Introduction
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Romans 10:1-4
In Romans 10, the apostle, once again expresses his deep grief about the state of Israel, because of what he has just had to say about their failure. That expression, ‘my heart’s desire for them’, Romans 10:1, literally means, ‘the goodwill of my heart’.
The Good News for modern man translation says, ‘I wish with all my heart’ that they might be saved.’
There is no doubt in his mind where the problem lies. It lies in their ignorance of the truth. And, by the way, you will surely realize from what Paul says here, that there is no such thing as an irrevocable decree, which says that Israel must be saved or for that matter that Israel must remain lost!
Paul knows what the present condition of the Jews is, they are in a lost state. But he also knows that the case is not altogether hopeless, they can be saved, Romans 10:1.
This is why he expresses himself in this way. If there were no possibility of Israel being saved, there would have no point in making such a statement. My prayer for them is that they might be saved.
Romans 10:2, speaks about zeal or enthusiasm are good. With zeal there is hope. Zeal without knowledge is no good, and neither is knowledge without zeal, John 2:17 / Acts 9:1-20.
People in various denominations generally have zeal without knowledge and brethren often have knowledge without zeal. Other examples of misguided zeal, Matthew 13:15 / Acts 26:11 / Philippians 3:6.
Notice in Romans 10:3, that the Jews were so concerned to establish their own righteousness by trying to keep the law, that they ignored God’s righteousness, Romans 9:32. They did not submit to the plan which God had put forward and which is designed to make men righteous, to put them right with Himself.
They were ignorant of God’s plan to make men righteous and went about establishing their own, Romans 3:20. They thought that by their works they could earn salvation and would be in a position to make demands of God. The result was that they had not submitted to the righteousness of God.
Today people have their own theories of justification, e.g., ‘faith alone,’ ‘Holy Spirit religion,’ ‘revelations of Joseph Smith.’ The result is that they are not obedient to the righteousness of God.
Romans 10:4, tells us that, they did not know that Christ is the end of the Law, in order that everyone who has faith may be justified. The expression ‘Christ is the end of the Law’ means two things.
1. That Christ is the one to whom the law points, to whom the law led. The word which Paul uses is the word ‘telos’, and it means the termination, the conclusion, Galatians 3:24-25.
You will recall what Paul wrote to the Galatians about the law being a schoolmaster, ‘pedagogue’, to bring men to Christ. The law led to Christ and He, therefore, is the end that God had in mind when He gave the law.
2. Christ is also the end of the law in the sense that He came to fulfil the law, and in fulfilling it, He brought it to a close, Matthew 5:17-20.
The very thing the Jews sought after is now possible in Christ. Seeking righteousness is over when one believes, which includes obedience in Christ. When righteousness, that is, justification, is obtained, one has reached the purpose toward which the law was designed. The law has served its purpose when one attained the righteousness of God by faith, Galatians 3:21-29.
“Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” Romans 10:5-7
Romans 10:5, points out that Moses said that if a man kept the law he would be a righteous man. But Paul has already shown that no one ever succeeded in keeping the whole law, Romans 3:20 / James 2:10, and therefore, by the law, no one could be justified.
The law required perfect obedience, Leviticus 18:5 / Galatians 3:10-12. A person had to live by it and do exactly as it said, in order to obtain righteousness. Since all had sinned and violated the law, Romans 3:23, and since the law had no means of pardon, it was impossible to be made righteous by the law.
The design of the law was to bring men to Christ where they could be justified by faith. In Romans 10:5, Paul gave a quote from the law to describe what the law required, Leviticus 18:5. He will do the same regarding the word of faith which they preached.
Romans 10:6-7, tells us that neither does righteousness come through merit or as a reward for good behaviour. You do not need to ascend into heaven to bring Christ down, Deuteronomy 3:12. You do not need to descend to the deep, that is the grave, to bring Christ up from the dead, Deuteronomy 30:13. It is so much simpler than all that, it is a matter of faith.
Notice that the righteousness of faith is personified. In Deuteronomy 30:12-13, Moses told the children of Israel that God’s commandments were not in heaven, nor beyond the sea, but were at their disposal so that they could do them.
As Paul draws from Moses’ words, he adds his own information in brackets, and shows that the same is true regarding the righteousness of faith, Romans 10:7. The Jews expected their Messiah to remain forever, John 12:34.
“But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” Romans 10:8-11
In Romans 10:8-11, Paul says it is a matter of hearing, believing and obeying the Gospel. It is then the case that Israel doesn’t believe because they have not heard? Romans 10:18, says certainly not. They have heard because the Gospel has gone out into all the earth.
If it says neither of those things, what does it say? There is no need to ascend into heaven or descend into the deep to learn the word of faith. It is as close as belief in one’s heart or words in one’s mouth, Romans 10:8. His word has been implanted in our minds, Hebrews 8:10.
These verses reveal the accessibility of the Word and the simplicity of that required, in contrast with the obedience necessary under the law. ‘With the mouth’ and so, here the ‘confession’ does not refer to confessing Him by the way we live. We must go to other passages for that.
Barclay, in his commentary, says the following.
‘If a man called Jesus kurios he was ranking him with the Emperor and with God; he was giving him the supreme place in his life; he was pledging him implicit obedience and reverent worship.’
Different translations have the following for Romans 10:9. ‘The Lord Jesus’, ‘Jesus as Lord’, ASV, NASV, ‘Jesus is Lord’, RSV, NIV, NCV. ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’, Matthew 16:18 / Acts 8:37.
All of these mean the same, that is, we confess our allegiance to Him. He is Lord of our lives, He is the Son of God, which refers to His Deity and therefore, has the authority to command.
Robertson, in his commentary, says the following.
‘No Jew would do this who had not really trusted Christ, for Kurios in the LXX is used of God. No Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as Kurios. The word Kurios was and is the touchstone of faith.’
Both ‘Lord’ and ‘Christ’ are founded on His resurrection and glorification, Acts 2:36 / 1 Peter 3:22 / Philippians 2:9-11. The resurrection of Christ is fundamental to the Christian system. The Gospel is preached, the testimony is believed, the mouth confesses one’s belief, and the result, when all other conditions are met, is salvation.
People in their hearts exercise faith which leads to right standing before God. The mouth confesses what the heart believes to obtain salvation from past sins. One does not believe to obtain one blessing and confess to obtaining another, and so, ‘righteousness’ and ‘salvation’ are equal, Romans 10:10.
‘Righteousness’, justification, is having the death of Christ credited as payment for one’s sins, and so, his sin debt is paid and he stands just, righteous, before God. These are not the only things required, e.g., repentance is also required, Luke 13:3 / 2 Corinthians 7:10.
Romans 10:11, is a quote from Isaiah 28:16, a Messianic prophecy. The one who believes in Him will never be ashamed, confounded, or filled with regret.
‘Belief on Christ’ or ‘faith in Christ’ in the Scriptures is often used as a ‘Synecdoche’, that is a figure of speech where a part is used for the whole. And so, to the inspired writers, a believer was one who both believes and obeys Christ. ‘Whosoever’, Romans 10:11, refers to all. This is proof that anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, who believes will receive the blessings.
“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:12-13
Romans 10:11b, supplements Romans 10:12b. One will not be ashamed because the Lord is rich to all who call upon Him. Some think that the Jews are still the object of God’s special delight and have a glorious future in store for them. However, they are mistaken. This was hard for the Jews to see, but it was the teaching of their own prophets.
Romans 10:13, is a quote from Joel 2:32. Again, this is important information to the Jew. God’s offer of salvation is universal, the offer is to both Jew and Gentile.
Calls on the name of the Lord
In Christianity today the phrase, ‘calling upon the Name of the Lord’, has become used by many as a phrase by which a person can be saved without doing anything else.
As a result, after admitting they are sinners, many people now believe they are saved simply because they called on Jesus to save them. Let’s go ahead and see if we can understand what this phrase actually means.
The first time the phrase is used in the Old Testament is by the prophet Joel, Joel 2:32, speaking of what people will do in the future in order to be saved.
And the first time it’s used in the New Testament is by Peter as he quotes Joel’s words in the very first Gospel sermon ever preached in Acts 2:16-21, which tells us that Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled during this time.
When we carefully read Acts 2, after informing those present that ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’, we see the response of those present, they asked ‘what shall we do?’ Acts 2:37, they were asking, what must they do to be saved?
In what way do we call upon the Lord? If calling on the Name of the Lord simply meant confessing your sinfulness and inviting Jesus into your heart, then surely, Peter would have told them to do just that, but he didn’t, Acts 2:38.
Notice what those present on that day did, even before they asked the question, ‘what must we do?’ they heard the Gospel, Acts 2:14 / Acts 2:41, and they believed the Gospel, Acts 2:37, and they repented of their sins, Acts 2:38 /Acts 2:41. So what we see here are faith, repentance and baptism. This was how they called upon the Name of the Lord.
The apostle Paul had been taught the Gospel and demonstrated faith and repentance, Acts 22:6-10, again, if calling upon the Name of the Lord simply meant confessing your sinfulness and inviting Jesus into your heart, then surely, Ananias would have told Him to do just that, but he didn’t, Acts 22:16.
Again, what we see here is faith, repentance and baptism, Acts 9:18. This was how Paul called upon the Name of the Lord. A little later Paul goes on to write about how God saves people from their sins when he writes to the Romans, notice also that he quotes from Joel 2:32, just as Peter did.
It’s such a shame that many people just read Romans 10:13, without reading it in its context. A careful reading of the text shows us that calling on the Name of the Lord involves hearing and believing the Gospel, Romans 10:14, it involved a change of heart, which is repentance, and it involved publicly confessing faith in Jesus as the Christ, Romans 10:9-10, it involved obeying the commands of the Gospel, Romans 10:16 / Romans 10:19-21.
If calling on the Name of the Lord simply meant confessing your sinfulness and inviting Jesus into your heart, then surely, Paul would have told them to do just that, but as we shall read in a moment, he didn’t, Romans 10:13-17.
Paul after saying, ‘everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved,’ goes on to ask a series of questions which tells us what this phrase means, Romans 10:13-17.
In other words, to call upon the name of the Lord means we must hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel and obey the Gospel. When someone calls upon the name of the Lord, they are simply obeying God’s plan of salvation to hear God’s word, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, repent and be baptized.
Conclusion
As I mentioned earlier, there are thousands of people in the religious world today who believe they are saved because they’ve called upon the name of the Lord. Sadly, saying the name ‘Lord’ won’t save anyone, Matthew 7:21-23, it won’t save anyone unless it’s accompanied by obedience to the Gospel, Matthew 29:19-20 / Mark 16:16/ Luke 6:46.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15
Paul’s comment about calling on the name of the Lord brought up several rhetorical questions. The answer to these first three questions is implied, ‘they cannot,’ Romans 10:14.
These questions show that believing in Christ is not a direct gift from God. They could believe in Him without hearing or without a preacher if the Holy Spirit operated directly on their hearts, saved them by an ‘experience,’ etc.
These verses refer primarily to the sending of inspired teachers, Romans 10:15. They taught, were sent, commissioned to do so, the Word which brings faith, thus, acceptable faith comes as a result of the Word which they brought.
A person today could believe without a preacher simply by reading, John 20:30-31. Nonetheless, we need to do all we can in sending preachers because many will fail to believe without them, Matthew 9:37-38 .
‘Beautiful are the feet,’ Romans 10:15, is a quote from Isaiah 52:7. This means their message is precious and wonderful to those who accept it. Preaching the Gospel is the grandest, highest, noblest, holiest, most needed, and vital work known to this sinful world, 1 Timothy 4:16. However, very few people think so.
‘Bring good news!’ Romans 10:15. To name only a few, the tidings of God’s love, benefits of Christ’s death, peace with God, the forgiveness of sins, a better life, the joy that is full, and hope of eternal life.
“But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” Romans 10:16-20
Despite the ‘good things’ announced, many have rejected them. Romans 10:16, plainly shows that one must obey the commands of the Gospel to receive its rewards. Obedience was the aim and design of the preaching.
‘Lord, who has believed our report?’, Romans 10:16, again, he quotes Isaiah 51:1, to confirm his point. Many prophets had been sent, but despite it, many did not obey.
Likewise, today, many preachers have been sent bearing the good news, but the great majority are not interested. Paul is saying that the Israelites have not obeyed the Gospel because, as was the case with Isaiah’s report, they had not believed it.
This shows that the inspired writers always wrote with the understanding that acceptable faith included obedience. God had afforded them the opportunity, but they had refused it. Some believed, but the majority remained disobedient.
Notice about Paul describes how faith comes, Romans 10:17. Without the hearing the message, there is no faith. Also, whatever is not found in the Word of God is not properly a matter of faith.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Hearing is a reflection of first-century life. Paul does not raise the possibility of the message being read. While there were people who could read, the ordinary first-century citizen depended rather on being able to hear something.’
In Romans 10:18, Paul used the words in Psalm 19:4, to describe the spread of the Gospel and thus shows they had heard it, Colossians 1:23. The Jews had no one to blame but themselves.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘There is not a part of the promised land in which these glad tidings have not been preached; and there is scarcely a place in the Roman empire in which the doctrine of Christ crucified has not been heard: if, therefore, the Jews have not believed, the fault is entirely their own; as God has amply furnished them with the means of faith of salvation.’
‘Did Israel not know?’, Romans 10:19, means Israel should have known by their many prophecies. ‘By those who are not a nation, a foolish nation’, Romans 10:19, is a quote from Deuteronomy 32:21. It refers to the Gentiles and how they were regarded in the Jew’s estimation.
They could not say they did not know about the Gospel system, for Moses had spoken of a time when God would provoke Israel to jealousy by the Gentiles. Romans 10:19, is a key verse for understanding much of what is said in Romans 11 / Romans 11:11 / Romans 11:14 / Romans 11:25-26.
Romans 10:20 is a quote from Isaiah 65:1, which shows from the prophets that God would be made known to another nation. His point here is that it was prophesied that God had planned to save the Gentiles before their seeking and asking to be saved.
It was God’s choice to bring other nations into His new covenant. Israel was ignorant of its rejection, though Moses and Isaiah plainly foretold of it, Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Hebrews 8:8-12.
“But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” Romans 10:21
Why then are they still unsaved? Because of disobedience and rebelliousness, Isaiah 65:2.
And that word is ‘disobedient’, is the word, ‘apeitheo’. It means ‘not to allow oneself to be persuaded.’ They had actively rejected God’s invitations.
Notice also the use of the word ‘obstinate’. The word ‘antilego’, literally means to set oneself against someone, to refuse to have anything to do with him. Even to declare oneself to be opposed to a person.
‘All the day long’, shows that He was meek, patient and longsuffering in His dealings with them. ‘To disobedient and contrary people’ means they were a rebellious people who refused to submit to God.
And so, they were not His chosen people, not because He had forsaken them, but they had continually rejected Him. You see how rebellious the Jews were.
They set themselves against Christ, they refused to allow themselves to be persuaded by evidence and declared that they did not wish to have anything to do with Him.
But Paul is not finished yet. You might have thought that all this would be sufficient explanation for the failure of the Jews to find salvation, but Paul asks another question in Romans 11.
