ROMANS
10:5-15
HUMANKIND’S
GREATEST NEED, SALVATION, IS AVALABLE TO ALL
We
have all dealt with salespeople. I have worked several jobs in sales and did
quite well at all of them because I was good at reading people and knowing how
to talk to them. There were, in fact, times when I had to sell a product that I
did not necessarily believe in, but I would not receive a paycheck if I did not
make the sale. Some of you know what that is like. It is so much easier to sell
a product when you believe in it. Why then do we have such a difficult time
preaching the gospel to people we know and love? We aren’t even making a sales
pitch. Their salvation is not dependent on us but on the Holy Spirit’s work in
their hearts and lives, but we have been given a responsibility to preach the
gospel to all. All excludes no one.
Entertainer
(actor, comedian, magician, musician, etc.), Penn Jillette, who is a
self-professed atheist was once asked if he is offended by people who
“proselytize” their faith. His response shocked many people. He said this:
“I’ve always said,”
Jillette explained, “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t
respect that at all. If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people
could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think
it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially
awkward, how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How
much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and
not tell them that?”[1]
Yet we don’t
feel the urgency to witness. We only have a short amount of time on this earth,
and the message of salvation is for all. The Apostle Paul knew this much and
gives a sort of sales-pitch if you will, but it is not trying to convince
people of the need for salvation (because if one can be convinced into
salvation, they can certainly be convinced out of it and, therefore, were never
saved to begin with); it is rather a proclamation of the gospel through Jesus
Christ found in the text of Romans 10. The church was still very young at this
time, and Christians in Rome were not that different from Christians in other
locations of Paul’s ministry in that it was difficult to believe in salvation
by faith in Christ alone after living under the confides of the Law for so long.
Often people tried to add the Law as still necessary for salvation. Paul was
attempting to address this issue so he spends the majority of his letter here
discussing the futility of the Law and the supremacy of the new covenant in Christ
by which Gentiles are now grafted in as part of God’s original covenant with
Abraham. Paul comes to Romans 10:5-15 then and proclaims boldly the message of
salvation to all.
Romans 10:5-15 (ESV)
The
Message of Salvation to All
5 For Moses writes about the
righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the
commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based
on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that
is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the
abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But
what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that
is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, 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. 10 For with the
heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is
saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him
will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction
between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches
on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom
they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have
never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And
how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful
are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Why You Need It: Righteousness
Is Not Following Rules (vv. 5-8)
Paul here first tells the Romans why
salvation is so essential. Do you realize that there are many people in the
world who do not realize their need of the salvation? A common theme (not a
minority) among people is that humans are good by nature. It is utterly
destructive, and I believe there are many in the church who believe the same
deep down. Paul, in these verses, describes the weakness of the Law. A few
chapters earlier (Rom 7:7), the Apostle Paul presents (to the Romans) the
reason for the Law’s existence in the first place, namely to reveal the sin of
humankind, for it is impossible to obey the Law. “Salvation
by works meant doing all (and not just most) of the things the Law teaches. If
they had really taken notice of the Law and compared their lives with its
teaching, they would have seen that they did not and could not keep all of the
law.”[2]
No matter how
much we try to follow the rules, it is consummately impossible to keep all the
Law. The Romans Paul was writing to likely found it difficult that
justification could come through one man and that the Law was no longer
necessary. They were also probably not much different from modern culture which
believes that humans are good by nature. I think that is why Paul often makes
incredibly clear the fact that no one is righteous at all. It is not that we
have a little bit of righteousness and God makes us better; it is that we are one-hundred
percent dead in our trespasses. We sin because we are sinners; we are not
sinners because we sin, i.e. our natural state and our natural choice (apart
from Christ) is always sin, and the Law reveals this to us. Therefore, our
greatest need, realize it or not, is salvation, which is only available by
faith in Christ and through his grace.
What does this
mean for us? In pleading for our need of salvation, Paul quotes scripture from
Deuteronomy 30:12-14. He personifies righteousness by saying that righteousness
based on faith (true righteousness as opposed to righteousness based on the
Law) says this (and then proceeds with verses 6-8. “In writing the words . . .
he here . . . knows that they revolve around a thought which is completely in
conformity with the doctrine of ‘justification by faith’, which consists
essentially in not claiming before God ‘a righteousness of one’s own’ [v. 3];
in other words, in not trusting to the power and might of one’s hand.”[3]
That means then that we need to stop striving to impress God. He loves us just
the way we are and, as his people, he is conforming us into the image of Jesus
Christ in every circumstance that may come our direction. God’s covenant with
us is not based on our performance for him, i.e. it is not about what we have
done but what Christ has already done. The cross was never a secondary plan so
the Law was never intended to be a permanent reality; the ultimate aim was the
cross of Jesus Christ in the new and better covenant.
The gospel centers around Christ and his
fulfillment of the Law and of the covenant God made with his people. From the
beginning of the Bible, God told the serpent, “I will put enmity between you
and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heal” (Gen 3:15). This tells of the miraculous virgin
birth that was to come, for Jesus had to be born of the Holy Spirit so as not
to be conceived in sin. From the beginning of time, a promised seed was
established to save God’s people in the covenant, and while Satan continued to
try to thwart the line of seed, God continued it. Cain killed Abel, but the
covenant continued because then Seth was born. Then in Genesis 5, there is a
genealogy of ten generations from Seth to Noah so that the promised seed is
preserved. Seth and Noah are both promised seeds but not the ultimate promised
seed; they would preserve the promised seed that is to come. Noah has three
sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and while the world is judged in a flood, they
preserved the seed. Shem then preserves the seed later through Terah who has a
son named Abraham, the next link in the seed of promise. The problem, however,
is that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, is beyond childbearing years so he tries to do
it himself by having a child with his servant and Ishmael is born. He is not
the promised seed though and eventually Isaac is born and then Jacob and Esau.
Esau, the older is the promised seed, right? Wrong; it is Jacob. Jacob then has
twelve sons. Certainly Joseph is the promised seed, right? In reality, the
promised seed is Judah; Joseph merely preserves the promised seed. From Judah’s
line eventually comes Jesse who has a great son named David who is again a
promised seed but not the ultimate promised seed. The covenant is then renewed
with David in that his lineage will sit on the throne forever. Even his son,
Solomon, is not the promised seed, but eventually through their line, the
ultimate Savior of the world was born of a virgin to save his people in the
covenant.[4]
It is not our responsibility then to keep the Law but
to be conformed to the image of Christ. If you find yourself struggling with
sin, perhaps an overarching reason for it is your feeble attempt to conform to
the Law (a set of rules and regulations) rather than to the image of Jesus
Christ. We must allow ourselves to be transformed by him; the Law has
absolutely no transforming power.
The Pitch: Salvation
Is for all Who Will Believe (vv. 9-13)
After proclaiming the need for
salvation by faith, Paul gives the pitch by boldly confessing that salvation is
for all who believe. Notice the twofold requirement for salvation in verses 9
and 10: 1) confession with the mouth and 2) belief in the heart, i.e. belief
alone is not enough because even the demons believe in God (Jas 2:19). Paul is
not advocating for works-based salvation here, but he is pointing to the
transforming power of Jesus Christ in the work of salvation, i.e. the result of
salvation is a changed life. We are not perfect, but we are being progressively
sanctified. Paul refers to this as being transformed into the image of Christ
“from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18).
The point the Apostle (to the
Gentiles) is trying to make here is that salvation is not just for the Jews; it
is no longer under the condition of circumcision but only by faith in Christ.
“. . . everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (v. 13) The
new covenant then is better than what was previously set up. In making the
pitch here, Paul is trying to help his readers understand that the Law fails
miserably in comparison with salvation by faith in Christ. Because it is
impossible to keep the Law, the new covenant is better. God’s covenant of grace
is made permanent through the mediation of Christ; therefore, everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved. Not everyone will, but for those who
will, salvation is eternal and inclusive, e.g. there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek any longer. (v. 12)
For us then, that means life-change.
The Law does not change anyone, but Jesus does. To confess with the mouth
implies more than a mere verbal statement; there is hidden a deeper allegiance
behind this type of confession. The Greek word (for confess), homologeo, means to admit allegiance,
i.e. the confession is the result of what is already in one’s heart. Because
the Holy Spirit has called you to salvation, you have believed in Jesus Christ
so now you confess him as the Lord of your life to the glory of the Father. The
Trinity is exceedingly at work in your life in justification. This confession
then is not only a verbal statement but a reflection of the change that has
occurred and that is presently occurring in your life.
This is all good news. Paul should
not have to work so hard for people to understand the pitch he is giving here
because the new covenant is better. It is permanent, and it is for all. Why
then is the gospel not life-changing for so many people? Perhaps (again) it is
because many are trying to live their lives to impress God by living under the Law
rather than resting in him in salvation by faith in Christ.
But Wait, There’s
More: The Impact of Salvation (vv. 14-15)
If you have ever seen an
infomercial, there is usually a line that goes something like this: “But wait,
there’s more!” Well, there is more because salvation has an impact on us and on
those around us. Without advocating for works-based salvation, the evidence of
salvation is a changed life. Salvation does not stop with a ticket out of hell.
In fact, Paul makes clear that our ordained salvation is for the purpose of
being conformed to the image of Jesus (Rom 8:29), not heaven; heaven is icing
on the cake (if you will). We are not the point of the gospel. God is. It has
never been about us, but it has always been about a love relationship between
Father, Son, and Spirit where the Father shows his love for the Son by
bequeathing a people to him, the Son lays down his life for his people to show
his love for the Father, and the Spirit effectually calls and changes the
people out of his love for the Father and the Son. That is the Trinitarian work
so the responsibility of the church then is obedience. The gospel is not just
good news; it is great news. We have the message of salvation for all because
we are the message of salvation for all. The church does not merely give an
apologetic for Christ, but the church quite literally is an apologetic.[5]
The Apostle Paul poses some
important questions here. How will they call? How will they believe? How will
they hear? How will they preach? What he does is trace the impact of salvation
by faith to its fundamental root, namely witnessing. Moving in an inverted
order and based upon Paul’s rhetorical questions, we should gather that
salvation by faith results in the preaching of the gospel which results in the
hearing of the gospel which results in belief in Jesus Christ and which
ultimately results in calling upon the name of the Lord, which the Apostle has
already mentioned in verse 13, i.e. the gospel is cyclic and does not stop with
salvation but continues with its impact. That might be difficult, but the cost
of following Christ is not always easy. It is certainly worth it in light of
eternity. However, we are guaranteed difficulties as followers of Christ,
especially regarding witnessing. We get our English words, witness, from the Greek word which means martyr. I don’t think that
is coincidental, but it speaks volumes to us about what it means to witness. No
matter how difficult the task may seem though, preaching the gospel should not seem
like it is forced. The natural impact of salvation is a changed life and a life
that God uses to bring others to a place of life-change as well. God is the
gospel. The gospel does not start or end with us. God calls; God changes; and
God uses us for his glory by changing others through us. That is the impact of
salvation by faith through Jesus Christ.
Stop Trying to
Impress and Start Living in Rest
Paul has told us why we need
salvation by faith; the Law has no life-changing power and is null and void
because Christ has fulfilled it (Matt 5:17). The Apostle has made the pitch;
salvation is for all who believe and confess. He has also revealed the evidence
and the impact of salvation by faith, which is life-change. We have a response
then. We have a response not only in our personal salvation but also in God’s
plan to use us in the salvation of others. What will it be then? Will you
continue to live under the meaningless confides of the annulled Law which has
no transforming power, or will you live by faith in Christ and continually be
conformed into his image? Perhaps, through this scripture, the Lord is saying
to stop trying to impress and start living in rest.
[1] “Atheist Penn Jillette Doesn’t Respect Christians Who
Don’t Evangelize,” ChurchPOP, accessed July 29, 2017,
https://churchpop.com/2016/01/16/atheist-penn-jillette-christians-evangelize/.
[2] Leon
Morris, The Epistle to the Romans,
The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 382.
[3]
Ibid., 383.
[4] From first session of The Psalms and Corporate Prayer.
[5] Smith, James K.A., Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to
Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2009), 28-30, 25, 99.
