Romans 10
10
1 Brothers, certainly the will of my heart, and my prayer to God, is for them unto salvation.
2 For I offer testimony to them, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For, being ignorant of the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own justice, they have not subjected themselves to the justice of God.
4 For the end of the law, Christ, is unto justice for all who believe.
5 And Moses wrote, about the justice that is of the law, that the man who will have done justice shall live by justice.
6 But the justice that is of faith speaks in this way: Do not say in your heart: "Who shall ascend into heaven?" (that is, to bring Christ down);
7 "Or who shall descend into the abyss?" (that is, to call back Christ from the dead).
8 But what does Scripture say? "The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart." This is the word of faith, which we are preaching.
9 For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and if you believe in your heart that God has raised him up from the dead, you shall be saved.
10 For with the heart, we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is unto salvation.
11 For Scripture says: "All those who believe in him shall not be confounded."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is over all, richly in all who call upon him.
13 For all those who have called upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 Then in what way will those who have not believed in him call upon him? Or in what way will those who have not heard of him believe in him? And in what way will they hear of him without preaching?
15 And truly, in what way will they preach, unless they have been sent, just as it has been written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize peace, of those who evangelize what is good!"
16 But not all are obedient to the Gospel. For Isaiah says: "Lord, who has believed our report?"
17 Therefore, faith is from hearing, and hearing is through the Word of Christ.
18 But I say: Have they not heard? For certainly: "Their sound has gone forth throughout all the earth, and their words unto the limits of the whole world."
19 But I say: Has Israel not known? First, Moses says: "I will lead you into a rivalry with those who are not a nation; in the midst of a foolish nation, I will send you into wrath."
20 And Isaiah dares to say: "I was discovered by those who were not seeking me. I appeared openly to those who were not asking about me."
21 Then to Israel he says: "All day long I have stretched out my hands to a people who do not believe and who contradict me."
Currently Selected:
Romans 10: CPDV
Highlight
Share
Compare
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Romans 10
10
Israel Reduced to Religion
1-3Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what’s best for Israel: salvation, nothing less. I want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time. I readily admit that the Jews are impressively energetic regarding God—but they are doing everything exactly backward. They don’t seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God’s business, and a most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily peddle their knockoffs. After all these years of refusing to really deal with God on his terms, insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for it.
4-10The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it’s not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story—no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying?
The word that saves is right here,
as near as the tongue in your mouth,
as close as the heart in your chest.
It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!”
11-13Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”
14-17But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims,
A sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people
telling all the good things of God!
But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.
18-21But haven’t there been plenty of opportunities for Israel to listen and understand what’s going on? Plenty, I’d say.
Preachers’ voices have gone ’round the world,
Their message to earth’s seven seas.
So the big question is, Why didn’t Israel understand that she had no corner on this message? Moses had it right when he predicted,
When you see God reach out to those
you consider your inferiors—outsiders!—
you’ll become insanely jealous.
When you see God reach out to people
you think are religiously stupid,
you’ll throw temper tantrums.
Isaiah dared to speak out these words of God:
People found and welcomed me
who never so much as looked for me.
And I found and welcomed people
who had never even asked about me.
Then he capped it with a damning indictment:
Day after day after day,
I beckoned Israel with open arms,
And got nothing for my trouble
but cold shoulders and icy stares.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Compare
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.