"As he continues his theme explaining the place of Israel in God's plan, Paul now focuses on what might be called Israel's failure, or ignorance. It will be helpful to begin by looking at a crucial issue in Scripture, namely, the matter of truth. In the introduction to his gospel, John pronounced that Jesus was "full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) While teaching in the treasury of the temple, "Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, "If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine and you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32) In other words, Jesus declared Himself to be the source and the measure of truth, and that "everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37). "I am the way, the truth, and the life," He said on another occasion, and "no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6)...Paul declared that "those who perish," do so "because they did not love the truth so as to be saved." ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10) and that those who are saved are sanctified "by the Spirit and faith in the truth." (2:13) No matter how erudite, religious, and sincere they may be, those who rely on their own knowledge and understanding are destined to be "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2 Timothy 3:7) The gospel puts a high premium on God's truth. The gospel is the life-changing, sin-cleansing, salvation-giving, soul-transforming, heaven-opening truth that comes only through trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

No group of people in history has been more concerned about religious truth than the Jews (see Romans 2:17-20). From ancient times, centuries before the time of Christ, Jewish children, especially boys, were meticulously instructed in the Old Testament. But they were also carefully instructed in Jewish tradition, which often wrongly interpreted and even contradicted the Old Testament. Those traditions, taught by the rabbis, along with their commentaries on Scripture, were considered by most Jews to be essential for comprehending God's truth. . .

As will be studied later in this chapter in more detail, Paul speaks of Israel, typified by such scribes and their followers, as having "a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge" (10:2). Of another group of Jewish religious leaders, the Sadducees, Jesus said, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures or the power of God." (Matthew 22:29) In other words, with all their effort and presumed intense study of Scriptures, they were ignorant of their true meaning. They could not truly know God's Word, because they did not know God Himself. "You know neither Me nor My Father," Jesus said to their faces; "if you knew Me, you would know My Father also" (John 8:19). A short while later the Lord answered their charge of blasphemy by declaring, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, "He is our God": and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His Word." (John 8:54-55; see also 9:39-41)

After healing the cripple at the gate of the temple, Peter explained to the wondering Jews who had gathered around, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up, and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he decided to release Him. But you disowned the holy and righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you...No brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also." (Acts 3:13-14,17)

Countless other passages in both testaments speak of Israel's spiritual ignorance and its terrible consequences...Their leaders had so modified and explained away God's revelation that the resulting religious traditions frequently nullified His truth...Sanford C. Mills, himself a Hebrew Christian, has commented: "Israel wants to be the captain of her own soul, the master of her own ship. But Israel has lost both her rudder and he compass, and now, with her vessel of state careening about in a maelstrom of sin, what is to save her from being drawn into the vortex of hell? Yet this is the condition of Israel today, even as it was in Paul's day." (MacArthur, II, pp. 55-57)

Verses 1-2
Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer..." - The chapter opens with the characteristic fraternal address "Brothers" through which Paul identifies with his audience and signals a new turn of thought (cf. 1:13; 7:1, 4; 8:12; 11:25; 12:1; 15:14, 30; 16:17) Implicit in this renewed emphasis is the warning that the predominantly Gentile congregation in Rome dare take no pleasure in the condemnation of Israel. The apostle reasserts his profound personal desire for the salvation of the Israelite people (cf. 9:1-3). There is no joy or personal satisfaction in the judgment here pronounced. Instead, Paul "once more speaks his compassion for the people whose unbelief it is his duty to expose." (Franzmann, p. 186) The depth and intensity of his individual feeling in this matter is indicated by the terms "my heart's desire and prayer." Paul's commitment rests in the desire or will of his innermost being, the heart. That desire is expressed in his "prayer to God." The Greek word "deesis" conveys the idea of persistent pleading and entreaty. This is not an isolated, casual prayer, but an ongoing, urgent plea. The object of his petition is "that they may be saved."

"For I can testify about them that they are zealous..." - Paul knew well from personal experience of the Israelite zeal for God. He had himself excelled in that zeal. He testified to the Galatians:

"For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions." (Galatians 1:13-14; cf. also Philippians 3:5-6; Acts 22:3)

The word "zealous" (Greek - "zelon") in itself is neither good nor bad. It can be used negatively to denote fanaticism or positively to indicate overwhelming concern or consuming desire. Zeal for God, demonstrated in a compelling desire to carefully observe and obey His Law was considered the characteristic of the faithful Jew at this time. This was a highly commendable attitude among the Hebrews and Paul appears to use the concept in that positive light. During the intertestamental revolt of the Maccabees, Mattathias triggered Jewish resistence with the cry: "Let everyone who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me." (1 Maccabees 2:27) In the New Testament era, those who advocated armed rebellion against the Romans styled themselves the "Zealots."

But this Jewish zeal was misguided and destructive because it is not "based on knowledge." The text does not use the ordinary term for intellectual information, "gnosis," but a more intense, powerful word, "epignosis," that is, the profound spiritual insight that comes from a saving relationship with God. The Jews possessed a certain degree of information; they had an intellectual awareness of the outward demands of God's law. But their's was the sort of superficial religious knowledge which leads to pride and arrogance (1 Corinthians 8:1) but not the godly knowledge that produces faith and humility. They flawed knowledge was focused on human obedience to the Torah and failed to recognize that genuine righteousness comes only from God through Christ. Hence the very intensity of their religious ardor and zeal became the means of their downfall. Sincerity never replaces truth. Lenski notes:

"Here we have the answer to the statement that everything depends on a man's religious sincerity, and nothing on the substance that his sincerity includes. Take poison ardently; the ardor will as little effect the deadly effect of the poison as the lack of ardor would. "It is better to limp in the road than to run eagerly away from it." (Augustine) The greater the intensity of zeal devoid of true knowledge, the more damage it does to itself and to others. And this is true in all departments of life. Error, too, also tends to produce fanatical zeal, which we would not admire or offer as an example. No matter how great the zeal produced by truth and its true knowledge becomes, it always has the sanity and the balance that distinguish it from the morbidity of fanatical zeal." (Lenski, p. 643)

It is not the text's intent to excuse Israel's rejection of Christ as the Messiah on the basis of ignorance. The use of the loaded term "epignosis" in the phrase "their zeal is not based on knowledge," indicates that there is a moral, willful dimension to their not knowing. The problem here is not mere ignorance, the absence of information. This is an invincible, deliberate ignorance. They do not know because they choose not to know; they do not want to know; they have willfully determined to reject the truth which God has set before them in the person of His only Son. This is the tragedy described by St. John the Evangelist: "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, and His own did not receive Him." (John 1:10-11) Sinful man "did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God (Romans 1:28) and therefore spurned the unmistakable evidence of God's invisible qualities revealed in creation (Romans 1:19-20) in a deliberate act of his perverted will. In the same way, Israel had chosen not to know that which she could have known, because God had graciously revealed it to her. Lenski is correct in asserting: "The Jews were ignorant of divine essentials not because of any failure on God's part to make them truly known, but because of guilty obduracy on their own part." (Lenski, p. 643) This stubborn resistance to the truth about God is in its essence a violation of the First Commandment as prideful sinners insist on knowing God on their own terms. Stoeckhardt explains:

"The Jews do not comprehend because they do not want to comprehend...God had revealed to Israel in His Word who and how He is, and the manner in which He desired to be honored. But they did not believe. They did not want that kind of God - God as He is and as He reveals Himself. Instead, they chose to think of God in a manner consistent with their own desires. Therefore their zeal for God was not a God pleasing zeal. True zeal for God, true worship of God remains within the parameters of God's revelation and is not determined by our own thoughts and desires." (Stoeckhardt, p.477)

Verses 3-4
Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

"Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God..." - The "righteousness of God" is the basic theme of the Epistle to the Romans and the heart of the Gospel of Salvation. The "righteousness that comes from God" is the forensic act of the righteous God in declaring the sinner to be justified, that is, pronouncing a verdict of "Not Guilty!," on the basis of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. The "righteousness of God" is presented 35 times in Romans (cf. notes on 1:17, p.27f.) It is precisely at this most crucial point that the "not knowing" of Israel is focused. The concept of a deliberate refusal to acknowledge that which could have been known continues in this verse. "Since they did not know" does not refer to the absence of information or knowledge, but to the repudiation of that which has been revealed and the refusal to know or accept that which has been disclosed by God. The contrast between two mutually exclusive categories of righteousness is reinforced and explained by the phrase "they did not submit to God's righteousness." The verb "hupostasso" means to submit or be subject to the authority of another. The pride of sinful man rebels against submission. The descendants of fallen Adam would prefer to "like God," (Genesis 3:5) independent, and answerable to no one. Instead of "submitting" to the righteousness of God, they chose to substitute another righteousness, a righteousness of "their own," that is to say, a righteousness of their own making, based upon their own works. Such self-righteousness does not come from God. Man must attempt to "establish" it for himself. The futility of this effort is suggested by the verb "sought" (Greek - "sateo") which means to search for or to pursue. The verb is in the present tense, indicating continuous, ongoing action. Lenski aptly summarizes the difference between these two kinds of righteousness and the implications of that difference:

"The one "righteousness" is God's, wrought and bestowed by Him, availing before Him, all the glory being His, we being wholly dependent upon Him; it is justification by faith alone. The other, "their own," which they are "seeking," pursuing, not catching up with (9:31), is one that, if it were attained, would emanate solely from themselves, count only in their sight, they being the ones who justify themselves (Luke 16:15), all the glory would be their own, they would be entirely independent of God, He would merely tell them what works they should do to establish this righteousness; this is the righteousness of works, "even that which is of the law" (Philippians 3:9)." (Lenski, p.644)

Verse 4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

"Christ is the end of the law..." - The Greek text includes the conjunction "gar" ("for") indicating that this verse is the summary explanation of that which has preceded. The verse constitutes one of the most famous of all of Paul's theological affirmations.

In the original, the noun "end" (Greek - "telos") comes first for special emphasis; thus literally "for an end of law is Christ." In either language the term may refer to the termination of something or to its goal. That ambiguity has provoked considerable debate among the commentators. Given typical New Testament usage, the emphasis on termination probably should be maintained, although not in a temporal sense. That is to say, since mankind's fall into sin, the law has never been a means of attaining righteousness. It is not as though at a specific date in history Christ put an end to the law righteousness which had prevailed prior to that date. There has never been any genuine possibility of law righteousness for sinful mankind, human pretensions to the contrary notwithstanding. The Old Testament was not a "law covenant" in contrast to the "gospel covenant" of the New Testament. The plan of salvation has been the same throughout history. Christ was "the end of the law" for Adam and for Abraham (cf. Romans 4) in exactly the same way that He is the end of the law for us.

The "law" (Greek - "nomos") in question here is generic, law in any and every form, including, but not limited to, the law of Moses. This is the whole principle of law, law as a method of obtaining righteousness. Paul understands the difference between law righteousness and Christ righteousness from profound personal experience. Like so many other great champions of the Gospel, Paul is a man who has himself lived under the terrible tyranny of law righteousness and religion. He uses the same terminology in Philippians 3:5-9 as he describes the course of his own spiritual journey -

"Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for the righteousness that is in the law, faultless. But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

"Law" is linked to "righteousness" in this phrase with the Greek proposition "eis." The preposition expresses the means by which something is accomplished or achieved and should thus be translated "for Christ is an end to law as a means to righteousness." The NIV's translation links the preposition to the phrase as whole in the sense of purpose, thus, "so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." This translation tends to obscure the sense of the passage.

God's plan of salvation, personified in Jesus Christ, is the repudiation and contradiction of any and every human attempt at self-justification. Dr. Stoeckhardt hails this verse as "a clear summary of the Gospel of God" and "the unmistakable shibboleth of the true religion." He goes on to summarize the overall application of this powerful passage:

"That which Paul writes here about the Jews applies generally to all unbelievers. This is a clear summary of the Gospel of God, the unmistakable shibboleth of the true religion. Christ is the end of the law. Whoever believes in Him is justified. Thus it is inexcusable ignorance for anyone not to know where to look for righteousness, salvation, and life. It is inexcusable ignorance for anyone to distort or deny the righteousness accomplished by God, or to establish in place of that righteousness one of his own." (Stoeckhardt, p.481)

Verses 5-9
Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (That is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?' (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

"Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law:..." - The contrast between law righteousness and Christ righteousness is amplified and explained in these verses using a series of quotations from the Old Testament. In this way, Paul is able to demonstrate that the Law/Gospel dialectic is not an innovation but that it has been part and parcel of God's revelation throughout history. Judaic rejection of the message of the Gospel is not a matter of adherence to the old covenant in preference to the new. Rather it is a fatal distortion of the plan of salvation as it had existed since the beginning.

The initial quotation comes from Leviticus 18:5. In contrast to much of modern scholarship which considers the Pentateuch to be a composite from four divergent sources (JEDP) compiled over many centuries, St. Paul unequivocally identifies Moses as the author of the passage. It is most appropriate that Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, who received the Ten Commandments from God's own hand on Mt. Sinai, is presented as the first authority on the nature of law righteousness. Note also that the verb which introduces the citation is in the present tense, "Moses describes," thus indicating the ongoing contemporary relevance of a word written many centuries in the past. Because the text is the inspired Word of God it remains permanently pertinent and applicable.

The subject of the quoted text is "the righteousness based on law." Theoretically, the law is a valid means of attaining righteousness. It is as Moses said: "I am the Lord your God. Keep My decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord, your God." (Leviticus 18:5) The prophet Ezekiel reiterates the point three times in the twentieth chapter of his book of prophecy.

"I gave them My decrees and made known to them My laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them...Yet the people of Israel rebelled against Me in the desert. They did not follow My decrees, but rejected My laws - although the man who obeys them will live by them... "But the children rebelled against Me: they did not follow My decrees, they were not careful to keep My laws - although the man who obeys them will live by them." (Ezekiel 20:11,13, 21)

Our Lord Himself, in response to the legal experts accurate summary of the law's content, declares: "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied, "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:28) The problem with law righteousness, as indicated in all of these passages, is that it requires perfection. In order to be saved on the basis of the law, one must obey the law absolutely, without the slightest infraction. As St. James declares: "Whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." (James 2:10) Thus while the law is a theoretically valid means of attaining righteousness, in reality no naturally born descendant of Adam can be saved on the basis of the law because the perfect obedience the law demands is an impossibility. Accordingly, Paul concludes in Galatians 3:10,11 - "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written; 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything that is written in the book of the law.' Clearly no one is justified before God by the law." Lenski sums it up this way:

"Yes, law is one way to righteousness, to securing God's favorable verdict...The trouble with the law as a means for attaining righteousness is that it requires complete doing on our part;...A single break in the doing, or a single omission in the many things to be done is fatal. Man is in a sinful condition from the start and thus could not hope to achieve righteousness by doing the law. Only a man trained in pharisaic blindness (John 9:40-41) could dream of saying what the rich young ruler said in Matthew 19:20. The entire Jewish legal system with all its sacrifices for sin proclaimed that no man could do the law and thus gain righteousness and life. What Paul quotes from Moses is an old doctrine; every Jew should know it, and certainly every Christian." (Lenski, p. 647)

"But the righteousness that is by faith says..." - The comforting promise of faith righteousness is in stark contrast to the unattainable demands of law righteousness. Whereas "the righteousness that is by the law" was introduced with a quotation from the inspired writings of the prophet Moses, "the righteousness that is by faith" is dramatically personified to speak for itself. Having demonstrated the futility of law righteousness, Paul now presents the divinely given means for conveying the righteousness of God to us, namely the Word. The apostle makes his point by paraphrasing and expanding upon the text of Deuteronomy 30:11-14. The original reads as follows:

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it."

The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy marks the end of the ministry of the great prophet Moses. This is his valedictory message to the nation. The people are apprehensive and uncertain. What will they do when Moses is gone? How will they find God or know His will in the absence of the great lawgiver? The words cited above were written to calm their fears and assure them of the adequacy and efficacy of the Word of God. Even after Moses was gone that Word would remain and it would provide all that was needed to know God and understand His will. Paul uses an amplified reformulation of the text to make the same point about the righteousness of faith. Douglas Moo summarizes the parallel in this way:

"As God brought His Word near to Israel so that they might know and obey Him, so God now brings His Word near to both Jews and Gentiles, that they might know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ and respond in faith and obedience...The grace of God that underlies the Mosaic covenant is operative now in the new covenant; and, just as Israel could not plead the excuse that she did not know God's will, so now, Paul says, neither Jew nor Gentile can plead ignorance of God's revelation in Jesus Christ. As Paul, therefore uses Leviticus 18:5 to summarize the essence of the law, so he quotes Deuteronomy 30:12-14 to encapsulate the Gospel. Throughout salvation history, these two words from the Lord have operated side by side; God making His demand on His people on the one hand and providing in His grace for their deliverance on the other...righteousness before the Lord can never come from the law, involving as it does human effort, but from the gospel of God's grace." (Moo, p. 353, 354)

The Word is the means through which that righteousness is offered and conveyed. It is not the result of human effort ("Who will ascend to heaven..to bring Christ down? Who will descend...to bring Christ up from the dead?") but the self-disclosure of God and His plan of salvation in the Word. The allusion here to the incarnation ("Who will ascend to heaven, that is, to bring Christ down?") and to the resurrection Who will descend into the deep, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead?") is intentional and unmistakable. God came down to us in the person of His Son, the Word made flesh, because we were incapable of going up to Him. Christ's victory over death proclaimed in the resurrection declares Jesus to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. God comes to us now in the written Word which conveys to us the Gospel of Jesus. The medieval acrostic carol "In Dulci Jubilo" catches the sense of this concept very well:

"Now sing we now rejoice, now raise to heaven our voice;
He from whom joy streameth poor in a manger lies;
Not so brightly beameth the sun in yonder skies.
Thou my Savior art! Thou my Savior art!

Come from on high to me; I cannot rise to Thee.
Cheer my wearied spirit, O pure and holy Child;
Thro' Thy grace and merit, blest Jesus, Lord most mild,
Draw me unto Thee! Draw me unto Thee!

This language about ascending to the heavens and descending into the abyss seem to have been proverbial expressions for attempting the impossible. Christ has accomplished the impossible for us. He has done that which we could never have done for ourselves. The message proclaimed by "the righteousness that is by faith" is pure sweet Gospel. Martin Franzmann points out:

"The voice of righteousness by faith bids man cease his willing and his running after righteousness. Man need not scale the heavens to bring Christ down; Christ has come down, and that, too, in the likeness of our own sinful flesh and as a sacrifice for sin (8:3) Man need not go into the dark abyss of death, to bring Christ up from the dead; He has been raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, raised for our justification. (6:4; 4:25)...The voice of righteousness by faith says not "Do!" but "It is done!" (Franzmann, p. 188)

"But what does it say? "The word is near you..." - Verses 6 and 7 tell us that the word of the "righteousness that is by faith" categorically excludes any human effort. Now, the rhetorical question, "But what does it say?" serves to draw special attention to the positive part of the word proclaimed by the " righteousness that is by faith." This is not an esoteric, cryptic message, hidden from most while being revealed only to an inner circle of initiates who have undergone mystical journeys to heaven and hell ("The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart."). The message of the Gospel is both accessible and understandable because God has made it so. Thus, in terms of Paul's basic argument in this segment, the unbelief of Israel cannot be attributed to any failure on the part of God. The state of modern man is much the same. We in western culture are surrounded with readily available information about the Gospel, but the vast majority of men choose to ignore or deny that Gospel nonetheless. They choose instead, work righteousness in one of its endless variety of forms. As Geoffrey Wilson observes: "The sheer perversity of unbelief is shown by the many who prefer to undertake an impossible odyssey rather than put their trust in an accessible Christ." (MacArthur, p. 71)

"That is, the Word of faith we are proclaiming." - How can it be that this mighty word of salvation is available and accessible to men? It is because "the word of faith," that is, the word which is preached, is a means through which personal justifying faith (Objective Genitive) is created. That faith creating message is conveyed in the apostolic preaching of the cross - "we are proclaiming." Note the use of the first person plural verb which Paul utilizes to refer not only to his own preaching but also to that of all the other apostles.

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart..." - The "mouth" - "heart" language is clearly drawn from the Deuteronomy text. Here, the order of Paul's presentation follows that of the Old Testament passage with the "mouth" preceding the "heart." In the sentence which follows, however, he will revert to the more logical chronological sequence - "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Verse 10) The Word first penetrates the heart, the innermost core of being, as God the Holy Spirit bestows the gift of faith, establishing a relationship of trust with the individual who is then enabled to confidently believe that Jesus is our Savior and our Substitute who was sacrificed upon the cross to pay in His blood the redemption price for our sin and whom God raised from the dead to proclaim our justification before all the world. The inevitable result of that faith is confession. The Greek verb is "homologeo." The use of this term is somewhat unusual in the writings of St. Paul. The word has judicial overtones, referring originally to solemn testimony offered before a court of law. In this context "confession" is a public attestation of one's faith, an acknowledgment of one's identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. (Cf. also 1 Timothy 6:12-13; Titus 1:16; 2 Corinthians 9:13). In the Old Testament, the basic confession of Israel's faith was the famous "Shema" of Deuteronomy 6:4 - "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." Most commentators agree that the affirmation "Jesus is Lord" served a similar function in the New Testament and that these words were a fundamental confession of the Christian Church from the earliest days. The phrase appears in the New Testament repeatedly in a variety of forms (cf. Philippians 2:11; 1 Corinthians 12:3) and its antiquity is conclusively indicated by the Aramaic transliteration "Maranatha" ("Our Lord, Come!") in 1 Corinthians 16:22. James Montgomery Boice notes:

"Jesus is Lord. What a tremendous statement! It is impossible to overestimate the significance of these three words (only two in Greek), for this was not only the first essential element of the Gospel proclamation, as well as of the first Christian confession. It was also a confession of their faith for which believers of the first century were willing to die." (Boice, p. 1191)

The phrase is pregnant with theological meaning. John Murray summarizes its theological content in this way: "The confession "Jesus is Lord" refers to the lordship which Jesus exercises in virtue of His exaltation. This lordship presupposes the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ and consists in His investiture with universal dominion." (Murray, p. 55)

The Greek word "Kyrios" (Lord) is the equivalent of the Hebrew divine Name "Jahweh." In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, "Kyrios" is used over 6,000 times as the translation of sacred Tetragrammaton. Accordingly, to declare that Jesus is Lord is to acknowledge Him as true God, the divine Son of the Father. Paul uses the term forty-four times in Romans. In thirty of those instances it is used in reference to Jesus Christ. In eight cases it is used of God the Father. In the remaining cases it is unclear whether the reference is to Jesus or to the Father. This interchangeable usage clearly indicates Paul's unqualified belief in the deity of Jesus Christ.

The profound significance of these words for the believers of the First Century is illustrated by the account of the martyrdom of a man named Polycarp, bishop of the church in Symrna. Polycarp died for the faith in February of 156 A.D. On the way to his trial, two of the soldiers guarding him took pity on him because of his advanced age. They urged him to go through the required ceremony and thus avoid condemnation. "What harm is there," they asked, "in saying that Caesar is Lord" and offering the customary sacrifice if it could save your life? The old saint steadfastly refused. Before the stake he was again urged to hail the emperor as Lord and renounce the Lord Christ. Again he refused in these courageous words: "Eighty and six years I have served Him and He never did me any injury; how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior." (ANE, 1, p.41) For old Polycarp, and for every true Christian there is one Lord and one Lord alone, Jesus Christ. To acknowledge or to bow down before another is to blaspheme the true God and betray the one Lord.

"That God raised Him from the dead..." - The resurrection is specifically cited as the decisive demonstration of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil. John Calvin is quite correct when he asserts: "The resurrection alone is often set before us as the assurance of our salvation, not to draw away our attention from His death, but because it bears witness to the efficacy and the fruit of His death." (Moo, p. 658)

It is most important to recognize that the act of confession is not cited here as a meritorious work which takes its place alongside faith as a second requirement for salvation. Confession is the result and the demonstration of faith. Phillip Melancthon explains:

"I grant that a beginning of obedience is necessary, but it does not merit eternal life. Neither is it the purchase price of eternal life, nor is it pleasing except we believe in Christ. Since obedience is pleasing because of faith, it is a contradiction to imagine that works either justify or that they merit eternal life. By faith we declare that remission of sins and eternal life are given us gratis, because of Christ. There is nothing troublesome about this interpretation. It grants that obedience is necessary. It takes away the opinion about merit. It teaches how one pleases in order that Christ may be accorded His honor, and that faith may remain certain. For it would become uncertain if one had to think that we pleased God when we had sufficient merits. This is profitable to know in general about all statements of this kind. Now let us return to the text. It is certain that Paul does not approve of confession unless faith is present; he does not grant to confession that it is the purchase price or merit of eternal life. As has been said, that would be a contradiction. Yet he demands confession because, as has been said, obedience is necessary, and Paul wanted to show that he is speaking not of a hypocritical faith, that is, of idle thinking, about a true impulse of the heart that lays hold of the mercy promised because of Christ. Therefore, patience and every kind of good work shines forth in confession." (Melancthon, p. 200)

A careful balance must be maintained here. The act of confession may not be construed as a meritorious work that contributes in any way to personal salvation. To do so, would be to deny that salvation is by grace and to confuse justification with sanctification. But at the same time, we may not tone down the importance of confession in this text. Our Lord and the New Testament in general clearly indicate the vital role of confessing the faith as the most reliable demonstration of the presence of a genuine, saving relationship with the Lord. At the same time, the Bible warns that those who allow the intimidation and opposition of men to silence their confession will find themselves disowned on the great day of judgement.

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32)

"I tell you whoever acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns Me before men will be disowned before the angels of God." (Luke 12:8-9)

"His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That is why his parents said, He is of age, ask him." (John 9:22-23)

"Yet, at the same time, many even among the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God." (John 12:42-43)

"Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus who, while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this commandment." (1 Timothy 6:12-14)

"No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:23)

"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God." (1 John 4:15)

"Many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world." (2 John 7)

Hence it can be seen that Robert Haldane, the great Scottish Bible teacher of the last century, was in no way guilty of exaggeration when he bluntly asserted:

"Confession of Christ is as necessary as faith in Him, but necessary for a different purpose. Faith is necessary to obtain the gift of righteousness. Confession is necessary to prove that this gift is received. If a man does not confess Christ at the hazard of life, character, property, liberty, and everything dear to him, he has not the faith of Christ." (Boice, p. 1206-1207)

Secret discipleship, that is, a faith relationship with Christ that is deliberately concealed to avoid the persecution and opposition of men is an impossibility. Every believer has the opportunity, in a unique way determined by the circumstances of each individual situation, to confess the Lord Jesus Christ. To fail to do so, is to be subject to the tragic condemnation which the Evangelist St. John levels against the Jewish leaders who believed in Jesus but would not publically acknowledge Him: "they loved praise from men more than praise from God." (John 12:43)

Offering the good confession is not simply a matter of verbal expression, the formulation of words. That is of critical importance, to be sure, and cannot be omitted, but Christ must be confessed in Word and deed. We confess the Lord Jesus as we gather with fellow believers around the means of grace and we deny Him when we fail to do so. We confess the Lord Jesus when we teach His Word in all of its truth and purity and we deny Him when we compromise the doctrines of Holy Scripture in order to accommodate inclinations and opinions of men. We confess the Lord Jesus in the values and priorities by which we live or we deny Him by allowing our actions to be determined by the worldly standards of the culture in which we live. We confess the Lord Jesus by cheerful submission in the face of the most severe trials and tribulations and even death itself and we deny Him when our response to suffering is fear, bitterness and complaint.

Of course confession without faith, the mere mouthing of the words, simple intellectual knowledge without personal trust, is of no value whatsoever. As Jesus declares: "Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from Me you evildoers." (Matthew 7:22-23) The good confession can only be the result of a real personal faith relation ship with Jesus Christ. "No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3) John Murray says it well: "Confession without faith would be vain. But likewise faith without confession would be shown to be spurious... Confession with the mouth is the evidence of the genuineness of faith." (Murray, p. 56) St. John Chysostom summarizes the relationship between heart conviction and genuine confession in this way: "The understanding must be strongly fixed in pious faith, and the tongue must herald forth by its confession the solid resolution of the mind." (Bray, p. 276)

The result of that true faith which is demonstrated by the good confession is that "you will be saved." The future tense of the verb points forward to the great day of judgement when believers in Christ will be delivered from the righteous wrath of God to be poured out upon sinful mankind.

Verses 10-11
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with you mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Everyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame."

"For it is with your heart that you believe..." - As Paul now restates the point the natural chronological sequence is restored - first heart conviction, then oral confession. The apostle distinguishes here between justification (Greek - "dikaiosyne"), associated with believing in your heart, and salvation (Greek - "soteria"), associated with confessing with your mouth. The former, (justification) describes the present reality that the instant the sinner believes by divine verdict he is accounted righteous for Christ's sake. The latter, (salvation) emphasizes the eschatological reality of eternal life with God in heaven. Of course there is a considerable amount of overlap here, these are not mutually exclusive concepts.

"We may say that in the same instant salvation likewise results, for to be justified is to be saved...One who believes and is thereby justified confesses and shows that his faith is genuine, and the result is salvation, he is saved already now, and when the moment arrives and death calls him away, heaven is his." (Lenski, p. 657)

"As the Scripture says...." - The thought is supported by a quotation from Isaiah 28:16 - "So this is what the sovereign Lord says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed." This text had been previously cited in Romans 9:33. The only difference here is the addition of the word "Everyone" which serves to emphasize the universal nature of the gospel, a crucial concept for that which now follows. The verb "will never be put to shame" refers to the vindication of the saints on the day of judgement. "Shame, confusion, fleeing in terror from the face of the great Judge shall not be the lot of him who rests his trust on Christ." (Lenski, p. 658) The early church father Origen, sees in this phrase an allusion to the shame of Adam in Eve in the Garden after the fall into sin: "If no one who believes in Him will be put to shame, it is clear that those who sin will be just as Adam who sinned and was ashamed and hid himself. So whoever incurs the shame of sin obviously does not believe." (Bray, p. 276) Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf effectively expresses the same concpet in his classic hymn "Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness" ("Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit"):

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
'Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in that great day;
For who ought to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

Verses 12-13
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."

"For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile" - The Verse is introduced with the explanatory conjunction "For" (Greek - "gar")which links this sentence to the preceding thought. In effect, Paul is now explaining the "everyone" which he had inserted into the Isaiah passage in Verse 11. In Romans Chapter 3, Paul had argued that there is no difference among men before God's judgement "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). God justifies all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, by grace through faith. This must be so, the apostle insisted, because there is only one true God: "Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith." (3:29-30) Here in Chapter 10, Paul once again argues for the elimination of the distinction between Jew and Gentile, but in this instance the argument is based upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As there is only one God, so there is also only one Lord - "the same Lord is Lord of all." The lordship of Jesus Christ is not limited by the petty dividing lines that men uses to distinguish themselves from one another. Jesus is the "Lord of all." Just as He demands allegiance from all men so also He graciously showers the riches of His blessings upon all those "who call on Him." This phrase is a characteristic Old Testament expression for worship that is addressed to God with specific reference to the worship of prayer and supplication (cf. Genesis 4:26; 12:8;13:4;21:33; 26:25; 1 Kings 18:24; 2 Kings 5:11; Isaiah 64:7).

John MacArthur defines the term in this way:

"In the Old Testament the phrase "call upon the name of the Lord" was especailly associated with the right worship of the true God. It carried the connotations of worship, adoration, and praise and extolled God's majesty, power, and holiness. Emphasizing the negative side of that phrase, the imprecatory Psalmist cried to God, "How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou be angry forever? Will Thy jealousy burn like fire? Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations which do not know Thee, and upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Thy name." (Psalm 79:5-6) Again, the psalmist exulted: "O give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples." (Psalm 105:1) Still another time in the Psalms we read that he "called upon the name of the Lord," praying, "O Lord, I beseech Thee, save my life! Gracious is the Lord, and righteous: yes, our God is compassionate" (Psalm 116:4-5)." (MacArthur, p. 82)

The point is reinforced by a quotation from Joel 2:32 - "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls." Joel had prophesied salvation for everyone who called upon the name of the Lord, no matter who they were or what nation they came from. Once again, the explanatory conjunction "for" serves to link the quotation to the previous assertion. All that Paul is saying is what the prophet had said before. Note also the equivalence in Paul's thought between the "Lord" (Hebrew - "Jahweh") in the Old Testament passage with the "Lord" (Greek - "Kyrios") Jesus Christ. They are one and the same. The phrase "the name of the Lord" is also theologically significant. Lenski defines it in this way:

"It always means His revelation by which He draws nigh to us, makes Himself known, by which we may, indeed, know Him so as to trust Him and be saved by Him. His Name is the door to Him and at the same time the power that draws us through the door...It is the means by which He comes to us, by which we have Him, without which we cannot reach Him. The Word is His Name, and this whole chapter treats of the Word. Those who rejected it in unbelief doomed themselves. The Name is intended for faith and confession, for justification and salvation. There is salvation in no other name." (Lenski, p. 660)

Verses 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!"

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?" - There now follows a connected series of four rhetorical questions, each linked to its predecessor. Lenski notes: "Now comes Paul's famous chain...The Word as the means of grace for producing faith must touch all the links in the chain. Paul lets them form that chain and then fastens a golden Scriptural pendant to the last link in Verse 15." (Lenski, p. 660) The point of these verses is that faith is not created spontaneously, but through the Word, the means which God Himself has established. John Murray says is very well: "The main point is that the saving relation with Christ involved in calling upon His Name is not something that can occur in a vacuum; it occurs only in the context created by the proclamation of the gospel on the part of those commissioned to proclaim it." (Murray, p. 58)

The series begins with the key phrase in the quotation from Joel 2:32 - "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord." To call upon the Lord is an act of faith, thus the first question in the chain is self-evident -"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?"

It is obviously impossible to have faith, in order to call upon the Lord, if one has never heard the Lord, hence, the next question in the series - "And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" Each of these questions is posed in a broad general way. The logic of this extended syllogism would apply in any situation. The NIV's translation of the second question, "one of whom they have not heard" diminishes the force of the original text. The Greek literally says - "one whom they have not heard." This is not simply a matter of the casual gathering of second hand information. To hear of someone or about him is only an inferior substitute for hearing that person himself. It is that kind of direct contact that the text clearly has in mind, and that insight will become most significant in the question which follows.

"And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" The key word in this question is the verb "preaching" (Greek - "kerussein"). This word refers specifically to the proclamation of herald. By using it in this context Paul emphasizes the fact the apostles and those who come after them as spokesmen for Christ do not proclaim their own word, but that of the Lord. Jesus emphatically states exactly this in Luke 10:16 as he sends out the seventy-two disciples: "He who listens to you listens to Me; he who reject you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent me." Lenski offers this helpful definition:

"Kerussein, which we translate "to preach," means "to herald," act as a herald for publically announcing some message of a king or commander. The point is that the herald announces no word more or less than he is bidden to announce and alters and changes nothing. He merely lends his voice to his master who is often present in person. This the apostles were to do, and they did it, and their message still rings through the world; this the prophets did before them, often with the direct preamble "Thus saith the Lord!" Applied to us who preach today, this means that we are Christ's heralds through whom men hear Christ Himself only when we transmit His Word exactly as He has commanded it to us." (Lenski, p. 662)

Having identified preachers as the heralds of the Word, the apostle now forges the final link in his magnificent chain with one last question - "And how can they preach unless they are sent?" There is no such thing as a self-appointed herald. That would be an oxymoron. A herald is by definition one who is duly sent and commissioned to speak on behalf of another. God is the Sender. His commission of faithful messengers to proclaim His Word is the implementation of His desire for the salvation of all men. Dr. Stöckhardt emphasizes the fact that this concept of a divine calling extends from the apostles down to the present day:

"The final expression obviously refers, first of all, to those proclaimers, those preachers, the apostles, who were immediately called and sent by Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:17. Yet the axiom "no preaching without sending" applies to the official preaching of salvation of all New Testament preachers. No preacher can rightly administer the preaching office in the New Testament unless he has been sent and equipped with the Spirit and gifts by the Lord. "No one can rightly preach unless he has been sent" (Körner) And the mediate call, through the church, is also a divine sending and call. Finally even the personal witness of all believing Christians, which is powerful enough to awaken saving faith, rests upon the command of the Lord: "As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you." "Go ye therefore and teach all nations." "Preach the gospel to every creature." The apostle's entire preceding comment forms a chain of logically connected thoughts the result of which is that the prerequisites of saving faith and calling upon the Lord are hearing, preaching, and sending." (Stöckhardt, p 493)

In the historic theology of the Lutheran Church, the centrality of the Word of God and the importance of the office of the public ministry as the office of the Word of God have always been strongly emphasized. The great Lutheran theologian Phillip Melancthon asserts a close connection between that emphasis and this passage. He describes this text as "the foremost passage about the necessity and the dignity of the ministry" in all of Holy Scripture. He contends that the people of God ought to study these inspired words of St. Paul diligently and carefully in order to guard against sinful man's inherent tendency to supplant the Word with his own opinions and imaginations.

"In order that we may know in what way God works in us, and may not seek other illuminations outside of the Word, nor grant entrance to imaginations and opinions about God without a sure Word of God. This precept about the Word of God is wide open, for it is difficult for a man to stand fast by the Word of God and to say for certain that what he sets forth in the Word is the will of God, and so he easily slips into other imaginations. Thus Eve, thinking lightly of the Word, adds the imagination: "Perhaps God does not think so harshly."...And we must know that God does not want His will about sin and grace to be known and apprehended in any other way except in the Word, and that the Holy Spirit works through the Word. Let us hold this rule fast, and for this great reason show all honor to and defend the public ministry of the Word." (Melancthon, p. 201-202)

The "golden Scripture pendant" attached to the last link of the chain is a quotation from Isaiah 52:7. The original text anticipates the joyful celebration of God's victory in the context of deliverance from the Babylonian captivity. The messengers sent to announce that victory speed their way over the hills surrounding Jerusalem. The people, anxiously awaiting their message, strain their eyes toward the horizon, eager for the first glimpse of those who carry the good news. The moment when they finally appear is a time of profound joy and intense jubilation. "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" The dusty, dirty feet of the messengers, bruised and bloody from their long journey, appear to be most beautiful indeed to those who rejoice in the announcement of their deliverance by God. The great Presbyterian Bible preacher, Donald Grey Barnhouse, tells the poignant story of the beautiful feet on one such messenger of the gospel in the mission fields of Africa. This man was a victim of the dreadful disease called elephantiasis in which parasitic worms invade the body and cause grotesque deformation of the limbs. The legs and feet swell to ten times their normal size and more. The skin thickens and grows hard, cracking and folding like the thick hide of an elephant, hence the name of the disease. The victim is crippled, immobilized, and finally killed as the disease progresses.

"This poor victim of elephantiasis became a radiant Christian and could do nothing other than tell other people of the grace of God which He had shown in sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for them. He lived in a small African village and determined that every soul in that village should hear the good news of salvation. It was extremely difficult for him to walk with the monstrous legs that bore him about, but he thought nothing of the pain but toiled on from hut to hut to tell those who dwelt there about the Savior who had come into his life. Each evening he would return to his own hut where he was maintained by the kindness of his relatives. At the end of several months he was able to report to the missionary that he had visited every hut in the village and that he was now starting to take the gospel message to a nearby village about 2 miles away. Each morning, he would start out, painfully walk the two miles to that village and return the two miles before sundown to his own hut. Finally there came the day when he had visited every hut in the neighboring village. His work being done in these two villages, he remained at home for some weeks but began to be more and more restless. He spoke to the missionary, who was also a medical doctor, about another village that was about twelve miles away through rugged jungle. He asked if the gospel had been taken to that village. As a boy, before he had been afflicted, he had traveled the jungle path to that village, and he remembered that it was a large village and that there were many people there, and he knew that they need the good news of the Savior. He was advised not to think of going to that village, but day after day the burden grew upon him. One day, his family came to the missionary and said that the man had disappeared before dawn, and could not be found anywhere. Afterwards, the full story became known. He had started down the path toward the distant village. Step after weary step he had dragged his leathery legs and gigantic feet along the path that led to his goal. The people of the village later told how he had come to them when it was already noon; his feet were further swollen, bruised and bleeding. He had been forced to stop and rest again and again and the painful journey had taken many hours. They offered him food but before he would eat he began to tell the people about Jesus. Up and down the village he went, even to the very last hut, telling them that the God of all creation was Love and that He had sent His only Son to die that their sins might be removed. He told how the Lord Jesus had been raised from the dead and had come into his heart bringing such joy and peace. As the sun was low in the evening sky, he started on his way down the jungle path toward home. The darkness of Africa is a terrible darkness, and the night can bring forth many creatures from the jungle. The sun went down and the poor man dragged himself along the path through the night guided by some insight that kept him from going astray. He later told his pastor that his fear of the night and the animals which might come upon him was more than balanced by the joy that he had in his heart, as he realized that he had told a whole village about the Lord Jesus Christ. Toward midnight, the missionary doctor was awakened by a noise on his front porch. He listened but all seemed still. Somehow, he could not go back to sleep and he went to the door with a light to see what had caused the noise. There at the door to the hospital he found the poor man lying on the porch. He had returned to the village from his long trip and the stumps of his legs were bleeding and wounded. The missionary called his helpers, and they lifted the man, almost unconscious into one of the beds in the little hospital. The doctor said that in all his years of practicing medicine in the African jungle he had never seen such a frightful sight. The man's feet, ruined and twisted by his disease, had been torn and ravaged by his long journey. Unashamed, the doctor told how he had bent over those bleeding feet to minister to them, and as he wiped away the blood and cleaned and bandaged them, he told how his own tears had fallen with the ointment upon them. The doctor ended the story by saying: "In all my life I do not know when my heart was more drawn to another Christian believer. All I could think of was the verse in the Word of God, "How beautiful are the feet of them that bring good tidings, that publish peace." (Boice, p. 1249-1251)

The message of salvation has been proclaimed. The heralds, God's prophets and apostles, have been sent forth and have faithfully discharged the responsibility of their office to proclaim the Word which God has graciously entrusted to them. God has charged that Word with the power to create saving faith in the hearts of those who hear it that they may call upon the Name of the Lord and be saved. But at this point in the text, the note of triumphant gladness which has characterized the description of the power and possibility of the Word turns to sadness. The response of most of mankind has been denial, defiance, and disbelief. Even among Israel, the chosen people of God, the vast majority has failed to heed the divine Word and believe. Has the Word of God failed? Has God reneged of His promise? Most definitely not! The problem lies not with God but with men. Paul now returns to the problem which permeates this segment of the epistle, the unbelief of Israel.

Verses 16-17
But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

"But not all the Israelites accepted the good news." - The shift from triumph to tragedy is signaled by the adversative conjunction "But." (Greek - "Alla") The text uses a literary device called "litotes," that is, ironic understatement to underscore the tragedy of Israel's rejection of her Messiah. Not only have "not all of the Israelites" failed to accept the good news personified and proclaimed by Jesus, the overwhelming majority of the nation has rejected Him. The original text does not include the word "Israelites," although that is probably what the apostle had in mind given the Isaiah quotation which follows. The term is an interpretive addition in the NIV translation. The verb "accepted" (Greek - "hypakouein") literally means to listen and to submit to. It is the correlative of the "herald" terminology in the preceding paragraph.

"For Isaiah says "Lord who had believed..." - This is not a novel situation, a new and unprecedented problem. It is as Stephan noted, moments before his martyrdom: "You stiff necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" (Acts 7:51) Eight centuries earlier, the great prophet Isaiah had lamented Israel's failure to heed the divine Word which he had proclaimed among them. The quotation comes from Isaiah 53, the great "Suffering Servant" chapter, the most powerful description in the Old Testament of the Savior's humiliation, suffering, and death. This is particularly pertinent here . The Jews rejected Jesus precisely because He was the Suffering Servant and did not meet their grandiose expectations of national deliverance and glory. Isaiah complains: "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1) St. John the Evangelist had used the same verse to characterize the stubborn opposition of the Jews to Christ and His Gospel:

"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 had believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed." For this reason they could not believe, because as Isaiah says elsewhere: "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn - and I would heal them." Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him." (John 12:37-41)

Israel's rejection of her Messiah was the culmination of a pattern of disobedience and defiance that had continued for centuries. Men had obstinately hardened their hearts and were in turn hardened by of God. The cup of God's righteous wrath was now about to overflow for "the measure of the sin of your forefathers" had finally been filled up (Matthew 23:32).

"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." - This summary statement is introduced with the conjunction "Consequently" (Greek - "ara"). The Isaiah quotation indicated the breakdown in the faith/salvation chain of cause and effect which had occurred in the case of Israel. The apostle now briefly restates that process and affirms that it is not the failure of that process that has result in the unbelief of Israel.

"But the unbelief of man does not make void the Word of God. If men have "not all heeded the Gospel," some have heeded it; and for them the arm of the Lord, the power of God, has been revealed through it. The golden chain which binds men to the Lord in faith has been fully forged; every link is there, from "sending" to "believing" and to "calling on His Name." Christ has preached, in word and deed, His messengers have gone forth and have borne abroad His name, and men have come to faith and called upon His name for their salvation." (Franzmann, p. 192)

Note carefully the connection reemphasized here between hearing the Word of Christ and faith. "Faith is not the result of intuition, mystical experience, meditation, speculation, philosophizing, or consensus but by hearing the Word of Christ." (MacArthur, p. 87)

"But I ask: Did they not hear?" - The willful and deliberate nature of Israel's disobedience is now emphasized with a series of quotations from the Old Testament. Paul dramatically presents the evidence with two rhetorical questions: "Did they not hear?...Did Israel not understand?" In the Greek text, each of these questions is posed in the form of a double negative, thus indicating that a "no" answer is anticipated. Literally - "It is not that they did not hear, is it?" And "It is not that they did not understand, is it?" Both potential excuses are emphatically rejected - "Of course they did!"

"Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." - The first reference comes from Psalm 19:4 which extols the creation's universal witness to the glory of God:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4)

Those who accuse St. Paul of appropriating this text to prove a point never intended by the Psalmist misunderstand the apostle's intent in this instance. Psalm 19:4 is certainly not a proof text to demonstrate that Israel has heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nor is St. Paul attempting to use the text in that way. The typical formulas used to introduce a quotation (cf. i.e. vss. 19,20,21) are absent in this instance. Paul is merely using the language of the Old Testament, "clothing his thoughts with Old Testament words which fittingly express what he wants to say." (Stöckhardt, p. 147) Lenski describes the process in this way:

"Paul quotes just as we do, but in a better way, for he knew his Old Testament better than we do. Take the present instance. Here a word taken from a psalm is simply adopted to express Paul's own thought, he glides over into telling Biblical language without a formula of quotation. We do the same, but not always so pertinently when we quote the language of others in order to express our own thought." (Lenski, p. 670)

Paul's intention is not to present the original meaning of the verse of the Psalm, but to use its language about hearing the revelation of God to assert the universal preaching of the Gospel. "As God's word of general revelation has been proclaimed all over the earth, so God's word of special revelation, in the gospel, has been spread all over the earth." (Moo, p. 667) Given the messianic content of the Old Testament, and the apostolic preaching of the cross throughout the Roman world and beyond, this is a fair and accurate assertion. The text specifically uses the Greek word "oikoumene" which refers not the entire world and every individual human being on the face of the globe, but to the civilized world, most notably, the Roman Empire. Paul's point is well taken - Israel may not rightly contend that they have not been given the opportunity to hear the message of salvation.

"The Jews cannot excuse their unbelief by advancing that they did not hear of the Gospel. The voices of Gospel preachers resounded in all the lands and in all the cities of the known world. There wasn't a synagogue where the gospel was not heard; there wasn't a Jew in the world, who could justly plead ignorance of the gospel." (Stöckhardt, p.147)

"Again I ask: Did Israel not understand?" - If it was not a lack of opportunity to hear that prevented the Jews from being saved, then what was it? Could the problem have been a lack of understanding? As noted above, the question in the Greek text is posed in the form of a double negative, literally "It is not that Israel did not understand, is it?" Not only is the anticipated answer is a definite "no," but the form of the question serves to express the apostle's shock and amazement that such a thing could even have been suggested.

"It is unthinkable, unbelievable that Israel, the chosen people, to whom God from ages past had entrusted His Word and promises, should ignore and leave unnoticed the message of the promises' fulfillment, or despise and reject it. The apostle is astonished, surprised, and indignant over the undeniably clear fact that Israel did not understand and believe the Gospel." (Stöckhardt, p. 147)

In this case the conclusion is supported by two quotations from the Old Testament, the first from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21 - "They made Me jealous by what is no god and angered Me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding." In the Song of Moses, the prophet recounts the history of God's gracious dealings with Israel in stark contrast to the faithlessness and rebellion of the people. This verse describes God's "equivalent" response to Israel's idolatry. That which they have done to Him, He will do to them. The punishment fits the crime. As Israel had spurned the true God and turned to the worship of idols ("what is no god"), thus arousing His jealousy and wrath, so God would turn from Israel to chose as His own the Gentile world ("those who are not a people" - "a nation that has no understanding") so that Israel might thus be stirred to envy and return to the Lord. This theme will be specifically developed in Chapter 11:11-16. The designation of the Gentiles as "those who are not a people" and "a nation that has no understanding," is intended to highlight the blessings that God has bestowed upon Israel. As the chosen people of God, His own holy nation, the Jews tended to look down on the rest of humanity second class citizens - "those who are not a people." God had chosen to reveal Himself directly to Israel, He had written the law with His own hand and presented it to them at Mt. Sinai. How could those who had been so uniquely blessed now claim that they did not understand? "Their unbelief cannot be excused on the grounds that they have not heard the gospel. They have. And their knowledge of their own Scriptures ought to have informed their hearing. They should have known what to expect and so they are doubly without excuse." (Dunn, p. 631)

Not only did Israel know the gospel of salvation, but they were warned in advance that because of their unfaithfulness the kingdom of God would be taken from them. Their angry resentment against the inclusion of the Gentiles within the church is in itself the fulfillment of the prophecy of Moses.

"And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek Me..." - In the classic manner of a rabbinical teacher, a quotation from the prophets now follows one from the law. Paul returns to Isaiah, whom many commentators consider to be his favorite Old Testament prophet, to cite two more pertinent passages. The first is Isaiah 65:1. In this text the prophet minces no words. He speaks bluntly and emphatically - "Isaiah boldly says." In the Isaiah passage, God warns of the rejection of apostate Israel and describes the manner in which His grace operates: "I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My name I said, "Here am I, here am I." August Pieper, whose classic commentary on Isaiah remains the standard among Lutheran exegetes, describes this concept as "a truth of revelation that is fundamental to the whole Gospel." Pieper writes:

"The Lord is uttering the truth that He reveals Himself and lets Himself be found by people who do not search after Him, or have not sought Him, a truth of revelation that is fundamental to the whole Gospel. This is the doctrine of the free grace of the Lord, a doctrine that was not discovered by Paul, but which is found everywhere in the Old Testament (Cf. Exodus 33:19. Isaiah especially emphasizes it. Cf. 43:22ff. As an example) It is God's way to reveal Himself to such as have never sought Him out. Had He waited until He had been sought after, there would never have been a revelation of God's grace. It is of this way of the Lord that He is speaking in this passage. In accordance with Deuteronomy 32:21, Paul is entirely consistent with this truth when he makes the application of it to the acceptance of the gentiles and contrasts Israel as a people that had received grace according to the same divine principle but had treated it with contempt and had in consequence been rejected." (Pieper, p. 662)

The language of the Isaiah text closely reflects Paul's words in Romans 9:30 ("What shall we then say? That the Gentiles, who have not pursued righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.") In this way, the text serves well to unify and advance the apostle's argument.

"But concerning Israel He says, "All day long I have held out My hands..." - The contrast between the undeserved love freely demonstrated to the Gentiles and the stubborn disobedience of Israel could not be more clearly drawn. Paul continues his quotation from Isaiah 65: "All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations." John Murray notes:

"The perversity of Israel, on the one hand, and the constancy and intensity of God's lovingkindness, on the other, are accentuated by the fact that the one derives its character from the other. It is to a disobedient and contradicting people that the outstretched hands of entreaty are extended. The gravity of the sin springs from the contradiction offered to the overtures of mercy." (Murray, p. 63)

The outstretched hands of a loving God are a poignant image of the Lord's compelling and consistent desire for the salvation of His people. In the face of defiance, disobedience, and rejection, He continued to love them, and to reach out to them in love. The text calls to mind the heartbroken lament of Jesus over Jerusalem on the eve of His death: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate." (Matthew 23:37-38) The fathers of the early church did not hesitate to see in the image of God's outstretched hands an allusion to Christ's crucifixion and the tortured hands of our Lord nailed to the rough wood of the cross. Diodore of Tarsus writes in the Fourth Century: "It appears from the holding out of His hands that God is calling the people to Himself. It is also a sign pointing toward the form of the cross."

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