Conceivably, God could have chosen any means for the message of salvation to come, such as angelic messengers or directly working without a human preacher. He and his wife, Adrian, are beautiful people. It is here that you will find a great failure of Christendom as to this. Not only was Abraham justified without law, but apart from that great sign of mortification of the flesh. There they were recorded, and Jack was a new man and a saved man. Believe in him as your risen Saviour, declare him to be your Lord, and you will receive from God the righteousness that saves (9-10). Though the whole might have been announced in one continuous sentence, yet a question is interposed for the sake of exciting attention: and his object at the same time was to show how great is the difference between the righteousness of the law and that of the gospel; for the one, showing itself at a distance, restrains all men from coming nigh; but the other, offering itself at hand, kindly invites us to a fruition of itself, Nigh thee is the word. We cannot speak of the state of things before the flood as a dispensation. Their sins had been passed by. The Bible describes confessing Christ in two ways. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. But the Jews did so die. But such thoughts altogether vanish now, because, as the Gentile was unquestionably wicked and abominable, so from the law's express denunciation the Jew was universally guilty before God. Tonight whoever you might be salvation is so close to you, all you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved. The whole history of Israel, past, present, and future falls in with, although quite distinct from, that which he had been expounding. There the truth is held, and apparently with firmness too. They wanted Jerusalem to be shut down completely on the Sabbath day, and he just let their sections be shut down but allowed cars to be driven in other sections. That is true--but no one ever has. But this great work of Christ was not and could not be a mere vindication of God; and we may find it otherwise developed in various parts of Scripture, which I here mention by the way to show the point at which we are arrived. But if you and I are as he was, "poor sinners, and nothing at all," we may, with firm and resolute grip, lay hold upon the other line, "But Jesus Christ is my all in all." His answer is: "You cannot say that Israel never got the chance to hear; for scripture plainly says that God's message has gone out to all the world.". Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. This he shows, Romans 10:5; Romans 10:5. True ministry gives out not merely truth, but suited truth to the saints. If I am thus pitied of God, if so truly and completely a justified man, if I am really an object of God's eternal favour, how can I have such a sense of continual evil? Romans is a book about God. Next, this precious gospel translates these questions, and then answers them. They will not accept that the way of salvation for them is the same as for the Gentiles - through faith in Christ (30-33). This is what that word of faith says, even the gospel which we preach. (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) It is in Zion that He lays it. No, if the law is once broken it is all over with you as to salvation thereby: one single fault takes away the possibility of your ever being justified by the law. ". He could not have remitted heretofore. God gave us conscience and the guidance of his Holy Spirit; and often we plead ignorance, when, if we were honest, we would have to admit that in our heart of hearts we knew the truth. Of course our new Perfection brethren, spick and span saints as they are, are not like Jack, they are not "poor sinners, and nothing at all," and I am afraid lest some of them should find out that Jesus Christ is not their all in all. Thus, their good works must outweigh their bad works. Truly they had a zeal for the law. It was all a matter of law and achievement. What is to be done according to Gods word? If a Jew is wealthy enough he will sometimes install a time switch to switch on the lights at dusk on Sabbath without his doing so himself. Romans 10:17; Hebrews 6:5; Hebrews 11:3. A man is responsible for failing to know what he might have known. The apostle refers to Isaiah to show that God would "lay in Zion a stumbling-stone." What is remote, with difficulty. Would that the Lord would give us hearts to remember, as well as eyes to see, according to His own grace! 6 But the righteousness which is of faith saith thus, Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? The man who does those things shall live by them, ascend into heaven or descend into the abyss, But what does it say? I never doubt that, for I have daily proofs of it, and why should I doubt that, for he says he is, and I must believe him." Salvation isn't way off in heaven some place. It is not, as in Ephesians 2:1-22, dead in sins, which would be nothing to the purpose. I now plunge into my text. Talk not thus. The scope of the apostle in this part of the chapter is to show the vast difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith, and the great pre-eminence of the righteousness of faith above that of the law; that he might induce and persuade the Jews to believe in Christ, aggravate the folly and sin of those that refused, and justify God in the rejection of such refusers. The 14th verse in Deuteronomy 30:1-20 completes the thought by saying that the Jews could do what God wanted them to do - that thou mayest do it. "Stop a minute," said he. It is important to note, however, that Paul does not quote Moses. This is a state of mind, and not the necessary or immediate fruit of Romans 3:1-31, but is based on the truth of Romans 4:1-25 as well as 3. Psalms 19:1-14 is used in the most beautiful manner to insinuate that the limits are the world. and in your heart -- --when you believe on Him. He did not say, "Do and thou shalt live, and yet there is another way." The gospel at its height in no wise weakens but maintains the moral manifestation of what God is. [1.] When people say we need something other than Gods word, they deny what Paul wrote (compare 2 Timothy 3:16-17). i. (14-15) The necessity of the preaching of the gospel. Gods word provides a system to live by. 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." Christ is come, and has changed all. Go not to the loom to weave a righteousness. It might be more or less any man's lot to learn. Hence therefore, the apostle, with divine wisdom, opens this to us before the blessed relief and deliverance which the gospel reveals to us. This is the essential point. All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Genesis 21:8-21 (The rescue of Hagar and Ishmael); Psalm 86:1-10 16-17 (Prayer for deliverance); Romans 6:1b-11 (Buried and raised with Christ in baptism); Matthew 10:24-39 (The cost of discipleship) ( English Standard Version) June 25, 2023. No one is lost until he sins and sin becomes full grown (James 1:15). The Word of God is essential for the development of faith within my heart. Their opposition to the gospel is from a principle of respect to the law, which they know to have come from God. In Romans 10:1-21 Paul made this same point. Paul wants the Jews to be saved, but they cannot be saved while trying to create their own righteousness through law-keeping. He was Emmanuel, yea, the Jehovah, God of Israel. "The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (iii) But a man must not only believe in his heart; he must confess with his lips. I will read his exact words to you. Though it directs us to a better and more effectual righteousness in Christ, yet in itself, considered as a law abstracted from its respect to Christ and the gospel (for so the unbelieving Jews embraced and retained it), it owneth nothing as a righteousness sufficient to justify a man but that of perfect obedience. g. All who call upon Him: Again, note the emphasis on human responsibility. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." It is not a soul's overcoming its difficulties, but a sinner's submission to the righteousness of God. Because of Jesus Christ, man is no longer faced with the task of satisfying God's justice; he need only accept his love. We should take notice of that which is commendable even in bad people. Although there is undoubtedly that profoundness which must accompany every revelation of God, and especially in connection with Christ as now manifested, still we have God adapting Himself to the very first wants of a renewed soul nay, even to the wretchedness of souls without God, without any real knowledge either of themselves or of Him. 4). The question then is raised in the beginning ofRomans 3:1-31; Romans 3:1-31, If this be so, what is the superiority of the Jew? "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. (that is, to bring Christ again from the dead.) No, my dear friend, do not say that even in your thought. How can they call on him in whom they have not believed? Ed. This clearly takes in man, it will be observed; and this is his grand point now. 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. It was meant to make sin exceeding sinful. Sin was in the world between Adam and Moses, when the law was not. It is no longer in our power to dream of a perfect, life-long obedience. As to those who have been called home, how have they died? "Yea verily, their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." Was it not sure and evident that Israel could not take the promise on the ground of mere connection after the flesh? or "what saith he", Moses? It is just as clear as ever the law was, and quite as sharply distinct. And she takes advantage of it and gives me a bad time, because she is totally independent when it comes to Grandpa.She loves to play her little independent games. This do, and thou shalt live. Or to proclaim to them the truth. The Text I have tried my best; and so I close by bidding you hear WHAT EXPERIENCE SAITH. That is not Christ's way. It is close to you. We believe and receive. He descended into the grave, so that he dwelt among the dead! He says rema is "the word of faith" that is proclaimed by the followers of Jesus. First of all the apostle points out that death has come in, and that this was no consequence of law, but before it. The tenour of it is, Do, and live. He shows that, on the responsible ground of being His nation, they were wholly ruined. 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. I have always felt obliged to the Cardinal for that admission; because the best is good enough for me, and since trusting in Jesus is the safest, I intend to stick to it even to the end. (19) The testimony of Deuteronomy 32:21. But this one is a special little angel. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. of Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 10:12-17 There is not one God to the Jews, more kind, and another to the Gentiles, who is less kind; the Lord is a Father to all men. Hence, as God's wrath is revealed from heaven, it is against every form of impiety "against all ungodliness." You need not "bring up Christ again from the dead," for the Lord has risen indeed. Basically the scheme is this--in the previous passage Paul has been saying that the way to God is not that of works and of legalism, but of faith and trust. 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. But I say, [Paul said,] Have they not heard? He never said a word more than he felt; yet that was the style of man. or who hath first liven to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? And what was all this about? To this Paul answers: "Christ is the end of the law." Even the word of faith; the gospel and the promise of it, called the word of faith because it is the object of faith about which it is conversant, the word which we believe;--because it is the precept of faith, commanding it, and making it the great condition of justification;--and because it is the ordinary means by which faith is wrought and conveyed. Man despised at first the outward testimony of God, His eternal power and Godhead, in the creation above and around him (verses 19, 20). For information about the word heart (kardia), see the commentary on verse 1. For his sake let me tell it again. The law demanded, but could never receive righteousness from man. Christ is the end of the ceremonial law; he is the period of it, because he is the perfection of it. The design of the law was to lead people to Christ. He can be yours through faith right where you are (6-8). He at the same time unfolds the essential difference between the righteousness of faith and that of law. His death is instead of the death of our souls: his life is the life of our spirits. Keep to it. Then he knows that Jesus will blot out his transgressions, and create in him a clean heart, and restore him to himself again, though now, like David, his sin is ever before him. 14:1 - 15:14. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. Rightly does Paul take this as granted; for the doctrine of the law does by no means render the conscience quiet and calm, nor supply it with what ought to satisfy it. As Cottrell observes: Moses emphasis is clearly on the accessibility and understandability of Gods law. I'm sorry you can't accept it, but that is the way it is. Once it was far otherwise. You cannot believe in him unless you hear about him. I am not sure, for I know little about it." Is he one of those that we elected? b. Not only God, but also our fellow men, must know what side we are on. Having descended all that length he went lower still. Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat, for Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Cold desires do but beg denials; we must even breathe out our souls in every prayer. The Jews have no reason to believe that God has rejected them. Perhaps I am doing the same this morning, but I do not mean to do it. The earth, or, at least, the Jewish nation, had been familiar with such dealings of God in times past. Now, what Paul declared of the Jew then is still true today. But we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Wednesday, March 1st, 2023 This accordingly leads, as connected with the deliverance of the body, to the inheritance we are to possess. The point is best understood by examining the source of Pauls information. They have plenty of, Zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, iii. Romans 16:1-27; Romans 16:1-27 brings before us in the most. And the blessedness of the gospel is, that it is (not merely an exercise of mercy, but also) divinely just. Witness the common joy that grace gives an apostle with saints be had never seen, so that even he should be comforted as well as they by their mutual faith. and how shall they preach unless they be sent? Of the Jew by his own confession. This was true even before Moses time (see Romans 4:13 and the example of Abraham). Paul rightly observes that it all goes back to the preaching of the gospel, and preachers must be sent both by God and the Christian community at large. "No, not if you pluck out my eyes, and consume my bowels in the fire. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. Romans 10:9-10 are of prime importance. Moses claimed for the law which God had given to the people through him that it was clear, and within the range of their knowledge and understanding. "To all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called saints" (ver. I am afraid we say a great deal at times which rather lumbers and cumbers the gospel than makes it clear. a. I will provoke you to jealousy: God told Israel that He would bring others close to Him and make them jealous. He says his prayers every day. Therefore it is here for the first time that we find salvation spoken of in the grand results that are now brought before us in Romans 5:1-11. It is in your mouth and in your heart." faith comes by hearing [ the thing heard], No, we will find out next week as we move into Romans 11:0 that God still has a plan whereby He is going to bring salvation to the Jew. (4-8) The contrast between Gods righteousness and our attempts at righteousness. If it were possible that man could be saved any other way, the cross would not be necessary. I hear him say so at this moment; and I answer him, "Dear brother, we will be with you speedily.". i. "But there is no place for boasting neither now or eternally when we get to heaven and when before the throne I stand in Him complete. Rather he means to say the same thing about the system of grace ("the righteousness which is of faith") that Moses says about the law. If God has made you feel yourself a sinner, then Christ is such a Savior as you need and you may have him at once: the only difficulty lies in the way being so easy that you can hardly think it can be so. Christ's fullness is meant for our emptiness; Christ's righteousness is meant for our sin, salvation is for the lost. Did the Jews take the ground of exclusively having that word of God the law? The Gentiles did not seem to him to be in the same position as the Jews at all. They are zealous for God, yes. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Confessing the Lord Jesus--openly professing relation to him and dependence on him, as our prince and Saviour, owning Christianity in the face of all the allurements and affrightments of this world, standing by him in all weathers. The Jews have indeed heard this message, so they have no excuse (18). This was not suitable to the character of the epistle; but the glory of God he does. No topic is treated with anything like the frequency of God. In this too we have the blessed connection of the Spirit (here peculiarly designated, for special reasons, "the Spirit of holiness"). Let man be what he might, or where he might, God's good news was for man. (iii) The third objection is a restatement of the first: But, what if I insist that they never got the chance to hear? And this lies in the fact that Abraham believed God before he had the son, being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able to perform. This same term occurs again in verses 14 and 15. And he is father of circumcision in the best sense, not to Jews, but to believing Gentiles. This were indeed to deny the value of His death, and of that newness of life we have in Him risen, and a return to bondage of the worst description. . He fell and a soldier kicked him. It is the product of many graces, evinces a great deal of self-denial, love to Christ, contempt of the world, a mighty courage and resolution. All then that believe, though uncircumcised, might claim him as father, assured that righteousness will be reckoned to them too. Whatever it is that God has commanded, you must do; whatever he forbids, you must avoid; for by such obedience alone can you live. The word Kurios was and is the touchstone of faith.. (ii) A man must believe that Jesus is risen from the dead. The subserviency of the law to the gospel (Romans 10:4; Romans 10:4): Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. It is not an esoteric message hidden in some secret place or located at some far corner of the universe. And where? Compare Romans 10:14; Romans 10:14. It is not so alone; but in His death, unto which I am baptized, I am dead to sin. So that this was no other than what Moses and the prophets said should be, Ro 10:20, and the chapter is closed, Ro 10:21, with another passage out of the same prophet in the next verse, showing the rejection of Christ and his Gospel by the Jews, and which justifies their being cast off by him, of which the apostle treats largely in the next chapter. The law never delivers; it condemns and kills us. who would defraud God of that which He delights in the blessedness of bringing in deliverance by that One man, of whom Adam was the image? Then the domains of flesh and Spirit are brought before us: the one characterized by sin and death practically now; the other by life, righteousness, and peace, which is, as we saw, to be crowned finally by the resurrection of these bodies of ours. The resurrection was an essential of Christian belief. In the same way the apostle disposes of all pretence on the score of ordinances, especially circumcision. What was it? "Ah, well," says one, "I know I must undergo a singular experience-either I must be carried right away to heaven with delirious delight, or be plunged into the waves of hell in frightful despair." Therein God is both vindicated and glorified. The moral law was but for the searching of the wound, the ceremonial law for the shadowing forth of the remedy; but Christ is the end of both. He demands perfect and entire obedience, if life is to come of it. We have the tenour of it, Romans 10:9; Romans 10:10, the sum of the gospel, which is plain and easy enough. 5. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" (verses 20, 21). Finally he comes to two other witnesses; as from the Psalms, so now from the law and the prophets. What is the righteousness which is of the law? It could not therefore be the source or means of his righteousness. Do not suppose that anything is wanted as to doings or feelings in order to complete the righteousness which is wrought out by the Lord Jesus, and imputed by God to the believer. There was no part of heathenism practically viewed now, so corrupting as that which had to do with the objects of its worship. Plug in, Turn on and Be En light ened! What does experience say about believing in Christ! The "word of faith" is the message of justification by the system of "faith" as opposed to the Law. When we confess the Lord Jesus, we agree with what God said about Jesus, and with what Jesus said about Himself. Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 4:14; 1 Corinthians 15:13-20. We ought therefore to bear in mind, that if a soul be not brought into conscious deliverance as the fruit of divine teaching, and founded on the work of Christ, we are very far from presenting the gospel as the apostle Paul glories in it, and delights that it should go forth. This is applied in the two chapters that follow. Now, if it was righteous in God (and who will gainsay it?) It is done. Click to enable/disable essential site cookies. There is a disposition continually to imagine that what is frequently spoken of must be understood; but experience will soon show that this is not the case. 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). The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: The 5th verse is a quotation from Leviticus 18:5. It is fit that God should be honoured with the mouth, for he made man's mouth (Exodus 4:11), and at such a time has promised to give his faithful people a mouth and wisdom,Luke 21:15. When God established His covenant with Israel, God established the various offerings that they must bring to Him for their sins. ( Isaiah 53:1.) He has Gods law; all that remains is for him to obey it. Up also his body rose on the light of the third day; and he sojourned for forty days among his disciples. The same was true of the gospel. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek ( Romans 10:11-12 ): Quite a statement for Paul a Hebrew of the Hebrews to make--no difference between the Jew and the Greek, that is, as far as salvation is concerned. You see how simple God has made it? It was for this then that Paul describes himself as apostle. This applies to all who cast themselves upon God in faith, Jews and Gentiles alike (11-13).Before people can believe this message, they must hear it. and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. The gospel is called the Word of faith, the Word of God, as being what was spoken, or communicated by God to man. If what is possible? Men have an infinite and fatal capacity for shutting their minds to what they do not wish to see, and stopping their ears to what they do not wish to hear. Not in our descending, but in Christ's descending our hope is to be found. The second plea is not that the rejection of Israel is only partial, however extensive, but that it is also temporary, and not definitive. This is precisely what salvation does not mean; and I would strongly press it on all that hear me, more particularly on those that have to do with the work of the Lord, and of course ardently desire to labour intelligently; and this not alone for the conversion, but for the establishment and deliverance of souls. How are they to hear without someone to proclaim the good news to them? This accordingly leads the apostle into the earlier portion of his great argument, and first of all in a preparatory way. It is for the lost, therefore; for they it is who need salvation; and it is to save not merely to quicken, but to save; and this because in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. He here shows the fatal mistake that the unbelieving Jews were guilty of, which was their ruin. So also the gospel by no means involves itself in obscurity, but says, Believe and live, quite as distinctly as Moses said, "Do and live." And the cross offends people, because the cross tells you there is only one way to God. Here, then, it is not a question at all of pardon or remission. But now they were; and thus God vindicated Himself perfectly as to the past. Ed. Romans 10:17, NLT: So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. If one says that Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 30, the reconciliations attempted between Pauls use of these words and Moses use of them are strained. 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. As he whom we sorrow for today could die peacefully, and even merrily, so shall you and I if we rely on the same Savior. The law cannot make a person righteous before God, nor can it give a person a righteous standing before God. b. 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. The Jews were the last in the world to take such ground as this. instructive and interesting manner the links that grace practically forms and maintains between the saints of God. The gospel or the system of grace or "the righteousness which is of faith" is not difficult to find or to accede to. The apostle allows this privilege to be great, specially in having the Scriptures, but turns the argument against the boasters.
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