Did you notice that I jumped over chapter 10? Romans 10 is packed with so many truths that it needs a treatment all on its own. I’ve called it “the way” because Paul inserts practical applications of the truths he has been explaining in the previous and following chapters.
“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.”
Romans 10:1-3 NLT
What’s wrong with these Jews? Have they not yet learned, despite their history of both zeal on the one hand and consistent failure the other, that it is impossible to satisfy God’s righteous standards by trying to keep the law? They still reject God’s way of faith and hold on to those own way!
God’s way is far simpler but more effective…
“For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.”
Romans 10:5 NLT
Imagine that! The law’s way, as taught by Moses in the Torah, was to obey all 613 laws all the time without missing a beat. That was simply not possible, and yet…that’s what the Jews insisted on trying to do!
God’s way has always been trusting Him for mercy and forgiveness…and this way was made visible and real through Jesus. We did not need to try to get to up God. Instead, He came down to us.
“But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach.”
Romans 10:6-8 NLT
God’s way is the way of trusting in what He has spoken…and everything He has promised is to be found in a person…Jesus…who is God’s spoken word who came in person. He has come…He has spoken…He has done everything for us…now we simply confirm, in our hearts and through our mouths, our faith in Him.
“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
Romans 10:9-11 NLT
What could be simpler than that?
On one sentence, Paul sweeps aside obedience to the law as a way to gain acceptance with God. He replaces it with faith in Jesus and verbal confession of that faith as the one and only way to get right with Him…efficient because Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law and effective because His death and resurrection perfectly satisfied God’s justice. Now, when we believe in Him, we become one with Him in His death and resurrection for us.
Jew and Gentile access God’s salvation in the same way…by faith and confession.
“Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the ngame of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:12-13 NLT
This is the first and most important practical step into God’s promise of salvation. However, to believe in Jesus requires confidence in God’s spoken word. How do we access this word?
“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
Romans 10:14-15 NLT
God has always been speaking…through creation and conscious, but now He is speaking through His Son.
“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.”
Hebrews 1:1-2 NLT
However, to hear this good news about Jesus in all its detail requires a messenger. It is God Himself who sends people out to declare this message so that those who hear it (and read it in His written word), can believe. The message and faith in the message are intimately connected.
“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”
Romans 10:17 NLT
The tragedy is that those who hear the message don’t all believe it. They have a choice…and some still choose to reject the good news about Jesus in favour of their own way. The Jews rejected the message. They disqualified themselves from a place in God’s scheme of things, making room for the Gentiles to be brought in… but God, in His mercy, is restoring them.
“But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.” But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, “I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.”
Romans 10:16, 18-19 NLT
The Jews had every opportunity to believe the message and share in God’s salvation…but they refused…
…and that’s what opened the door for the Gentiles to come in and participate in God’s cosmic plan…
To be continued