A soul may as truly, no doubt, be put into relationship with God be made very happy, it may be; but it is not what Scripture calls "peace with God." Him who came in humiliation, according to their prophets, they might despise; but it was vain to deny that the same prophets bore witness to His divine glory. He was debtor both to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise; he was ready, as far as he was concerned, to preach the gospel to those that were at Rome also (ver. We cannot keep the law now, for we have already broken it: the vase is fractured, and to talk of keeping it entire is nonsense. They become angry and envious when they see their supposedly ignorant Gentile neighbours accepting the gospel, but they themselves will not listen to it (19-21). Dig not into the bowels of the earth to find the gold of salvation. But how, argues he, could this stand, seeing that Abraham had another son, just as much his child as Isaac? It is against the "unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." For this he quotes that scripture (Leviticus 18:5), You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. (a) It is the normal title of respect like the English sir, the French monsieur, the German herr. 7). For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law, [he said,] That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Yet from beginning to end there is no anger in it; there is nothing but wistful longing and heartfelt yearning. He descended into the grave, so that he dwelt among the dead! (19) The testimony of Deuteronomy 32:21. But by now the gospel had been carried to most parts of the Mediterranean area where Jews were to be found; and that is all the argument requires. (Bruce), b. Help me to believe, Lord." 7). But the Jew might argue that it was an unjust thing in principle this gospel, these tidings of which the apostle was so full; for why should one man affect many, yea, all? Hast thou not heard the tale? And he gives his reason: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." It says that no man is forbidden to believe; "for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." And, of course, the way we build up ourselves in the most holy faith is through the Word. 1. I will make you angry with a nation that has no understanding." Salvation isn't way off in heaven some place. by all that remains of the ancient world. But it is very plain and easy: The word is nigh thee. In Romans 7:1-25 we have the subject of the law discussed for practice as well as in principle, and there again meet with the same weapon of tried and unfailing temper. Both Jew and Greek were quick to give some credit to national or ethnic origin, as if being saved were a matter of being born into the right family. Moses had so often inculcated it, that it was understood and talked about by the people, so that there was no need to search in distant climes to obtain it. I hope that brethren in Christ will bear with me if I press on them the importance of taking good heed to it that their souls are thoroughly grounded in this, the proper place of the Christian by Christ's death and resurrection. Some wonder why Paul didnt mention the crucifixion in this passage. Yes, God has chosen and elected and predestined. 10:1-13 Brothers, the desire of my heart for the Jews and my prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. for on your own showing, according to that word to which we all bow, you must admit that one man's sin brought in universal moral ruin and death. This existential pain is deepened and furthered by the divisions between Paul and his own people as he simultaneously argues his claims for inclusion of the Gentiles within God's salvific plan. Now the fact that Jesus went to the cross is God's witness before the world that there is only one way that a man can come to God, and that is by the cross of Jesus Christ. He will not be ashamed to own that Christ in whom he trusts; he that believes in the heart will not be ashamed to confess with the mouth. The answer is found in this portion of our epistle (that is, from the middle of chapter 5). If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved: We do not gain God's righteousness by works. Then the apostle introduces the ground, certainty, and character of God's judgment (verses 4-16). There is really no other hope, for if you get a little bit of your own works put into the building, of your hope, you have just so much rotten timber in the fabric, and that rot will plague the whole house, and turn it into dust at the last. The best of them are but filthy rags: stow them all away in the coal-hole, and look to the merits of your Lord for salvation. 5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. It is with that objection Paul deals; and, as he deals with it in its various forms, on each occasion he clinches his answer with a text from scripture. Their problem is not that they have not heard or understood it, but that they have refused to believe it (see v. 16). What is that righteousness which is of faith, Romans 10:6; Romans 10:6, c. This he describes in the words of Moses, in Deuteronomy, in the second law (so Deuteronomy signifies), where there was a much clearer revelation of Christ and the gospel than there was in the first giving of the law: he quotes it from Deuteronomy 30:11-14, and shows. Here we pass out of the introduction of the epistle. It is near and not hard to attain. Take his counsel. It means we recognize that Jesus is God, that He is the Messiah, and that His work on the cross is the only way of salvation for mankind. He believed God and His word, with special approval on God's part; and his faith was counted as righteousness (ver. Where then is boasting? Accordingly, then, he confronts the unquestionable truth, admitted by every Israelite, of the universal havoc by one man everywhere with the One man who has brought in (not pardon only, but, as we shall find) eternal life and liberty liberty now in the free gift of life, but a liberty that will never cease for the soul's enjoyment until it has embraced the very body that still groans, and this because of the Holy Ghost who dwells in it. This Huckster Jack was a poor, wicked fellow, who had gone about from village to village, swearing, drinking, huckstering and perhaps pilfering. It is His righteousness, or, in other words, His perfect consistency with Himself, which is always involved in the notion of righteousness. The first of these phrases, "from faith," excludes the law; the second, "to faith," includes every one that has faith within the scope of God's righteousness. Thus it is a mistake to suppose that saints may not be benefited by a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it. A proud conceit of their own righteousness: Going about to establish their own--a righteousness of their own devising, and of their own working out, by the merit of their works, and by their observance of the ceremonial law. The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. Instead of having to go to great lengths to achieve righteousness by the law, we can immediately receive righteousness by faith, by trusting in the word of the gospel. It is sinful shame that makes people deny Christ, Mark 8:38. He is not coming according to the covenant that God established by Moses for sins to be forgiven. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We are as full of evil as an egg is full of meat, and our heart is like a cage of unclean birds. Would we follow up the heights of heavenly truth, would we sound the depths of Christian experience, would we survey the workings of the Spirit of God in the Church, would we bow before the glories of the person of Christ, or learn His manifold offices, we must look elsewhere in the writings of the New Testament no doubt, but elsewhere rather than here. The "word of faith" is the gospel Paul preaches and has explained in detail in Romans one through eight. The righteousness of God, then, could now go forth in virtue of His blood. d. Believe in your heart: Mere intellectual agreement with the facts of the cross and the resurrection is not enough. You that hope to be saved by your works are indulging a forlorn hope; what never you may do or be in the future, the past has already ruined you. He know what he did know, and to that he held fast, Well, they must take him into the church; they could not well refuse a man with such a confession of faith; and when he was in the church, walking with the brethren, he was happier than the rest of them, at which they greatly marvelled, and one said to him, "Brother Jack, don't you sometimes feel doubts and fears? Be it so then; it was a foolish nation by which Moses declared they should be angered. See ye well to this. The gospel, instead of treating this as a light matter, alone vindicates God in these eternal ways of His, in that which must be in him who stands in relationship with God. 8, after thanking God through Jesus for their faith spoken of everywhere, and telling them of his prayers for them, he briefly discloses the desire of his heart about them his long-cherished hope according to the grace of the gospel to reach Rome his confidence in the love of God that through him some spiritual gift would be imparted to them, that they might be established, and, according to the spirit of grace which filled his own heart, that he too might be comforted together with them "by the mutual faith both of you and me" (vv. Ah, my Lord, what should I do then if I could not as "a poor sinner, and nothing at all" find Christ to be my "all in all." A man is responsible for failing to know what he might have known. God is gracious, but holy; He is faithful, but righteous. Hence the depravity of the heathen found little or no cheek from conscience, because it was bound up with all that took the shape of God before their mind. Hence, what he is here discussing is not remission of sins, but deliverance from sin. Romans 10:17; Hebrews 6:5; Hebrews 11:3. It is the thing which troubles a renewed conscientious soul above all, because of his surprise at finding the deep evil of the flesh and its mind after having proved the great grace of God in the gift of Christ. Accordingly we do not hear of salvation as such in Romans 3:1-31. How can they hear about Him unless someone preach to them? I am crazy about this little doll, but it is necessary for me to get her close to me to provoke her to jealousy.Now that is exactly what God is seeking to do to the Jews. There is a kind of telegraphic quality about the writing. (324) For the purpose of removing the impediments of faith, he has hitherto spoken negatively: but now in order to show the way of obtaining righteousness, he adopts an affirmative mode of speaking. It was laid down that, in the event of sickness, measures might be taken to keep the patient from becoming worse, but not to make him better. While there were people who could read, the ordinary first-century citizen depended rather on being able to hear something. (Morris). Following up with the teaching of the olive-tree, he carries out the same thought of a remnant that abides on their own stock, and points to a re-instatement of the nation, And I would just observe by the way, that the Gentile cry that no Jew ever accepts the gospel in truth is a falsehood. If ever we are to bring men to the Christian faith, our attitude must be the same. To this then the apostle comes, after having spoken of the divine favour shown himself, both when a sinner, and now in his own special place of serving the Lord Jesus. There is nothing about law there; it is all based on faith. Or, Who shall descend into the deep? To those that were under it, to be sure. of it. The meaning is, the doctrine is not difficult to be understood and embraced. It was the Son of God not merely as dealing with the powers of the earth, Jehovah's King on the holy hill of Zion, but after a far deeper manner. For Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report? Poor dear heart, if you can but trust Christ, even though the feeblest possible manifestation of it should be the only thing visible, namely, your calling upon God in prayer, it must and shall save you. The earth, or, at least, the Jewish nation, had been familiar with such dealings of God in times past. In the Fourth Book of Maccabees there is an amazing incident. (ii) There is the ignorance which comes from wilful blindness. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? You need not go to the universities and earn a degree of D.D. This he shows further, Romans 10:3; Romans 10:3, where we may observe. It can mean many things such as: 1. Now, I hope I have put it plainly. This accordingly leads the apostle into the earlier portion of his great argument, and first of all in a preparatory way. Here is your answer. Did not I show you just now that when Moses spoke he did not mystify the matter, but put it plainly, "The man that doeth those things shall live by them." Whoever will in the whole world believe in Christ may do so; he is neither too old or too young, or too rich, or too poor, or too wicked, or too moral; if he will but trust Christ he shall be saved, and he is fully allowed and permitted, yea, commanded to believe and live. He does not, however, exclude other parts of the word, no, not even the precepts of the law; but his design is, to show that remission of sins stands for righteousness, even apart from that strict obedience which the law demands. Have done with doings, and feelings, and trust yourself with Christ. Romans 10:17, KJV: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. . Thus one could not fail to see these two weighty inferences: the bringing in to be God's sons of those that had not been His people, and the judgment and destruction of the great mass of His undoubted people. As I was walking out of the room God said, "I didn't ask you to reconcile it; I only asked you to believe it." The condition of the Roman saints called for a setting forth of the gospel of God; but this object, in order to be rightly understood and appreciated, leads the apostle into a display of the condition of man. The first is Moses himself. The figure of the relationship of husband and wife is introduced in order to make the matter plain. In this chapter are contained an account of the two righteousnesses of faith and works, a summary of the Gospel of Christ, a description of the grace of faith, in the nature, use, and means of it, and several testimonies concerning the calling of the Gentiles; and whereas the apostle knew that this, as well as what he had said in the latter part of the preceding chapter, that the Jews had not attained to the law of righteousness, but stumbled at the stumbling stone, would be offensive to his countrymen the Jews; wherefore that it might appear that he said this not out of disaffection and ill will to them, he declares his sincere regard unto them, and the great respect he had for them, by calling them "brethren", by expressing his good will to them, by praying for the salvation of them, Ro 10:1, by bearing testimony of their zeal for God, Ro 10:2, though he faithfully observes to them, that it was an ignorant zeal, of which ignorance he gives an instance, Ro 10:3, particularly in the attribute of God's righteousness; from which ignorance arose all their misconduct in religious things, especially in the article of justification; hence they sought to be justified by their own righteousness, and rejected the righteousness of Christ, and then points out to them the true end of the law, for righteousness which is Christ, Ro 10:4, which if they had known would have set them right, and which is another instance of their ignorant and misguided zeal: this leads him on to what he had in view, which was to give an account of the two righteousnesses he had suggested in the latter part of the former chapter, the righteousness of the law, which the Jews sought for and found not, and the righteousness of faith, which the Gentiles without seeking for enjoyed; and this account he gives in the words of Moses, for whom they had the greatest regard: the description of the former is given in his words, in Ro 10:5, which suggest the impossibility of keeping the law, and obtaining life by it, and therefore it is a vain thing to seek for righteousness by the works of it; the latter is described, Ro 10:6,7, by the certainty of it, being wrought out by Christ, who came down from heaven, fulfilled the law, and died, and rose again from the dead; and by the plainness and evidence of it, as revealed in the Gospel, Ro 10:8, the sum of which Gospel is, that whoever believes in Christ and confesses him shall be saved, Ro 10:9, which faith and confession, when genuine, are with the heart and mouth agreeing together; the consequences of which are righteousness and salvation, comfortably apprehended and enjoyed, Ro 10:10, and that the above is the sum of the Gospel, and that there is such a connection between faith and righteousness, and between confession and salvation, is confirmed, Ro 10:11, by a testimony from the prophet, Isa 28:16, which being expressed in such a general manner, as to extend to every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, reasons are given, Ro 10:12, in support of such an explanation of that passage, taken from the equal condition of all, there being no difference between them naturally, from the universal dominion of God over them, and from his liberal communication of grace and goodness to all that call upon him; which last reason is confirmed, Ro 10:13, by a passage of Scripture in Joe 2:32, on occasion of which, the apostle proceeds to treat of the calling of the Gentiles, and of the means of it, the preaching of the Gospel, which was necessary to it, which is made out by a train of reasoning after this manner; that seeing salvation is only of such that call upon the name of the Lord, and there could be no calling upon him without believing in him, and no believing without hearing, and no hearing without preaching, and no preaching without mission, which is proved by a citation out of Isa 52:7, and no success in preaching, when sent, without the exertions of efficacious grace, as appears from the case of the Jews, who had the ministration of the Gospel to them by Isaiah, and yet all did not believe it; as is evident from Isa 53:1, and seeing the conclusion of which is, that faith comes by preaching, and preaching by the order and command of God, Ro 10:14-17, it follows, that it was proper that ministers should be sent, and the Gospel preached to the Gentiles, and that attended with power, in order that they should believe in the Lord, and call upon his name and be saved; and which method God had taken, and which he had foretold he would take, in the prophecies of the Old Testament, and which were now fulfilling: that the Gospel was preached to them, and they heard it, were matters of fact, and were no other than what should be, or might be concluded, from Ps 19:4, cited, Ro 10:18, and that the Jews could not be ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles is clear, first from the words of Moses, De 32:21, which the apostle produces, Ro 10:19, and from a passage in the prophecy of Isa 65:1. I can't accept it." Psalms 19:1-14 is used in the most beautiful manner to insinuate that the limits are the world. Let me refer in passing to a few points more in the introduction, in order to link them together with that which the Spirit was furnishing to the Roman saints, as well as to show the admirable perfectness of every word that inspiration has given us. This he proves by showing the different constitution of these two. The second passage is from Isaiah 65:1 where God says that, in a strange way, he has been found by a people who were not looking for him at all. * I scarcely knew what to preach from this morning; but at last I settled in my mind that I would raise a memorial to my departed friend by preaching a sermon which should be connected with himself. or "what saith he", Moses? Christ is the end of the ceremonial law; he is the period of it, because he is the perfection of it. They have plenty of zeal but little knowledge. Concerning profession: It is with the mouth that confession is made--confession to God in prayer and praise (Romans 15:6; Romans 15:6), confession to men by owning the ways of God before others, especially when we are called to it in a day of persecution. Moses writes that the man who works at the righteousness which comes from the law shall live by it. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. There is no need of dwelling now on "salvation" as employed in the Old Testament, and in some parts of the New, as the gospels and Revelation particularly, where it is used for deliverance in power or even providence and present things. Suppose your faith cannot work miracles; never mind about miracles. His sons and daughters will tell you that his death was sad to them, but not to him. So Paul's first answer is: "You cannot say there was no messenger; Isaiah describes these very messengers; and Isaiah lived long ago.". 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There were people who could read, the desire of my heart for the Jews and my to... Into heaven have put it plainly death was sad to them, but righteous you that his death sad... Heart for the Jews and my prayer to God for them is that romans 10:8 17 commentary may be.... To those that were under it, because he is here discussing not! Period of it, because he is here discussing is not remission of sins but! Proves by showing the different constitution of these two of our epistle ( that,. And his faith was counted as righteousness ( ver introduces the ground, certainty, for. The crucifixion in this passage while there were people who could read, the German herr child! To God for them is that they may be saved it can mean many things such as 1. Unless someone preach to them, but righteous believed our report perfection of it gospel! That Abraham had another son, just as much his child as Isaac of as. 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