START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 10:5-15
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OBSERVE:
Paul continues to explore the dichotomy between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith. Our lectionary text is a part of a larger discussion of Paul’s compassion for Israel and the validity of the law of Moses.
He prefaces our passage by once again expressing his concern for his own people:
Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:1-3).
His point is that his brothers in Judaism are devoted to seeking God, but they are misguided.
There are two really important points that Paul makes about the righteousness of the law in these verses that we must emphasize before we continue.
First, that no one can be saved by attempting to establish their own righteousness. Paul has established this as a first principle at the very beginning of his letter to the Romans:
by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight (Romans 3:20).
Our own efforts to achieve righteousness by our works — legalism, asceticism, ritualism — cannot achieve that righteousness. Paul follows up on Romans 3:20 with this clear statement:
For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:22-23).
He is saying that no human beings are capable of saving themselves — and this includes not only the Gentiles who were without the benefit of the law and the covenants, but also the Jews who were blessed with them.
The second important point is this:
For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:3-4).
There is a righteousness revealed by God and imputed to all who believe in Christ, because Christ fulfills the law perfectly as the sinless Son of God, both in his perfect life and his atoning sacrificial death. Jesus has done all of this on our behalf because we are unable to do so on our own behalf.
This leads into the lectionary text for this week. Paul points out the tension between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith:
For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
Note that he quotes Leviticus 18:5, a verse from the Torah, the law of Moses. He is making the point that he makes elsewhere in Galatians, that the attempt to establish one’s own righteousness by works of the law requires perfect obedience — which is impossible:
For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Galatians 3:10. Emphasis mine).
And so Paul, who is no slouch when it comes to the Hebrew Scriptures, begins to support his thesis that the true righteousness is established by faith. In rapid succession he quotes the very book invoked by his Jewish brethren to prove his point about Christ as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. He quotes Deuteronomy 30:12,13, and 14 to describe the process of a person awakening to the fact that he or she cannot reach heaven by their own strength, but through inward faith in what Christ has done:
But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach….
In other words, we can’t climb the stairway to heaven to reach Christ, and we can’t raise Christ from the dead. God has taken the initiative for us in Christ.
Paul’s use of the Hebrew Scriptures is a reminder that he believes the Gospel is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, not a disconnect from them.
He then clearly outlines what is required for salvation. This is the word of faith that he preaches:
if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
This is the fundamental profession of faith required of all who become Christians. To confess Jesus as Lord, is to affirm that we have submitted to his authority. And to believe in our hearts that he has been raised from the dead is the sine qua non (without which there is nothing) of the historical Christian faith and Christ’s saving act. This is the singular beginning of the Christian experience — an outward witness to one’s faith, and an inward conviction of the fundamental truth of the Gospel.
Paul resumes his use of the Hebrew Scriptures to provide evidence for these claims:
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”
This quote is a reference to Isaiah 28:16. We note that the reader who checks out this quote may be surprised. The Hebrew translation into English in the WEB (World English Bible) is:
He who believes shall not act hastily.
It is instructive to remember that Paul was likely quoting from the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, which had been translated into Greek around the third century B.C.
Paul then returns to his premise, that our humanity and our source of salvation is the same:
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.
In other words, God’s grace revealed in Christ is received in the same way by everyone, regardless of ethnicity or genetics — through faith. Paul makes the same argument in a letter that parallels Romans in many ways:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:27-29).
Paul asserts that whoever calls on Christ by faith is saved — no matter their race, their ethnicity, their nationality, their religious background. He again quotes the Hebrew Scriptures, from Joel 2:32:
For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
In other words, Paul believes that salvation is universally offered to whomever will call upon the Lord, profess faith in Christ and believe in their hearts. The Apostle Peter quotes the same passage from Joel when he preaches the first Christian sermon in the book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost:
It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21).
Finally, Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions that imply their own answer:
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
The answers, in order, are clear.
- First, unless we believe in the Lord, we will not call upon him.
- Second, unless we have heard the message of the Gospel, we cannot believe.
- Third, we hear the Gospel because someone has told us — a preacher, yes, but also a Sunday School teacher, a youth director, a friend.
- And fourth, Paul suggests that those who bear witness to the Gospel of Christ are sent by God.
And once again, he quotes the Hebrew Bible to prove his point, from Isaiah 52:7:
As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
There is a simple logic here. When we call upon the name of the Lord and place our trust in him, we shall be saved. But it is necessary for us to have heard the Gospel in order to call upon his name. And we hear because of those who have been sent by God to proclaim the Gospel. As Jesus tells the disciples in the Gospel of Matthew:
Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).
APPLY:
What is essential to the Christian identity? How, then, are we to be saved?
First, salvation is something that God does. We don’t. Attempts to establish our own righteousness only end in frustration. Salvation is a gift of God that we access only through faith.
Second, salvation is only possible through faith in the risen Christ, and the willingness to openly profess that Jesus is Lord. This means that Jesus becomes the ruler and authority in our lives, with no other competition.
Third, salvation is universally offered to all who will call upon the name of the Lord — regardless of nationality or ethnicity or any other division. Salvation is not restricted to any exclusive group or club or even a particular church.
Fourth, salvation is a gift that is shared from person to person to person. Someone told us about this gift of salvation in Christ because someone told them, and someone told them, going all the way back to the day of Pentecost, or even the Great Commission! We believe because someone has shared the story throughout the millennia. And we are to share the story with others as well. Good news is contagious.
RESPOND:
When I was nineteen, I was in a dark night of the soul. I was a Freshman in college, and I had lost whatever childhood certainties I had. I was an agnostic at best, and a Hedonistic “practical” atheist at worst.
But when I was on an airplane returning back to college from Thanksgiving break, a guy named Doug sat next to me, and we talked about God, and reality, and hope, and meaning. It didn’t happen all at once. In fact, it was probably a month later that I came to the moment when I called upon the name of the Lord.
And I thank God for the beautiful feet that brought the Good News of peace to me.
We can never underestimate the importance of a witness in helping us turn toward Christ.
The salvation message — what I was taught to call the Roman Road of Salvation — is a useful method of sharing the “plan of salvation”:
- Everyone needs salvation because all have sinned — Romans 3:10-12, 23.
- The consequence of sin is death and separation from God — Romans 6:23.
- Because God loves us, Christ died for our sins and paid the price for our sins — Romans 5:8.
- Through our profession of faith in Christ we receive salvation and eternal life — Romans 10:9-10, 13.
- Salvation brings peace with God and deliverance from condemnation — Romans 5:1; 8:1.
While all of that is true, and I internalized this message as a new-born Christian, I also came to understand that this experience of justification by faith was just the beginning in my relationship with God. I have continued to grow in my relationship with God — with progressions as well as the occasional declines. I would add to the traditional Roman Road a few other “intersections” (although these are not exhaustive. There may be many more):
- Through the Holy Spirit, I can have an assurance of faith through his witness in my spirit, and know that I am a co-heir with Christ — Romans 8:14-17.
- That through faith in Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, I am to be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ — Romans 8:29; 12:1-2.
This is the best news in all the world — and I have been happy to devote my entire adult life to sharing this news with others.
How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
Lord, your mighty acts of salvation begin and end with you. Thank you for condescending to share your grace with me and with the world. I call upon your name, and seek to share your truths with the world. Amen.
PHOTOS:
"Romans 10:9-10" by Church Iglesia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 