 4:25 “Christ was raised for
our justification.” 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can
some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ
has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Again, what a great
pair of verses here in Romans 10:9-10!
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6) V11-13 – Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now to conclude tonight’s study, notice again
that Paul, as he has done throughout this passage, is emphasizing that the Old Testament teaches the way of salvation by
grace through faith in the Messiah. Why should people, especially the Jews, trust in God for salvation? Because their
Scriptures say so. Even the law, says Paul, teaches salvation by grace through faith. And if we truly believe on Christ
then we will not be ashamed of Him, and therefore we will gladly confess Him and obey the Gospel from the heart as He
enables us and works in us to do so.
Paul says in v12, “There is no difference,” and he said the same thing in Romans 3:22. In that passage “there is no
difference,” because Jew and Gentile alike have sinned and are condemned. In this passage “there is no difference,”
because Jew and Gentile alike have the same Savior who will pour out the riches of His glory (Romans 9:23) to all who
call on His name. All kinds of men without distinction are condemned due to the same sinfulness; all kinds of men
without distinction are saved by the same Savior. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (with sincere saving
faith) will be saved. Praise God!
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"[7]
16But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"[8] 17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
"Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."[9] 19Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
"I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding."[10] 20And Isaiah boldly says,
"I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."[11] 21But concerning Israel he says,
"All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people."[12]
Let me point out four ways that Israel is practically a visible illustration of our own lives before God: (1) Israel has
the law written down in history for all to read; we have the invisible law of God written on our hearts; (2) Israel fails
to live up to its visible, written law for all to see; we fail to live up to our invisible law; (3) Israel is condemned
by God visibly and publicly; we are condemned by our conscience as an echo of God’s severe wrath and just judgment; (4)
Israel is given a remedy by faith in the Messiah, Jesus, who provides a righteousness that they could not provide for
themselves; we are given that same remedy. So Israel’s historical story and our internal, personal story connect in
Jesus. Their history was pointing to Jesus and our spiritual struggles point to Jesus. And this connection continues
to a fifth point made by Paul in Romans 9-11: (5) Israel missed the provided remedy (Christ), so that we would not miss
it. That’s where Paul is going in this 3-chapter span in Romans. The Old Testament pointed to salvation by grace through
faith, just as the New Testament does. And Paul’s audience might ask, “If the Scriptures teach salvation by grace through
faith, then how did the Jews miss it, how did Israel fail to grasp it?” So Paul explains how and why they missed their
Messiah and rejected the Gospel in this passage. Notice that Paul asks 4 questions in v14-15, gives 4 answers in v15-21
(skipping v17), and gives 2 important details regarding saving faith in v17.-
V14-15 – Four questions. Paul has just said in v13 that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. No
nation in all of human history has called on the Lord like the Israelites. How is it, then, that they are not all being
saved? Paul is asserting that the Israelites are not really calling on the Lord, because they’re not calling on Jesus
Christ with saving faith. They may be crying out to God the Father, but they show that they do not really know God the
Father, because they fail to cry out to His Son. Just last time in Romans 10:9, we saw that “if you confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 10:22
“All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father
except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” It’s more than intellectual assent to the facts, and
that’s what Paul wants to show. So he asks 4 diagnostic questions in v14-15 forcing his audience to get to the heart of
the matter, to focus on the core of the problem.
First, they cannot call on the Lord Jesus Christ if they don’t really believe Jesus Christ is Lord. Second, they cannot
believe that Jesus Christ is Lord unless they hear the Gospel. Third, they cannot hear the Gospel unless it is preached
to them. Fourth, the Gospel cannot be preached unless preachers are sent by God. So Paul is asking his audience to focus
on the problem. Why is it that people reject the Gospel?
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V15-21 – Answers to the questions. Paul works through the answers to the questions in reverse order: Is it because God
has not sent preachers? No. In v15 Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7 to show that God has sent messengers, Isaiah being a primary
one. Beautiful feet are not soft and pedicured; rather, they are dirty, rough, and worn. The messengers God calls are
beautiful people because of the message they carry. We sing about Jesus being beautiful, but Scripture says that there
was nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. Jesus is beautiful because of His message and His work.
Is it because the preachers have failed to share the good news? No. In v16, Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1 to show that Isaiah
did deliver the message, but the people did not believe it. Isaiah 53:1 found its fulfillment in John 12:37-38. “Even
after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. This was to
fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: ‘Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been
revealed?’”
Is it because the people didn’t hear and understand the message? No. Skip over v17 to v18. Paul quotes Psalm 19:4 to
show that the people did hear. This particular verse in Psalm 19 points to creation as general revelation. The whole
Psalm gives room for general (v1-6) and specific (v7-11) revelation. Just as God as given creation as general revelation
– a witness to Himself, to His eternal power and divine nature, so also has God given His Word made flesh, Jesus Christ,
as specific revelation – a witness to Himself through the Gospel. So Paul is “playing” with his audience here. Paul is
basically saying, “If the Gentiles, who had only general revelation, have heard, then surely the Jews, who had general
and special revelation, have also heard.” So the whole world has heard. See Colossians 1:23. But what about
understanding?
Let me say two things regarding understanding. First, from v19-20, there is no intellectual problem. Paul proves that
with quotes from both the law and the prophets. Notice that the first quote in v19 comes from Deuteronomy 32:21, and
then the second quote in v20 comes from Isaiah 65:1. Paul is saying, “Look, both the law and the prophets in the
Scriptures make it clear that the Gospel was clearly understood by the people of Israel, and it was made so clear
that even the Gentiles, who didn’t understand, understood it.” Moses’ and Isaiah’s prophecies that the Gentiles would
believe to the anger of the Israelites came true. That proves Paul’s point. The Gentiles were never very theologically
sharp; they were a nation without understanding, yet they understood the message of the gospel. They never sought God,
but they found Him as He revealed Himself to them. But the Jews were theologically sharp. They were a nation with
understanding, that is, intellectual understanding or assent. But they sought God and did not find Him. So by hearing
the Gentiles understood, but hearing doesn’t bring understanding for the Jew. Why not?
V21 answers this question, gives us my second point regarding understanding, and addresses the very first question Paul
asked back in v14. Is it because the people heard and understood yet still failed to believe and call on the name of the
Lord and be saved? Yes! The people had everything necessary to be responsible for believing; they intellectually
understood, but they didn’t experientially understand. They had no understanding from the heart. Hearing is not
understanding for the Jew, because it must come from the heart and not merely from the head. The Jews were disobedient
and obstinate (stubborn). Paul is saying that Israel didn’t call on the name of the Lord because they went after other
gods and sought God in the wrong way. The depravity of Israel kept the Jews from embracing the Savior. We’ll come back
and look at v21 in more detail to finish up chapter 10, but first let’s go back to v17.
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V17 – Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. What in the world does
that mean? What is saving faith? Paul is saying that saving faith entails believing the Gospel message and trusting in
Jesus. Faith presupposes and requires the word heard through Christ about Christ. Saving faith requires that the message
Christ declared and commissioned preachers to declare about Him be heard and believed. Paul is saying that Israel didn’t
believe the message, not because they didn’t hear it in the sense that is was physically audible and intellectually
assented to, but because they didn’t hear it through the Word of Christ in the sense that is was spiritually audible
and trusted in from the heart. That’s what it means for the message to be heard through the Word of Christ.
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V20-21 – God reveals Himself to those who do not want Him. His mercy is revealed in patience. Paul confirms the twin
truths of God’s sovereignty in salvation and man’s responsibility to believe the Gospel side-by-side here. In v20, God
reveals Himself to those who do not ask for Him. This is in the strongest possible sense, like that of Paul’s conversion.
God compels people to come to Him. God works in them to effectively bring them to Him. This is representative, of course,
of God’s sovereignty in salvation. In v 21, God, having revealed Himself in plenty strong-enough, just not effectual ways,
is patiently waiting for disobedient and stubborn people to turn to Him. He has patience with them, thereby revealing His
mercy. He has a purpose in hardening them, but we’ll have to wait until chapter 11 to hear Paul explain that purpose. But
this shows man’s responsibility to believe the Gospel.
Charles Spurgeon said, “That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are
believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths
cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is
true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that
leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other.”
In conclusion tonight, let me offer several additional passages, like Romans 10:20-21, that teach both of these truths
simultaneously. Let’s notice and appreciate these truths, and then we’ll close in prayer.
1 Corinthians 1:18-24 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the
intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For, since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did
not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand
miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness
to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has
blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.”
Matthew 11:25-29 “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these
things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure. All
things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except
the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls.”
Acts 13:38,39,48 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed
to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of
Moses…. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for
eternal life believed.”
All are sincerely invited, rather commanded, to come to Christ. Everyone who believes will be saved. But none will
believe; none will obey, unless God makes it happen in them. Only those appointed for eternal life believe. Only
those who are made alive by the Holy Spirit when they were dead obey the command to believe. Only those compelled
to come (Luke 14:23) accept the offer and willingly come to Christ.
Footnotes
- 10:5 Lev. 18:5
- 10:6 Deut. 30:12
- 10:7 Deut. 30:13
- 10:8 Deut. 30:14
- 10:11 Isaiah 28:16
- 10:13 Joel 2:32
- 10:15 Isaiah 52:7
- 10:16 Isaiah 53:1
- 10:18 Psalm 19:4
- 10:19 Deut. 32:21
- 10:20 Isaiah 65:1
- 10:21 Isaiah 65:2
Bible text from
Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by
International Bible Society.