If one would not, another would. Nothing can be more simple and essential. No man can say that they were not desperately in earnest about their service to God. There is a preaching which blasts the sinner with tempestuously angry words; but always Paul speaks the truth in love. Those that will be found faithful have need to be very bold. In heaven it will fill us perfectly; but there is no more perfect joy there, nor anything. Faith comes by the word of God reaching our minds, and our knowing and understanding it. What he meant was: "Christ is the end of legalism." Where then is boasting? The first words express the design of the apostle through these verses, that there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, but they stand upon the same level in point of acceptance with God. God doth not save any nor reject any because they are Jews, nor because they are Greeks, but doth equally accept both upon gospel terms: There is no difference. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Thus, how can your father have the forgiveness of sins which is essential for fellowship with God?" It would come by hearing. It is an appeal to listen to the prophets who long ago declared that faith is the only way to God, and that that way is open to every man. Be it so then; it was a foolish nation by which Moses declared they should be angered. He shall come, says one Testament, out of Zion. On earth peace,Luke 2:14. Both meanings could have been in Pauls mind. II. Beneath it there runs the conviction that there are certain kinds of ignorance which are inexcusable. So I believe it. The prescribed method is, Seek and find; this is a rule for us, not a rule for God, who is often found of those that do not seek. When the preacher takes up one by one the soul difficulties which prevent man from seeing what faith is, and keep him away from looking to Christ, and when he tries to show, as he should, that all the hope of the sinner lies out of himself, none of it in himself, that all his help for salvation is laid upon one that is mighty, even Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that he must look away from his own feelings, and prayings, and doings, and even away from his own believings as any ground of confidence, and must rest simply and alone upon the one sacrifice of Jesus; it has often happened that faith has come through the hearing of such an explanatory word. 1. Thereby is identification with His death. Seeing that without faith it is impossible to please God, the grace supposed to be conveyed by the mere participation in sacraments is of small value, it cannot give the cardinal requisite for acceptance before God. Apparently the meaning is: "What if the message was so difficult to grasp that even when Israel did hear it they were unable to grasp its significance?" 7). In Romans 3:26, why not translate dikaiosuns as "justice" rather than "righteousness?". The judgments of God will fall on man as man, but the heaviest blows are reserved for Christendom. God Logos in John 1:1 is diffrent than Christ Christos in Romans 10:17. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by [or because of] his Spirit that dwelleth in you.". Assuredly; yet, nevertheless, it was not necessary for the apostle to mention those facts here. The earth, or, at least, the Jewish nation, had been familiar with such dealings of God in times past. (that is, to bring Christ again from the dead.) (iii) There is the ignorance which is in essence a lie. Hear you what God the Lord speaketh, and hear nothing else. It is not a question of creature-standing. "But how can people call for help if they dont know who to trust? They beat up on him the other day. If what is possible? Now that God has revealed Himself in the gospel, it is not what will suit man on earth, but what is worthy of the presence of the glory of God. Jesus Is Addressed As Both Human And Divine We find Jesus being addressed by the human and divine usages of kurios. Besides this, which seems to be a most comprehensive expression for embracing every sort and degree of human iniquity, we have one very specifically named. God often makes people's sin their punishment. For this he quotes Isaiah 52:7. Man goes back to the righteousness of works. Paul wants the Jews to be saved, but they cannot be saved while trying to create their own righteousness through law-keeping. (Romans 8 - Hodge's Commentary on Romans)Moule writes that "from those words, "in Christ," he opens this ample revelation of our possession, in our union with Christ, of . No man can tell. If you want to find Christ, the wisdom of God, you should seek for him as for silver. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? It was in order to this that the gift of tongues was at the very first poured so plentifully upon the apostles, Acts 2:1-47. There are persons yet alive who teach that a babe may be regenerated by certain aqueous processes, and be thereby placed in "a state of salvation." to deal with the whole posterity of Adam as involved in death because of one, their common father, who could deny the consistency of one man's saving? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by [them that are] no people, [and] by a foolish nation I will anger you. "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." It is for the lost, therefore; for they it is who need salvation; and it is to save not merely to quicken, but to save; and this because in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. They grasped the meaning of this offer all right, when it came to them unexpectedly and unsought." To this then the apostle comes, after having spoken of the divine favour shown himself, both when a sinner, and now in his own special place of serving the Lord Jesus. No matter how high the sainthood of the professing Christian, his child (when capable of understanding) must for himself become a personal believer in Jesus. Or to proclaim to them the truth. Every good preacher is in this sense an evangelist: he is not only a messenger to carry the news, but an ambassador to treat; and the first gospel preachers were angels, Luke 2:13, c. I. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith; and consequently, if there be faith in any soul, to this it is revealed, to faith wherever it may be. But what is testified by Christian baptism is Christ's death. How much soever there be of the wit and wisdom of the world, those that are not the people of God are, and in the end will be found to be, a foolish people. To call Jesus kurios ( G2962) was to count him unique. What glory so rich as that of the Christ Himself duly appreciated? You are unreasonable if you sit still and say, "I cannot make myself believe;" of course you cannot, but you hear, do you not, of how Christ heals sinners; you hear that he is backed by divine authority; you see that he really does save those who trust him, and what more of evidence do you want? Every mouth was stopped; the Jew by his own oracles, as the Gentile by their evident abominations, shown already. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. There is no need to explain to me before I drink that the water is supplied by a company, and forced to the spilt by sundry machines, having been first extracted from the great fountains beneath by artesian wells, or drawn from the river at Thames Ditton. For "every one who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.". . The fact is, that nothing spiritual is inherited by carnal generation. How can they call on him in whom they have not believed? He has been telling them truths which were difficult for them to hear and bear. I. Come with the intent to find faith in Jesus; cry to God to make his word effectual to our salvation, and then hearing will be quite another business with you. Jewish religion was based on meticulous obedience to the law. (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.). Obviously the entire Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the Logos of God; Romans 10:17 refers specifically to the spoken word "rhema" of Christ. Now, I know this is not authoritative, so dont go Greek or Postal on me. How far? For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved ( Romans 10:12-13 ). [a.] hearing by the word of God -- KJ (Majority Text) haramtos theou is found many times elsewhere. Stretched forth my hands as offering reconciliation--come let us shake hands and be friends; and our duty is to give the hand to him, 2 Chronicles 30:8. Hence, as is shown later in the chapter, Adam is a head characterized by disobedience, who brought in death, the just penalty of sin; as on the other hand we have Him of whom he was the type, Christ, the obedient man, who has brought in righteousness, and this after a singularly blessed sort and style "justification of life." (i) There is the ignorance which comes from neglect of knowledge. So faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. he bears long, but he will not bear always. But we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Wuest Expanded So then, faith is out of the source of that which is heard, and that which is heard [the message] is through the agency of the Word concerning Christ. On the contrary, the doctrine of faith establishes law as nothing else can; and for this simple reason, that if one who is guilty hopes to be saved spite of the broken law, it must be at the expense of the law that condemns his guilt; whereas the gospel shows no sparing of sin, but the most complete condemnation of it all, as charged on Him who shed His blood in atonement. But they are not even doing the works that God requires in the offering of a sacrifice. "But unto Israel he saith, All day long have I stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.". Study Bible - Online Greek Hebrew KJV Parallel Interlinear Tools The Lord save you all, for Christ's sake. This verse seems out of context here, but it is probably a brief summary of verses 14-16 before Paul moves on to focus on the Jews' unbelief. I appeared plainly to those who did not enquire after me." All through this section Paul has been driving home the personal responsibility of the Jews. Romans 10:17 NIV - Consequently, faith comes from hearing - Bible Gateway This time Paul quotes Psalms 19:4: "Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Glad tidings of good things, but not all who hear obey. But the Jews did so die. Some translations says the word of Christ and others the word of God. Translations differ because of a manuscript variation. I think I hear the seeker after truth exclaim when he heard the gospel, "True? Without God, without Christ, and strangers to the covenant of promise. His pathway follows; and he shows that the very troubles of the road become a distinct matter of boast. There is no language where their voice is not heard. Detail showing hand where bronze spear was once held, Polykleitos, Doryphoros ( Spear-Bearer) or Canon, Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze, c. 450-440 . There is hardly any phraseology that tends to more injury of souls in these matters than a loose way of talking of salvation. (iii) The third objection is a restatement of the first: But, what if I insist that they never got the chance to hear? A man cannot be blamed for not knowing what he never had a chance to know; but he can be blamed for neglecting to know that which was always open to him. I assure you it is not this that we are aiming at in preaching to you. The first is Moses himself. I am crazy about this little doll, but it is necessary for me to get her close to me to provoke her to jealousy.Now that is exactly what God is seeking to do to the Jews. The wrath of God could not possibly be glad tidings. He was in the end killed. Does anyone care? This phrase - v - appears more than 30x throughout the NT Rom. 53:1 where refers to YHWH; hence "word of God" is appropriate here. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Far beyond. Did not God begin in love, and manifest himself to us when we did not ask after him? Verse 17. He points out that occurs at Lk 3:2; Jn 3:34; Eph 6:17; and Heb. That they are yielding to His Lordship His ruling authority over them. You are right when you say this particular verse (Rom 10:17) refers to faith's origin, but the words that Paul is using come from the Septuagint version of Isa. O fools and slow of heart, is this your end in hearing the life-giving gospel of the bleeding Lamb? Hence, therefore, it was in no way limited to any particular nation, such as those that had already been under the law and government of God. But did this satisfy the apostle? Well, I am sorry. We accordingly are dead, says he, to the law; not (as no doubt almost all of us know) that the law dies, but that we are dead to the law in the death of Christ. Thus, their good works must outweigh their bad works. The direction is "unto all;" the application is, of course, only to "them that believe;" but it is to all them that believe. If they do, they will obey the gospel and be saved. Accordingly, then, he confronts the unquestionable truth, admitted by every Israelite, of the universal havoc by one man everywhere with the One man who has brought in (not pardon only, but, as we shall find) eternal life and liberty liberty now in the free gift of life, but a liberty that will never cease for the soul's enjoyment until it has embraced the very body that still groans, and this because of the Holy Ghost who dwells in it. This is the essential point. Did the Jews take the ground of exclusively having that word of God the law? First of all the apostle points out that death has come in, and that this was no consequence of law, but before it. Accordingly he tells them now what reason he had to speak thus strongly, not of the more advanced truths, but of the good news. In the argument so far as it has gone there is a paradox. He spoke the fullness of Word of God, and as such they were his words remembered and written down by his Apostles and Prophets inspired to do so by the Holy Spirit; as was the TANAKH. She addressed Him as kurios (sir). He fell and a soldier kicked him. How can I control PNP and NPN transistors together from one pin? To prove this point Paul quotes two passages. Oh, how nice you look today. It is not doing, but believing; therefore it is what is proclaimed to them, and what they receive and believe. From the very first we have these characteristics of the epistle disclosing themselves. One word in the Hebrew, in Isaiah, is here well explained by two; not only disobedient to the call, not yielding to it, but gainsaying, and quarrelling with it, which is much worse. Not only is God's righteousness revealed, but also His wrath. Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power Luke 16:29-31 Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them 1 Corinthians 1:18-24 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; In the rest of chapter 15 the apostle dwells on the extent of his apostleship, renews his expression of the thought and hope of visiting Rome, and at the same time shows how well he remembered the need of the poor at Jerusalem. What, then, is its voice? I.e., one of the necessary prerequisites for faith must be missing. Moreover, men saw Christ, and yet pierced him and blasphemed him. Does that mean then that God is through with the Jew forever? (that is, to bring Christ down [from above:]), Or, Who shall descend into the deep? I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. And hearing - And the report, or the message ( he akoe), is by the Word of God; that is, the message is sent by the command of God. Since hupakouo (the verb translated hearken/obey) is in the aorist tense (one time action), it points to the time of conversion. Israel is unwilling to accept responsibility for her own rejected position. This is to fall back on a principle he had already used.