The Righteousness of Faith Hears/Obeys Christ’s Word (Romans 10)

1. Read: Romans 10:1-4

2. About the Text:

1) Paul is continuing with his discussion of Israel’s rejection of the gospel from chapter 9.

2) He concluded in Romans 9:30: “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.”

3) They did not attain it, he says, because they did not seek it by faith.

4) What is faith, where does it come from, and how is it related to righteousness?

5) These are the questions that he will answer in this chapter.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Paul expresses his desire for Israel to be saved (1).

2. Is zeal enough? Is sincerity enough?

1) He acknowledges their zeal. It is real (2).

2) But it is zeal without knowledge. It is not enough (2).

3. Ignorance results in disobedience (3).

1) The Jews were ignorant of God’s righteousness.

2) They do not have God’s righteousness.

3) They only have their own righteousness.

4) This means that they have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

a. The word “submit” means “to subordinate; reflexively, to obey:—be under obedience (obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto” (Strong’s Definitions).

b. If you miss this point, you miss the meaning of the whole chapter.

c. Paul’s point is that it is no longer sufficient to obey the Law of Moses.

4. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness (4).

1) The coming of Christ, God’s Son, ended any effectiveness the Law had to make a person righteous.

2) Righteousness only comes through the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16-17).

3) One must become obedient to the gospel of Christ to be righteous.

5. It is for everyone who believes (4).

1) The emphasis here is not on “believes.”

2) The emphasis is on “everyone.”

3) Paul’s point is that both Jew and Gentile may become righteous by the gospel.

1. The righteousness of the Law (sought by the Jews) could only have come about only by legal perfection (which Christ did, btw) (5).

1) Moses wrote about this kind of righteousness.

2) He said, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”

3) This is a reference to Leviticus 18:5, “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.”

a. The Law was designed to give the nation of Israel physical life.

b. This was so the Messiah could come into the world (Galatians 3:24).

c. The Law was not designed to make a person righteous (Galatians 2:21).

d. Those who pursued the law to become righteous did not do so (Romans 9:31).

e. This was because the law could not be perfectly obeyed.

f. But God demanded perfect obedience.

g. Deuteronomy 6:25 says, “Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’”

h. Only those who observed “all these commandments” would attain to righteousness.

i. No one could do it.

2. The righteousness of faith takes a different approach—righteousness comes by faith in Messiah/Christ (6-13).

1) In a system of legal requirements, one must always have the law at hand in order to know what to do.

a. Lawyers, judges, and magistrates keep libraries full of law books to inform them regarding every legal question that should arise.

b. Out of this assumption of thinking, one might think that one would need Christ physically at his side at every moment to rule on every aspect of life.

2) This is legalistic thinking and Paul dismisses it here by saying, “Don’t say that.”

3) Paul uses Deuteronomy 30:12-13 to illustrate the different approach of faith.

a. In Deuteronomy 30:12-13, Moses was affirming the necessity of faith.

b. He was saying that God’s commandments did not need to be pursued in a legalistic way.

a) One did not need to go up to heaven for them.

b) One did not need to go across the ocean for them.

c) Instead, the word was near to them, in their mouth and heart to do it.

d) Moses was emphasizing that even under the Law, the people needed to have faith in the word.

4) Paul adds a present-day concern to his argument to show the futility of self-righteousness.

a. Evidently, some were thinking that to be righteous, Christ needed to be with them physically.

b. But in a system of faith, one does not need to see Christ physically to be counted as righteous.

c. Walking by faith means not walking by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

d. So, there is no need to say, “Who will bring Christ down from heaven?”

e. There is no need to say “Who will bring Christ up from the dead?”

f. One only needs the word of faith that is preached by the apostles.

g. Faith believes Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father without having to see it.

h. Faith believes that Christ was raised from the dead without having to see it.

i. “Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).

j. The legalistic mindset wants everything to be put on a plate and served to him.

k. Those who have faith have a relationship with Christ without such things.

l. They trust that Christ will make them righteous through His righteous work.

m. They do not believe that they may obtain righteousness through their own self-righteousness.

5) Paul connects Deuteronomy 30:14 with the word of faith.

a. Moses said, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.”

b. Paul quoted the first part of that verse: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”

c. Notice the words “mouth” and “heart.” Paul uses them in his next thought in Romans 10:9-10.

d. He says “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

e. This is a deliberate usage of the words Moses used but related to Jesus.

f. In other words, the word of faith that Paul and the other apostles preach is the same word of faith that Moses preached.

g. Moses preached a word of faith that was to be in the mouth and in the heart.

h. Paul preaches a word of faith that is in the mouth and in the heart.

i. The difference is that Moses did not know the gospel of Jesus Christ.

j. The focus has changed from the Law to the Gospel.

k. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness and the beginning of the gospel for righteousness.

l. What word is to be in the mouth and in the heart now? The word of Messiah/Christ.

m. And what is that word? It is to confess with the mouth “Lord Jesus” and believe in the heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

n. This is what precipitates salvation in contrast to the perfect observation of the Law.

o. The statement “for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” is intended to show that even from the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 30:14) righteousness is of faith not of the Law.

6) Paul supports this even further by citing two Old Testament scriptures.

a. “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily’” (Isaiah 28:16).

b. “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls” (Joel 2:32).

c. Both of these prophecies have reference to salvation being of the Messiah/Christ, not of the Law.

d. This means that salvation may be for both Jew and Gentile.

e. The emphasis in these verses that Paul quotes is on the word “whoever.”

f. Joel 2:32 was also quoted by Peter in Acts 2:21 to show that Jesus is the Lord.

g. In Acts 2, those who asked, “what shall we do” were told to “repent and be baptized.”

h. Paul also was told to do this in Acts 22:16.

i. This is how one “calls on the name of the Lord.”

3. What must one do to demonstrate faith in Christ? (14-17)

1) He must “call upon the name of the Lord.”

2) He must believe in the Lord.

3) He must hear of the Lord.

4) Someone must preach to him about the Lord.

5) Someone must be sent to preach.

6) In this respect, Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

7) So, anyone who follows this plan may be righteous and be saved.

8) The problem is that not all have obeyed the gospel.

9) Why have they not obeyed the gospel?

10) They have not believed.

11) What must a person do to believe?

12) They must hear the word of Messiah/Christ.

13) “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah/Christ” (ASV).

14) It is significant that Paul says “the word of Christ,” that is Messiah.

a. The Old Testament scriptures were filled with prophecies about the Messiah.

b. When one studied and learned those prophecies one could have a clear picture of the Messiah/Christ.

c. By coming to learn about Jesus, he would then understand that Jesus was the Messiah/Christ.

d. One literally had to hear the word about the Messiah/Christ by studying the prophecies of Old Testament scripture to come to understand that Jesus was the Messiah/Christ.

e. Faith in Messiah/Christ was required to know that Jesus was the Messiah/Christ.

f. One does not come to know that Jesus was the Messiah/Christ without studying the word of Messiah/Christ.

a) The KJV and NKJV say “word of God.”

b) It appears that some scribe corrected “Christ” to “God” because “word of God” was a more common phrase in the New Testament.

c) It is uncertain whether the correction was accidental or intentional.

d) The oldest witnesses to the Greek text say “word of Christ.”

e) This is much more consistent with the context of what Paul is arguing.

1. Paul makes the point in verse 16 that the Jews have not obeyed the gospel (16).

1) He quotes from Isaiah 53:1 to prove this.

2) His point is that many Jews did not believe Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah.

3) We should note here that Paul is equating disobedience with disbelief!

4) To not believe is to not obey and to not obey is to not believe.

2. Paul asks whether the Jews have heard the gospel (18).

1) The answer is that they have heard.

2) He quotes from Psalm 19:4 to prove this.

3) His point is that the Jews do not have an excuse.

3. Next Paul asks if they knew that the gentiles would be included in God’s plans (19-20).

1) The answer to that question is also, “Yes. They knew.”

2) He quotes from Deuteronomy 32:21 and Isaiah 65:1 to prove this.

3) Again, the Jews did not have an excuse regarding God’s inclusion of gentiles.

4. Finally, Paul applies Isaiah 65:2 to the Jews who rejected the Messiah/Christ (21).

1) They had heard the gospel.

2) They knew the gentiles would be included.

3) They refused to believe.

4) Therefore, they were disobedient and contrary.

1. The Righteousness of Faith Hears/Obeys God’s Word because . . .

1) Self-Righteousness Does Not Submit to God

2) Faith Comes by Hearing the Word of Messiah/Christ

3) Those who do Not Accept the Word of Messiah/Christ are Disobedient

2. Invitation