Romans 10:17,20-21

...Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ... 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" [Isaiah 65:1]. But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people" [Isaiah 65:2].

V17 – Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. What does that mean? What is saving faith? Paul is saying that saving faith entails believing the Gospel message and trusting in Jesus. Faith presupposes and requires the word heard through Christ about Christ. Saving faith requires that the message Christ declared and commissioned preachers to declare about Him be heard and believed. Paul is saying that Israel didn’t believe the message, not because they didn’t hear it in the sense that is was physically audible and intellectually assented to, but because they didn’t hear it through the Word of Christ in the sense that is was spiritually audible and trusted in from the heart. That’s what it means for the message to be heard through the Word of Christ.

V20-21 – God reveals Himself to those who do not want Him. His mercy is revealed in patience. Paul confirms the twin truths of God’s sovereignty in salvation and man’s responsibility to believe the Gospel side-by-side here. In v20, God reveals Himself to those who do not ask for Him. This is in the strongest possible sense, like that of Paul’s conversion. God compels people to come to Him (Luke 14:23). God works in them to effectively bring them to Him. This is representative, of course, of God’s sovereignty in salvation. In v 21, God, having revealed Himself in plenty strong-enough, just not effectual ways, is patiently waiting for disobedient and stubborn people to turn to Him. He has patience with them, thereby revealing His mercy. He has a purpose in hardening them, but we’ll have to wait until chapter 11 to hear Paul explain that purpose. But this shows man’s responsibility to believe the Gospel.

Charles Spurgeon said, “That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other.”

In conclusion consider several additional passages, like Romans 10:20-21, that teach both of these truths simultaneously: 1 Corinthians 1:18-24; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; John 6:37; Matthew 11:25-29; Acts 13:38,39,48.

All are sincerely invited, rather commanded, to come to Christ. Everyone who believes will be saved. But none will believe; none will obey, unless God makes it happen in them. Only those appointed for eternal life believe. Only those who are made alive by the Holy Spirit when they were dead obey the command to believe. Only those compelled to come (Luke 14:23) accept the offer and willingly receive Christ by coming to Him.

Romans 10:15-21

As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" [Isaiah 52:7]! But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message" [Isaiah 53:1]? Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of 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" [Psalm 19:4]. 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" [Deuteronomy 32:21]. 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" [Isaiah 65:1]. But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people" [Isaiah 65:2].

Why is it that people reject the Gospel?

Paul asked four questions in v13-14, and he works through the answers to the questions in reverse order: Is it because God has not sent preachers? No. In v15 Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7 to show that God has sent messengers, Isaiah being a primary one. Beautiful feet are not soft and pedicured; rather, they are dirty, rough, and worn. The messengers God calls are beautiful people because of the message they carry. We sing about Jesus being beautiful, but Scripture says that there was nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. Jesus is beautiful because of His message and His work.

Is it because the preachers have failed to share the good news? No. In v16, Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1 to show that Isaiah did deliver the message, but the people did not believe it. Isaiah 53:1 found its fulfillment in John 12:37-38. “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: ‘Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’”

Is it because the people didn’t hear and understand the message? No. Skip over v17 to v18. Paul quotes Psalm 19:4 to show that the people did hear. This particular verse in Psalm 19 points to creation as general revelation. The whole Psalm gives room for general (v1-6) and specific (v7-11) revelation. Just as God as given creation as general revelation – a witness to Himself, to His eternal power and divine nature, so also has God given His Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, as specific revelation – a witness to Himself through the Gospel. So Paul is “playing” with his audience here. Paul is basically saying, “If the Gentiles, who had only general revelation, have heard, then surely the Jews, who had general and special revelation, have also heard.” So the whole world has heard. See Colossians 1:23. But what about understanding?

Let me say two things regarding understanding. First, from v19-20, there is no intellectual problem. Paul proves that with quotes from both the law and the prophets. Notice that the first quote in v19 comes from Deuteronomy 32:21, and then the second quote in v20 comes from Isaiah 65:1. Paul is saying, “Look, both the law and the prophets in the Scriptures make it clear that the Gospel was clearly understood by the people of Israel, and it was made so clear that even the Gentiles, who didn’t understand, understood it.” Moses’ and Isaiah’s prophecies that the Gentiles would believe to the anger of the Israelites came true. That proves Paul’s point. The Gentiles were never very theologically sharp; they were a nation without understanding, yet they understood the message of the Gospel, that salvation is by grace through faith in the Messiah and not by works. They never sought God, but they found Him as He revealed Himself to them. But the Jews, on the other hand, were theologically sharp. They were a nation with understanding, that is, intellectual understanding or assent. But they sought God and did not find Him. So by hearing the Gentiles understood, but hearing doesn’t bring understanding for the Jew. Why not?

V21 answers this question, gives us my second point regarding understanding, and addresses the very first question Paul asked back in v14. Is it because the people heard and understood yet still failed to believe and call on the name of the Lord and be saved? Yes! The people had everything necessary to be responsible for believing; they intellectually understood, but they didn’t experientially understand. They had no understanding from the heart. Hearing is not understanding for the Jew, because it must come from the heart and not merely from the head. The Jews were disobedient and obstinate (stubborn). Paul is saying that Israel didn’t call on the name of the Lord because they went after other gods and sought God in the wrong way. The depravity of Israel kept the Jews from embracing the Savior. We’ll come back and look at v17 and v21 in more detail to finish up chapter 10 next time.

Romans 10:14-15

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 they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" [Isaiah 52:7]!

Let me point out four ways that Israel is practically a visible illustration of our own lives before God: (1) Israel has the law written down in history for all to read; we have the invisible law of God written on our hearts; (2) Israel fails to live up to its visible, written law for all to see; we fail to live up to our invisible law; (3) Israel is condemned by God visibly and publicly; we are condemned by our conscience as an echo of God’s severe wrath and just judgment; (4) Israel is given a remedy by faith in the Messiah, Jesus, who provides a righteousness that they could not provide for themselves; we are given that same remedy. So Israel’s historical story and our internal, personal story connect in Jesus. Their history was pointing to Jesus, and our spiritual struggles point to Jesus. And this connection continues to a fifth point made by Paul in Romans 9-11: (5) Israel missed the provided remedy (Christ), so that we would not miss it. That’s where Paul is going in this 3-chapter span in Romans. The Old Testament pointed to salvation by grace through faith, just as the New Testament does. And Paul’s audience might ask, “If the Scriptures teach salvation by grace through faith, then how did the Jews miss it? How did Israel fail to grasp it?” So Paul explains how and why they missed their Messiah and rejected the Gospel in this passage. Notice that Paul asks 4 questions in v14-15, gives 4 answers in v15-21 (skipping v17), and gives 2 important details regarding saving faith in v17.

Paul has just said in v13 that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. No nation in all of human history has called on the Lord like the Israelites. How is it, then, that they are not all being saved? Paul is asserting that the Israelites are not really calling on the Lord, because they’re not calling on Jesus Christ with saving faith. They may be crying out to God the Father, but they show that they do not really know God the Father, because they fail to cry out to His Son. In Romans 10:9, we saw that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 10:22 “All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” It’s more than intellectual assent to the facts, and that’s what Paul wants to show. So he asks 4 diagnostic questions in v14-15 forcing his audience to get to the heart of the matter, to focus on the core of the problem.

First, they cannot call on the Lord Jesus Christ if they don’t really believe Jesus Christ is Lord. Second, they cannot believe that Jesus Christ is Lord unless they hear the Gospel. Third, they cannot hear the Gospel unless it is preached to them. Fourth, the Gospel cannot be preached unless preachers are sent by God. So Paul is asking his audience to focus on the problem. Why is it that people reject the Gospel? And we'll look at the answers to these questions next time.

Romans 10:11-13

As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame" [Isaiah 28:16]. 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" [Joel 2:32].

Notice again that Paul, as he has done throughout this passage, is emphasizing that the Old Testament teaches the way of salvation by grace through faith in the Messiah. Why should people, especially the Jews, trust in God for salvation? Because their Scriptures say so. Even the law, says Paul, teaches salvation by grace through faith. And if we truly believe on Christ then we will not be ashamed of Him, and therefore we will gladly confess Him and obey the Gospel from the heart as He enables us and works in us to do so.

Paul says in v12, “There is no difference,” and he said the same thing in Romans 3:22. In that passage “there is no difference,” because Jew and Gentile alike have sinned and are condemned. In this passage “there is no difference,” because Jew and Gentile alike have the same Savior who will pour out the riches of His glory (Romans 9:23) to all who call on His name. All kinds of men without distinction are condemned due to the same sinfulness; all kinds of men without distinction are saved by the same Savior. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (with sincere saving faith) will be saved. Praise God!