family devotions: Romans 10

~  Romans 10.1-4  ~

Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul has just written about how the Jewish people have rejected Jesus because they were trying to be right with God by their own efforts at obeying God's Law; Paul prays earnestly that they will be saved, and he laments that though they have a "zeal for God," that zeal misses its mark. The zealousness of the Jews of Paul's day is captured by his contemporary Josephus, who writes, 

"The Jew knows the Law better than his own name . . . The sacred rules were punctually observed . . . The great feasts were frequented by countless thousands . . . Over and above the requirements of the Law, ascetic religious exercises advocated by the teachers of the Law came into vogue. . . . Even the Hellenised and Alexandrian Jews under Caligula died on the cross and by fire, and the Palestinian prisoners in the last war died by the claws of African lions in the amphitheatre, rather than sin against the Law. What Greek,” exclaims Josephus, “would do the like? . . . The Jews also exhibited an ardent zeal for the conversion of the Gentiles to the Law of Moses. The proselytes filled Asia Minor and Syria, and—to the indignation of Tacitus—Italy and Rome.” 

Despite their zeal for the Law and for God, their faith was legal and formal to the last degree. It was an outward show; they believed that if they obeyed the Law outwardly in deed, they would please God and be counted righteous by Him. Their outward religion masked the corruption in their own hearts, which Paul wrote about in Romans 2.17-29: 

But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

By focusing on outward obedience to God's Law, the Jewish people refused to submit to Jesus. The great irony is that Jesus is the only way for us to experience rightness with God. Jesus is the only way to be a Jew inwardly, as Paul said, whose heart is circumcised by the Spirit and not by forceps and scalpel. Paul says that Christ is the "end of the Law for righteousness" for everyone who believes in Jesus' name.

But what does it mean that Christ is the end of the Law? Some have argued that this means that because the New Covenant has come, none of the Old Covenant rules apply. We can toss out those pesky verses about men sleeping with men and people wearing gender appropriate clothing, and we can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Ten Commandments are no longer binding. Those who hold to such views are called antinomians, which literally means "against law," and Paul railed against them constantly throughout his letters. While the coming of Christ certainly annulled many parts of Old Testament law, such as ceremonial laws relating to the Tabernacle and "isolating" laws such as not eating shellfish or pork, observing Jewish holy days, and being circumcised, the moral laws of the Old Testament - such as the Ten Commandments and, unfortunately for the Alphabet Nazi crowd, those passages against sexual immorality and violating God's created order - remain binding and in effect.

In what way, then, is Christ the end of the Law for those who believe? The Greek word for "end" can be better translated "completion" or "perfection," and it refers to the design or object to which a thing is oriented. For example, the "end" of dating is marriage, and the "end" of a journey is the destination. In this case, the main design or object to which perfect obedience to God's Law was pointed was justification, or being made right with God; perfect obedience to the Law would accomplish justification before God and secure His favor and eternal life. (Of course, no one can keep the Law perfectly, for we are all sinners and thus condemned by our works.) The good news is that that which was sought after by works but which, because of our inner corruption, was unobtainable - namely salvation - is now attainable by faith in Christ. By putting our faith in Christ, we experience justification, we have God's favor, and we are granted eternal life. 

The Law, then, had its fulfillment in Jesus. This is why Jesus told the Jews he came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. Christ was the final purpose of the Law; all the Law's institutions, ordinances, and sacrifices were on Christ's account: they were all shadows of him, and he the body and substance of them; he was the end or mark and scope at which the Law aimed; every type looked to him, and every offering directed the worshipper to him; he was the terminus of the Law, to whom it was to reach, and beyond whom it was not to go; the Law was a schoolmaster for instruction and direction until Christ came, and no longer. 

~  Romans 10.5-11  ~

For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 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), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” 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, 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; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

What does it mean that the man who practices righteousness based on the Law will live by that righteousness? It means that the one who tries to be righteous by obeying the Law can only be righteous by obeying all of it and not breaking it anywhere. This is impossible, which is why Paul says that no man can be saved by the works of the Law. Those who insist that people go to heaven for being "good" fail to recognize that their goodness must be perfect; those who are trusting in going to heaven because they try to be good people will be quite dismayed when they realize their failures have caught up with them at the pearly gates. 

Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30.11-14 to emphasize the simplicity and availability of righteousness by faith. Albert Barnes notes, 

"The original meaning of the passage [in Deuteronomy] is this: Moses, near the end of his life, having given his commandments to the Israelites, exhorts them to obedience. To do this, he assures them that his commands are reasonable, plain, intelligible, and accessible. They did not require deep research, long journeys, or painful toil. There was no need of crossing seas, and going to other lands, of looking into the profound mysteries of the high heavens, or the deep abyss; but they were near them, had been plainly set before them, and were easily understood." 

Moses' whole point was that the Law was simple and readily available; it didn't take a genius to figure it out. Paul uses this passage to highlight the simplicity and availability of the way of righteousness by faith: all you must do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and you will be saved. The crux of the matter is belief from the heart: the heart, in Hebrew terms, was the core of a person, so that to believe in one's heart isn't just to acknowledge the reality of something but to devote yourself to it. To confess that Jesus is Lord - or, in modern language, to confess that Jesus is King - is a political statement about Jesus' kingship and is a vow of loyalty to him as the world's true king. Thus believing and confessing is another way of saying that in order to be saved you must wholeheartedly submit yourself to Jesus and put your loyalty in him. That is the way of righteousness by faith. Such submission and loyalty to Jesus will show itself in your behavior and speech, which is why the New Testament tells us that genuine faith will result in good works. 

Matthew Henry sums up this passage well: 

"The self-condemned sinner need not perplex himself how this righteousness may be found. When we speak of looking upon Christ, and receiving, and feeding upon him, it is not Christ in heaven, nor Christ in the deep, that we mean; but Christ in the promise, Christ offered in the word. Justification by faith in Christ is a plain doctrine. It is brought before the mind and heart of every one, thus leaving him without excuse for unbelief. If a man confessed faith in Jesus, as the Lord and Saviour of lost sinners, and really believed in his heart that God had raised him from the dead, thus showing that he had accepted the atonement, he should be saved by the righteousness of Christ, [considered his] through faith. But no faith is justifying which is not powerful in sanctifying the heart, and regulating all its affections by the love of Christ. We must devote and give up to God our souls and our bodies: our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth."

~  Romans 10.12-15  ~

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; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 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? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

Paul says that there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for Jesus is king of all. Paul isn't saying that there aren't any differences between Jews and Greeks after all; he's saying that when it comes to the availability of salvation and the way of experiencing that salvation, there is no difference. There's not a Jewish way and a Greek way; it's the same way for both: they must "call upon the name of the Lord," a phrase which evokes believing in Jesus, submitting to him, and repenting of your sins. That is how you call on the name of the Lord.

Paul says that Jesus is Lord or King of all. Jesus is the world's true king. Whether you believe him or not, he is your king. In the fantastic movie Braveheart, about the Scottish hero William Wallace, there's a scene in which the rebellious Wallace stands trial for his crimes against the King of England. When confronted with the charges, Wallace snarls that he never swore allegiance to the king. The judge responds, "It matters not, for he is your king." It's the same with Christ, who sits at the Father's right hand and who will reign until all his enemies - be they rebellious angels, wicked nations, or wicked men - become his footstool. He is the King of the Universe, and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. As king Jesus is owed all allegiance and submission; those who refuse to do so will be condemned, but those who embrace his mercy and kneel in loyalty to him - those who "call upon his name" - will receive riches from his hand. 

But for wayward subjects to kneel in submission to Christ, they must know about him. The way they know about him is by hearing the gospel message preached. One might wonder, as I often have, "Why did God choose preaching as the means of spreading His gospel? Why not just speak to peoples' hearts? Why not just write the truth in the sky?" Two thoughts immediately spring to mind:

First, preaching is a revival of God's original commission for mankind, to be God's ambassadors and vice regents in the world. In Genesis we learn that we are created in God's image and likeness. There are two parts to this: we are created "like" Him in that we are moral creatures with the ability to make moral choices; we are designed in such a way that we share many aspects with the Godhead, such as the capability to love, to reason, to create, etc. We have also been made in His image, which is different from His likeness. To be in God's image means to be His ambassador or vice-regent over creation; it's a term taken straight from the ancient Near East. As God's imagers, we are tasked with executing God's rule and will on earth. When it comes to preaching, we are doing precisely that: we are serving as God's ambassadors as we proclaim the gospel. 

Second, God has written the truth about His power and presence in creation, as we saw in Romans 1, and that has been ignored. If He were to write the gospel message in the clouds, the ungodly would call it a strange atmospheric phenomena. No matter how God announces Himself, those who hate truth will resist it. When the gospel is preached, God opens the ears and hearts of His elect to receive it; without this grace, no one would ever willingly submit to Him. 

~  Romans 10.16-21  ~

 

However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 

But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, By a nation without understanding will I anger you.” 

And Isaiah is very bold and says,

“I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” 

But as for Israel He says, 

"All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

The gospel has been preached to the Jewish people. They have heard the Good News and have been summoned to faith and repentance. The refusal of most of the Jewish people to respond appropriately to the gospel cannot be lain at the feet of weak-willed preachers. Why, then, have they failed to respond? Here Paul treads back to the original problem presented at the beginning of Romans 9: "Why have the Jewish people rejected Jesus?" Paul will tackle this head-first in Romans 11, but here he lays some groundwork, emphasizing the point that what was seen - the refusal of the Jews to respond to Christ - was prophesied in Scripture, and it has a point to it. 

Paul first quotes Deuteronomy 32.21, in which Moses promises that if the Hebrews obstinately rebel against God, then God will turn His affections on foreigners so as to incite the Jewish people to jealous repentance. Albert Barnes notes: 

"Paul was defending [a theology that was] abundantly established - that the Gentiles were to be brought into the favor of God; and the cause also is suggested to be the obstinacy and rebellion of the Jews. It is not clear that Moses had particularly in view the times of the gospel; but he affirms a great principle which is applicable to those times - that if the Jews should be rebellious, and prove themselves unworthy of his favor, that favor would be withdrawn, and conferred on other nations. The effect of this would be, of course, to excite their indignation."

Paul says that this is precisely what was happening in the first century (and, we should say, today): the fact that only a handful of Jews embraced their Messiah is a judgment of God on the rebellious Jews and done for the purpose of eventually "swooning" them to Christ by way of jealousy. On this point Barnes makes three points: 

(1) That God is a sovereign, and has a right to bestow his favors on whom he pleases. 

(2) that when people abuse his mercies, become proud, or cold, or dead in his service, he often takes away their privileges, and bestows them on others. 

(3) that the effect of his sovereignty is to excite people to anger.

Having established that the Jewish people are under God's judgment for their rebellion, and establishing that this was prophesied in Scripture with a purpose of regathering the Jews by jealousy, Paul turns to the prophet Isaiah - Isaiah 65.1 and 2 - to showcase how it was God's intention all along to bring Gentiles into the covenantal fold, and to do so in response to the Jewish peoples' rejection of Jesus. What's happening now isn't some quirk of history but part of God's great design for history. Paul will deal with these truths - and what they mean for the Jews in the future - in Romans 11. What he gives here is the groundwork which he will soon flesh out in greater detail. 

Albert Barnes gives six "practical and theological points" drawn from Romans 10, and they are worth a read before moving on to Romans 11:

(1) The pagan world is in danger without the gospel. They are sinful, polluted, wretched. The testimony of all who visit pagan nations accords most strikingly with that of the apostles in their times. Nor is there any evidence that the great mass of pagan population has changed for the better.

(2) the provisions of the gospel are ample for them - for all. Its power has been tried on many nations; and its mild and happy influence is seen in meliorated laws, customs, habits; in purer institutions; in intelligence and order; and in the various blessings conferred by a pure religion. The same gospel is suited to produce on the wildest and most wretched population, the same comforts which are now experienced in the happiest part of our own land,

(3) the command of Jesus Christ remains still the same, to preach the gospel to every creature. That command has never been repealed or changed. The apostles met the injunction, and performed what they could. It remains for the church to act as they did, to feel as they did, and put forth their efforts as they did, in obeying one of the most plain and positive laws of Jesus Christ.

(4) if the gospel is to be proclaimed everywhere, people must be sent forth into the vast field. Every nation must have an opportunity to say, "How beautiful are the feet of him that preaches the gospel of peace." Young men, strong and vigorous in the Christian course, must give themselves to this work, and devote their lives in an enterprise which the apostles regarded as honorable to them; and which infinite Wisdom did not regard as unworthy the toils, and tears, and self-denials of the Son of God.

(5) the church, in training young men for the ministry, in fitting her sons for these toils, is performing a noble and glorious work; a work which contemplates the triumph of the gospel among all nations. Happy will it be when the church shall feel the full pressure of this great truth, that the gospel may be preached to every son and daughter of Adam; and when every man who enters the ministry shall count it, not self-denial, but a glorious privilege to be permitted to tell dying pagan people that a Saviour bled for all sinners. And happy that day when it can be said with literal truth that their sound has gone out into all the earth; and that as far as the sun in his daily course sheds his beams, so far the Sun of righteousness sheds also his pure and lovely rays into the abodes of human beings. And we may learn, also, from this,

(6) That God will withdraw his favors from those nations that are disobedient and rebellions. Thus, he rejected the ancient Jews; and thus also he will forsake all who abuse his mercies; who become proud, luxurious, effeminate and wicked. In this respect it becomes the people of this favored land to remember the God of their fathers; and not to forget, too, that national sin provokes God to withdraw, and that a nation that forgets God must be punished.