Without Excuse

Paul began the book of Romans by announcing to the world’s people that they are all “without excuse” before the sovereign God (Rom. 1:20).  But that fact finds its resolution in the fact that God is compassionate and loving, so God has fully revealed His plan) for how man can regain righteousness and restore his relationship with his Creator.  Paul’s concluding statement in Romans 9:30-32 is a sobering as Rom. 9-11 continues to address the unredeemed Jew’s spiritual condition.  Gentiles are attaining righteousness (through Christ, Rom. 5:8), and the Jews are left without righteousness because they insist on “pursuing the Law” (Rom. 3:28).  The key distinction:  faith vs. works.  The Messiah did come but the Jews stumbled on that Stone (Rom. 9:33) because of their rigid adherence to the Law.  In Romans 10 now, Paul stands before his Jewish listeners and declares the Gospel as they need to hear it and as clearly as he knows how.  These chapters are rich in Old Testament quotes as he seeks to focus their attention on the clear words of God.  He tells the Jews that their zeal for God is disoriented, because they sought to work to accomplish their own righteousness.  The truth is, their simple faith in God would give them their heart’s desire (Rom 10:9-10).

We are also blessed in this chapter to have very important verses related to our faith in Christ, how we come to be saved – Rom. 10:9-10, “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.”  And also, Rom.10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Romans 10:1-13 — Believe and Confess

Rom. 10:1-4, Single Vision — Paul says the Jew can’t force the Law to do something it wasn’t intended for,  which is accomplish righteousness.  So then, how does a Jew gain righteousness?  Answer:  The same way everybody else does:  hear the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believe, place your faith in Him; then confess Who you have believed in by letting your faith show itself in your words and actions (Rom. 10:9-10).   In Rom. 10:1, Paul states his goal for his Jewish brethren very clearly:  be saved (redeemed, forgiven, made righteous – read the first few verses of Romans 6).  This verse connects to Rom. 9:1 where Paul expresses deep emotion concerning the need of his brethren to know Christ.   It is the same for all of mankind:  recognize your hopeless sinfulness (Rom. 1-3), understand that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin (Rom. 4-5), then place your trust in God’s gift of salvation (Rom. 10:9-10).

Rom. 10:2-13, Faith vs. Works — Paul addresses the Jews’ ignorance about God’s righteousness, because they think they could attain their own righteousness through works.  All of the world’s religions, including the Catholic church, have built their belief system based on that premise.  We need to remember that works religion has never “worked”.   The Jews’ “zeal for God” was not based on God’s Word and they were missing the mark.  Compare Acts 20:21 where many Jews who had believed in Christ as Savior, yet their roots in a faith that required works to satisfy God made them still “zealous for the Law”, they struggled to free themselves from its bondage.

This insistence on making their own way to heaven is illustrated far back in man’s history, starting with Cain when he offered a sacrifice that wasn’t according to God’s design, and it’s still believed today.  After the flood, Noah’s son Shem’s descendants in Shinar decided they would construct a tower that would give them their own way to reach God, in opposition to God’s divine plan.  God frustrated their plan, confused their language and dispersed the people into separate nations.  One important word in Rom. 10:3 is “submitted” – the Jews wanted to control their accomplishment of righteousness, but Paul corrects them by reversing the relationship: they need to be under the control of God’s righteousness.  His righteousness is made available through faith, not works.  In Rom. 10:1-13, Paul quotes OT scripture to emphasize the Bible’s clear teaching regarding faith.  Verse 4 declares Jesus Christ to be the “end result”, the goal of the Law, but since the Jew completely rejected Jesus as Messiah, they failed to see the truth of Who He is.  In v.5, the one who says he will trust his works requires perfect conformity to the Law (which is impossible) in order to succeed, and he infers that such an approach will fail.

In verses 5-13, Paul’s goal is to emphasize works versus faith, and he explains that righteousness can only come on God’s terms, by faith – works will always fail.  It’s important to note the importance of these verses to the message of the Gospel (another passage on the “Roman Road”).  Here in Rom. 10:13, Paul gives the great “altar call” to the world’s stadium:  “if you confess”, “believe in your heart”, “whoever calls on Him”.  This is the Gospel in a nutshell:

1. Acknowledge and confess your sin to God
2.  Understand and believe that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin
3. Bow before God and thank Him for giving you the gift of salvation.

Bible Study Journal

• What are the two ways Paul addresses for seeking acceptance with God? What was the reason for Israel’s failure (Rom. 10:2-4)?
  • • How is Christ the “end” of the Law (Rom. 10:4)?  How does Matt. 5:17 help?
    • What are the two essentials for accepting Christ as Savior (Rom. 10:9-10)?  How does Rom. 10:13 explain 9-10?

Romans 10:14-21 — A Zeal for God

In Rom. 10:2, Paul calls the Jews out for their “zeal for God” which is not based on God’s Word – their zeal was obsessed with living according to the letter of the Mosaic Law .  In Rom. 10:14-21, following after the open call to receive Christ as Savior (Rom. 10:9-13), he drills down into Israel’s misguided zeal, their unbelief and failure to see God’s compassionate desire for them to be redeemed.  Speaking as an apologetic defending the reason he preaches Christ, he quotes Isaiah to extol the “beautiful feet” of the evangelistic who brings the Good News to the unsaved.  Rom. 10:14 expresses God’s plan for how the Gospel is to be spread worldwide, even today.  Note that faith can’t be exercised without hearing God’s Word and the Gospel of Christ.  Hearing is the basis for having faith followed by repentance.  Also note the inherent responsibility of the Christian to be a faithful messenger, an effective herald announcing the Good News of salvation to a needy world.

Interesting to see this passage leading directly to the Suffering Messiah of Isaiah 53.  Sad indeed that this rich message is rejected – God-honoring evangelists are spread throughout the world declaring Christ but people refuse to hear the message!  What is remarkable is that God intended Israel to be His messenger (Isa. 52:6-8)!  Today, we are God’s messengers, we speak of Christ and He speaks through us.  We need to be sure His message is being declared through us, unhindered by unnecessary clutter in our life.  Our message needs to be characterized with a “real zeal” established by the faith we have in our Savior!

Romans 10:18-21 is  a dramatic end to this chapter as Paul uses more OT quotes to lay out the truth about Israel’s blindness and refusal to obey God.  They have had the truth throughout their history, starting with the reality of general revelation from God in creation and throughout the world (Rom. 1:19-20), and they also had the rich treasure of special revelation from God to guide them to true faith.  They have been distracted by their “keeping the Law”, the words of godly leaders (the prophets) over the centuries fell on deaf ears, God’s message didn’t fail but Israel did.  God’s word doesn’t fail, but Israel failed to see God’s Great Salvation as it was preached by their own prophets (see Isaiah’s declaration in Isa. 63:4,16 and 66:17-19).

Bible Study Journal

• In what two ways does God require that all mankind respond to the Gospel message (Rom. 10:9)?
  • • In Rom. 10:11, who does “whoever” refer to?  How does 2 Pet. 3:9 amplify this truth?
    • List (in proper sequence) the steps given in Rom. 10:14-15 required for a person to hear and believe the Gospel message.
    • In Rom. 10:14, is it adequate to say “calling” on Him is the same as “believing”?  (Compare Acts 25:11-12, 21 where Paul “appeals” to Caesar, using the same Greek word as Rom. 10:14.  The sense is to invoke, call on the authority of a person.)
    • What does Rom. 10:20-21 say about God’s part in spreading the Gospel?