Romans 10.11-Paul Quotes Isaiah 28.16 To Support His Teaching In Romans 10.9-10 That Justification Is By Faith In Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 24, 2009
Romans: Romans 10:11-Paul Quotes Isaiah 28:16 To Support His Teaching In Romans 10:9-10 That Justification Is By Faith In Christ
Lesson # 340
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.
This morning we will note Romans 10:11 and in this passage Paul cites Isaiah 28:16 again to support his teaching in Romans 10:9-10 that justification is by faith in Christ.
Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
Romans 10:2, “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.”
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.”
Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:5, “For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.”
Romans 10:6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down).”
Romans 10:7, “Or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
Romans 10:8, “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.”
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 will be saved.”
Romans 10:10, “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Romans 10:11, “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”
In Romans 10:11, Paul is citing Isaiah 28:16 again to support his teaching in Romans 10:9-10 that justification is by faith in Christ.
Isaiah 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 in it will not be disturbed.’”
I say that Paul is quoting Isaiah 28:16 again since Paul used this passage in Romans 9:33 to validate his assertion that the nation of Israel stumbled in a spiritual sense by means of the stone, which causes stumbling, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s statement in Romans 10:11 presents the “reason” or the “basis” for his statements in Romans 10:9-10 that eternal salvation is received through faith alone in Christ alone.
In Romans 10:9, Paul teaches that if the Jew acknowledges with his mouth to the Father that Jesus is Lord, which is equivalent to believing in his heart that the Father raised him from the dead, then the Jew will receive eternal salvation.
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 will be saved.”
It appears that Paul is presenting two conditions for a Jew to be saved but this is not the case.
However, Paul is teaching that to acknowledge with one’s mouth to the Father that Jesus is Lord is the same as believing in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead since the resurrection demonstrated the deity of Christ and faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to receive eternal life.
So Paul is teaching in Romans 10:9 that to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior is an affirmation of His deity and a belief in His resurrection and that both are essential in order to receive eternal salvation.
Paul in Romans 10:10 continues his thought from verse 9 by teaching that a person believes with his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead resulting in righteousness while on the other hand with his mouth he acknowledges to the Father Jesus is Lord resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:10, “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
In Romans 10:11, he quotes the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 28:16 to support his teaching in Romans 10:9-10 that salvation and justification is through faith alone in Christ alone who is the subject of the gospel.
Romans 10:11, “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”
“The Scripture” is the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun graphe (grafhv) (graf-ay), which refers to Isaiah 28:16.
In a sense Paul is personifying the Old Testament Scriptures in the sense that he is appealing to Isaiah 28:16 to testify as a witness that salvation and justification are through faith alone in Christ alone.
“WHOEVER” refers to “each and every” member of the human race without exception, both Jew and Gentile.
This word is a reminder to Paul’s Jewish audience that salvation and the righteousness of God are available to the Gentile and not just the Jews since the teaching of the Pharisees, from whom originated the Judaizers, excluded the Gentiles from salvation.
The Old Testament is filled with allusions to the Gentiles being included in God's plan of salvation.
The promises made to Abram that are recorded in Genesis 12:3 reveal God’s plan of salvation involves the Gentiles.
The promises that the Lord made to Abram that are recorded in Genesis 15:1-6 reiterate that the Gentiles are included in the Lord’s plan of salvation.
The Lord’s promises that He made to Abraham that are recorded in Genesis 17 further reiterate and enlarge upon the fact that the Gentiles are included in the plan of salvation.
Genesis 22:15-18 records that the Gentiles are included in the plan of salvation.
Genesis 26:1-6 records Isaac receiving from the Lord reconfirmation of the Abrahamic Covenant, which reveals that the Gentiles are included in His plan of salvation.
Genesis 28:13-15 further reconfirms that God has the Gentiles included in His plan of salvation.
Genesis 35:9-13 reveals once again that the Gentiles are included in God’s plan to provide salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Lord’s desire that the Gentiles receive salvation through faith in Him is demonstrated in the story of Jonah and the people of Nineveh.
The apostle Peter had a bad attitude towards the Gentiles as a believer and had to be directed in a vision to go to the Gentiles with the Gospel (Acts 10:1-11:18).
In Galatians 3 Paul taught that the Gentiles were not excluded from receiving the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul teaches that God the Holy Spirit is building a spiritual temple, which is the church and it is composed of both Jew and Gentile races.
Romans 10:11, “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”
“BELIEVES” refers to making the non-meritorious decision “to trust” or “place one’s absolute confidence in” the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross in order to receive the gift of righteousness that results in the Father declaring the sinner justified.
“IN HIM” marks the Lord Jesus Christ as the object in which the sinner’s faith or absolute confidence must rest.
“WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED” indicates that those Jew or Gentiles who do exercise absolute confidence in Jesus of Nazareth as their Savior will “never be disappointed” in the sense that their confidence in Him will never be found to be in vain.
They will never be disappointed for placing their faith in Jesus Christ in that they will never stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment.