All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
ROMANS CHAPTER TEN
Chapter 10
INTRODUCTION:
In Romans chapter nine we saw Paul using Israel as an illustration of how salvation comes by faith. Not all Israel is Israel. True spiritual Israel is identified by the promise God made to Abraham and faith in that promise. In this Illustration Paul also shows us his hearts desire for Israel to be saved. A desire which is repeated at the beginning of chapter ten.
Now in Romans 10 the apostle extends this pattern or faith into the believers life or his or her sanctification. The principle is the same, faith at salvation and faith in the CCL. This chapter is perhaps the greatest chapter on faith in the life of the believer in the NT.
In Romans 10:1-15 we have a long paragraph with a single topic sentence appearing in verse 2. "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge."
In other words, there is a right way, the way of faith which comes from a knowledge of God, and a wrong way, the way of zeal without this knowledge.
Paul will demonstrate the RIGHT WAY OF FAITH.
Romans 10:1
Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
Paul repeats his statement of Romans 9:1-3. He is using Israel to illustrate Romans 5 through 8 but this is not some sterile isolated illustration. It is his heart's desire for Israel to come to salvation, to believe in Christ and be saved.
NOTICE: He does something about his desire, he prays. And while that is often the only thing we can do it is a powerful thing to do.
Paul does not leave it with the prayer offered, he pursues his prayer by preaching in this chapter and the next to the Jews who have stumbled over Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:2
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
Zeal, enthusiasm, excitement. The Jews of Jesus' day and Paul's day were said to be intoxicated with God. But this zeal falls short of what God's holiness demands.
This is really a tragedy. So often we believers lack zeal. We are short on the enthusiasm we should have when we consider God's great grace plan. And yet here we have those who have this enthusiasm but it is wrong because it is not a result of the knowledge of faith.
Paul uses the word EPIGNOSIS for KNOWLEDGE, this is a full knowledge, and knowledge that is not only intensive but also a knowledge that has proper results.
This is what the Jews lacked and this is what so many Christians today lack. Because they do not know God nor what He desires or even the grace and faith system he established, they have occasional bouts of enthusiasm but nothing that lasts, nothing that is stable.
AND CHRISTIANS TODAY end up doing the same thing these Jews of Paul's day did, they redefine who God is and what He desires in their own terms.
Romans 10:3
For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Here we see what they did not know. They did not know about God's righteousness.
Their failure was in five areas:
They failed to see God's Righteousness as absolute and uncompromisable.
They failed to see God's Righteousness as the demand of any relationship with Him they could have.
ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 4
They failed to see that the requirement of the Law was that man be holy as God is holy.
They failed to see that they could not obtain by works the Righteousness of God.
And they failed to see that there is no one who is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10).
Because of this failure to recognize God's righteousness, they ended up coming up with their own righteousness system.
NOTICE: They saw a value in righteousness but they did not know God's righteousness and so they substituted a human system of righteousness.
The verb is ZJTEW, a present active participle that accompanies not knowing the about the perfect righteousness of God. It means to seek or search out, and this they do, they seek out some alternative system.
AFTER ALL, IF WHAT GOD requires is too hard, just come up with your own system.
BELIEVERS DO THE SAME THING TODAY. They look at the demands of grace and they do not understand it, they see the Christian life as impossible, they see grace as impossible.
I mean, how can we really place our lives in God's hands? How can we really trust Him with our lives and the lives of those we love and the circumstances that surround those lives?
SO WE DO NOT! Instead we come up with our own system that satisfies our need to think we are doing what God wants.
HOW DO CHRISTIANS DO THIS TODAY?
With legalism. Instead of being holy as God is holy and living by faith, we live by petty rules and regulations. When we achieve a measure of success in these we pat ourselves on the back and convince ourselves that we have meet the demands of righteousness.
By a rigid system of Law: Many believers today who would deny any association with legalism live by the Law of the Bible as a means through obedience of arriving at God's righteousness.
They are constantly wanting to go back to some law system, the OT Law, the Sermon on the Mount, the Gospels, verses extracted from the context of the epistles as their rules for life and godliness.
This places a heavy emphasis on obedience but not as we have studied an obedience that comes from faith.
Emotions: Emotions are used to fool one's self into thinking that because you feel good, feel close to God, you are.
Emotions are wonderful if they are responding to the knowledge of God's righteousness. And if you are your emotional expression will be pure and will not be self centered.
Closely associated with emotionalism is ritual: The adherence to a rigid ritual system whereby the believer performs certain functions and in doing so feels spiritually satisfied and thinks that he or she has impressed God.
Benevolence can become a human system of righteousness in which the Christian thinks that by doing good for others and helping others he or she is serving God.
Now benevolence and helping others is much needed and is a vital function of the local church but this function follows faith, it does not replace it.
Christian activism: Many believers today think they have the righteousness of God when they go out and fight for a cause that they have assumed is God's cause.
Realize there were probably more social ills and social causes the believers of the first century could have gotten involved in than there are today, yet they did not. Now when we have the right and freedom to vote, to help in the process we do but not as a means of attaining righteousness.
Psychology: This is one of the big ones among evangelicals today. They reinterpret God's righteousness in terms of psychology.
Now the love many believers have with psychology comes about because psychology does do a good job of analyzing problems that people carry with them in life. As Christians we have too often failed to be sensitive to the need of emotional healing people have. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 5
But the problem of psychology enters in when we go beyond this to using psychology instead of the Word of God's grace to solve the problems.
If they are meeting the demands of psychology, which often make good human sense, they assume they have the righteousness of God.
EXAMPLE: They often end up veering away from the Word especially when it comes to grace, and getting involved with psychological interpretation.
When any system of human righteousness is employed to replace God's absolute system of righteousness the individual believer does not and cannot under that system subject him or her self to the Righteousness of God.
And seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The Greek text includes the conjunction which makes this verse an explanation of verse 3.
The first word is TELOS which is translated "end; goal; finish line; completion:.
In this position it is very very emphatic. Christ is the designed end of the Law, He is the object to whom the Law pointed as the only means of having the Righteousness which is required if man is to have a relationship with God.
The impossibility of the requirement of the Law should have lead the OT Jews to believe in Christ, God's provision.
Jesus Christ was born under the Law and did what no one else could do. He kept it perfectly during His sinless life and then gave His life for the penalty of sin. At that point the Law was fulfilled.
Galatians 3:11-13, Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, The righteous man shall live by faith. However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, He who practices them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
Galatians 3:22, But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Galatians 3:24, Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:25, But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Galatians 3:26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
DO YOU BEGIN TO SEE HOW foolish it is for the Christian today to try to live under the Law that Jesus Christ fulfilled?
Romans 10:5
For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.
Paul quotes from the Leviticus 18 which looks at the relationships the OT Jews were to have with others. This is what we might call relative righteousness.
The righteousness based on the Law, what is also called here "that righteousness", was an appropriate standard for a nation and was given in part to contain Israel until the promise (the Messiah) would come.
It was good for living, it was good for human life, but it was not appropriate for the Righteousness that is required for a relationship with God.
James 2:10, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
Romans 10:6-8
But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, Do not 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 are preaching.
Some may think this is something new, a righteousness based on grace and faith rather than ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 6
Law and obedience. So Paul again quotes Moses, this time from Deuteronomy 30:12-14. Paul goes back to the time Moses gives a final charge to Israel prior to their entering into the promise land.
In this charge blessing is promised for faith and discipline is promised for rejection. The prophetic portion of the charge indicates that the discipline could result in the Jews being dispersed and losing their nation. But it promises that when they turn to God in faith [with their heart] God will restore them.
The issue of this charge is FAITH, not Law. And as Moses was saying these words to that generation he told them that they had the message:
Deuteronomy 30:11-14, For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it? Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it? But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
The grace/faith system was spoken of by Moses and is not something new.
And just as the work was near to the people to whom Moses spoke it is near to these who are reading this Roman epistle.
No one needs to go to heaven and get the message. No one needs to bring Christ back from the dead, He is risen. His word is now proclaimed...
NOTE: Upon writing these words Paul tells us that everything that is necessary for salvation by faith and sanctification by faith is here, it is complete!
In order to understand verse 9 we must first understand verses 6-7-8.
These are quotes from Moses' charge in Deuteronomy 30.
In that charge Moses deals with blessing, cursing, and restoration
The nation of Israel is in view and as a nation they are told they may rebel against the Lord and be cursed but they are also told that they can be restored.
Deuteronomy 30:10 [God will rejoice over you for good] if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
Notice: The obedience comes not in actions first but from the heart first which is where the decisions of faith are made.
This restoration is not difficult because the word is near to them.
Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Compare Deuteronomy 6:4-7
If something is in your heart you are to believe it. If something is in your mouth you are to speak it.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 and 20 the choice Israel had to make is given:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
This was not a choice in which there could be any question, the word was near to them, in their mouths, in their hearts.
The ones to whom Moses addressed this challenge were believers who would be in need of restoration or deliverance.
Whether the word is in the mouth or in the heart it is the same, it is the word of faith which Paul has been hammering away on ever since Romans 1:17
Notice the order which is taken from Deuteronomy 30 and that is taken from Deuteronomy 6:
The word is in the mouth and in the heart... ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 7
That same order is now followed in verses 9 through 15
The word is in the mouth and in the heart...
That same order is now followed in verses 9 through 15
Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus {as} Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
First some exegesis:
The verse begins with two conjunctions, one nominative that looks back to the preceding verse.
The word of faith that is in your mouth and in heart. This is the subject of verse 9
The second conjunction is EAN the 3rd cc IF.
This sets up potential or possibility
Both the verbs CONFESS and BELIEVE are 2nd person, singular, aorist, active, subjunctives.
This is spoken to individuals with whom Paul does not identify. Some other group, the Jews for whom Paul's hearts desire is their salvation.
The aorist subjunctive is used to indicate a simple future occurrence. A time future whereas the future tense looks at a logical future.
Both IN THE MOUTH and IN THE HEART are datives of advantage. There is an advantage when this confession is made and this belief is made.
Both are prepositional phrases using the word EVA, in the sphere of the mouth and in the sphere of the heart.
The word SAVED is the 2nd person, singular, future, passive, indicative of SWZW
Here is the logical future, this is the outcome, the result of the two aorist subjective verbs, CONFESS and BELIEVE.
SAVED as a future passive was used by Paul back in Romans 5:9-10
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Clearly SWZW is used there not for justification but for deliverance from the wrath of God and deliverance to the life of His Son Jesus Christ.
Also used in the same form in Romans 9:27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved.
At the second advent although there will me many racial Jews, only a remnant will be saved or delivered from the wrath that is to come on earth.
The use of the aorist active subjunctives for what man does and the future passive indicatives for saved, what God does, makes this verse more of a promise of what God will do than a demand upon what man must do.
Two statements, one result:
Confess in your mouth Lord Jesus:
Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead:
RESULT: You will be saved.
Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
The FOR is GAR which is explanatory. So verse 10 explains verse 9.
The AND is not KAI but DE which shows some contrast. We might say But with the mouth...
The DE as a contrast makes the first statement of v 10 the most important, and faith is the most important part of these statements.
PRINCIPLES:
Paul is addressing Israel. This is in the context of his desire for the salvation of the Jews, that they would believe in Christ as their Saviour.
He is using principles found in Deuteronomy 30 which is a passage on the deliverance of Israel from discipline.
ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 8
The order Paul follows is the order found in v 8 and expressed in Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
This order is reversed in Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
This is called introverted correspondence of Chiamos or a Chiaism.
The first statement of v 9 corresponds to the last statement of v 10.
The second statement of v 9 corresponds to the first statement of verse 10.
The Chiaism takes the first and last statement and encompasses the heart of the subject. So the A statements encompass the more important B statements.
So then: Confess Lord Jesus = Confess EIS salvation
Believe raised from Dead = Believe EIS Righteousness
Bullinger says that this form is used only in the most stately and dignified presentation of a subject. The most important portions of Scripture.
It demands that the full importance of what is being stated in the chiaism be observed in whole not just in part. In other words, verse 9 cannot be interpreted without verse 10.
In speaking to the Jews Paul uses terminology that the Jews would understand. The Jews he addresses are out of the land which is the issue of discipline back in Deuteronomy 30.
For their deliverance, which looks at either salvation or sanctification, they were to confess with their mouths that which they have in their mouths.
Jesus Lord, promised Servant and Messiah of the OT. Fully God, fully man, the promised one, the Saviour. The once and for all sacrifice.
NOTE: This is confession to God not man. The Jews did not ever pray silently. All prayers were out loud, a verbal confession.
The order today, in the Church Age, for us is seen in verse 10 and in verse 14.
v 14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Preacher - Hear - Believe - Call
When anyone calls upon the name of the Lord with faith (in their heart) they will be saved.
If an unbeliever this is justification. If a believer, this is deliverance from divine discipline.
CONCLUSION: We read far more into this verse than God intended when we make this a public confession for a person's salvation.
SO WE COME TO TWO INTERPRETATIONS AND FOUR APPLICATIONS:
Primary interpretation: The unbeliever Jews living in Rome were being encouraged by Paul to be saved. He presents the Gospel challenge in terms they would understand. Going back to Deuteronomy 30 and calling them to the place of blessing not in the Land but in Christ.
The issue in Deuteronomy 30 was faith and the issue here is faith.
Prophetic Interpretation: Picked up from the future passive use of SWZW in Romans 9:27.
Here we look ahead to the Tribulation where the demand is made by anti-Christ to proclaim him as Lord.
The believers will not do this, instead they will confess with their mouths Lord Jesus.
Result is the opposite of what logic would dictate, grace is above human logic. They will be delivered, perhaps for some by death. But the promise is sure.
God will save them...
Look at verse 11 Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.
In Revelation 13 there is the demand to take the mark of the beast which in Revelation 19:20 includes worshipping the beast (DRRE). But in Revelation 19 he is cast into the LOF and in Revelation 20 those who took the mark and ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 9
worshipped the beast are judged and sent to the LOF along with all unbeliever of all time.
So this will be a very real challenge to believers in the Tribulation, confess out loud Lord Jesus.
PRINCIPLE: The primary interpretation is to unbeliever and the prophetic interpretation is to believers.
And that opens up the applications...
Application to Gentile unbeliever in Rome: They too can be saved by putting faith in Christ and if they do they will eventually have to make a choice. Is Caesar Lord or is Jesus Lord?
This same application could be made today. The issue for an unbeliever is faith in Christ but there is nothing wrong with having him or her express that faith to God in prayer. Confess with the mouth (however today we have silent prayers in our culture).
In some cultures silent prayers are unknown even today so this could be verbal.
To all believers of all time we must recognize that when we call upon the name of the Lord, He will deliver. This is not a demand or a condition but a promise of the Love that God has for us.
The emphasis is on God and what He will do for us when we depend upon Him by faith.
A practical application of this is that whenever we make our faith known there will be deliverance from a lot of the pain that comes from living in a fallen world.
Young people here have found this to be true in school. When the fast crowd knows a young person is a Christian they have a tendency to stay away from them.
For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
The statement with the heart, looks at (believing) faith and faith has a view to righteousness.
This statement takes us back to Romans 3 where Righteousness is imputed to the believer at salvation.
The statement regarding the mouth confessing has a view towards deliverance.
BOTH THESE VERBS ARE present tense. Whereas in v 9 they were aorist tense.
SIGNIFICANCE:
This verse looks at these issues, believing and confessing, after salvation.
They are an ongoing process in the believers life.
As we continue to faith in God and all that He provides we continue as servants of righteousness and increase in the relationship of Righteousness we have with God.
As we continue to confess Jesus Lord we will have continued deliverance in the present. This is direct from God and indirect from our testimony.
Introduction to Romans 10:11-15
In Romans chapter ten Paul is really dealing with only one issue, the issue of faith. That single system that can approach the grace of God. This chapter along with Galatians 3 and Hebrews 111 stand as the three greatest NT passages regarding faith.
Now so far we have seen that faith is not a new system for obtaining righteousness but can be found even in the OT Law. It is not a system just for Gentiles, but for all mankind. We saw that faith is meets grace at salvation and in sanctification and spiritual recovery and deliverance.
Romans 10:11-15 The assured results of faith place in God:
Now Paul has been talking about confessing Jesus Lord which is to call upon the Lord Jesus (v 13). To call upon the Lord is to trust Him. One does not call upon or depend upon or lean upon that he does not trust. So the prerequisite to confessing Jesus Lord or calling upon the Lord is faith. Which Paul describes as believing in your heart.
NOW AT VERSE 11 Paul gives a result of faith reliance: ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 10
Romans 10:11
For the Scripture says, Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.
Paul quoted from Isaiah 28:16
BELIEVE is present, act, participle.
DISAPPOINTED is a future, passive, indicative.
The verb translated DISAPPOINTED would be better translated PUT TO SHAME since it is passive voice. Shows what God promises to do.
In I John 3:28 we see the same root used in a statement that look ahead to the BEMA:
And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
PRINCIPLE: Faith in Christ at salvation removes the potential for shame at the GWT. And abiding in Him by faith in the CCL removes the potential for shame for the believer at the BEMA.
Here the deliverance of verse 10 is applied practically. The normal way of thinking, in human viewpoint, would be to keep quite, don't talk about you faith, after all, what is it to just say Caesar is Lord or in the Tribulation, Anti-Christ is Lord? That would be an easier way.
But here is a promise on a promise...v 10 promises deliverance, and v 11 promises that there will be no shame in taking a stand for Jesus Christ.
Paul takes this promise from Isaiah 28:9-17a
Isa 28:9, To whom would He teach knowledge? And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast?
The first question reveals God's desire which is to teach man knowledge (I am the way, truth, life). And for man to understand the message.
This was a problem with Israel, they did not get the message of Grace, thought Righteousness could come by works.
The spiritual child cannot understand this. Relate to our study on the three stages of spiritual growth.
Isa 28:10 The simple message needed by the child: For He says, Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.
The most the spiritual child can understand is rules, lines, order, and little at a time.
Isa 28:11 A prophesy of Jews being evangelized by Gentiles
Isa 28:12 The Goal of God for His people: He who said to them, Here is rest, give rest to the weary, And, Here is repose,
Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Rest is only for those who believe, not those who work.
Hebrews 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works, as God did from His.
This rest demands that we abandon any production based system.
But they would not listen.
Our refusal to listen results in a lack of growth. So all we can handle is what God has for the spiritual child.
Isa 28:13 So the word of the Lord to them will be, Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,
But now this has a different result
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.
II Thessalonians 2:11 And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,
Isa 28:14-15
Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 11
The delusion of religion resulted in a false confidence:
False confidence regarding death
Regarding Destiny
Regarding Discipline
The final word in this verse sums it up: DECEPTION
A Stone of Testing: The Lord Jesus Christ
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes will not be disturbed.
The stone is costly: God paid the highest price to save us
It is a foundation stone: Matthew 7, the Solid Rock
BUT: They stumbled over it because they were not willing to approach by way of faith but rather by works.
Refer to the end of Romans 9:32-33 Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
But notice the promise that is quoted in Romans 10:11
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.
PRINCIPLE: If you have faith in Christ there is no shame in the presence of God and He and He alone is the one who counts.
The body they may kill, but truth abideth still...
Any shame man may place of you will be removed when God exhalts you in glory:
Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie-- behold, I will make them to come and bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
Isa 28:17 God's standard is His Holiness not man's works: And I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the level.
The Justice of God and the Righteousness of God = His Holiness
PRINCIPLES:
Shame comes when we reject faith
For the unbeliever this shame will be eternal
For the believer it will be temporary at the BEMA due to loss of what he or she could have had
When man puts us to shame it is only temporary, limited to time
Paul expressed this in II Corinthians 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
Faith in Christ, faith in God's grace provisions, removes the weight of shame
You will never go wrong with faith
BACK NOW TO Romans 10.
Romans 10:12
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him;
For the Jew to call upon Jesus Christ as Lord is saying that He, Jehoshua is KURIOS and would attest to His ability to save. This would not be said by a Jew unless he understood and believed that Jesus is the promised Saviour.
For the Greek to call upon Jesus was Lord would indicate that he had ceased to worship Caesar as Lord.
So in both cases, Jew or Greek [Gentile] the statement Jesus Lord is a touchstone of faith.
THIS VERSE ALSO ONCE and for all ends any idea that there are two systems, one of faith for the Gentiles and one of works for the Jews.
Romans 10:13
For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Perhaps as one last attempt to show that there is not two systems for believers Paul quotes the prophet Joel. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 12
The FOR is GAR and is explanatory
Joel 2:32 And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the Lord has said, Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
It is very important to see that in the context of Joel 2, the Lord is speaking to believers at the end of the Tribulation who will take their stand for Jesus and call upon His name...and they will be delivered.
AND AS WITH VERSE 9: SWZW is a fut, pass, ind. so would be translated DELIVERANCE.
Notice how universally Paul applies this WHOEVER...
Jew or Gentile, even Believer or unbeliever: If you call upon the name (Jesus) of the Lord, you are saved, delivered.
Romans 10:14
How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Paul asks a rhetorical question to bring up the argument so may have that they have never heard these things.
PREACHER -- HEAR -- BELIEVE -- CALL UPON
To call upon God is Faith reliance
Call: Aorist, middle, subjunctive
Believe: Aorist, active, indicative
Hear: Aorist, active, subjunctive
Preach: Present, active, participle
And in v 15, Sent: Aorist, passive, subjunctive
NOTICE: The preaching is the present participle, this makes the communication of the word that which accompanies these other actions. Preaching the Word is constant, we then must make the point in time decision to hear, believe, call upon the name of the Lord.
The participles really makes the preaching less emphatic to these actions on the part of the believer.
Romans 10:15
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!
A quote from Isaiah 52:7. The last words of this quote from Isaiah 57 would be better translate: The ones announcing good things...
Isaiah 52:7 How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, Your God reigns!
That passage looks ahead to the Second Advent and the regathering of believing Israel in the mill reign.
But Paul applies the principle to those who communicate the Word of God, the Gospel and all the Doctrine of the Bible, and says that this is the announcing of good things.
PRINCIPLE: The preaching of the Word is to
Romans 10:16
However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?
Paul goes to Isaiah again, here Isaiah 53:1 which is a passage that introduces the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Servant of God.
Literally this says: Not all obeyed the Gospel...
To obey the Gospel is to put faith in Christ, and they did not.
The word HEED means to hear with a positive response. They did not have this.
They, unbeliever Israel locked into a performance based system, rejected what they heard.
REPORT is from the word for HEAR, thus, what is heard. And it is a dative of advantage. The advantage was to those who hear the Gospel, who hear the Word of God regarding Christ.
But they do not believe, they reject faith in Christ. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 13
HENCE the advantage inherit in the Gospel is lost.
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
This advantage was lost because at the point of hearing of Christ they chose not to have faith in Christ. This was a test of faith or more so, a test of where faith would be placed. In Self or in the Saviour?
The first action of faith that has any purpose in the plan of God is faith alone in Christ alone.
At the moment of Gospel hearing there is a test of faith. Hearing about Christ demands a response and the only response that is acceptable to God is to believe in Him.
This relates back to the process Paul described in v 14
Preach - Hear - Believe - Call
Believing (having faith) follows hearing about Christ. That is true at salvation and continues to be true in the CCL.
PRINCIPLE: The more you learn about God your Father, the greater the demand of faith, but also the greater the target of faith. To whom much is given much is required, but to whom much is given is also given the capacity for greater faith.
Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, I do believe; help my unbelief.
Romans 10;18
But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; Their voice has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.
Paul makes this very personal...But I say. Perhaps this is an objection he had even given to the Lord.
The objection is that Israel never heard these things, how would they have had the opportunity to hear and believe the message?
So he quotes from Psalm 19:
Psalm 19:1-4 David says: The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun.
This relates back to Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
This natural revelation demonstrated the existence and power of God. It is a perfect revelation that can lead any man to seeking more revelation regarding God. The more that will be provided is the Gospel.
This revelation cannot lead to salvation nor to a personal relationship. But it can lead man to a longing that comes from an unmet need to know the one who has created him and all around him.
AT THIS POINT MAN IS AT GOD CONSCIOUSNESS and that consciousness of God demands a volitional decision...
Do I seek God my creator or degrees to creation itself?
Do I seek the one who made the tree or do I worship the tree?
NATURE SHOWS US that we can depend upon nature or depend upon God who created nature. We can trust the cycles of nature, the sun rising every day, the course of the stars.
CONCLUSION: We can trust God with the very details of our life and our eternal life.
SO PAUL TELLS US THAT LIGHT HAS BEEN GIVEN even in nature and yet this is not all, God has given more and more light.
NOTE: God gave more and more light to Israel. More prophets, more written word, more prophecies fulfilled. Yet the increase in light did not automatically result in an increase in faith.
PRINCIPLE: Unbelief can reject bight light as well as dim light.
In Israel's history it seems that as more light was given, rejection of that light increased. Unbelief increased, even to the point that when the Messiah came they rejected Him. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 14
So in v 19-20 Paul shows how God is trying to draw Israel to faith.
Romans 10:19,20
But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At the first Moses says (Deu 32:21), I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, By a nation without understanding will I anger you.
And Isaiah (Isa 65:1) is very bold and says, I was found by those who sought Me not, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.
God sent the prophets, God revealed the Word, God worked mightily in the nation, yet they rejected over and over again.
So much light, so much rejection. Did they come to take it for granted that they were a nation established by God, that they were God's people, that to them were given covenants and promises. That the Son of God Himself was promised to be their king?
More light...greater the unbelief.
So God approached them a different way: Have you ever watched a child, a young child playing with a toy. And watched when they tired of that toy and set it aside just to have another child come along and begin playing with it. What does the first child do? That's mine, give it back, you can't play with it. He had no interest in it until some other child wanted to play with it.
THAT IS THE APPROACH GOD USED WITH ISRAEL...
God understand this principle in fallen human nature and He uses it for His glory. He uses it even today to make people, to make Christians wake up. We see revival in many parts of the world, but not here. We see churches that offer nothing growing, yet not here.
God will use this aspect of human nature, our envy, our possessiveness, our jealousy, to get us to realize what we have and what He has given.
God in His desire to save many and to bring many of His children to maximum glory will at times pour blessings out on others to motivate us to faith dependence upon Him.
Paul gives four illustrations of this: First with Moses then with Isaiah.
First, God told Moses that He would use a people who lacked organization.
I will make you envious by means of those who are not a nation.
Israel was of course very proud of it nation status, its government, courts, and laws. Just as we are.
But God would use those who lacked all these finer points of civilization, or government, even the finer points justice and law.
Like tribes in Africa and South America. The Aborigine in Australia. The bush people of New Guinea.
AND HE SAVES THEM AND BLESSES THEM because the put their faith in Him.
With Moses Paul points out that God would use a people who were far less intelligent than the Jew to arouse the Jews to envy.
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.
We have the greatest Seminaries, the Greatest Bible Colleges and Universities, we have knowledge on top of knowledge. And then you go to the foreign field and see a man who has been saved only a year or so, with nothing but a New Testament or like in India, only part of one, and he is winning the lost to Christ.
FOR THE JEWS, we know they are an intelligent people. Over 12% of the Nobel Prize winners have been Jewish. They dominate the fields of science, literature, the arts, music, philosophy, economics.
And yet this brilliant people with tremendous minds, are often confronted by the ignorant savage who is untaught, unlearned in understanding who has believed in the Messiah the Jews rejected.
God's gracious salvation should arouse and awaken His people, but it so often does not.
Then Paul jumps ahead to the time of Isaiah and tells them that God will save and bless those who are less motivated than the Jews.
I was found by those who did not seek me. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 15
One of the characteristics of the Jews had been their zeal to know God.
Romans 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God.
But their zeal was mis-directed and they sought God's righteousness by human effort, by works.
So God ends up saving and blessing a people who were not even thinking about God that often. The Romans, the Greeks, people even today who are thinking about God or seeking Him, end up being saved.
This is to arouse to envy, to make jealous, so that to those to whom much was revealed would seek the God of grace and love by faith.
Even today we as Christians look at someone who has no interest in Spiritual things, and then they are saved and the next thing you know they are out distancing us in the Christian Walk of faith.
And God will even go to those who are not asking for Him in any consistent manner.
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for Me.
The Jews were people of prayer, many prayers, some offered every day and every night. They had books full of prayers. They were asking for God but so often asking based upon merit in themselves.
Gentiles, well, they do not do much praying and they did not do much asking...but God revealed Himself to them.
God did this and told Israel He would do this to wake them up to what they had.
Even as Paul writes this he is telling the Jews to look at the Gentiles, the ones the Jews always considered so inferior, so lacking organization, understanding, motivation, and prayers...look at them, they have that which you rejected.
I hope God never has to do that with us but perhaps He already has.
Now Paul sets up the next chapter with the next verse from Isaiah 65.
Romans 10:21
But as for Israel He says, All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.
What a beautiful picture of God's patience towards His people.
Four Thousand years ago Abraham trusted God by faith and now four thousand years later God is still stretching out His hand to unbelieving Israel. And in doing so demonstrates that He is not finished with His OT people.
Not only today, in the CA, can any Jew put faith in Christ and be saved...
But also, in the Tribulation period, God will again deal directly with the Jews and many will be saved.
I THINK ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING THINGS ABOUT THIS passage is to realize that in order to perish, in order to go to hell, in order to remain in unbelief, you have to resist the pleas of God who is stretching out His hand beckoning you to salvation, beckoning you to eternal life by faith in His Son.
And if God so earnestly beckons those who are unbeliever, do you not also think that He earnestly beckons you, His child, to greater faith and trust in all He has for you, His very highest and best.
INTRODUCTION:
In Romans chapter nine we saw Paul using Israel as an illustration of how salvation comes by faith. Not all Israel is Israel. True spiritual Israel is identified by the promise God made to Abraham and faith in that promise. In this Illustration Paul also shows us his hearts desire for Israel to be saved. A desire which is repeated at the beginning of chapter ten.
Now in Romans 10 the apostle extends this pattern or faith into the believers life or his or her sanctification. The principle is the same, faith at salvation and faith in the CCL. This chapter is perhaps the greatest chapter on faith in the life of the believer in the NT.
In Romans 10:1-15 we have a long paragraph with a single topic sentence appearing in verse 2. "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge."
In other words, there is a right way, the way of faith which comes from a knowledge of God, and a wrong way, the way of zeal without this knowledge.
Paul will demonstrate the RIGHT WAY OF FAITH.
Romans 10:1
Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
Paul repeats his statement of Romans 9:1-3. He is using Israel to illustrate Romans 5 through 8 but this is not some sterile isolated illustration. It is his heart's desire for Israel to come to salvation, to believe in Christ and be saved.
NOTICE: He does something about his desire, he prays. And while that is often the only thing we can do it is a powerful thing to do.
Paul does not leave it with the prayer offered, he pursues his prayer by preaching in this chapter and the next to the Jews who have stumbled over Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:2
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
Zeal, enthusiasm, excitement. The Jews of Jesus' day and Paul's day were said to be intoxicated with God. But this zeal falls short of what God's holiness demands.
This is really a tragedy. So often we believers lack zeal. We are short on the enthusiasm we should have when we consider God's great grace plan. And yet here we have those who have this enthusiasm but it is wrong because it is not a result of the knowledge of faith.
Paul uses the word EPIGNOSIS for KNOWLEDGE, this is a full knowledge, and knowledge that is not only intensive but also a knowledge that has proper results.
This is what the Jews lacked and this is what so many Christians today lack. Because they do not know God nor what He desires or even the grace and faith system he established, they have occasional bouts of enthusiasm but nothing that lasts, nothing that is stable.
AND CHRISTIANS TODAY end up doing the same thing these Jews of Paul's day did, they redefine who God is and what He desires in their own terms.
Romans 10:3
For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Here we see what they did not know. They did not know about God's righteousness.
Their failure was in five areas:
They failed to see God's Righteousness as absolute and uncompromisable.
They failed to see God's Righteousness as the demand of any relationship with Him they could have.
ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 4
They failed to see that the requirement of the Law was that man be holy as God is holy.
They failed to see that they could not obtain by works the Righteousness of God.
And they failed to see that there is no one who is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10).
Because of this failure to recognize God's righteousness, they ended up coming up with their own righteousness system.
NOTICE: They saw a value in righteousness but they did not know God's righteousness and so they substituted a human system of righteousness.
The verb is ZJTEW, a present active participle that accompanies not knowing the about the perfect righteousness of God. It means to seek or search out, and this they do, they seek out some alternative system.
AFTER ALL, IF WHAT GOD requires is too hard, just come up with your own system.
BELIEVERS DO THE SAME THING TODAY. They look at the demands of grace and they do not understand it, they see the Christian life as impossible, they see grace as impossible.
I mean, how can we really place our lives in God's hands? How can we really trust Him with our lives and the lives of those we love and the circumstances that surround those lives?
SO WE DO NOT! Instead we come up with our own system that satisfies our need to think we are doing what God wants.
HOW DO CHRISTIANS DO THIS TODAY?
With legalism. Instead of being holy as God is holy and living by faith, we live by petty rules and regulations. When we achieve a measure of success in these we pat ourselves on the back and convince ourselves that we have meet the demands of righteousness.
By a rigid system of Law: Many believers today who would deny any association with legalism live by the Law of the Bible as a means through obedience of arriving at God's righteousness.
They are constantly wanting to go back to some law system, the OT Law, the Sermon on the Mount, the Gospels, verses extracted from the context of the epistles as their rules for life and godliness.
This places a heavy emphasis on obedience but not as we have studied an obedience that comes from faith.
Emotions: Emotions are used to fool one's self into thinking that because you feel good, feel close to God, you are.
Emotions are wonderful if they are responding to the knowledge of God's righteousness. And if you are your emotional expression will be pure and will not be self centered.
Closely associated with emotionalism is ritual: The adherence to a rigid ritual system whereby the believer performs certain functions and in doing so feels spiritually satisfied and thinks that he or she has impressed God.
Benevolence can become a human system of righteousness in which the Christian thinks that by doing good for others and helping others he or she is serving God.
Now benevolence and helping others is much needed and is a vital function of the local church but this function follows faith, it does not replace it.
Christian activism: Many believers today think they have the righteousness of God when they go out and fight for a cause that they have assumed is God's cause.
Realize there were probably more social ills and social causes the believers of the first century could have gotten involved in than there are today, yet they did not. Now when we have the right and freedom to vote, to help in the process we do but not as a means of attaining righteousness.
Psychology: This is one of the big ones among evangelicals today. They reinterpret God's righteousness in terms of psychology.
Now the love many believers have with psychology comes about because psychology does do a good job of analyzing problems that people carry with them in life. As Christians we have too often failed to be sensitive to the need of emotional healing people have. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 5
But the problem of psychology enters in when we go beyond this to using psychology instead of the Word of God's grace to solve the problems.
If they are meeting the demands of psychology, which often make good human sense, they assume they have the righteousness of God.
EXAMPLE: They often end up veering away from the Word especially when it comes to grace, and getting involved with psychological interpretation.
When any system of human righteousness is employed to replace God's absolute system of righteousness the individual believer does not and cannot under that system subject him or her self to the Righteousness of God.
And seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The Greek text includes the conjunction which makes this verse an explanation of verse 3.
The first word is TELOS which is translated "end; goal; finish line; completion:.
In this position it is very very emphatic. Christ is the designed end of the Law, He is the object to whom the Law pointed as the only means of having the Righteousness which is required if man is to have a relationship with God.
The impossibility of the requirement of the Law should have lead the OT Jews to believe in Christ, God's provision.
Jesus Christ was born under the Law and did what no one else could do. He kept it perfectly during His sinless life and then gave His life for the penalty of sin. At that point the Law was fulfilled.
Galatians 3:11-13, Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, The righteous man shall live by faith. However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, He who practices them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
Galatians 3:22, But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Galatians 3:24, Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:25, But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Galatians 3:26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
DO YOU BEGIN TO SEE HOW foolish it is for the Christian today to try to live under the Law that Jesus Christ fulfilled?
Romans 10:5
For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.
Paul quotes from the Leviticus 18 which looks at the relationships the OT Jews were to have with others. This is what we might call relative righteousness.
The righteousness based on the Law, what is also called here "that righteousness", was an appropriate standard for a nation and was given in part to contain Israel until the promise (the Messiah) would come.
It was good for living, it was good for human life, but it was not appropriate for the Righteousness that is required for a relationship with God.
James 2:10, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
Romans 10:6-8
But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, Do not 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 are preaching.
Some may think this is something new, a righteousness based on grace and faith rather than ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 6
Law and obedience. So Paul again quotes Moses, this time from Deuteronomy 30:12-14. Paul goes back to the time Moses gives a final charge to Israel prior to their entering into the promise land.
In this charge blessing is promised for faith and discipline is promised for rejection. The prophetic portion of the charge indicates that the discipline could result in the Jews being dispersed and losing their nation. But it promises that when they turn to God in faith [with their heart] God will restore them.
The issue of this charge is FAITH, not Law. And as Moses was saying these words to that generation he told them that they had the message:
Deuteronomy 30:11-14, For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it? Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it? But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
The grace/faith system was spoken of by Moses and is not something new.
And just as the work was near to the people to whom Moses spoke it is near to these who are reading this Roman epistle.
No one needs to go to heaven and get the message. No one needs to bring Christ back from the dead, He is risen. His word is now proclaimed...
NOTE: Upon writing these words Paul tells us that everything that is necessary for salvation by faith and sanctification by faith is here, it is complete!
In order to understand verse 9 we must first understand verses 6-7-8.
These are quotes from Moses' charge in Deuteronomy 30.
In that charge Moses deals with blessing, cursing, and restoration
The nation of Israel is in view and as a nation they are told they may rebel against the Lord and be cursed but they are also told that they can be restored.
Deuteronomy 30:10 [God will rejoice over you for good] if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
Notice: The obedience comes not in actions first but from the heart first which is where the decisions of faith are made.
This restoration is not difficult because the word is near to them.
Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Compare Deuteronomy 6:4-7
If something is in your heart you are to believe it. If something is in your mouth you are to speak it.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 and 20 the choice Israel had to make is given:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
This was not a choice in which there could be any question, the word was near to them, in their mouths, in their hearts.
The ones to whom Moses addressed this challenge were believers who would be in need of restoration or deliverance.
Whether the word is in the mouth or in the heart it is the same, it is the word of faith which Paul has been hammering away on ever since Romans 1:17
Notice the order which is taken from Deuteronomy 30 and that is taken from Deuteronomy 6:
The word is in the mouth and in the heart... ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 7
That same order is now followed in verses 9 through 15
The word is in the mouth and in the heart...
That same order is now followed in verses 9 through 15
Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus {as} Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
First some exegesis:
The verse begins with two conjunctions, one nominative that looks back to the preceding verse.
The word of faith that is in your mouth and in heart. This is the subject of verse 9
The second conjunction is EAN the 3rd cc IF.
This sets up potential or possibility
Both the verbs CONFESS and BELIEVE are 2nd person, singular, aorist, active, subjunctives.
This is spoken to individuals with whom Paul does not identify. Some other group, the Jews for whom Paul's hearts desire is their salvation.
The aorist subjunctive is used to indicate a simple future occurrence. A time future whereas the future tense looks at a logical future.
Both IN THE MOUTH and IN THE HEART are datives of advantage. There is an advantage when this confession is made and this belief is made.
Both are prepositional phrases using the word EVA, in the sphere of the mouth and in the sphere of the heart.
The word SAVED is the 2nd person, singular, future, passive, indicative of SWZW
Here is the logical future, this is the outcome, the result of the two aorist subjective verbs, CONFESS and BELIEVE.
SAVED as a future passive was used by Paul back in Romans 5:9-10
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Clearly SWZW is used there not for justification but for deliverance from the wrath of God and deliverance to the life of His Son Jesus Christ.
Also used in the same form in Romans 9:27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved.
At the second advent although there will me many racial Jews, only a remnant will be saved or delivered from the wrath that is to come on earth.
The use of the aorist active subjunctives for what man does and the future passive indicatives for saved, what God does, makes this verse more of a promise of what God will do than a demand upon what man must do.
Two statements, one result:
Confess in your mouth Lord Jesus:
Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead:
RESULT: You will be saved.
Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
The FOR is GAR which is explanatory. So verse 10 explains verse 9.
The AND is not KAI but DE which shows some contrast. We might say But with the mouth...
The DE as a contrast makes the first statement of v 10 the most important, and faith is the most important part of these statements.
PRINCIPLES:
Paul is addressing Israel. This is in the context of his desire for the salvation of the Jews, that they would believe in Christ as their Saviour.
He is using principles found in Deuteronomy 30 which is a passage on the deliverance of Israel from discipline.
ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 8
The order Paul follows is the order found in v 8 and expressed in Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
This order is reversed in Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
This is called introverted correspondence of Chiamos or a Chiaism.
The first statement of v 9 corresponds to the last statement of v 10.
The second statement of v 9 corresponds to the first statement of verse 10.
The Chiaism takes the first and last statement and encompasses the heart of the subject. So the A statements encompass the more important B statements.
So then: Confess Lord Jesus = Confess EIS salvation
Believe raised from Dead = Believe EIS Righteousness
Bullinger says that this form is used only in the most stately and dignified presentation of a subject. The most important portions of Scripture.
It demands that the full importance of what is being stated in the chiaism be observed in whole not just in part. In other words, verse 9 cannot be interpreted without verse 10.
In speaking to the Jews Paul uses terminology that the Jews would understand. The Jews he addresses are out of the land which is the issue of discipline back in Deuteronomy 30.
For their deliverance, which looks at either salvation or sanctification, they were to confess with their mouths that which they have in their mouths.
Jesus Lord, promised Servant and Messiah of the OT. Fully God, fully man, the promised one, the Saviour. The once and for all sacrifice.
NOTE: This is confession to God not man. The Jews did not ever pray silently. All prayers were out loud, a verbal confession.
The order today, in the Church Age, for us is seen in verse 10 and in verse 14.
v 14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Preacher - Hear - Believe - Call
When anyone calls upon the name of the Lord with faith (in their heart) they will be saved.
If an unbeliever this is justification. If a believer, this is deliverance from divine discipline.
CONCLUSION: We read far more into this verse than God intended when we make this a public confession for a person's salvation.
SO WE COME TO TWO INTERPRETATIONS AND FOUR APPLICATIONS:
Primary interpretation: The unbeliever Jews living in Rome were being encouraged by Paul to be saved. He presents the Gospel challenge in terms they would understand. Going back to Deuteronomy 30 and calling them to the place of blessing not in the Land but in Christ.
The issue in Deuteronomy 30 was faith and the issue here is faith.
Prophetic Interpretation: Picked up from the future passive use of SWZW in Romans 9:27.
Here we look ahead to the Tribulation where the demand is made by anti-Christ to proclaim him as Lord.
The believers will not do this, instead they will confess with their mouths Lord Jesus.
Result is the opposite of what logic would dictate, grace is above human logic. They will be delivered, perhaps for some by death. But the promise is sure.
God will save them...
Look at verse 11 Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.
In Revelation 13 there is the demand to take the mark of the beast which in Revelation 19:20 includes worshipping the beast (DRRE). But in Revelation 19 he is cast into the LOF and in Revelation 20 those who took the mark and ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 9
worshipped the beast are judged and sent to the LOF along with all unbeliever of all time.
So this will be a very real challenge to believers in the Tribulation, confess out loud Lord Jesus.
PRINCIPLE: The primary interpretation is to unbeliever and the prophetic interpretation is to believers.
And that opens up the applications...
Application to Gentile unbeliever in Rome: They too can be saved by putting faith in Christ and if they do they will eventually have to make a choice. Is Caesar Lord or is Jesus Lord?
This same application could be made today. The issue for an unbeliever is faith in Christ but there is nothing wrong with having him or her express that faith to God in prayer. Confess with the mouth (however today we have silent prayers in our culture).
In some cultures silent prayers are unknown even today so this could be verbal.
To all believers of all time we must recognize that when we call upon the name of the Lord, He will deliver. This is not a demand or a condition but a promise of the Love that God has for us.
The emphasis is on God and what He will do for us when we depend upon Him by faith.
A practical application of this is that whenever we make our faith known there will be deliverance from a lot of the pain that comes from living in a fallen world.
Young people here have found this to be true in school. When the fast crowd knows a young person is a Christian they have a tendency to stay away from them.
For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
The statement with the heart, looks at (believing) faith and faith has a view to righteousness.
This statement takes us back to Romans 3 where Righteousness is imputed to the believer at salvation.
The statement regarding the mouth confessing has a view towards deliverance.
BOTH THESE VERBS ARE present tense. Whereas in v 9 they were aorist tense.
SIGNIFICANCE:
This verse looks at these issues, believing and confessing, after salvation.
They are an ongoing process in the believers life.
As we continue to faith in God and all that He provides we continue as servants of righteousness and increase in the relationship of Righteousness we have with God.
As we continue to confess Jesus Lord we will have continued deliverance in the present. This is direct from God and indirect from our testimony.
Introduction to Romans 10:11-15
In Romans chapter ten Paul is really dealing with only one issue, the issue of faith. That single system that can approach the grace of God. This chapter along with Galatians 3 and Hebrews 111 stand as the three greatest NT passages regarding faith.
Now so far we have seen that faith is not a new system for obtaining righteousness but can be found even in the OT Law. It is not a system just for Gentiles, but for all mankind. We saw that faith is meets grace at salvation and in sanctification and spiritual recovery and deliverance.
Romans 10:11-15 The assured results of faith place in God:
Now Paul has been talking about confessing Jesus Lord which is to call upon the Lord Jesus (v 13). To call upon the Lord is to trust Him. One does not call upon or depend upon or lean upon that he does not trust. So the prerequisite to confessing Jesus Lord or calling upon the Lord is faith. Which Paul describes as believing in your heart.
NOW AT VERSE 11 Paul gives a result of faith reliance: ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 10
Romans 10:11
For the Scripture says, Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.
Paul quoted from Isaiah 28:16
BELIEVE is present, act, participle.
DISAPPOINTED is a future, passive, indicative.
The verb translated DISAPPOINTED would be better translated PUT TO SHAME since it is passive voice. Shows what God promises to do.
In I John 3:28 we see the same root used in a statement that look ahead to the BEMA:
And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
PRINCIPLE: Faith in Christ at salvation removes the potential for shame at the GWT. And abiding in Him by faith in the CCL removes the potential for shame for the believer at the BEMA.
Here the deliverance of verse 10 is applied practically. The normal way of thinking, in human viewpoint, would be to keep quite, don't talk about you faith, after all, what is it to just say Caesar is Lord or in the Tribulation, Anti-Christ is Lord? That would be an easier way.
But here is a promise on a promise...v 10 promises deliverance, and v 11 promises that there will be no shame in taking a stand for Jesus Christ.
Paul takes this promise from Isaiah 28:9-17a
Isa 28:9, To whom would He teach knowledge? And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast?
The first question reveals God's desire which is to teach man knowledge (I am the way, truth, life). And for man to understand the message.
This was a problem with Israel, they did not get the message of Grace, thought Righteousness could come by works.
The spiritual child cannot understand this. Relate to our study on the three stages of spiritual growth.
Isa 28:10 The simple message needed by the child: For He says, Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.
The most the spiritual child can understand is rules, lines, order, and little at a time.
Isa 28:11 A prophesy of Jews being evangelized by Gentiles
Isa 28:12 The Goal of God for His people: He who said to them, Here is rest, give rest to the weary, And, Here is repose,
Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Rest is only for those who believe, not those who work.
Hebrews 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works, as God did from His.
This rest demands that we abandon any production based system.
But they would not listen.
Our refusal to listen results in a lack of growth. So all we can handle is what God has for the spiritual child.
Isa 28:13 So the word of the Lord to them will be, Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,
But now this has a different result
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.
II Thessalonians 2:11 And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,
Isa 28:14-15
Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 11
The delusion of religion resulted in a false confidence:
False confidence regarding death
Regarding Destiny
Regarding Discipline
The final word in this verse sums it up: DECEPTION
A Stone of Testing: The Lord Jesus Christ
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes will not be disturbed.
The stone is costly: God paid the highest price to save us
It is a foundation stone: Matthew 7, the Solid Rock
BUT: They stumbled over it because they were not willing to approach by way of faith but rather by works.
Refer to the end of Romans 9:32-33 Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
But notice the promise that is quoted in Romans 10:11
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.
PRINCIPLE: If you have faith in Christ there is no shame in the presence of God and He and He alone is the one who counts.
The body they may kill, but truth abideth still...
Any shame man may place of you will be removed when God exhalts you in glory:
Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie-- behold, I will make them to come and bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
Isa 28:17 God's standard is His Holiness not man's works: And I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the level.
The Justice of God and the Righteousness of God = His Holiness
PRINCIPLES:
Shame comes when we reject faith
For the unbeliever this shame will be eternal
For the believer it will be temporary at the BEMA due to loss of what he or she could have had
When man puts us to shame it is only temporary, limited to time
Paul expressed this in II Corinthians 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
Faith in Christ, faith in God's grace provisions, removes the weight of shame
You will never go wrong with faith
BACK NOW TO Romans 10.
Romans 10:12
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him;
For the Jew to call upon Jesus Christ as Lord is saying that He, Jehoshua is KURIOS and would attest to His ability to save. This would not be said by a Jew unless he understood and believed that Jesus is the promised Saviour.
For the Greek to call upon Jesus was Lord would indicate that he had ceased to worship Caesar as Lord.
So in both cases, Jew or Greek [Gentile] the statement Jesus Lord is a touchstone of faith.
THIS VERSE ALSO ONCE and for all ends any idea that there are two systems, one of faith for the Gentiles and one of works for the Jews.
Romans 10:13
For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Perhaps as one last attempt to show that there is not two systems for believers Paul quotes the prophet Joel. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 12
The FOR is GAR and is explanatory
Joel 2:32 And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the Lord has said, Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
It is very important to see that in the context of Joel 2, the Lord is speaking to believers at the end of the Tribulation who will take their stand for Jesus and call upon His name...and they will be delivered.
AND AS WITH VERSE 9: SWZW is a fut, pass, ind. so would be translated DELIVERANCE.
Notice how universally Paul applies this WHOEVER...
Jew or Gentile, even Believer or unbeliever: If you call upon the name (Jesus) of the Lord, you are saved, delivered.
Romans 10:14
How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Paul asks a rhetorical question to bring up the argument so may have that they have never heard these things.
PREACHER -- HEAR -- BELIEVE -- CALL UPON
To call upon God is Faith reliance
Call: Aorist, middle, subjunctive
Believe: Aorist, active, indicative
Hear: Aorist, active, subjunctive
Preach: Present, active, participle
And in v 15, Sent: Aorist, passive, subjunctive
NOTICE: The preaching is the present participle, this makes the communication of the word that which accompanies these other actions. Preaching the Word is constant, we then must make the point in time decision to hear, believe, call upon the name of the Lord.
The participles really makes the preaching less emphatic to these actions on the part of the believer.
Romans 10:15
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!
A quote from Isaiah 52:7. The last words of this quote from Isaiah 57 would be better translate: The ones announcing good things...
Isaiah 52:7 How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, Your God reigns!
That passage looks ahead to the Second Advent and the regathering of believing Israel in the mill reign.
But Paul applies the principle to those who communicate the Word of God, the Gospel and all the Doctrine of the Bible, and says that this is the announcing of good things.
PRINCIPLE: The preaching of the Word is to
Romans 10:16
However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?
Paul goes to Isaiah again, here Isaiah 53:1 which is a passage that introduces the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Servant of God.
Literally this says: Not all obeyed the Gospel...
To obey the Gospel is to put faith in Christ, and they did not.
The word HEED means to hear with a positive response. They did not have this.
They, unbeliever Israel locked into a performance based system, rejected what they heard.
REPORT is from the word for HEAR, thus, what is heard. And it is a dative of advantage. The advantage was to those who hear the Gospel, who hear the Word of God regarding Christ.
But they do not believe, they reject faith in Christ. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 13
HENCE the advantage inherit in the Gospel is lost.
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
This advantage was lost because at the point of hearing of Christ they chose not to have faith in Christ. This was a test of faith or more so, a test of where faith would be placed. In Self or in the Saviour?
The first action of faith that has any purpose in the plan of God is faith alone in Christ alone.
At the moment of Gospel hearing there is a test of faith. Hearing about Christ demands a response and the only response that is acceptable to God is to believe in Him.
This relates back to the process Paul described in v 14
Preach - Hear - Believe - Call
Believing (having faith) follows hearing about Christ. That is true at salvation and continues to be true in the CCL.
PRINCIPLE: The more you learn about God your Father, the greater the demand of faith, but also the greater the target of faith. To whom much is given much is required, but to whom much is given is also given the capacity for greater faith.
Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, I do believe; help my unbelief.
Romans 10;18
But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; Their voice has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.
Paul makes this very personal...But I say. Perhaps this is an objection he had even given to the Lord.
The objection is that Israel never heard these things, how would they have had the opportunity to hear and believe the message?
So he quotes from Psalm 19:
Psalm 19:1-4 David says: The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun.
This relates back to Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
This natural revelation demonstrated the existence and power of God. It is a perfect revelation that can lead any man to seeking more revelation regarding God. The more that will be provided is the Gospel.
This revelation cannot lead to salvation nor to a personal relationship. But it can lead man to a longing that comes from an unmet need to know the one who has created him and all around him.
AT THIS POINT MAN IS AT GOD CONSCIOUSNESS and that consciousness of God demands a volitional decision...
Do I seek God my creator or degrees to creation itself?
Do I seek the one who made the tree or do I worship the tree?
NATURE SHOWS US that we can depend upon nature or depend upon God who created nature. We can trust the cycles of nature, the sun rising every day, the course of the stars.
CONCLUSION: We can trust God with the very details of our life and our eternal life.
SO PAUL TELLS US THAT LIGHT HAS BEEN GIVEN even in nature and yet this is not all, God has given more and more light.
NOTE: God gave more and more light to Israel. More prophets, more written word, more prophecies fulfilled. Yet the increase in light did not automatically result in an increase in faith.
PRINCIPLE: Unbelief can reject bight light as well as dim light.
In Israel's history it seems that as more light was given, rejection of that light increased. Unbelief increased, even to the point that when the Messiah came they rejected Him. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 14
So in v 19-20 Paul shows how God is trying to draw Israel to faith.
Romans 10:19,20
But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At the first Moses says (Deu 32:21), I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, By a nation without understanding will I anger you.
And Isaiah (Isa 65:1) is very bold and says, I was found by those who sought Me not, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.
God sent the prophets, God revealed the Word, God worked mightily in the nation, yet they rejected over and over again.
So much light, so much rejection. Did they come to take it for granted that they were a nation established by God, that they were God's people, that to them were given covenants and promises. That the Son of God Himself was promised to be their king?
More light...greater the unbelief.
So God approached them a different way: Have you ever watched a child, a young child playing with a toy. And watched when they tired of that toy and set it aside just to have another child come along and begin playing with it. What does the first child do? That's mine, give it back, you can't play with it. He had no interest in it until some other child wanted to play with it.
THAT IS THE APPROACH GOD USED WITH ISRAEL...
God understand this principle in fallen human nature and He uses it for His glory. He uses it even today to make people, to make Christians wake up. We see revival in many parts of the world, but not here. We see churches that offer nothing growing, yet not here.
God will use this aspect of human nature, our envy, our possessiveness, our jealousy, to get us to realize what we have and what He has given.
God in His desire to save many and to bring many of His children to maximum glory will at times pour blessings out on others to motivate us to faith dependence upon Him.
Paul gives four illustrations of this: First with Moses then with Isaiah.
First, God told Moses that He would use a people who lacked organization.
I will make you envious by means of those who are not a nation.
Israel was of course very proud of it nation status, its government, courts, and laws. Just as we are.
But God would use those who lacked all these finer points of civilization, or government, even the finer points justice and law.
Like tribes in Africa and South America. The Aborigine in Australia. The bush people of New Guinea.
AND HE SAVES THEM AND BLESSES THEM because the put their faith in Him.
With Moses Paul points out that God would use a people who were far less intelligent than the Jew to arouse the Jews to envy.
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.
We have the greatest Seminaries, the Greatest Bible Colleges and Universities, we have knowledge on top of knowledge. And then you go to the foreign field and see a man who has been saved only a year or so, with nothing but a New Testament or like in India, only part of one, and he is winning the lost to Christ.
FOR THE JEWS, we know they are an intelligent people. Over 12% of the Nobel Prize winners have been Jewish. They dominate the fields of science, literature, the arts, music, philosophy, economics.
And yet this brilliant people with tremendous minds, are often confronted by the ignorant savage who is untaught, unlearned in understanding who has believed in the Messiah the Jews rejected.
God's gracious salvation should arouse and awaken His people, but it so often does not.
Then Paul jumps ahead to the time of Isaiah and tells them that God will save and bless those who are less motivated than the Jews.
I was found by those who did not seek me. ROMANS, Lesson 10 Page 15
One of the characteristics of the Jews had been their zeal to know God.
Romans 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God.
But their zeal was mis-directed and they sought God's righteousness by human effort, by works.
So God ends up saving and blessing a people who were not even thinking about God that often. The Romans, the Greeks, people even today who are thinking about God or seeking Him, end up being saved.
This is to arouse to envy, to make jealous, so that to those to whom much was revealed would seek the God of grace and love by faith.
Even today we as Christians look at someone who has no interest in Spiritual things, and then they are saved and the next thing you know they are out distancing us in the Christian Walk of faith.
And God will even go to those who are not asking for Him in any consistent manner.
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for Me.
The Jews were people of prayer, many prayers, some offered every day and every night. They had books full of prayers. They were asking for God but so often asking based upon merit in themselves.
Gentiles, well, they do not do much praying and they did not do much asking...but God revealed Himself to them.
God did this and told Israel He would do this to wake them up to what they had.
Even as Paul writes this he is telling the Jews to look at the Gentiles, the ones the Jews always considered so inferior, so lacking organization, understanding, motivation, and prayers...look at them, they have that which you rejected.
I hope God never has to do that with us but perhaps He already has.
Now Paul sets up the next chapter with the next verse from Isaiah 65.
Romans 10:21
But as for Israel He says, All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.
What a beautiful picture of God's patience towards His people.
Four Thousand years ago Abraham trusted God by faith and now four thousand years later God is still stretching out His hand to unbelieving Israel. And in doing so demonstrates that He is not finished with His OT people.
Not only today, in the CA, can any Jew put faith in Christ and be saved...
But also, in the Tribulation period, God will again deal directly with the Jews and many will be saved.
I THINK ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING THINGS ABOUT THIS passage is to realize that in order to perish, in order to go to hell, in order to remain in unbelief, you have to resist the pleas of God who is stretching out His hand beckoning you to salvation, beckoning you to eternal life by faith in His Son.
And if God so earnestly beckons those who are unbeliever, do you not also think that He earnestly beckons you, His child, to greater faith and trust in all He has for you, His very highest and best.
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