Romans 10.12-Salvation And Justification By Faith In Christ Is Universal Since There Are No Racial Distinctions Since Christ Is Lord Of Both Racial Groups
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 26, 2009
Romans: Romans 10:12-Salvation And Justification By Faith In Christ Is Universal Since There Are No Racial Distinctions Since Christ Is Lord Of Both Racial Groups
Lesson # 341
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.
This evening we will note Romans 10:12 in which Paul teaches that anyone whether Jew or Gentile who places their faith in Jesus Christ will never be disappointed because there are no racial distinctions since Christ is Lord of both racial groups, who is infinitely generous on behalf of those who call on Him.
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.’”
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 on Him.”
Romans 10:12 teaches that the reason why anyone who does exercise faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior will never be disappointed is that there is no distinction between Jew and Gentiles since the same Lord is Lord of both racial groups, who is infinitely generous on behalf of those who call on Him.
“There is no distinction between Jew and Greek” denotes that the character of salvation and justification with God is that it emphatically does not possess any racial distinctions since God has condemned both groups and both are in need of salvation.
In Romans 3:9-23, Paul teaches that there are absolutely no racial distinctions in justification before God since both Jew and Gentile are condemned before God.
“Jew” refers to those members of the human race who are descendants racially of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and members of the nation of Israel and thus, denotes nationality distinguishing the Jew from the Gentile.
“Greek” is used in contrast to the term “Jew” and thus refers to those members of the human race who are not Jewish racially and who speak the Greek language fluently and were knowledgeable of Greek culture.
The statement “for the same Lord is Lord of all,” is a “causal” clause indicating that the reason why there is no distinction between Jew and Gentiles is that Jesus Christ is Lord over both groups.
“Lord” is a reference to the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ since up to this point in the book of Romans, it is used of Him and there is nothing in the present context, which indicates otherwise.
In fact, in the book of Romans, kurios is always used of Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, in Romans 10:9, kurios, “Lord” is applied to Jesus Christ and is the implicit antecedent of autos, “Him” in Romans 10:11.
In Romans 10:9, Paul employs kurios, “Lord” to emphasize that Jesus of Nazareth is God.
Here in Romans 10:12, the word is used again to emphasize the deity of Jesus of Nazareth.
“Of all” is the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective pas (pa$), which is used as a noun without the article and in a distributive sense referring to “each and every” Jew and Gentile.
“Abounding in riches” is the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb plouteo (plouttevw) (ploo-teh-o), which is used of the Lord Jesus Christ in a figurative sense for Him “being infinitely generous” to those who trust in Him as Savior.
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 on Him.”
“Towards all” indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ’s infinite generosity is for the benefit of all those who believe in Him whether Jew or Gentile.
“Who call on” is the verb epikaleo (e)pikalevw) (ep-ee-kal-eh-o), which is synonymous with exercising faith in Christ in the sense of calling Him Lord, i.e. God, which is an acknowledgement of His deity, as a result of believing that the Father raised Him from the dead, which demonstrates that He is God.
Therefore, the verb denotes the sinner calling on the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense of acknowledging His deity as a result of believing that the Father raised Him from the dead, which is a demonstration of His deity.
That the word is a synonym for exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior is indicated through a comparison of Paul’s statements in Romans 10:9-11 and 10:13-14.
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.”
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 these two verses, Paul is not presenting two conditions for salvation or teaching that there must be a public affirmation of Christ’s deity as well as faith that the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
Rather, he is speaking of salvation from two different perspectives: (1) The sinner must acknowledge that Jesus is God. (2) The sinner must believe that the Father raised Him from the dead.
Thus, when Paul teaches in Romans 10:9 that if the Jew confesses with his mouth Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead he means that to believe in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is in fact, an acknowledgment to the Father that Jesus is Lord, i.e. God.
To acknowledge to the Father that Jesus is Lord is to believe that the Father raised Him from the dead since by raising Him from the dead, the Father was demonstrating that Jesus was His Son and thus God.
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.’”
Paul’s statement in Romans 10:13 makes clear that calling on the name of the Lord is synonymous with faith in Christ since he says to do so results in salvation and the Scriptures teach that salvation is only through faith alone in Christ alone.
Romans 10:13, “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
Therefore, in Romans 10:12, Paul teaches that anyone whether Jew or Gentile who places their faith in Jesus Christ will never be disappointed because there are no racial distinctions since Christ is Lord of both racial groups, who is infinitely generous on behalf of those who call on Him.