Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday May 28, 2009

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 10:14-Paul Poses Three Rhetorical Questions That Demonstrate Israel’s Culpability

Lesson # 343

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.

This evening we will note Romans 10:14 in which Paul poses three rhetorical questions that demonstrate Israel’s culpability.

They also emphasize the importance of the communicators of the gospel in order that the unsaved Jew might have an opportunity to exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior so as to be saved and declared justified by God.

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 10:13, “For ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”

Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

And how will they hear without a preacher?”

The first rhetorical question is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching contained in Romans 10:13.

The first rhetorical question “How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?”

infers that no one can call on Christ if they have not believed in Him.

“Will they call” is the third person plural aorist middle subjunctive form of the verb epikaleo (e)pikalevw) (ep-ee-kal-eh-o), which is a synonym for exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

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 through faith alone in Christ alone.

Furthermore, in Romans 10:9, he teaches that if one acknowledges with one’s mouth that Jesus is Lord, which is the same as believing that the Father raised Him from the dead, then that person will be saved.

To acknowledge that Jesus is Lord is equivalent to believing that the Father raised Him from the dead since the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was God and the Scriptures teach that salvation is only through faith alone in Christ alone.

Therefore, calling on the name of the Lord is synonymous with exercising faith in the Lord Jesus since both yield the same results and the Scriptures teach that salvation is only through faith alone in Christ alone.

A sinner cannot call on Christ if they have not believed in Him since calling on Him is an acknowledgement of His deity and to acknowledge His deity is to believe that the Father raised Him from the dead since the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord, i.e.

God.

The third person plural form of the verb is a reference to the unsaved Jews in Israel as indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 10:16-21 where he teaches that Israel rejected Jesus of Nazareth as their Savior, which was anticipated by God in the prophets of the Old Testament.

Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

And how will they hear without a preacher?”

The second rhetorical question “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?”

infers that no one can believe in Christ as Savior if no one has heard about Him.

“Will they believe in” is the third person plural aorist active subjunctive form of the verb pisteuo (pisteuvw) (pist-yoo-o), which refers “to trusting” or “placing one’s absolute confidence” in the fact that the Father raised Jesus from the dead, which demonstrated that He is Lord and leads to the acknowledgement of this fact.

“They have not heard” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), “not” and the third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb akouo (a)kouvw) (ak-oo-o), “they have heard.”

In Romans 10:14, the verb akouo refers to learning about or being informed about Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection through the proclamation of the gospel as indicated by the verb kerusso that appears in the third rhetorical question.

The emphatic negative adverb ou emphatically negates the idea of the Jew believing in Jesus Christ as Savior without hearing the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

And how will they hear without a preacher?”

The third rhetorical question “How will they hear without a preacher?”

infers that no one can hear about Jesus Christ without someone proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.

“Without a preacher” is composed of the improper preposition choris (xwriv$) (kho-rece), “without” and the genitive masculine singular present active participle form of the verb kerusso (khruvssw) (kay-roos-so), “a preacher.”

In Romans 10:14, the verb kerusso refers to Paul and his fellow Christians who “publicly proclaimed” the gospel of Jesus Christ “as heralds in a dignified and authoritative manner, which commanded the respect and attention of” the unsaved Jew who was exposed to it.

The improper preposition choris indicates that the unsaved Jew can never learn about Jesus Christ “independently of” or “without any connection to” someone proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.

The purpose of these three rhetorical questions and the one in Romans 10:15 is to demonstrate to Paul’s readers that Israel is culpable because they did hear the gospel through Jesus Christ Himself, His apostles, pastor-teachers, evangelists and believers operating in their royal ambassadorship but rejected Jesus Christ.

These three rhetorical questions in Romans 10:14 and the one in 10:15 infer that no one can be saved from eternal condemnation by calling on the name of the Lord, if there is no one to communicate the gospel to them.

In these three rhetorical questions, Paul repeats the verb from the end of one question at the beginning of the next, thus creating a connected chain of steps that must be followed if a person is to receive eternal salvation.

In the first rhetorical question, Paul infers that if the unsaved Jew is to be saved, they must acknowledge Jesus is Lord and this won’t take place unless they believed that the Father raised Jesus from the dead since the resurrection demonstrated Jesus is God and faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to be saved.

In the second, he infers that they cannot believe that the Father raised Jesus from the dead unless they have first heard the gospel since the gospel speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the third, he infers that the unsaved Jew cannot hear or learn about the resurrection of Jesus Christ through the communication of the gospel unless there is someone to communicate the gospel.

Lastly, in the fourth rhetorical question in Romans 10:15, Paul infers that no one can proclaim the gospel to the Jews unless God sends them.

Therefore, in Romans 10:14-15, Paul teaches through inference that the following progression must take place for a person to be saved: (1) God must send a person to communicate the gospel (2) The unsaved Jew must hear or learn of the resurrection of Christ through a person who communicates the gospel (3) They must believe that Jesus was raised from the dead after hearing the resurrection of Christ proclaimed in the gospel (4) They must believe that Jesus was raised from the dead in order that they can acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

Paul’s statements about Israel’s culpability in rejecting the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth as their Savior in Romans 10:18-21 is demonstrated by these four rhetorical questions in Romans 10:14-15.