Romans 10:1-13

1-4 5-8 9-13

1-4

1

Verses 1-4 tie closely back to chapter 9 and Paul’s desire and prayers that all of the Jews, his fellow kin and brothers, would be saved. Again Paul does not question the motives or plan of God but just expresses his deep desire to have all of his fellow Jews be double chosen, the chosen race of God and to be the chosen elect in Christ.

2

Paul can attest to their zeal for God but this zeal was not because of their knowledge of Christ and hearing and believing in the message of Christ but their zeal was in and through the law and their lineage, separating themselves from the rest of the world and believing that they were fundamentally better than the rest of the world because they were God’s chosen race. It would be like a Christian thinking that they were special and better than the rest of the world because God chose them for redemption, trying to turn the sovereign gift of grace and salvation into a work and something that they deserved.

3

The Jews were ignorant of the righteousness of God that was shown in the law, the law that was given to show how holy and perfect God is and thus showing how un-righteous and sinful they were and instead of seeing the law for what it was they saw it as a way to work themselves to righteousness. They did not have faith in God as Abraham did but faith in themselves to be able to work themselves into righteousness.

4

But Christ came and He did not abolish the law and the prophets but fulfilled every law and every prophecy, and we having faith in Christ, dying with Him to sin, and being born again with the Spirit, we have fulfilled the law through Christ.

5-8

5

Paul quotes from Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” If you keep all of the law and statutes perfectly all the time then you would be considered righteous in the eyes of God, but no created man or woman can achieve this righteousness through the works of themselves in keeping the law.

6-7

In verses 6 and 7 Paul personifies the righteousness that is based on faith in Christ having the personification quote Deuteronomy 30:12–13 “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’” Saying that the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ does not involve a great odyssey and no epic journey to the ends of the earth to find Christ.

8

1. So where are we to find this righteousness from faith? Deuteronomy 30:14 “But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” The word of God, the word of faith that we proclaim is very near you at all times, John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus Christ is the Word.

9-13

9

Jesus Christ is the Word and just as Deuteronomy 30:14 said “But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is God and is our Lord and believe with your heart that He was raised from the dead through the power of God you will be saved.

10

If you believe with your heart, truly believe it at the core and confess this belief with your voice you will be saved and justified in the eyes of God, the scripture referenced in verse 11 is from two places in Isaiah, Isaiah 28:16 “therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’” and Isaiah 49:23 “Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”” God has laid in Jerusalem the cornerstone of our faith, Jesus and if we believe in Jesus we will not be in haste or in a panic, we will be sure and secure and our belief in Christ will not put us in shame or be proven wrong in our faith.

12

This message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is open to all, Jew and Greek, or Jew and the rest of the world because God is the God of all and is sovereign over all and can bless who he chooses to bless, giving out his riches, or his gift of salvation to all that call on Him.

13

Because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, this is a quote from Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.” Do not let this be any cause for confusion though, to call to God for salvation is not a work that brings about salvation. The desire to call to the Lord, the belief in the heart and the confession of the mouth that Jesus is Lord and savior is preceded by God calling his elect. The change of heart that is necessary to be able to want to believe that a savior is even needed is the work of God himself by calling, or electing us for salvation before the foundations of the world. Do not think that even our own desire to be saved is any kind of work that can be counted to us, it is all a work of God, through God and for the glory of God.