Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.
Parallel Translations
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Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.
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Brethren my hertes desyre and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
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Brethren, mine hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saued.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Romans 10:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
- John 5:34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.
- Romans 9:1-3 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh
- Exodus 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”
- Jeremiah 17:16 As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you. I haven’t desired the woeful day. You know. That which came out of my lips was before your face.
- Jeremiah 18:20 Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
- Exodus 32:10 Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
- 1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
- Luke 13:34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
- 1 Samuel 15:11 “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.
- 1 Samuel 15:35–16:1 Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel. Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. We here see with what solicitude the holy…
1. We here see with what solicitude the holy man obviated offenses; for in order to soften whatever sharpness there may have been in his manner of explaining the rejection of the Jews, he still testifies, as before, his goodwill towards them, and proves it by the effect; for their salvation was an object of concern to him before the Lord, and such a feeling arises only from genuine love. It may be at the same time that he was also induced by another reason to testify his love towards the nation from which he had sprung; for his doctrine would have never been received by the Jews had they thought that he was avowedly inimical to them; and his defection would have been also suspected by the Gentiles, for they would have thought, as we have said in the last chapter, that he became an apostate from the law through his hatred of men.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Purposing to set forth in the Jews an example…
Purposing to set forth in the Jews an example of marvelous obstinacy, he useth an insinuation.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God…
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Ver. 1. My heart’s desire] So it should be ours. See my True Treasure, chap. vii. sect. 2.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The apostle begins this chapter with another prolepsis, or…
The apostle begins this chapter with another prolepsis, or rhetorical insinuation, professing his unfeigned love of his nation, and his hearty desire of their salvation: q.d. As before, (c.g.) so now again I declare openly, (O ye Christian Jews, my brethren), that whatever the generality of the Jews do think of me, as if I hated them, or were their enemy; yet there is none more passionately and tenderly affected to them than I am: and from hence it is, that I do so heartily desire and pray to God, for all that people, that they might be saved.
That they might be saved; that they may obtain eternal salvation, and escape that deluge of wrath aud destruction that hangs over their heads.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Where observe, 1. The mighty concern which the apostle…
Where observe, 1. The mighty concern which the apostle had for the eternal salvation of his countrymen the Jews, who sought his destruction; their salvation lay very near his heart, and he was afraid they should miss it by taking the wrong way for obtaining it, by building all their hopes of salvation upon such a bottom as would never bear the fabric, but utterly fail them; namely, justification by works.
Observe, 2. What it was that made the apostle so concerned for the Jews. It was not upon the account of their wicked lives and scandalous immoralities, but for their bad principles and fundamental errors. They opposed the honour of God to the Son of God, and the observation of the law to the faith of Christ.
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From whence learn, That we ought to be concerned for those who lie under damnable errors, although they be men of good carriage and commendable conversation. Not only the vicious and ungodly, but the erroneous and unsound, are to be the objects of our pity and prayer; for error is as damnable as vice; the one is an open road, the other a by-path, to hell and destruction; and, accordingly, he that has a due care of his soul’s salvation will be as much afraid of erroneous principles as of debauched practices.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The scope of the apostle in this part of…
The scope of the apostle in this part of the chapter is to show the vast difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith, and the great pre-eminence of the righteousness of faith above that of the law; that he might induce and persuade the Jews to believe in Christ, aggravate the folly and sin of those that refused, and justify God in the rejection of such refusers.
I. Paul here professes his good affection to the Jews, with the reason of it (Rom 10:1, Rom 10:2), where he gives them a good wish, and a good witness.
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1. A good wish (Rom 10:1), a wish that they might be saved - saved from the temporal ruin and destruction that were coming upon them - saved from the wrath to come, eternal wrath, which was hanging over their heads. It is implied in this wish that they might be convinced and converted; he could not pray in faith that they might be saved in their unbelief. Though Paul preached against them, yet he prayed for them. Herein he was merciful, as God is, who is not willing that any should perish (Pe2 3:9), desires not the death of sinners. It is our duty truly and earnestly to desire the salvation of our own. This, he says, was his heart's desire and prayer, which intimates, (1.) The strength and sincerity of his desire. It was his heart's desire; it was not a formal compliment, as good wishes are with many from the teeth outward, but a real desire. This it was before it was his prayer. The soul of prayer is the heart's desire. Cold desires do but beg denials; we must even breathe out our souls in every prayer. (2.) The offering up of this desire to God. It was not only his heart's desire, but it was his prayer. There may be desires in the heart, and yet no prayer, unless those desires be presented to God. Wishing and woulding, if that be all, are not praying.
2. A good witness, as a reason of his good wish (Rom 10:2): I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. The unbelieving Jews were the most bitter enemies Paul had in the world, and yet Paul gives them as good a character as the truth would bear. We should say the best we can even of our worst enemies; this is blessing those that curse us. Charity teaches us to have the best opinion of persons, and to put the best construction upon words and actions, that they will bear. We should take notice of that which is commendable even in bad people. They have a zeal of God. Their opposition to the gospel is from a principle of respect to the law, which they know to have come from God. There is such a thing as a blind misguided zeal: such was that of the Jews, who, when they hated Christ's people and ministers, and cast them out, said, Let the Lord be glorified (Isa 66:5); nay, they killed them, and thought they did God good service, Joh 16:2.
II. He here shows the fatal mistake that the unbelieving Jews were guilty of, which was their ruin. Their zeal was not according to knowledge. It is true God gave them that law for which they were so zealous; but they might have known that, by the appearance of the promised Messiah, an end was put to it. He introduced a new religion and way of worship, to which the former must give place. He proved himself the Son of God, gave the most convincing evidence that could be of his being the Messiah; and yet they did not know and would not own him, but shut their eyes against the clear light, so that their zeal for the law was blind. This he shows further, Rom 10:3, where we may observe,
1. The nature of their unbelief. They have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, that is, they have not yielded to gospel-terms, nor accepted the tender of justification by faith in Christ, which is made in the gospel. Unbelief is a non-submission to the righteousness of God, standing it out against the gospel proclamation of indemnity. Have not submitted. In true faith, there is need of a great deal of submission; therefore the first lesson Christ teaches is to deny ourselves. It is a great piece of condescension for a proud heart to be content to be beholden to free grace; we are loth to sue sub forma pauperis - as paupers.
2. The causes of their unbelief, and these are two: - (1.) Ignorance of God's righteousness. They did not understand, and believe, and consider, the strict justice of God, in hating and punishing sin, and demanding satisfaction, did not consider what need we have of a righteousness wherein to appear before him; if they had, they would never have stood out against the gospel offer, nor expected justification by their own works, as if they could satisfy God's justice. Or, being ignorant of God's way of justification, which he has now appointed and revealed by Jesus Christ. They did not know it, because they would not; they shut their eyes against the discoveries of it, and love darkness rather. (2.) A proud conceit of their own righteousness: Going about to establish their own - a righteousness of their own devising, and of their own working out, by the merit of their works, and by their observance of the ceremonial law. They thought they needed not to be beholden to the merit of Christ, and therefore depended upon their own performances as sufficient to make up a righteousness wherein to appear before God. They could not with Paul disclaim a dependence upon this (Phi 3:9), Not having my own righteousness. See an instance of this pride in the Pharisee, Luk 18:10, Luk 18:11. Compare Rom 10:14.
III. He here shows the folly of that mistake, and what an unreasonable thing it was for them to be seeking justification by the works of the law, now that Christ had come, and had brought in an everlasting righteousness; considering,
1. The subserviency of the law to the gospel (Rom 10:4): Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. The design of the law was to lead people to Christ. The moral law was but for the searching of the wound, the ceremonial law for the shadowing forth of the remedy; but Christ is the end of both. See Co2 3:7, and compare Gal 3:23, Gal 3:24. The use of the law was to direct people for righteousness to Christ. (1.) Christ is the end of the ceremonial law; he is the period of it, because he is the perfection of it. When the substance comes, the shadow is gone. The sacrifices, and offerings, and purifications appointed under the Old Testament, prefigured Christ, and pointed at him; and their inability to take away sin discovered the necessity of a sacrifice that should, by being once offered, take away sin. (2.) Christ is the end of the moral law in that he did what the law could not do (Rom 8:3), and secured the great end of it. The end of the law was to bring men to perfect obedience, and so to obtain justification. This is now become impossible, by reason of the power of sin and the corruption of nature; but Christ is the end of the law. The law is not destroyed, nor the intention of the lawgiver frustrated, but, full satisfaction being made by the death of Christ for our breach of the law, the end is attained, and we are put in another way of justification. Christ is thus the end of the law for righteousness, that is, for justification; but it is only to every one that believeth. Upon our believing, that is, our humble consent to the terms of the gospel, we become interested in Christ's satisfaction, and so are justified through the redemption that is in Jesus.
2. The excellency of the gospel above the law. This he proves by showing the different constitution of these two.
(1.) What is the righteousness which is of the law? This he shows, Rom 10:5. The tenour of it is, Do, and live. Though it directs us to a better and more effectual righteousness in Christ, yet in itself, considered as a law abstracted from its respect to Christ and the gospel (for so the unbelieving Jews embraced and retained it), it owneth nothing as a righteousness sufficient to justify a man but that of perfect obedience. For this he quotes that scripture (Lev 18:5), You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. To this he refers likewise, Gal 3:12, The man that doeth them, shall live in them. Live, that is, be happy, not only in the land of Canaan, but in heaven, of which Canaan was a type and figure. The doing supposed must be perfect and sinless, without the least breach or violation. The law which was given upon Mount Sinai, though it was not a pure covenant of works (for who then could be saved under that dispensation?) yet, that is might be the more effectual to drive people to Christ and to make the covenant of grace welcome, it had a very great mixture of the strictness and terror of the covenant of works. Now, was it not extreme folly in the Jews to adhere so closely to this way of justification and salvation, which was in itself so hard, and by the corruption of nature now become impossible, when there was a new and a living way opened?
(2.) What is that righteousness which is of faith, Rom 10:6, etc. This he describes in the words of Moses, in Deuteronomy, in the second law (so Deuteronomy signifies), where there was a much clearer revelation of Christ and the gospel than there was in the first giving of the law: he quotes it from Deu 30:11-14, and shows,
[1.] That it is not at all hard or difficult. The way of justification and salvation has in it no such depths or knots as may discourage us, no insuperable difficulties attending it; but, as was foretold, it is a high-way, Isa 35:8. We are not put to climb for it - it is not in heaven; we are not put to dive for it - it is not in the deep. First, We need not go to heaven, to search the records there, or to enquire into the secrets of the divine counsel. It is true Christ is in heaven; but we may be justified and saved without going thither, to fetch him thence, or sending a special messenger to him. Secondly, We need not go to the deep, to fetch Christ out of the grave, or from the state of the dead: Into the deep, to bring up Christ from the dead. This plainly shows that Christ's descent into the deep, or into hadēs, was no more than his going into the state of the dead, in allusion to Jonah. It is true that Christ was in the grave, and it is as true that he is now in heaven; but we need not perplex and puzzle ourselves with fancied difficulties, nor must we create to ourselves such gross and carnal ideas of these things as if the method of salvation were impracticable, and the design of the revelation were only to amuse us. No, salvation is not put at so vast a distance from us.
[2.] But it is very plain and easy: The word is nigh thee. When we speak of looking upon Christ, and receiving Christ, and feeding upon Christ, it is not Christ in heaven, nor Christ in the deep, that we mean; but Christ in the promise, Christ exhibited to us, and offered, in the word. Christ is nigh thee, for the word is nigh thee: nigh thee indeed: it is in thy mouth, and in thy heart; there is no difficulty in understanding, believing, and owning it. The work thou hast to do lies within thee: the kingdom of God is within you, Luk 17:21. Thence thou must fetch thy evidences, not out of the records of heaven. It is, that is, it is promised that it shall be, in thy mouth (Isa 59:21), and in thy heart, Jer 31:33. All that which is done for us is already done to our hands. Christ is come down from heaven; we need not go to fetch him. He is come up from the deep; we need not perplex ourselves how to bring him up. There is nothing now to be done, but a work in us; this must be our care, to look to our heart and mouth. Those that were under the law were to do all themselves, Do this, and live; but the gospel discovers the greatest part of the work done already, and what remains cut short in righteousness, salvation offered upon very plain and easy terms, brought to our door, as it were, in the word which is nigh us. It is in our mouth - we are reading it daily; it is in our heart - we are, or should be, thinking of it daily. Even the word of faith; the gospel and the promise of it, called the word of faith because it is the object of faith about which it is conversant, the word which we believe; - because it is the precept of faith, commanding it, and making it the great condition of justification; - and because it is the ordinary means by which faith is wrought and conveyed. Now what is this word of faith? We have the tenour of it, Rom 10:9, Rom 10:10, the sum of the gospel, which is plain and easy enough. Observe,
First, What is promised to us: Thou shalt be saved. It is salvation that the gospel exhibits and tenders - saved from guilt and wrath, with the salvation of the soul, an eternal salvation, which Christ is the author of, a Saviour to the uttermost.
Secondly, Upon what terms.
a. Two things are required as conditions of salvation: - (a.) Confessing the Lord Jesus - openly professing relation to him and dependence on him, as our prince and Saviour, owning Christianity in the face of all the allurements and affrightments of this world, standing by him in all weathers. Our Lord Jesus lays a great stress upon this confessing of him before men; see Mat 10:32, Mat 10:33. It is the product of many graces, evinces a great deal of self-denial, love to Christ, contempt of the world, a mighty courage and resolution. It was a very great thing, especially, when the profession of Christ or Christianity hazarded estate, honour, preferment, liberty, life, and all that is dear in this world, which was the case in the primitive times. (b.) Believing in the heart that God raised him from the dead. The profession of faith with the mouth, if there be not the power of it in the heart, is but a mockery; the root of it must be laid in an unfeigned assent to the revelation of the gospel concerning Christ, especially concerning his resurrection, which is the fundamental article of the Christian faith, for thereby he was declared to be the Son of God with power, and full evidence was given that God accepted his satisfaction.
b. This is further illustrated (Rom 10:10), and the order inverted, because there must first be faith in the heart before there can be an acceptable confession with the mouth. (a.) Concerning faith: It is with the heart that man believeth, which implies more than an assent of the understanding, and takes in the consent of the will, an inward, hearty, sincere, and strong consent. It is not believing (not to be reckoned so) if it be not with the heart. This is unto righteousness. There is the righteousness of justification and the righteousness of sanctification. Faith is to both; it is the condition of our justification (Rom 5:1), and it is the root and spring of our sanctification; in it it is begun; by it it is carried on, Act 15:9. (b.) Concerning profession: It is with the mouth that confession is made - confession to God in prayer and praise (Rom 15:6), confession to men by owning the ways of God before others, especially when we are called to it in a day of persecution. It is fit that God should be honoured with the mouth, for he made man's mouth (Exo 4:11), and at such a time has promised to give his faithful people a mouth and wisdom, Luk 21:15. It is part of the honour of Christ that every tongue shall confess, Phi 2:11. And this is said to be unto salvation, because it is the performance of the condition of that promise, Mat 10:32. Justification by faith lays the foundation of our title to salvation; but by confession we build upon that foundation, and come at last to the full possession of that to which we were entitled. So that we have here a brief summary of the terms of salvation, and they are very reasonable; in short this, that we must devote, dedicate, and give up, to God, our souls and our bodies - our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth. This do, and thou shalt live. For this (Rom 10:11) he quotes Isa 28:16, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed; ou kataischunthēsetai. That is, [a.] He will not be ashamed to own that Christ in whom he trusts; he that believes in the heart will not be ashamed to confess with the mouth. It is sinful shame that makes people deny Christ, Mar 8:38. He that believeth will not make haste (so the prophet has it) - will not make haste to run away from the sufferings he meets with in the way of his duty, will not be ashamed of a despised religion. [b.] He shall not be ashamed of his hope in Christ; he shall not be disappointed of his end. It is our duty that we must not, it is our privilege that we shall not, be ashamed of our faith in Christ. He shall never have cause to repent his confidence in reposing such a trust in the Lord Jesus.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Brethren, my heart's desire,.... The apostle having suggested, that…
Brethren, my heart's desire,.... The apostle having suggested, that a few of the Jews only should be called and saved; that the far greater part should be rejected; that the Israelites who sought for righteousness did not attain it when the Gentiles did, but stumbled and fell at Christ, and would be ashamed and confounded; and knowing the prejudices of that people against him, therefore lest what he had said, or should say upon this subject, should be thought to arise from hatred and ill will to them, he judged it proper, as before, to express his trouble and sorrow on their account; so now his great love and affection to them, and which he signifies by calling them "brethren": for not the Roman believers are here addressed, as if he was telling them how much he loved his own nation; but either the Jews in general, whom he looked upon and loved as his brethren, according to the flesh; and whatever they thought of him, he considered them in such a relation to him, which obliged him to a concern for their good and welfare; or rather the believing Jews, that were members of the church at Rome, whom, besides using the common style of the Jewish nation, who were wont to call all of their country brethren, he could speak to, as being such in a spiritual relation, being children of the same father, partakers of the same grace and privileges, and heirs of the same glory. Now he declares to these persons, that the "desire of his heart" was towards Israel, he bore a good will to them, his mind was well disposed and affected towards them, he had a cordial, sincere, and hearty respect for them; and so far was he from being their enemy, that he continually bore them upon his mind at the throne of grace: and his
prayer to God for Israel was, that they might be saved; not only that they might be saved in a temporal sense, from these grievous calamities and sore judgments he saw were coming upon them, which he had reason to believe would issue in the destruction of them, as a nation and church; but that they might be spiritually converted, turned from their evil ways, and brought to believe in Christ, whom they had despised and rejected, and so be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: this he might desire not only from a natural affection for them, but as a minister of the Gospel, who cannot but wish that all that hear him might be converted and saved; and as a believer in Christ he might pray for this in submission to the will of God; and especially as he knew there was a seed, a remnant according to the election of grace, at that present time among them, that should be saved, though the larger number of them were cast off. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read "for them", instead of "for Israel"; not naming them, being easily understood; and so the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain My prayer to God is, that they may be…
My prayer to God is, that they may be saved - He would not have prayed for this, had they been absolutely reprobated.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The apostle expresses his earnest desire for the salvation…
CHAPTER X.
The apostle expresses his earnest desire for the salvation of
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the Jews, 1.
Having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, they
sought salvation by works, and not by faith in Christ, 2-4.
The righteousness which is of the law described, 5.
That which is by faith described also, 6-10.
He that believes and calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved, 11-13.
What is necessary to salvation, believing, hearing, preaching,
a Divine mission, the Gospel, and obedience to its precepts,
14-16.
Faith comes by hearing, 17.
The universal spread of the Gospel predicted by the prophets,
18-20.
The ingratitude and disobedience of the Israelites, 21.
NOTES ON CHAP. X.
Verse 1. My heart's desire, &c.] Though the apostle knew that the Jews were now in a state of rejection, yet he knew also that they were in this state through their own obstinacy, and that God was still waiting to be gracious, and consequently, that they might still repent and turn to him. Of his concern for their salvation he had already given ample proof, when he was willing to become a sacrifice for their welfare, see Ro 9:3.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Rom 10:1-3. Brethren, my heart’s desire, &c. — Here…
Rom 10:1-3. Brethren, my heart’s desire, &c. — Here the apostle proceeds to show the cause of that rejection of the Jews which he had spoken of in the preceding chapter, namely, their rejecting that way of obtaining righteousness and salvation appointed by God. And lest they should suppose he spoke out of prejudice and ill-will to them, he professes his earnest desire for their salvation. And my prayer to God for Israel is, that they may be saved — He would not have prayed for this had they been absolutely reprobated. For I bear them record — I am ready to testify, from what I well know of them from my own observation and experience; that they — That is, many of them; have a zeal of God — A zeal for that worship and service of him instituted by Moses, by which they think to promote his glory; but not according to knowledge — Not directed by a proper acquaintance with the true way of becoming righteous, nor of the design of the law. Their zeal was like that of those mentioned Joh 16:2, who, as Christ predicted, would put his disciples out of the synagogues, and think they did God service by killing them; or like that of Paul, mentioned Php 3:6. For being ignorant of God’s righteousness — Of the purity of his nature, and the spirituality and extent of his holy law, and of the method of becoming righteous appointed by him: and going about — That is, striving; to establish their own righteousness — The merit of their own works as the ground of their justification, and hope of salvation; have not submitted themselves — Have not complied with, but rejected; the righteousness of God — The way of becoming righteous which he hath established.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Brethren - This expression seems intended particularly for the…
Brethren - This expression seems intended particularly for the Jews, his ancient friends, fellow-worshippers, and kinsmen, but who had embraced the Christian faith. It is an expression of tenderness and affection, denoting his deep interest in their welfare.
My heart’s desire - The word “desire” εὐδοκία eudokia means benevolence, and the expression, “my heart’s desire,” means my earnest and sincere wish.
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Prayer to God - He not only cherished this feeling but he expressed in a desire to God. He had no desire that his kinsmen should be destroyed; no pleasure in the appalling doctrine which he had been defending. He still wished their welfare; and could still pray for them that they might return to God. Ministers have no pleasure in proclaiming the truth that people must be lost. Even when they declare the truths of the Bible that some will be lost; when they are constrained by the unbelief and wickedness of people to proclaim it of them, they still can sincerely say that they seek their salvation.
For Israel - For the Jewish nation.
That they might be saved - This clearly refers to salvation from the sin of unbelief; and the consequences of sin in hell. It does not refer to the temporal calamities which were coming upon them, but to preservation from the eternal anger of God; compare Rom 11:26; 1Ti 2:4. The reasons why the apostle commences this chapter in this tender manner are the following.
(1) Because he had stated and defended one of the most offensive doctrines that could be preached to a Jew; and he was desirous to show them that it was not from any lack of affection for them, but that he was urged to it by the pressure of truth.
(2) He was regarded by them as an apostate. He had abandoned them when bearing their commission, and while on his way to execute their favorite purposes, and had preached the doctrine which they had sent him to destroy; compare Acts 9. He had opposed them everywhere; had proclaimed their pride, self-righteousness, and crime in crucifying their Messiah; had forsaken all that they valued; their pomp of worship, their city, and their temple; and had gone to other lands to bear the message of mercy to the nations that they despised. He was willing to show them that this proceeded from no lack of affection for them, but that he still retained toward them the feelings of a Jew, and could give them credit for much that they valued themselves on, Rom 10:2.
(3) He was aware of the deep and dreadful condemnation that was coming on them. In view of that he expressed his tender regard for their welfare, and his earnest prayer to God for their salvation. And we see here the proper feelings of a minister of the gospel when declaring the most terrible of the truths of the Bible. Paul was tender, affectionate, kind; convincing by cool argument, and not harshly denouncing; stating the appalling truth, and then pouring out his earnest desires to God that he would avert the impending doom. So should the awful doctrines of religion be preached by all the ambassadors of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Is for them. That is, for Israel, or the…
Is for them. That is, for Israel, or the Israelites, named before. (Witham) --- After having siad that the greatest part of Israel was cast off by the Almighty, the apostle, to shew that he meant not to insult or provoke them, here testifies that he sympathizes in their misery, and with groans prays in their behalf to the Lord, that he would vouchsafe to grant them understanding, and open their eyes to the truth. Thus, though tenderly affected towards his countrymen, still the could not dissemble the truth, or flatter them in their incredulity, and hardness of heart. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain Romans Chapter 10
Romans Chapter 10
Having touched on this subject, the apostle, who deeply loved his nation as the people of God, pours out his heart with respect of the doctrine which was a stumbling-stone to them. His desire, the aim of his heart’s affection, was their salvation. The object of his affections, they were clothed in his eyes with their zeal for God, ignorant as it was; ignorant, alas! on the side of that which God taught. Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they sought in their zeal to establish their own righteousness, and did not submit themselves to that of God. For Christ is the end of law for righteousness to every believer. There was found the righteousness of God, there the stumblingstone to Israel.
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Nevertheless the apostle establishes his argument clearly and firmly. He establishes it on his own part; but Deuteronomy supplies him with an unexpected proof of the great principle. He quotes a passage from that book which speaks on the subject of Israel’s condition, when they should have broken the law and be suffering its consequences. “Secret things,” the lawgiver had said, “belong to our God; but those that are revealed” are for the people. That is to say, the law was given as a condition to the enjoyment of the blessing, plainly and positively; what God might do in grace, when Israel should be under the consequences of the broken law, remained in the secrecy of His supreme will. Upon this, however, another principle is distinctly revealed, namely, that when the fulfilment of the law was impossible, and when Israel had been driven out of their land for having broken it, if then their heart turned to God in that far country, He would accept them. It was all over with the law as a condition of relationship with God. Israel was driven out according to the chapter we are looking at (Deu 30:1-20)-was Lo-ammi, no longer the people of God. The testimony of God was nevertheless addressed to them: they might turn to Him in spirit, and by faith. It was no longer the law, it was faith. But, says the apostle, if so, it is Christ who is its object. No Jew would have denied that the testimony of God was the hope of every true Israelite when all was ruined.
This passage then in Deuteronomy-when Moses has done with the law, and has supposed other counsels of God, and on them founds the principle of turning in heart to God when all is over with regard to the law, and Israel is in a place where it would be impossible to keep it, being in captivity among the Gentiles-this passage has remarkable significance in the argument of the apostle; and its being quoted is an extraordinary proof, that in his reasonings it is the Holy Ghost who acts. It is the apostle who introduces Christ; but the combination of the truths of the different positions of Israel, of the law, and of the return in heart when they were lost under the law-a combination of which Christ was the key-stone and alone could be-exhibits a comprehensive view of the oneness of all God’s ways, morally and in His dispensations, of which the Spirit of God alone is capable, and which evidently expresses His thoughts. See Deu 29:1-29 (at the end) and 30.
The word of faith then set forth as being the hope of Israel, was that which the apostle announced-that if any one confessed with his mouth the Lord Jesus, and believed in his heart that God had raised Him from the dead, he should be saved. Precious, simple, and positive assertion! and borne out, if that were needed, by the testimony of the Old Testament: “Whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed.” The words heart and mouth are in contrast with the law. In the case Deuteronomy supposes, Israel could not fulfil the law; the word of their God, Moses told them, could be in their heart and in their mouth. Thus now for the Jew (as for every one) it was the belief of the heart.
Observe, it does not say, If you love in your heart, or, If your heart is what it ought to be towards God; but, If you believe in your heart. A man believes with his heart, when he really believes with a heart interested in the thing. His affections being engaged in the truth, he desires, when grace is spoken of, that that which is told him should be the truth. He desires the thing, and at the same time he does not doubt it. It is not in his having part in it that he believes, but in the truth of the thing itself, being concerned in it as important to himself. It is not the state of his affections (a very serious consideration, however, in its place) that is the subject here, but the importance and the truth of that which is presented by the word-its importance to himself, as needing it for his salvation, a salvation that he is conscious of needing, that he cannot do without-a truth of which he is assured, as a testimony from God Himself. God affirms to such a one that salvation belongs to him, but it is not that which he has to believe in as the object of faith; it is that of which God assures every one who does believe.
Moreover thus faith is manifested by the proof it gives of its sincerity-by confession of the name of Christ. If some one were convinced that Jesus is the Christ, and refused to confess Him, his conviction would evidently be his greater condemnation. The faith of the heart produces the confession of the mouth; the confession of the mouth is the counterproof of the sincerity of the faith, and of honesty, in the sense of the claim which the Lord has upon us in grace. It is the testimony which God requires at the outset. It is to sound the trumpet on earth in face of the enemy. It is to say that Christ has conquered, and that everything belongs in right to Him. It is a confession which brings in God in answer to the name of Jesus. It is not that which brings in righteousness, but it is the public acknowledgment of Christ, and thus gives expression to the faith by which there is participation in the righteousness of God, so that it may be said, ‘He believes in Christ unto salvation; he has the faith that justifies.’
I have entered here a little more into detail, because this is a point on which the human heart perplexes itself; and perplexes itself so much the more because it is sincere, as long as there is any unbelief and self-righteousness remaining. It is impossible that an awakened soul should not feel the necessity of having the heart set right and turned to God; and hence, not submitting to the righteousness of God, he thinks to make the favour of God depend on the state of his own affections, whereas God loves us while we are yet sinners. The state of our affections is of all importance; but it supposes a relationship already existing, according to which we love. We love too because we are loved of God. Now His love has done something-has done something according to our necessities, and according to the divine glory. It has given Jesus; and Jesus has accomplished what was required, in order that we may participate in divine righteousness; and thus He has placed every one who (acknowledging that he is a lost sinner) believes in Him, in the secure relationship of a child and of a justified soul before God, according to the perfection of the work of Christ. Salvation belongs to this soul according to the declaration of God Himself. Loved with such love, saved by such grace, enjoying such favour, let it cultivate affections suitable to the gift of Jesus, and to the knowledge it has of Him and of His goodness.
It is evident that, if it is “whosoever” believes in Jesus, the Gentile comes in as well as the Jew. There is no difference; the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him. It is beautiful to see this form of expression, “There is no difference,” repeated here. The apostle had used it before with the addition “for all have sinned.” Sin puts all men on a level in ruin before God. But there is also no difference, “for the same Lord over all is rich unto all,” for every one who calls upon His name shall be saved.
On this declaration, the apostle founds another argument; and by it he justifies the ways of God that were accomplished in his ministry. The Jewish scriptures declared that every one who called upon the name of the Lord should be saved. Now, the Jews acknowledged that the Gentiles did not know the name of the true and living God. It was needful therefore to proclaim Him, in order that they might call upon Him, and the whole ministry of the apostle was justified. Accordingly it was written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace.” For, in dealing with these questions among the Jews, he naturally rests on the authority of their own scriptures.
But he applies this principle for evangelisation to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles (for the law was not the announcement of good news). He quotes Isaiah to the same purpose. It was in a proclamation-a truth thus publicly preached-that Israel had not believed; so that there ought to be faith in a truth thus preached, in the word proclaimed.Rom 10:18 presents some difficulty. It is certain that the apostle intends to explain that a proclamation of the truth on God’s part had taken place. Israel was without excuse, for the report had even gone out everywhere, the words which announced God unto the ends of the earth. The testimony then was not confined to the Jews The Gentiles had heard it everywhere. This is plain. But does the apostle merely borrow the words (which in the passage quoted apply to the testimony of creation), or does he mean to speak of the testimony of nature itself? I believe that he uses the passage to shew that God had the Gentiles in view in His testimonies; that he wishes quietly to suggest this to the Jews by a quotation from their own scriptures, that not only have they, the Jews, heard, but that the testimony has gone everywhere, and that this was in the mind of God. Paul does not quote the passage as a prophecy of that which was taking place; he borrows the words, without that form of speech, to shew that this universal testimony was in the mind of God, whatever might be the means employed. And then, stating the thing with more precision for the Jew, he adds, Did not Israel know? Was not the nation apprised of this extension to the Gentiles, of the testimony of this proclamation of grace to them, of the reception of the testimony by the Gentiles, so as to bring them into relationship with God? Yes; Moses had already said, that God would provoke Israel to jealousy by a people without knowledge. And Isaiah had spoken boldly, formally declaring that God should be found by a nation that sought Him not; and to Israel, that all day long He had stretched forth His hands to a rebellious and gainsaying people; in a word, that the Gentiles should find Him, and Israel be perverse and disobedient. Thus, the testimony borne to their relative positions-although the apostle approaches it gradually and quietly-is distinct and formal: the Gentiles received; Israel at enmity.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Second Section.—More decided explanation of the mysterious fact. The…
Second Section.—More decided explanation of the mysterious fact. The faith of the Gentiles and the unbelief of Israel
Rom_10:1-21
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A. Self-righteousness, and the righteousness of faith (Rom_10:1-11)
1Brethren, my heart’s desire [or, good-will, εὐδοκία] and prayer1 to God for Israel [on their behalf]2 is, that they might be saved [for their salvation]3: 2For I bear them record [witness] that they have a zeal of God, but not according 3to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness [not knowing (i. e., mistaking) the righteousness of God], and going about [striving] to establish their own righteousness,4 have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness 4of God. For Christ is the end of the law for [unto] righteousness to every one that believeth.5 5For Moses describeth [writeth concerning] the righteousness which is of the law, That the [saying, The]6 man which doeth those things 6[who hath done them] shall live by them [or, in it].7 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise [thus],8 Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above [omit from above]:) 7Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again [omit again] from the dead.) 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even [omit even] in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which 9we preach; That [Because] if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [or, Jesus as Lord],9 and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath [omit hath] raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth. [faith is exercised]10 unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed [put to shame].
B. The equal claim of Jews and Gentiles to faith. Hence the necessity of universal preaching. The unequal results of preaching (Rom_10:12-18)
12For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [distinction between Jew and Greek]:11 for the same Lord over all is [is Lord of all,]12 rich 13unto all that [who] call upon him. For whosoever [every one who]13 shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14How then shall [can] they call14 on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall [can] they believe15 in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall [can] they hear16 without a preacher? 15And how shall [can] they preach,17 except they be sent? as it is written,18 How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel [those who bring glad tidings] of peace,19 and bring glad tidings of good things! 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel [did not all hearken to the glad tidings].20 For Esaias [Isaiah] saith, Lord, who hath [omit hath] believed our report?21 17So then faith cometh by [of] hearing, and hearing by [through] the word of God.22 18But I say, Have they not heard [Did they not hear]? Yes [Nay] verily, their sound went [out] into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
C. The unbelief of Israel and the faith of the Gentiles already prophesied in the Old Testament (Rom_10:19-21)
19But I say, Did not Israel [Israel not]23 know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that [with those who] are no people, and by 20[with] a foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias [Isaiah] is very bold, and saith,24 I was found of them that [by those who] sought me not; I was made 21manifest unto them that [those who] asked not after me. But to [of] Israel he saith,25 All day long I have [omit have] stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Summary.—The fact of the partial rejection of Israel, &c. The fact is not a fatalistic decree, for the Apostle prays for Israel, and bears record to their zeal; Rom_10:1-2. It rests rather on the antithesis between self-righteousness as the presumed righteousness which is of the law, and the righteousness which is of faith; Rom_10:3-4. The righteousness of faith, although rising from Israel, is proved by the prophecy of the Old Testament to be, according to its nature, accessible to all men, and not confined to the Jewish nation. It is universal; that is, accessible to all in its internal character, because it is allied to the inward nature of man; Rom_10:5; Rom_10:9. Its universality is confirmed by experience; Rom_10:10-11. It is proclaimed by the Old Testament Scriptures, which promise, in Christ, salvation to every man. There arises therefrom the universality of faith—the freedom of faith to Jews and Gentiles; Rom_10:12-13. This freedom of faith is made actual by the universality of the preaching of the gospel and of the apostolic mission; Rom_10:14-15. Unbelief is voluntary, like faith. The gospel is conditioned by faith; Rom_10:16-18. But the faith of the Gentiles is prophesied in the Old Testament, as well as the unbelief of the Jews; Rom_10:19-21.
[There is little difference of opinion among commentators respecting the meaning of this chapter as a whole. Dr. Hodge coincides most nearly with Dr. Lange in his divisions. Tholuck, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, make two sections. (1) The further exposition of the fact that the exclusion of Israel is founded on their own unbelief; Rom_10:1-13. Alford: “The Jews, though zealous for God, are yet ignorant of God’s righteousness (Rom_10:1-3), as revealed to them in their own Scriptures (Rom_10:4-13).” (2) Proof from Scripture of the same fact; Rom_10:14-21. Tholuck: “They could not excuse themselves by this, that God had not done His part to make humanity know the gospel, or that it had not reached them, or that they could not have seen what their conduct with regard to it and God’s dealings with the Gentiles would be.” The connection with Rom_9:33 is very close; and as the Apostle is accustomed to repeat, at the close of an argument, the proposition from which he started, the repetition of the quotation of Rom_9:33, in Rom_10:11, favors the division of Dr. Lange.—R.]
A. Faith, Rom_10:1-2. The fact described is no fatalistic decree.
Rom_10:1. Brethren [Ἀδελφοί. Bengel: “Nunc quasi superata prœcedentis tractationis severitate comiter appellat fratres.” Comp. 1Co_14:20; Gal_3:15.—R.] Though this is an address to all readers, yet it is directed with special feeling to the Jewish Christians. Repetition and carrying out of the personal reference in Rom_9:1 ff.
My heart’s desire, or, good-will [ἡ μὲn εὐδοκία τῆς εμῆς καρδίας]. A real antithesis to the μέν is contained in the judgment passed in Rom_10:3. [See Winer, p. 535; who thinks the antithesis was too painful to be expressed. All admit that the thought is found in Rom_10:3.—R.] Meyer, contrary to Chrysostom, Theodoret, and most of the early writers, as well as De Wette and Olshausen, holds that εὐδοκία mean wish, desiderium, but only benevolence (Vulgate, voluntas; Augustine, bona voluntas; Calvin, benevolentia). Tholuck: “There is, indeed, no example as yet in which εὐδοκία is exactly equal to ‘wish.’ But how could the Apostle have said, ‘My good pleasure and my prayer for them to God are directed to their salvation.’ ” Yet he regards it advisable to adhere to the translation: My good-will for them. [The lexical objection to rendering εὐδοκία, desire, is weighty. On the other hand, the rendering good-will severs it from the context. The insertion of ἡ after δέησις Was probably an attempt to avoid this difficulty. Alford suggests a “a mixture of constructions: the Apostle’s εὐδοκία would be their salvation itself—his δέησις, κ.τ.λ.,, was εἰς σωτ.” We hold to the more usual meaning of the word. Wordsworth pushes it as far as this: “Probably he uses this word because he wishes to represent the salvation of the Jews as a thing so consonant to God’s wishes and counsel, that, as far as He is concerned, it is as good as done; and the Apostle delights in looking back, in imagination, upon that blessed result as already accomplished.” There is little warrant in the word or context for such an interpretation.—R.]
And prayer to God [καὶ ἡ δέησιςτός θεόν. The latter phrase can be limited to δέησις without adopting the poorly supported ἡ The “prayer” was undoubtedly “of his heart,” but there are no grammatical reasons for connecting that phrase with these words. Δέησις is, strictly, petition, request.—R.] We refer καὶ ἡ δέησις back to καρδίας, and then exclusively to πρὸς τὸν θεόν. My heart is not only full of good-will toward the Jews, but it can also venture to intercede for them before God—a proof that they falsely regard me as their adversary—and I have not yet given up the hope of their salvation. This also comprises a pledge of Divine compassion. [So Bengel: “Non orasset Paulus, si absolute reprobati essent.”—R.]
[On their behalf is for their salvation, ὑπέρ αὐτῶν εἰς σωτηρίαν. The correct reading shows how close the connection with chap. 9 is. Meyer: “Σωτηρία is the end which my εὐδοκία would have for them, and my prayer asks for them.” The E. V. gives the correct sense, though in a paraphrase.—R.]
Rom_10:2. For I bear them witness [μαρτυρῶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς. Γάρ introduces the reason for the preceding declaration.—R.] He still sees, even in their error, something good: they have a zeal of God [ζῆλον θεοῦ ἔχουσιν. Zeal for God, not great zeal, or godly zeal]. (Act_21:20; Act_22:3; Gal_1:14; Joh_2:17.) This will, indeed, not be the only ground of his εὐδοκία, but is the ground of the cheerfulness of his intercession for them.
But not according to knowledge [ἀλλ’ οὐ κατ’ ἐπίγνωσιν. Comp. Rom_3:20, p. 123; Col_1:9 (Lange’s Comm., p. 17).—R.] The ἐπίγνωσις is the knowledge which, being the living principle of discernment, impels far beyond the mere historical γνῶσις. Meyer’s definition: in consequence of the ἐπίγν., is incorrect. The antithesis: ἄγνοιαν, Act_3:17. The Apostle’s statement may, at all events, be designed to alleviate his charge. The bright as well as the dark side of the religious zeal of the Jews was and is a peculiar phenomenon in the history of the world. [The objective advantages of the Jews were given in Rom_9:1-5; here we have the subjective religiousness, which corresponds, although degenerating into blind fanaticism. Yet religious fanaticism, we infer from this passage, is preferable to religious indifferentism. There is something to hope for, a ground for good-will, where there is earnestness.—R.]
Rom_10:3-4. Self-righteousness, and the righteousness of faith.
Rom_10:3. For they, not knowing (mistaking) the righteousness of God [ἀγνοῦντες γάρ τήν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην]. We take ground, with De Wette, and others, against Meyer, who does not see in the idea of ἀγνοοῦντες the element of mistake, but merely the declaration of ignorance. [Meyer justifies his position, by saying that Paul was only proving the “not according to knowledge.”—R.] But simple ignorance, without guilt, could have no meaning whatever in the present instance; and still less could it be the cause of wicked results. The same holds good of Rom_2:4; 1Co_14:38; see also Tholuck, in loco. Their ἀγνοεῖν is the cause of their seeking to establish their own righteousness, and consequently they did not submit themselves to the Divine righteousness revealed in the gospel for faith.26
And striving to establish their own righteousness [καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν δικαιοσύνην ζητοῦντες στῆσαι. See Textual Note4]. Essentially, it is the same as the righteousness of the law, according to Php_3:9. Formally, this expression is stronger, because it not only signifies acquired righteousness in distinction from that which is bestowed, but as the real principle of this acquired righteousness, it denotes one’s own choice, power, and will, as well as man’s own will in opposition to God’s choice, grace, and order. [The point of this distinction is lost, if the phrase be construed as = their own justification.—R.] Therefore this effort remains a nugatory ζγτεῖν στῆσαι, (Rom_3:31; Heb_10:9). The στῆσαι expresses the element of pride in their effort.
[Have not submitted themselves, &c., τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ … οὐκ ὑπετάγησαν.] Meyer regards the ύπετάγησαν as passive, as in Rom_8:20; 1Co_15:28. Tholuck, on the other hand, correctly regards it as reflexive.27
Rom_10:4. For Christ is the end of the law [τέλος γάρ νόμου Χριστός]. First, τέλος must be left in its full signification, and not be considered merely as the negative end by which the νόμος is made void; second, Χριστός is = Christ himself, not simply the foundation, the fundamental law of His theocracy (Meyer), or the doctrina Christi (Socinians, and others). In both cases, Meyer’s explanation28 would destroy the full meaning of the text. The same thing is declared in reality by the passages, Mat_5:17; Rom_13:10; Gal_3:24; Eph_2:15; Col_2:14. The end of the law was Christ, because Christ was, in a positive form, the fulfilment of the spiritual, essential import of the law, and therefore He was, at the same time, the making void of the imperfect Old Testament form of the law. Comp. 1Ti_1:5; 1Pe_1:9; Rev_21:6; Rev_22:13. The centre of the idea is therefore final aim, purpose, and end (Chrysostom, Melanchthon, Calvin, and others). There is no good ground for dividing this explanation into two different ones. On one hand, Erasmus, Wolf, and others, have brought out the positive view: Fulfilment of the law. The alternative here: obedientia activa, or obed. activa and passiva (see Meyer), must be removed. As for the negative view of the idea, Meyer cites a large number of authorities who harmonize with him in limiting it to this; yet he can hardly prove this by Augustine, Olshausen, and many others.29 Even Rom_10:4 plainly says that Christ is in so far τέλος νόμου as He is unto righteousness toevery one that believeth, εἰς δικαιοσύνην παντὶ τῶ πιστεύοντι, and the γάρ introduces just the proof that the Jews did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God, which, however, was manifested in Christ’s fulfilment of the law (comp. Rom_9:31). The question of the extent of prominence here given to the negative side of the τέλος, is connected with the explanation of Rom_10:5-6. [Stuart, following Flatt, renders εἰς, with respect to. It is better to take it as indicating result or purpose. The former will be preferred, if τελος be rendered aim; the latter, if it be rendered termination. The sense will then be, either: Christ is the aim of the law, so that righteousness may come to every one, &c.; or: Christ abolished (or fulfilled) the law, in order that, &c. The word righteousness has here the full sense, “righteousness of God;” but the emphasis rests on believeth.—R.]
Rom_10:5-9. The universality of the righteousness of faith is proved by the Old Testament also.
On the citations. It is evident that Rom_10:5-6 present an antithesis between the idea of the righteousness which is of works and the inward essence of righteousness. But it is clear from the place of the citations, that this antithesis means no contradiction between the Old and New Testament. The quotation in Rom_10:5 is taken from Lev_18:5; the quotation in Rom_10:6 from Deu_30:11-14. It is evident, therefore, that the Apostle places the two sides of the law in contrast, one of which is an external Jewish law of works, and the other is an inward law of the righteousness which is of faith, or a law designed for the inward life; the one is transient, the other permanent. Therefore, he takes his first statement from Leviticus, and from that part of it where the laying down of the Mosaic obstacles to marriage is introduced; the second, on the other hand, is taken from Deuteronomy, which early imparts a profoundly prophetical meaning to the law. Therefore we read, first: Moses describeth, or writeth (and what he writes is a command); but then, The righteousness which is of faith speaketh (and what it says is a proclamation). Though the Apostle holds Deuteronomy to be as fully Mosaic as Leviticus, yet, in the former, Moses administers his office as the Old Testament lawgiver of the Jews; while, in the latter, the prophetic spirit of the righteousness of faith speaks as decidedly through him as if it altogether took his place.
Rom_10:5.30 For Moses writeth respecting the righteousness, &c. [Μωυσῆς γάρ γράφει τὴν δικαιοσύνην, κ.τ.λ.. The accusative after γράφειν is either governed by the verb in the transitive sense: to write of, to describe, or is the remote object, that concerning which it is written. The rendering: describeth is perhaps too strong, though lexically admissible.—R.] Γράφει, Joh_1:46. The citation is from Leviticus, according to the LXX., but of the same purport as the original text.
We further read: Moses writeth down, or commands: The man who hath done them [ὅτι ποιήσας αὐτὰ ἅνθρωπος]. The ποιήσας is emphatic, yet it is significantly connected with ἅνθρωπος Αὐτά, that which is written, the commandments; the law, in the analytical form of commandments. The emphasis here rests on the doing. “But the righteousness which is of faith says: ‘The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; only confess with thy mouth, and believe in thy heart.’ ”
Shall live by them [ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς See Textual Note7. If αὐτῇ be adopted as the correct reading, it refers to the righteousness accruing from the doing of the commandments (Alford). Dr. Lange renders ἐν, durch, but this is too strong; in the strength of, is better.—R.] The different readings appear to have arisen from an apprehension that the Apostle’s expression might cause a misunderstanding, perhaps an acceptation of the possibility of righteousness by works. Hence the omission of ἐν, and the reading ἐν αὐτῇ (“He shall live by righteousness itself”). Cod. A. even reads: τὴν δικ. ἐκ πίστεως. A proof how decidedly the early Church rejected the righteousness of works. The assurance of life has been referred to the life in Palestine. But the historical standpoint of the Mosaic economy indicates something further than the vita prospera. Proof: 1. The vita prospera in the real sense, or as the welfare of the people, is a special promise for obedience to parents; Exo_20:12. 2. The most direct meaning of the passage in Leviticus is, that the transgression of the following statutes is connected with the punishment of death; exo 18:29. 3. The passage in Deu_30:16, not to mention Eze_20:11, indicates something further than the mere vita prospera.31
There are here two antitheses: first, that of the externality of the law and the inwardness of the gospel; second, that of doing and experiencing. In the first case the promise reads: shall live by them; and in the second case there is the assurance: he shall be delivered, shall be saved. We have already observed that the Apostle did not wish to say that there is a contradiction between the Moses of Leviticus and of Deuteronomy; we may now ask, whether he has instituted an irreconcilable contrast between the two passages. This is very supposable, if Rom_10:5 be regarded as a purely hypothetical and almost ironical promise: If one fulfil all the commandments of the law, he would certainly live by them; but since no one is capable of this, no one can find life by the commandments. Therefore, after Rom_10:6, the gospel now takes the place of the law. [So Hodge, and others.] But this cannot be the Apostle’s meaning. For, first, in that case the law would have been useless from the beginning. Second, an analytical fulfilment of the law would be designated as analytical, or at least as a theoretical way of life, by the side of the practical, and thus two kinds of righteousness would be conceivable, as well as two kinds of life. But, in our opinion, Rom_10:5 is not merely designed to prove that the law is at an end, but that its end has come because Christ has come. Therefore the expression in Rom_10:5 has an enigmatical form, as that in 1Ti_3:16. Moses inscribes his precepts thus: The man which doeth those things—that is, who truly fulfils them—shall live by them. To be sure, the most direct Jewish social sense of this declaration was, that the observer of the commandments should not be subject to death, but live. But in its religious meaning, the law was as a sphynx, whose riddles every Israelite should attempt and try hard to solve until he came to self-righteousness, until the people became matured, and until the Man came who solved the riddle.32 In Leviticus the significance of the form of the passage under consideration, “the man which doeth those things shall live by them,” appears in the addition: “I am the Lord.” The Lord holds up the prize, and pledges it; Christ has won it. Thus Rom_10:5 means not only the fact that Christ has made void the law by the fulfilment of the law, but also that he has transposed and transformed it from the whole mass of external precepts to a principle of the inward life. Therefore the Apostle can immediately assume, in Rom_10:6, that Christ is known and is near to all, and accordingly apply the statement of Deu_30:11-14.
Rom_10:6. But the righteousness which is of faith [ἡ δέ ἐκ πίστεως δικαιοσύνη]. Just as Moses has referred prospectively to Christ by the law, so does the righteousness which is of faith, or the gospel, refer retrospectively to Him.33 The connection of the declaration in Deuteronomy is as follows: in chap. 29 the curse is threatened the people if they become apostate; and in chap. 30 mercy is promised them if they be converted. Rom_10:10 : (The Lord will bless thee) “if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul.” Then, the ground of the possibility of such a conversion consists in the heartiness in the real spiritual nature of the law, which will always reassert and prove itself. The Apostle fully develops this christological germ by applying the promise of the righteousness of faith from the law to the gospel. The development is as follows:
1. As the inward character of the law was nigh and intelligible to the Jews at that time, or during the previous period in general, so nigh and intelligble must Christ, as the end of the law, now be to them.
2. As Moses, at that time, referred to an unbelief which regarded the law as merely external, arbitrary, and therefore foreign, far-fetched, so does there now stand in the way an unbelief, which mistakes and regards as an odd and peculiar phenomenon the near Christ, the nearness of Christ, which lies in His affinity to the inmost necessities of the heart.
3. If, at that time, the unbelieving Jew could say, “Who shall bring down the law?”—namely, that which was once neglected and lost;—from above, that means, in the language of the present, “Who shall bring Christ down from above?” although He has come upon the earth, and has here finished His life, and incorporated himself with humanity.
4. If, at that time, the unbelieving Jew said: “Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring the law to us?”—that is, as much as to say from the future world, the lower regions—that question is now: “Who shall bring Christ to us from the dead?” although Christ has risen from the dead, and has sealed His resurrection by the outpouring of His Spirit.
5. But just as, at that time, the essence or word of the law was infinitely near to Israel as an outline of its most personal and inward nature, so is now Christ, or the gospel by Him, still more than the fulfilment and completion of the most inward nature of man to righteousness and salvation. For if the law was already glorious, how shall not the gospel exceed in glory? 2Co_3:7-11.
Speaketh thus [οὕτως λέγει]. The Apostle’s decided intention of finding in the passage in Deuteronomy itself the real sense which he further expounds, is evident; from the fact that he allows the righteousness which is of faith, personified in that passage, itself to speak. The multifarious surprise expressed by expositors on the Apostle’s citation is chiefly traceable to a defective construction of the passage in Deuteronomy. According to Meyer, the meaning of the Mosaic passage is: The commandment is neither too hard nor too far; the people speak of it, and it is impressed in their hearts, in order that it may be performed. De Wette adopts the same view. According to Tholuck, the words would say: The faithful observance of the law is made so easy to man after the revelation that has taken place. But how can Moses say to the people, whose apostasy he hypothetically assumes, in their apostasy: Thy God will again accept thee if thou turn to Him, for thou hast the law in thy mouth and in thy heart—in the sense that the people are still living in the knowledge of the law, that the law is still in their hearts, and that they only need to perform it? The explanation of Rom_10:14 lies rather in Rom_10:15 : The law is the true life of man himself; it is his real good. The transgression of the law is death and evil. God can therefore deliver man from the transgression of the law, because the law is as an inalienable appointment in his heart, and because he returns to his God when he comes to himself (Luk_15:17). Because of this inwardness of the law in itself, it can be written upon man’s heart (see Deu_30:6); it can always revive afresh in him. The law is therefore not merely concealed from, or foreign to, man; it is not simply something positive from heaven, which may again altogether vanish to heaven; and it is no simple promise or threat from the future world, or from the realm of the dead, “from over the sea,” which may be forgotten until death. Rather, it is still with Christ. For undoubtedly the Apostle will not merely say, in Rom_10:8, Faith is so nigh to men, because Christ is preached to them as the One who has become man, and is risen from the dead; but because the truth of Christ’s incarnation and resurrection can unite, in the faith of their heart and in the confession of their mouth, for the completion and salvation of their inmost nature. The typical prophecy of the Mosaic passage, which Paul, the great master, has strikingly brought out, lies in thefact that conversion to the law is the beginning of its hearty reception, but that faith in the gospel is its completion; or, objectively defined, that the law is the shadow of the inward life, and that Christ is the life of this life itself.
On the different misunderstandings of this typical prophecy, see Tholuck, who speaks of a profound parody, p. 557 ff. Explanations: Only an application of the words of the law in the Old Testament (Chrysostom, Theodoret, &c. down to Neander); accommodatio (Thomasius, Semler); ὑπόνοια (Grotius); allusio (Calixtus); suavissima parodia (Bengel, and others).34
The explanations divide themselves into two principal classes. According to one, Paul has made use of the words of Moses for clothing his thoughts, with the knowledge that they, considered in themselves, expressed something altogether different. Philippi calls it “a holy and lovely play of God’s Spirit upon the word of the Lord.” But would not that be a very unlovely play of the Apostle upon the word of the Lord? Likewise Tholuck is of the opinion, that there has been a failure to prove an application corresponding to the meaning of the text, and, still less, the identity of the historical meaning with the Pauline interpretation. Naturally, the constructions of this class are partly of a critical (Semler) and partly of an apologetical nature (Bengel).
The other class accept, that in the declaration of Moses the Apostle has really found the prophecy declared by him. But this again divides into two subdivisions: 1. He was the expositor of that passage in his spiritual illumination as an Apostle; 2. Rather, one intimately acquainted with the rabbinical hermeneutics. Calvin, and others, who belong to the first subdivision, hold that universa doctrina verbi divini is meant; Knapp, the commandment of love toward God; Hackspan, and others, the messianic promise; Luther, who is frequently hesitating, belongs to both of the principal classes (Tholuck, p. 558). The expositors of the other subdivision regard Paul’s interpretation as an allegorical exegesis—that Paul, using the Jewish expository art, has allegorized the passage, and has found in it a Midrash, or secret meaning. Meyer regards the sum of the oracular meaning to be this: “Be not unbelieving, but believing!” A Midrash, indeed, which might well be drawn from every verse of the Bible.
[The majority of commentators adopt the view, that Paul does not cite the words of Moses as such, but merely adapts them to his purpose. But the position of Dr. Lange seems preferable, not only because this “adaptation” or “accommodation” is not what we would expect from such a writer as Paul, but because the other view is more in accordance with the context. As Forbes well says: “St. Paul’s great object in reasoning with his countrymen is to prove to them, out of their own Scriptures, that God’s mode of salvation, from the first, had been always the same (simple faith in Him), and that their Law was but a provisional dispensation, designed to prepare for the universal Gospel, which was to embrace all equally, Gentiles as well as Jews. Is it likely that the arguments adduced to persuade the Jews of this from their own Scriptures would, even in part, be words turned from their true meaning in the Jewish Scriptures?” Rom_10:2-3 show how necessary this proof is. This view accords, too, with Rom_10:4, and the real position of the law. Alford: “The Apostle, regarding Christ as the end of the law, its great central aim and object, quotes these words not merely as suiting his purpose, but as bearing, where originally used, an à fortiori application to faith in Him who is the end of the law, and to the commandment to believe in Him, which is now ‘God’s commandment.’ If spoken of the law as a manifestation of God in man’s heart and mouth, much more were they spoken of Him, who is God manifest in the flesh, the end of the law and the prophets.” “In this passage it is Paul’s object not merely to describe the righteousness which is of faith in Christ, but to show it described already in the words of the law.” Thus the connection as well as the contrast of law and gospel are preserved. This view suits the precise circumstances of the original utterance (see Forbes, pp. 356 ff.). That the variation (in Rom_10:7) and the omission of parts of the original, do not interfere with it, is obvious.—R.]
Say not in thine heart [μή εἴπῇς ἐν τῃ καρδίᾳ σου. LXX.: λέγων; Hebrew, לֵאמֹד. The passage is taken out of its grammatical connection, and “in thine heart” added, as might well be done. The phrase is = think not (Alford).—R.] This is the ever-recurring secret or expressed language of the unbeliever: Revelation is something thoroughly heterogeneous and strange to, and in disagreement with, my nature. To the words say not, Paul has added in thine heart, perhaps to bring out the contradiction, that a witness of faith can assert itself in the same heart in which unbelief speaks negatively.
Who shall ascend into heaven? [Τίς ἀναβήσεται εἰς τόν οὐρανόν; The ἡμῖν of the LXX. is omitted.] This formerly meant: It is impossible to bring down from heaven the law (that which we have lost, because it was foreign to us); but it now means: Who shall bring Christ down from heaven, that He may become man? the incarnation of the Son of God is inconceivable. Thus the actual incarnation of Christ is, to Paul, the full consequence of the moral truth of the Mosaic law.
[That is, to bring Christ down, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν Χριστὸν καταγαγεῖν]. The τοῦτ’ ἔστιν lays down the meaning of the Old Testament language in the New Testament sense. On the different explanations of it, see Tholuck, p. 565. [The two leading interpretations are (1) That is to say—i. e., whoever asks this question, says, in effect, Who will bring Christ down? thus he denies that He has come already—makes of the Incarnation an impossibility. (So Erasmus, Calvin, Philippi, and others.) (2) That is, in order to bring Christ down. This gives the purpose of the ascending. In this view, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν is = the rabbinical וְזֶה. This implies also a denial of the Incarnation. See Meyer. In its favor is the fact, that a final clause follows in Deuteronomy. The reference to the present position of Christ at the right hand of God (Calvin, Reiche, and others) is out of keeping with the context,especially the order in Rom_10:9. The passage has been tortured into a variety of special applications, but the majority of commentators now support the reference to the Incarnation, though differing as to the precise character of the questions (see below). It should be noticed, that this view assumes the certainty of the preëxistence of Christ.—R.]
Who shall descend into the deep? [ἤ Τίς καταβήσεται εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσυν; LXX.: τίς διαπεράσει ἡμῖν εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης]. An explanation of the Mosaic passage: Beyond the sea! According to Schulz, (Deuteronomium), Beyond the sea refers only to the vast extent of the sea. This would be tautology in relation to the fore-going. To bring from beyond the sea, can also not mean (according to Vitringa), to bring over from the Greeks. That the sea may be considered as תְּהוֹם, ἄβυσσος, is proved by the harmony of the Septuagint. But תְּהוֹם is not יַם, and over the sea is altogether a different idea from into the deep. The probable solution of the difference is, that the ideas over the ocean and beneath the earth coincide as designations of the realm of the dead. The Greek Tartarus is, indeed, under the earth, but not a real cavern under the earth. The Greek Elysium lies far out in the ocean, on the Isles of the Blessed. Also, in the present passage, Paul has evidently found the realm of the dead to be indicated by the words beyond the sea. Similar notions existed among the Celts and Germans. Meyer dismisses the question in a very untenable manner, when he says: The view of Reiche, Bolten, and Ammon—that the place of the blessed (over the sea) is also meant in the Hebrew—confounds a heathen representation with the Jewish one of Sheol (see Job_26:5-6).
[Dr. Lange (following Chrysostom, De Wette, Meyer, and others) assumes throughout that these questions are questions of unbelief, although finding in the passage something more than Meyer’s brief statement: “Be not unbelieving, but believing.” Alford gives a full discussion of the three views: questions of unbelief, of embarrassment, of anxiety. He combines all three: The anxious follower after righteousness is not disappointed by an impracticable code, nor mocked by an unintelligible revelation; the word is near him, therefore accessible; plain and simple, and therefore apprehensible—deals with definite historical fact, and therefore certain; so that his salvation is not contingent on an amount of performance which is beyond him, and therefore inaccessible; irrational, and therefore inapprehensible; undefined, and therefore involved in uncertainty. Thus, it seems to me, we satisfy all the conditions of the argument; and thus, also, it is clearly brought out that the words themselves could never have been spoken by Moses of the righteousness which is of the law, but of that which is of faith.” Dr. Hodge does not clearly define which view he adopts, although objecting to the thought, that the object is to encourage an anxious inquirer.—R.] The reference of unbelief to an unbelief in the sitting of Christ at the right hand of God (by Melanchthon, Calvin, and others), removes the centre of the object of faith; this centre is the resurrection.
Rom_10:8. But what saith it? [ἀλλὰ τί λέγει] After the Apostle has shown what the righteousness which is of faith forbids saying, he brings out what it says itself to unbelief. Rückert and Philippi [Hodge and Stuart] have intensified too much the antithesis between Moses and the righteousness of faith; Meyer obliterates it by formally referring even the expression concerning the righteousness of faith to “For Moses writeth.” [The former position is almost inseparable from the view of Rom_10:4, and of the use of Old Testament language, which these commentators hold.—R.]
The word is nigh thee [ἐγγύς σου τὸ ῥῆμά ἐστιν]. The ἐγγύς σου is stronger than if it were ἐγγύς σοι. It is one next to thee, a neighbor, a relative of thine. The opinion of Chrysostom, Grotius, and others [held to some extent by Stuart, Hodge, and others], that this verse is an assurance how easy it is to become righteous, is foreign to the context. We must not suppose that this is an expression of merely the historical acquaintance with Christianity. If this were the case, how could it be said to the doubter and unbeliever: It is in thy mouth and in thy heart? [The Apostle evidently here says, not what is, but what may be, just as Moses had done (Tholuck).—R.] But as the word of life, which, should be peculiarly in the mouth and in the heart, it is attested in a twofold way. First, it is the word of faith,35 which we, the apostles, as God’s heralds and Christ’s witnesses, preach. Second, its effect is, that he who confesses Jesus with the mouth as his Lord, and believes in his heart that He is risen from the dead to a blessed life, shall be saved.
Rom_10:9. Because [ὅτι. The E. V. follows Beza, the Vulgate, &c., in rendering ὅτι, that, indicating the purport of the word preached. Dr. Hodge gives, besides, a view which connects this verse directly with the former part of Rom_10:8 : it says that, &c.; but this is opposed by any proper view of the citation from Deuteronomy. The sense, as now generally agreed (Tholuck, Stuart, De Wette, Meyer, Alford), is that of because, or for, giving a proof of what precedes. To mouth and heart correspond confession and belief. This purport of the preaching would scarcely be stated in this form.—R.]
[If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, ἐάν ὁμολογήσῃς ἐν τῷ στόματί σου. Confession is put first here, on account of the connection with the words quoted in Rom_10:8. This is a further proof of the meaning because. In Rom_10:10, belief comes first.—R.]
Jesus as Lord [κύριον Ἰησοῦν. The mass of commentators are disposed to take κύριον as a predicate placed first for emphasis, and render as above. So Tholuck, Stuart, Hodge, De Wette, Meyer, Schaff, Webster and Wilkinson, Noyes, Lange. Alford doubts this interpretation; comp. his note in loco. See Textual Note 9. Hodge: “To confess Christ as Lord, is to acknowledge Him as the Messiah, recognized as such of God, and invested with all the power and prerogatives of the mediatorial throne.” Used in such close connection with a citation from the LXX., which translates Jehovah by the same word κύριος, it certainly means more than an acknowledgment of power and moral excellence; especially as this part of our verse corresponds with the coming down from heaven alluded to in Rom_10:6.—R.] Just as the words “Lord Jesus” correspond with to bring down from heaven, so raised himfrom the dead corresponds with to bring up from the dead.—[Thou shalt be saved, σωθήσῃ. Belief, with the heart, in the central fact of redemption, the resurrection, not as an isolated historical event, but as linked indissolubly with the coming down of the Son of God, now the ascended Lord—and hence confession of Him as such—these are the requisites for salvation. “A dumb faith is no faith” (Olshausen).—R.]
Rom_10:10. The experimental proof of the righteousness which is of faith.
For with the heart faith is exercised unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The Apostle presents, in this verse, the parallelism with reference to Rom_10:9, and the underlying passage of Deu_30:14. Yet he now reverses the order of heart and mouth, in harmony with the genesis of the life of faith, especially in the New Testament. As a matter of course, faith and confession are connected with each other, just as the heart and the mouth, or as the heart and speech; that faith without confession, would return to unbelief, but confession without faith would be hypocrisy. However, the distinction is correct: first, faith in the heart, then, confession with the mouth. There is the same distinction of effects. Faith in the heart results in justification; confession with the mouth—that is, the decided standing up for faith with word and deed—results in σωτηρία in its final signification, deliverance from evil to salvation, with the joy and freshness of faith.36 It is natural to man that only that first becomes his complete possession and his perfect joy which he confesses socially with his mouth, and which he maintains by his life. See Tholuck, p. 571, on the apprehension of the early Protestant orthodoxy, that by a distinction of the two parts εἰς δικαιοσύνην and εἰς σωτηρίαν prejudice would be done to the doctrine of justification.37 The doctrine of the righteousness which is of faith has, indeed, been carried to such excess, that it has been regarded as prejudiced by the requirement of the fruits of faith in the final judgment. This reduces it to a dead-letter affair, and is a failure to appreciate the necessary elements in the development of life. The Apostle’s testimony is so decidedly one of experience, that it expresses the permanent force of the law of faith by the passive forms: πιστεύεται, ὁμολογεῖται. This is its custom; thus is the kingdom of heaven taken by force.
Rom_10:11. The testimony of Scripture for the righteousness of faith.
For the Scripture saith (Isa_28:16). “ΙΙᾶς,” says Meyer, “is neither in the LXX. nor in the Hebrew, but Paul has added it in order to mark the (to him) important feature of universality, which he found in the unlimited ὁ πιστεύων.”38 This is, in meaning, certainly contained in the הַמַּאֲמִין. The weight of the clause lies in the fact that only faith is here desired. The Apostle has very justifiably referred the ἐπ’ αὐτῷ to Christ.
Shall not be put to shame. That is, shall attain to salvation (see Rom_5:5; Rom_9:33).
B. The universality of faith. Rom_10:12-13 : The testimony of Scripture for the universality of faith.
Rom_10:12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [οὐ γάρ ἐστιν διατολὴ Ἰουδαίου τε καὶ Ἕλληνος. This rendering is more literal than that of the E. V. See Textual Note11. Greek stands here for Gentile. Comp. Rom_1:18; also in Rom_3:22.—R.] No difference in reference to the freedom of faith; in reference to the possibility and necessity of attaining to salvation by faith. The right of faith is the same to Jews and Gentiles. Proof:
For the same is Lord of all [ὁ γάρ αὐτὸς κύριος πάντων. See Textual Note12.] Strictly speaking, we must suppose a breviloquence also here: One and the same Lord is Lord over all. The one Lord is Christ, according to Origen, Chrysostom, Bengel, Tholuck, and most other expositors (see Rom_10:9). Others refer the expression to God (Grotius, Ammon, Köllner, &c.); Meyer, on the other hand, has good ground for observing that it was first necessary to introduce the Christian character,39 as Olshausen has done (“God in Christ”); see Act_10:36; Php_2:11.
Rich. [Lange: erweisend sich reich.] ΙΙλοντῶν (see Rom_8:32; Rom_11:33; Eph_1:7; Eph_2:7; Eph_3:8).
Unto all [εἰς πάντας. Alford: toward all; Lange: über Alle; Meyer: für Alle, zum Beston Aller; Olshausen: “By εἰς is signified the direction in winch the stream of grace rushes forth.”—R.] This is both the enlargement and restriction of Christ’s rich proofs of salvation. Only those who call upon him [τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους], but also all who call upon him, share in His salvation. The calling upon Him is the specific proof of faith, by which they accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.
Rom_10:13. [For every one whosoever, &c., πᾶς γὰρ ὅς, κ.τ.λ.. See Textual Note13. Scriptural proof: Joe_3:5. [LXX. and E. V., 2:32.] Tholuck: “The omission of the exact form of the quotation occurs either in universally known declarations, as in Eph_5:31, or where the Apostle makes an Old Testament statement the substratum of his own thought, as in Rom_11:34-35.” Paul has specified the name κύριος in Joel as the name of the God of revelation, in harmony with the messianic passage. [If we accept a reference to Christ in Rom_10:12, we must do the same here, as, indeed, the next verse also requires. Alford well says: “There is hardly a stronger proof, or one more irrefragable by those who deny the Godhead of our Blessed Lord, of the unhesitating application to Himby the Apostle of the name and attributes of Jehovah.”—R.]
Rom_10:14-15 : The realization of the universal righteousness of faith through the universality of preaching and the apostolic mission.
Rom_10:14. How then can they call on him? [πῶς οὖν ἐπικαλέσωνται εἰς, κ.τ.λ.. See Textual Note14, and below.] The proof, clothed in the vivacious form of a question, of the necessity of the universal apostleship and of his preaching, is a sorites. Faith in the Lord precedes calling upon Him (in order to be saved); the hearing of the message of faith precedes faith; but His message presupposes preachers, and preaching presupposes again a corresponding mission. From this it then follows, that the apostolate urges forward the preaching in the name of the Lord, and that unbelief in the apostolic message is disobedience to the Lord himself.40 The view of Grotius and Michaelis, that Rom_10:14-15 are a Jewish objection and excuse, complicates the Apostle’s perspicuous train of thought. But Chrysostom and others have correctly observed, that he here establishes the universal apostleship by virtue of the institution of faith, even in respect to the Jews, and to the narrow Jewish Christianity; but, according to Meyer, he does not reach this point until Rom_10:18 ff., where, indeed, he first makes full application of its establishment. Meyer: “Important Codd. have the conjunctive (deliberative) aorist instead of the future, which Lachmann has accepted. But the testimony is by no means decisive. [See Textual Note14. On the future, see Winer, p. 262.—R.] The subjects of those who call are all who are called to salvation, Jews and Gentiles, in the universal sense. [Or, as Alford suggests, “men, represented by the πᾶς ὅς ἅν of Rom_10:13.”—R.] Thus the preachers, in Rom_10:14-15, are still indefinite (De Wette, and others, against Meyer).
[How can they believe, &c., πῶς δὲ πιστεύσωσιν οὗκ ἥκουσαν. On the construction of the genitive οὗ, see Meyer; comp. Eurip., Medea, p. 752. Meyer seems scarcely justified in insisting upon the correctness of the Vulgate: quomodo credent ei, quem non audierunt. The E. V. gives the proper meaning.—Without a preacher, χωρὶς κηρύσσοντος . Tittmann, Syn. N. T., p. Rom 93: χωρίς ad subjectum, quod ad objecto sejunctum est, refertur, ἅνευ autem ad objectum, quod a subjecto abesse cogitatur. Dr. Lange may be correct in claiming that the preachers are as yet indefinite, but the beautiful precision of the Greek requires us to find an intimation of the certainty of the universal gospel proclamation. In the first two questions, there is an absolute negative; in the third, χωρίς occurs, implying the probability that one will preach; in the last, we have ἐάν μή, which indicates that, however men may fail to call and hear, those who will preach will certainly be sent forth. This turn of expression seems to have escaped the notice of commentators, but it points directly toward the position the Apostle is establishing: the universality of the means provided by God for the salvation of men, whether they hear or forbear.—R.]
Rom_10:15. [And how shall they preach, except they be Sent? πῶς δὲ κηρύξωσιν ἐάν μὴ ἀποστολῶσιν;] The definite preachers spring first from the divine mission. But the Apostle proves, by Isa_52:7, that there must be such sent (apostolic) preachers.
As it is written, How beautiful, &c. The Apostle here repeats the prophet’s announcement in an abridged and free manner, but yet in strict conformity with the sense; following the original text more closely than the LXX. According to Meyer, the prophetic passage in question speaks of the happy deliverance from exile, while the Apostle has very properly interpreted it in its messianic character as a prophecy of the gospel preachers of the messianic kingdom. But the full, mysterious messianic import of the prophetic passage extends beyond the meaning of a typical prophecy as verbal prophecy. The beauty of the feet of the messengers of peace is hardly spoken of, because the feet of the one who approaches become visible (Tholuck), but because they, in their running and hastening, in their scaling obstructing mountains, and in their appearance and descent from mountains, are the symbolical phenomena of the earnestly desired winged movement and appearance of the gospel itself. Paul has left out the mountains, and has given the collective singular a plural form, according to the sense; peace has to him the full idea of the gospel salvation; the good things are the rich, displayed, saving blessings which proceed from the one salvation.
Rom_10:16-18 : But as the gospel is, on the one hand, naturally free and universal in relation to the antithesis of Jews and Gentiles, so, on the other, it is, according to its inward nature, conditioned by the antithesis of faith and unbelief.
Rom_10:16. But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings [Ἀλλ’ οὐ πάντες ὑπήκουσαν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ. The aorist is historic; during the preaching (Alford). Hence the general reference is to be admitted, especially as the ἀλλά contrasts with the preaching to “all,” the limited result.—R.] Theodore of Mopsvestia and Reiche do violence to the connection in reading these words as a question. Fritzsche holds that they refer to the Gentiles; and Meyer, to the Jews. But they refer chiefly to the difference between believers and unbelievers in general, for there were also unbelievers among the Gentiles; and, above all, the question was the general establishment of the antithesis: believers and unbelievers, and then its application to Jews and Gentiles.
Lord, who believed our report? [Κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσεν τῇ ἀκοῆ ἡμῶν; An exact quotation from the LXX.] This citation from the prophet Isaiah, Isa_53:1, is mainly a strong proof of this: that the preaching of salvation does not meet with faith on the part of all to whom it is preached, although in this citation the reference to the Jews comes out more definitely. The hyperbolical expression of the prophet means: “Only a few believe.” The entire contents of Isaiah 47 prove that here we have not only to deal with a typical prophecy, but also with a verbal one.
On the different interpretations of ἀκοή, see Tholuck, p. Rom 577: “That which is preached,” “to preach what is heard from God.” Meyer: “The preaching which is apprehended;” or, in which the stress rests upon the right apprehension (the words of obedience).—Not all. That is, not all within the reach of preaching (ἀκοήשִׁמוּעָה) preaching (ἀκοή, שִׁמרּעָה). [The word ἀκοή has occasioned much difficulty. For, if rendered report, preaching, here, then it would seem natural to give it the same sense in Rom_10:17. But if this be done, then “word of God” must receive an unusual meaning (see below). Generally the commentators have admitted this meaning here without question, and then in various ways met the subsequent difficulty. Forbes, however, strikes at the root of the matter, and claims that there is no ground for rendering שְׁמרּעָ, report—i.e., what we cause others to hear. His view has been adopted by Hengstenberg, and is the most satisfactory solution yet offered, Ἀκοή, like the Hebrew equivalent, he claims with reason,41 refers to the message viewed from the side of the hearer, not from that of the preacher. The prophet is speaking in the name of his countrymen, as he does throughout the chapter: Who (of us) hath believed that which we heard? (See Forbes, pp. 362 ff.) This view is more literal; it does not disturb in the least the general drift of the argument, while it relieves Rom_10:17 of a great difficulty. In fact, Meyer, Alford, and others, approach this sense, but too indirectly; this is as simple as it is satisfactory.—R.]
Rom_10:17.42 So then faith cometh of hearing [ἄρα ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς]. From the ἀκοή. Explanations: The message preached (Tholuck, Meyer [Hodge, and most]); the act of hearing (Calixtus, Philippi, and others); hearing with faith (Weller, and other Lutheran expositors). As this preaching does not meet with universal faith, only the announcement itself can be meant. [Accepting Forbes’ explanation of ἀκοή in Rom_10:16, we apply it here: Faith comes from what is heard, not the act of hearing—which gives a different sense from Rom_10:16; nor what is preached—which confuses this word and ῥῆμα.—R.]
And hearing through the word of God [ἡ δέ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος θεοῦ. See Textual Note22on the reading χριστοῦ.] Different explanations of the ρῆμα θεοῦ: 1. God’s revealed word (Tholuck, and others); 2. God’s order, commission (Beza, Meyer [Hodge], and others). The ground: Because otherwise ῥῆμα θεοῦ would not be different from ἀκοή). But strictly speaking, both definitions are indissolubly united in the revealed word with which prophets and apostles were entrusted. The Divine message, as such, is a formal sending, or a commission and a material sending; or, with these, also a preaching. Therefore Tholuck does not appear to be correct, when he says that τὸ ῥῆμα θεοῦ ἐπί τινα denotes not God’s order, but His oracles; Jer_1:1, &c. Nevertheless, there does exist a difference between this ῥῆμα and the ἀκοή; ἀκοή is every message of salvation to the end of the world; but the ῥῆμα θεοῦ denotes the Divine sources of revelation, on whose effluence the authority and effect of every message depend: The word, and the fact, and the effect in life taken together. Therefore διὰ ῥήματος. [The thing heard is through or by means of the revelation of God. This is the sense, if we adopt the usual meaning of ἀκοή; and, indeed, it gives ῥῆμα a simpler sense. De Wette suggests that ῥῆμα prepares for τὰ ῥήματα in the next verse.—R.]
Rom_10:18. But I say, Did they not hear? [ἀλλὰ λέγω, μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν;] The indefinite it [which Dr. Lange supplies] is regarded by Meyer as denoting the ἀκοή; and, according to Tholuck, as that which has heretofore been the subject under consideration; which is sufficient. [All the difficulty about the verb here disappears, if Forbes’ view be accepted. There is no necessity for going back to Rom_10:14, or making the matter indefinite. The Apostle has been speaking of the necessity of hearing, of the thing heard; now he says: did they not hear? The universality of the privilege is affirmed.—R.] Although reference is constantly made to the Jews, the question is nevertheless, principally and formally, concerning unbelievers in general. If unbelievers, as unbelieving people, can excuse themselves by saying that they have not heard God’s message, the most direct answer would be: “Then they would not be unbelievers in the specific sense.” But the Apostle rather brings out the fact of the incipient universal propagation of the gospel, by clothing it in the language of Psa_19:4, from the LXX.
[Nay, verily, μενοῦνγε. Comp. Rom_9:20. So far from this being the case, their sound went out into all the earth, &c., εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γήν, κ.τ.λ. An exact quotation from the LXX. (Psa_18:5; Psa_19:5; Eng., Psa_19:4.—R.] In the Psalm, the question is undoubtedly the universal revelation of God in nature; therefore we cannot regard it as a real prophecy, and as an argument in the usual sense. However, the Apostle seems to clothe his view of the incipient universality of the gospel in those words of the Psalms, because he perceived in the universal revelation of nature the type and guarantee of the future revelation of salvation. Then, his having given to the φθόγγος αὐτῶν43 another reference, also corresponds to this freer application of the passage (there, the sound of God’s works; here, the preacher). [Dr. Lange here follows the mass of commentators (including Stuart, Hodge). But Calvin, Stier, Hengstenberg, Alford, Forbes, regard these words “as possessing a real argumentative force, when interpreted according to their genuine meaning as designed at first by the Psalmist.” Alford urges the fact: “that Psalms 19 is a comparison of the sun, and the glory of the heavens with the word of God.” Calvin: “As He spoke to the Gentiles by the voice of the heavens, He showed by this prelude that He designed to make himself known at length to them also.” Dr. Lange, it is true, approaches this view, yet does not find it in the Psalm, but in the Apostle’s use of it. Was the Apostle likely to convince his countrymen by putting a new meaning on their Scriptures?—R.]
On the gross misconstruction of this passage, that the gospel should extend everywhere, even at Paul’s time, see Meyer [p. 408, 4th ed.]; Tholuck, p. 580. As for the ecstatic salutation of the universality of God’s kingdom, then first appearing, which often occurs in Paul (see Col_1:23), compare the two statements of Justin Martyr and Tertullian; Tholuck, p. 380. That which appears surprising in the hyperbolical form of the Apostle’s statement of the universal propagation of the gospel, disappears just in proportion as that propagation is regarded not quantitatively, but qualitatively. Jerusalem and Rome were the centres of the ancient world. But, in addition to them, there were many other general centres. The error of expounding the passage in the sense of a quantitative universality could not hold good, even if we admit that the gospel had at that time reached America; the whole of the fifth grand division of the world, as well as all Africa, would also have to come into consideration.
C. The faith of the Gentiles and the unbelief of Israel. Rom_10:19-21 : Prophesied already in the Old Testament.
Rom_10:19. But I say, Did Israel not know? [μὴ Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ἔγνω;] The Apostle now passes over to the long-prepared antithesis of unbelieving Israel and of the believing Gentiles. But yet, in his representation of this fearful inversion (which stirred up unbelieving Judaism) of the old theocratic relation—according to which the Jews were God’s people, and the Gentiles were given up to themselves—he has recourse to the witnesses of the Old Testament respecting the beginning and prospect of this inversion. After the first question: “Have unbelievers not heard the gospel?” there follows the second: “Did not Israel know it?” We may now ask: What is referred to? Explanations:
1. That the gospel should pass from the Gentiles to the Jews (Thomas Aquinas, Calovius, Tholuck [Stuart, Hodge, Jowett], and others). But that threat was only conditionally uttered, and is not contained in the foregoing.
2. The gospel (Chrysostom, and others). [Here must be classed Calvin and Beza, who supply: the truth of God; Philippi and Forbes: the word or message of God (from Rom_10:17). The last named defend their view, from the emphasis which seems to rest on Israel (in the correct reading), and from the parallelism with Rom_10:18. Meyer opposes, with reason, the μὴ-οὐκ, which anticipates an affirmative answer; nor is this objection met, by saying that an affirmative might be expected, that Israel ought to have known the gospel. Paul knew too sadly that the reverse was the fact.—R.]
3. That the gospel should become universal, according to the preceding language of the Psalm (Fritzsche, De Wette [Alford], Meyer).44 Meyer places Tholuck also in this category. Tholuck, however, now declares for (1), as follows: “But yet the following prophetic declarations do not contain so much the universality of preaching, as explanations of the inverted relation which God will assume toward Gentiles and Jews.”
At all events, the citation immediately following is not simply a proof of the universality of the gospel. But it only follows therefrom, that a new statement is made with the proof. This also holds good of the last quotation. The progress is as follows: a. Universality; Psalms 19. b. The faith of the Gentiles for the awakening of the faith of the Jews; Deu_32:21. c. The faith of the Gentiles; Isa_65:1. d. The unbelief of the Jews; Isa_65:2. Therefore we regard the explanation of Fritzsche, &c., as correct, and all the more striking, as the fulfilment of this very ancient prospect just now became an offence to Israel.—Proof:
First Moses saith [πρῶτος Μωυσῆς λέγει. First, “in the order of the prophetic roll” (Alford), with reference to Isaiah, as one among the many who spoke afterward to the same effect. Wetstein, Storr, Flatt, join πρῶτος with οὐκ ἔγνω, but on insufficient grounds.—R.] The future universality of the Abrahamic blessing had been declared earlier, but it was Moses who first declared that there should be no difference between Jews and Gentiles before God’s righteousness; indeed, that possibly the Gentiles, in their good conduct, might be preferred to the Jews in their bad conduct. Thus the same Moses who communicated to Israel its economic advantages over the Gentiles, was he who had set up the rule of faith by which this relation could possibly be inverted in the future.
I will provoke you to jealousy [Ἐγὼ παραζηλώσω ὑμᾶς. The only variation from the LXX. (which closely follows the Hebrew) is the substitution of ὑμᾶς, in each clause, for αὐτούς.—R.] Thus Moses speaks to Israel in the name of the Lord; Deu_32:21.
With those who are no people [ἐπ’ οὐκ ἔθνει. The precise force of the preposition is with difficulty conveyed by any English word. It is not = against, although that is implied; nor = by means of, but rather, on account of. With expresses the weaker shade of instrumental force sufficiently well, but the real sense is: aroused on account of and directed toward a no-people.—R.] בְּלֹא עַם. The Gentile nations were not recognized as true nations in the idea of the people, because they were devoid of that religious and moral principle which transforms nature into a moral nationality; see Rom_9:25; 1Pe_2:10. גֹּדי, from גָּוָה, denotes, strictly speaking, the increasing mass of natural human beings; עַם, from עָמַם, a connection, assembly, community. [The words people, nation, are used in the E. V. to preserve the distinction between the Hebrew words. Despite the fact that the LXX. has used the same word to render both, it has not been overlooked in the E. V. in this passage.—R.] The explanation of the “no-people” (the οὐκ denies the idea contained in a nomen connected with it), is found in the following parallel:
By a foolish nation [ἐπὶ ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ].45 The religious and moral folly of the Gentile consisted in his not seeking God’s signs with resignation; for which reason they also could not seek Him. Paul, with good ground, sees in the thoroughly prophetic song of Moses, which looked far beyond Israel’s history in the wilderness and its relation to the Canaanites (Deut. 22:43), a typical, and still more than a typical prophecy, which should be fulfilled in many ways in preludes, and which has finally been fulfilled in the almost complete changes of the relation between Israel and the Gentiles in relation to the gospel. In Rom_10:21, neither Israel’s idolatry in the wilderness, nor the Canaanite people, is meant alone. On the different untenable explanations, including those of Philippi, see Tholuck, p. 583 [given above].
Rom_10:20. But Isaiah is very bold, and saith [Ἡσαΐας δὲ ἀποτολμᾷ καὶ λέγει. Lange: But Isaiah even ventures to say; which is the spirit of the Greek. Bengel: Quod Moses innuerat, Esaias audacter et plane eloquitur.—R.]. The Apostle regarded it as great boldness in Isaiah to say the words of Isa_65:1-2 in the hearing of the Jews, as the first verse, according to his explanation, expressed mercy to the Gentiles, and the second the hardness and apostasy of the Jews.
[I was found by those who sought me not, Εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν, κ.τ.λ.. See Textual Note24, for the text of the Hebrew original and the LXX., to the former of which Dr. Lange refers so frequently. The Apostle has transposed the clauses.—R.] The question is now raised first of all by the later exegesis, whether Paul’s explanation of Isaiah’s passage is correct? Meyer says: “In its strict sense, Isa_65:1 (freely from the Septuagint, and with an inversion of both the parallel members) treats of the Jews; but in a typical sense, which Paul clearly perceives in it, they are types of the Gentiles,” &c. But in this case, Paul would have made an exegesis without any evidence, and would have exposed himself to the legitimate contradiction and censure of the Jews. Tholuck also remarks, that if the Apostle, in Isa_10:1, referred directly to the Gentiles, his application would have to be regarded as having missed its object. In the first place, namely, Tholuck says that rabbinical expositors (Jarchi, &c.) have “simply and satisfactorily” explained Isa_10:1-2 as relating to the same subjects. He further says: “Independently of these rabbinical predecessors, the same explanation has been adopted by Gesenius, Ewald, Hitzig, and Umbreit, which last writer translates: I was to be inquired of.” There is just ground for disapproving of Luther’s confidence in inserting in Isa_10:20 : to the Gentiles, and in beginning Isa_10:21 with a for—for I speak, &c. Yet the exegetical authorities cited are utterly refuted, not only by Paul’s authority—although we cannot even admit that in one of his last sword-thrusts he has made not merely a random stroke, but even wounded himself—but also by the connection of the whole of Isaiah’s passage, Isa_63:7 to Isa_66:1. The antitheses in general between the strongly Old Testament Jewish prayer in Isa_63:7 ff., and the prophetical New Testament answer of God in chaps. 15. and 16., are first to be considered. It is said that the prayer is undoubtedly designed to express Israel’s state of mind; that it contains angry and passionate elements; and that the Lord must so reveal himself that the Gentiles will tremble at His name (Isa_10:17; Isa_66:1). The prayer is a conflict between the profoundest contrition and the most painful dejection, and it dies away in a question which sounds like a reproach. The Lord now answers, it is said, in the cold reproach: “I was to be sought.” And this is claimed to be the simplest rendering of נִדְרַשְׁתִּיּ. But what does the Lord answer in relation to the people of Israel, and in relation to the Gentiles? In Isa_64:8 ff. we read: “Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter,” &c. Finally: “O Lord, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?” Compare here the answer in Isa_65:2, and further. In Isa_10:8 the familiar thought again recurs to the prophet: A remnant of the people will be saved; from Isa_10:18 onward he explains by a grand antithesis. From this antithesis there then arises the description of the new Israel, which was to be called by another name (Isa_10:15). On the Gentiles, see Isa_66:12; Isa_66:18-19; Isa_66:21. But the antitheses between Isaiah 65, Isa_10:1-2, come still more into consideration. In Isa_10:1 we read, אֶל־גֹּוי; in Isa_10:2, אֶל־עַם. The גוֹי , in Isa_10:1, is לא̇־קֹרָא בָשׁמִי, which could not very well denote the Israelites, whether the people be considered passive or active (see Tholuck, p. 586), as the question in both cases is the official form of their religion; עַם, on the other hand, in Isa_10:2, is designated as סוֹרֵר; it is a people pledged to the Lord, but is now an apostate people. The antithesis is still stronger, that the Lord is now a subject of search on the part of a people (Goi) which had never inquired after Him; that He is found by those who did not seek Him, and must merely be found with the words הִנֵּנִי הּנֵּנִי, while He had to spread out His hands in vain the whole day to a rebellious people. In Isa_10:1, a people is spoken of which now not only inquires after the Lord, but even searches after Him; but, in Isa_10:2, it is a people which has so fully turned away from Him, that He seeks it the whole day in vain. Thus the פֵּרַשְׂתִּי, in Isa_10:2, rather than נִדְרַשְׁתִּי at the beginning, must be read as a strengthened preterite. The Lord answers the question, whether He would afflict very sorely, by referring to His compassion to the Gentiles (Jerome). Then He explains, in Isa_10:2, how this turning from them has occurred. “I have spread out my hands” (in vain), &c. The exegetical abridgment of this last chapter is connected with an abridgment of the whole of the second part of Isaiah. Tholuck, not satisfied with the defence of the older interpretation of this passage by Hengstenberg, Hofmann, and Stier, takes a middle position between Paul and the expositors cited, by remarking “that the prophet did not speak, in Rom_10:1, of the Gentiles, and yet that Paul did speak, in Isa_10:2, of the Jews.” But what would the ἀποτολμᾷ then mean? Paul could, indeed, have good ground for not naming the Gentiles, because a consequent exclusion of the chosen substance of Israel could have been inferred. Stier’s explanation is therefore so far correct as it holds that, in Isa_10:1, Israel is added, yet not after its first call, but after its dissolution into the “no-people” of the Gentile world.46 [There is no other view of the passage, except that which refers it, as originally used, to the Gentiles, that consists with Paul’s prudence as a reasoner, much less with his apostolic authority and inspiration. To the argument of Dr. Lange nothing need be added.—R.]
Rom_10:21. But of Israel [πρὸς δέ τὸν Ἰσραήλ]. Erasmus, adversus; De Wette, [Philippi, Alford (Meyer, an)], and others, with respect to Israel; Vulgate and Rückert, to Israel. We adopt with respect to, since the prophet had already made the foregoing declaration to Israel.
He saith [λέγει]. Namely, Isaiah, in the name of God.—[All day long I stretched forth my hands, “Ολην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐξεπέτασα τάς χεῖράς μου.] The spreading out of the hands, say Tholuck, is not (as Fritzsche would have it) the gestus of the one inviting to his embrace,47 but, according to Chrysostom, the gestus of the suppliant. Between the two meanings of this gestus there lies also a third; and, after all, one does not preclude the other. The principal idea is the gestus of gracious, importunate, and expressed admonition, of entreaty, compassionate sympathy, and continuous appeal.
And gainsaying [και ἀντιλέγοντα]. Meyer holds, contrary to Grotius, and most expositors, that the ἀντιλέγ. must not be understood as stubborn, but contradictory. But contradiction, in the sphere of religion, is the decisive expression of opposition. [Philippi thinks this added attributive expresses the positive side of disobedience; the other, ἀπειθοῦντα, the negative. If so, both were necessary to convey the full meaning of the Hebrew word used by the prophet. “They say to God, offering them salvation: we will not.”—R.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The intercession of the believer a sign of hope and salvation to those for whom it is made.
2. The bright and dark sides of religious zeal. If it be not purified by progressive, living knowledge, it becomes peverted into the carnal zeal of fanaticism. On the first appearance of Jewish fanaticism, see the Commentary on Genesis [p. 564, Amer. ed.].
3. Self-righteousness has many forms. The starting-point is the effort for the righteousness of the law, not as it is attained inwardly by simplicity and humility, but as it, by self-complacency and impurity, falls into externality. In this direction the righteousness of the law becomes the righteousness of works; and from this there results self-righteousness, which branches out into many forms—into the ecclesiastical and political form of confessional and partisan righteousness; into the ecclesiastical and scholastic form of doctrinal righteousness (orthodoxism); into the worldly form of moral righteousness; into the pietistic form of righteousness of feeling; and into the philosophical and brutal forms of the denial of all personal guilt. In all forms it inverts the relation between God and man—between the Creator and the creature—between God’s sovereignty and man’s own will—between God’s law and the self-made service and law—between grace and works—and between the ground of life and the most outward false show. Its real want is the want of the heart’s upward look at the throne of God’s eternal majesty; and this want is also the first guilt; the positive ruin connected therewith is the baseness of the mind’s look at things below; the lost state of the mind’s look in the abject beholding of self. But as this self-righteousness is so thoroughly selfish that it misunderstands and scorns the proffer of God’s freely-given righteousness, the gospel of grace, so is it likewise selfish in connecting itself inseparably with fanaticism.
4. Christ is the end of the law, because He is the fulfilment of the law; therefore He is, on one side, the end where the law is changed into the collective principle of the new birth; and, on the other, He is the end in which it lays off its eternal Old Testament form and meaning; just as ripe fruit becomes freed from its bondage in the husk. See Exeg. Notes.
5. Rom_10:5. The doctrine of eternal life has developed itself embryonically by stages: In this life, God’s blessing, God’s glorious deliverance from the manifold danger of death, and, in the future, the peaceful slumber of those delivered from beds of earthly suffering, their celebration of the marriage-supper of the Lamb, and their safety in Abraham’s bosom, &c. This development, just as every biblical doctrine, has taken place in organic conformity to the law. According to Tholuck, p. 557, the eschatology of the Jews of Palestine at the time of Christ had already attained to the idea of eternal life. Yet they hardly attained to the idea of eternal life in the Christian sense. [It must ever be remembered that the ideas, immortality and eternal life, are not identical. Ζωή has a new meaning in the New Testament. Comp. the thoughtful remarks of Trench, Syn. N. T., § xxvii.—R.]
6. The righteousness of faith speaks even in Moses, if Moses be properly understood and explained. [Comp. Exeg. Notes on Rom_10:7-9.—R.]
7. The truth of the inward essence of the law, like that of the gospel, and therefore the truth of the whole saving revelation of God, is based on its inward character—on its inward union with the most inward nature of man. Its impregnability and incorruptibility also rest upon the same basis. Just as man must return from all by-ways (for his salvation or for his judgment) to the idea of God, so also must he return to the idea of the God-man, of guilt, the atonement, deliverance, the new birth, and the new and eternal life. The objection urged against revelation, and especially against Christianity, that this religion beclouds the earthly life by an exclusive representation of heaven, and the present by an exclusive assertion of the future, the realm of the dead, and duration after death, is removed by a passage which the Apostle cites and elaborates from Deuteronomy. Christ is on the earth in so far as He has become inseparably incorporated with it by His historical presence and union with humanity; and He is just as much in this life, and present in His judgments and bestowals of salvation, as He is in the eternal world, as the future Finisher of all things.
8. Faith and confession; see Exeg. Notes. The delivering power of confession. Because it: 1. makes inward faith irrevocable; 2. Breaks loose from unbelief; 3. Unites with believers, becomes flesh and blood, and, in a good sense, acquires worldly form, worldly power, and the power of manifestation; 4. Pledges itself to full consistency in word and deed, life and death. Christians have had good ground for holding martyrdom in such high honor. But if martyrdom can be exaggerated and overvalued, how much more can a confessional righteousness be overvalued, which seeks its protection and peace under the shadow of formulas!
9. The centre of faith and the centre of confession; see Rom_10:9. The centre of faith is Christ’s resurrection, with all that it comprises; the centre of confession is Jesus as the Lord, and therefore not “the Christianity of Christ,” but the Christ of Christianity. [Hence the Apostle does not say: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth my doctrine, and believe in thine heart in justification by faith, thou shalt be saved; yet how often he is represented as saying this, and no more. The living Christ is not in such a gospel.—R.]
10. With the complete freedom of revelation and of God’s people there has also come the full protection of faith against unbelief.
11. The riches of the Lord to a praying human world.
12. The order of the gospel message. Its necessity, its promise, its authority, its condition (the Divine mission; direct or indirect). See the interesting statements which Tholuck makes, p. 580 ff., on the assertion of the Lutheran theologians of the seventeenth century, as well as of their latest companions in adherence to the letter, that this text (and the article of the general call) forces us to accept the position that the gospel had been preached in all the world at Paul’s time.
13. We must be careful to distinguish, that the question here is the necessity of the official bearers or messengers of God’s word, but not of them exclusively. Or, more strictly speaking, the sending has two sides, and does not consist simply in official arrangements and forms. [This is even more apparent, if we understand Rom_10:17 to refer to what is heard, rather than what is preached, and then consider how the Apostle proves from an Old Testament description of the voice of God in nature (Rom_10:18), the universality of this privilege.—R.]
14. The feet of the messengers on the mountains, or the beauty of the progressive course of the gospel.
15. Unbelief in the gospel is disobedience, specific disobedience and rage; Psalms 2. The more grossly and roughly human nature is apprehended, the more external become the ideas of obedience and disobedience; the more profoundly, purely, and inwardly they are viewed, the more profoundly, purely, and inwardly is this antithesis defined; and, finally and fundamentally, faith in God’s word is specific obedience, while unbelief is specific disobedience, specific rebellion. [The LXX. form of Isa_65:2 (Rom_10:21), by dividing the idea of rebellion into disobedience and gainsaying, only recognizes the connection between refusing God’s commands and contradicting His words: disobedience and unbelief, acting and reacting upon each other continually.—R.]
16. The prudent advance of the Apostle in his judgment, that Israel has changed its part with the Gentiles by its unbelief, and has become an apostate people, is here a characteristic of his masterly apostolic wisdom of instruction, as well as of his apostolic heart, as, with a shudder of inmost sorrow, he gradually draws aside the curtain from the ghastly picture of Israel. The argument from the Old Testament is in conformity with the law that every apology must be discussed from the acknowledged sources, statements, or principles of the opponent, and that its possibility ceases where there cease to be positions in common.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
a. Rom_10:1-2. The benevolent disposition of the Apostle toward Israel. It is clear: 1. From his wish and prayer that they might be saved; 2. From his record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.—A zeal for God is good, but it should not exist without knowledge (Rom_10:2).—How often ignorant zeal occurs: 1. In domestic; 2. In civil; and 3. In ecclesiastical affairs; and, unfortunately, it occurs most frequently in the last (Rom_10:2).—The folly of ignorant zeal. It is foolish: 1. In regard to its starting-point; 2. Its end; 3. The choice of means (ver 2).—Wise and ignorant zeal.
Starke: Oh, how can men so transgress as to be led by a blind religious zeal to oppose the dearest truths of the gospel by an imaginary defence of orthodoxy; and thus hate, calumniate, and reproach Christ in His members, and always think, with those ancient enemies, that, by so doing, they do God service (Joh_16:2).—Hedinger: The zeal of the Jews crucified Christ.
Spener: All the persecutions which have been, and still will be inflicted on pious Christians, are committed by those who do not know the truth and doctrine of godliness; who regard others who are attached to it as false and wicked people; and who think that they render God a service when they persecute them (Joh_16:2); but yet, by this very means, they thrust themselves into God’s judgment, and are not at all excused for their error (Rom_10:2).
Heubner: What is blind zeal in religious matters? Whence does it come? If it be wholly unclean, it is self-love, selfishness; if it be merely joined with perverse measures, then it arises from a weakness of understanding, and, in that case, has also a mixture of egotism! True zeal is pure and clear.—Compare Paul’s early Jewish and later Christian zeal.
Besser: When Paul cherishes, and expresses in praying to God, the hearty wish that they who have stumbled against the stone of offence may yet be saved, he certainly has no knowledge of any absolute decree of condemnation on any man, not even on the most stiff-necked Jews (Rom_10:1).—One of our older teachers laments: “The Jews had, and still have, a zeal without knowledge; but we, alas, have an understanding without zeal” (Rom_10:2).
b. Rom_10:3. Our own righteousness, and righteousness which is of God (Luk_18:9-14). 1. The former is proud, and leads to humiliation; 2. The latter, on the contrary, is humble, and leads to exaltation.
Starke, Lange: No persons are farther from God’s kingdom, and more difficult to be converted, than those who, when they hear of the method of salvation, have so much of their own righteousness as to think that they have long conformed to it.
Heubner: They are therefore devoid of an humble recognition of their unworthiness before God; they would themselves be something, and carry weight. Where this pride and fancy exist, there is always blindness.
c. Rom_10:4-11. The righteousnesss which is of faith is: 1. A righteousness in Christ, who is the end of the law; 2. And therefore can be obtained only by faith in Him (Rom_10:4-11).—The unbeliever asserts that Christ is far from and unapproachable by man; but the believer, on the contrary, knows that He is near us by the word of faith (Rom_10:5-9).—In order to avoid believing, men make use of empty evasions (Rom_10:5-9).—As the law was near to Israel, so is the gospel near to us: 1. In the mouth; 2. In the heart (Rom_10:8).—What do we preach? 1. Not a remote, and therefore incomprehensible word; but, 2. A near, and therefore a very easily understood word (Rom_10:8).—The conditions of salvation: 1. The confession of the mouth that Jesus is the Lord; 2. The belief in the heart that God has raised Him from the dead (Rom_10:9-11).—The inward interdependence of confession and faith: 1 There is no true confession of the mouth without faith in the heart; 2. But there is also no living faith of the heart without the confession of the mouth (Rom_10:9-11).—Faith in the heart must ever precede the confession of the mouth; which, unfortunately, is not always the case, and therefore so much is said of confession, and so little is inwardly believed (Rom_10:9-11).—The great confession of the Christian Church, as expressed: 1. In the apostolic confession of faith; 2. In the hymns of the church; 3. In its prayers; 4. In its celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Rom_10:10).—The confessors of the Christian Church: 1. In the beginning (the time of the first persecutions); 2. In the period of the Reformation; 3. At the present time (the martyrs in Madagascar, on the South Sea Islands, in Borneo, Syria, &c.; Rom_10:10).
Luther: He who does not believe that Christ has died, and risen, in order to make us righteous from our sins, says: “Who shall ascend into heaven, and who shall descend into the deep?” But this is done by those who would be justified by works, and not by faith, when they speak thus with the mouth, but not in the heart. Emphasis est in verbo: in the heart.
Starke: Christ is the essence of the Old Testament Scriptures also; he little understands them who does not find Christ in them. The entire life of the saints of the Old Testament is a prophecy of Christ; Joh_5:46 (Rom_10:5).—Say not, “Who has been among the dead, and has returned again, and has told us of the condition of the dead?” Stand by the gospel truth, and you will be righteous and saved; Luk_16:31 (Rom_10:7).—Be comforted, troubled soul; though you do not have the joy of faith just in the hour of temptation, you will nevertheless be saved, so long as you depend on Christ; for God, who does not lie, has often given you the assurance that you shall be saved (Rom_10:11).—Cramer: The mouth and the heart cannot be separated; Psa_116:10 (Rom_10:9).—Faith must not grow on the tongue, but in the heart; Act_15:9 (Rom_10:10).—Hedinger: The heart without the mouth is timidity; the mouth without the heart is hypocrisy (Rom_10:10).
Spener: We read that the word is nigh us, namely, that it is declared to us; that we have it in the heart—where the Holy Spirit has impressed it; and in the mouth, by which we declare it. Therefore, it is not something concealed in heaven, or in the deep, but we have it with us, and in us. Verily, we may say that the word means not only the word itself, but also the blessings which that word presents—Christ, with all His gospel treasures. Christ’s merit, grace, Spirit, and life are not far from us, and cannot first be brought down from heaven, or brought up from the deep; they are not first to be acquired, but are nigh us, and, if we will accept them, in the mouth and in the heart. Thus, though the language of the Old Testament was not on this wise, since the knowledge of grace was of a less degree, more obscure, and more difficult to be obtained, yet it is now very near to us, for it is imparted by the greater and stronger measure of grace which is now declared to us (Rom_10:8).
Gerlach: Christ is in so far the end of the law as He, 1. Is its final object, the one to whom it leads (Gal_3:24); 2. Is its fulfilment (Mat_5:17); 3. Puts an end to the dominion of the law (Luk_16:16) (Rom_10:4).—To become acquainted with God’s’ gracious counsel, to deprive death of its power by the manifestation of a divine and holy life in the flesh—which the carnal man was incapable of, since he knew nothing except the righteousness which is of the law—can be effected by the righteousness which is of faith, which establishes him in Christ’s right, and freely gives him as his own what the Son of God is and has. The heart need only believe, and the mouth only confess, in order to be righteous and saved (Rom_10:8-11).
Lisco: The Divine order of salvation is, therefore: Justification succeeds faith, God’s assistance is obtained, and he who courageously and perseveringly confesses his faith, obtains salvation (Rom_10:10).—Heubner: Righteousness is introduced as speaking; and is regarded as proffering itself. No superhuman knowledge, or profound learning, or ascending to heaven to see Christ, is necessary to convince us of Christ’s resurrection and His sitting at God’s right hand; neither is it necessary to descend into the kingdom of the dead, to ask whether Christ is with the dead, or risen? In short, no view of the history of Jesus Christ himself, and no laborious and learned research, are necessary for us to believe. Faith is an affair of the heart. No one can, therefore, excuse his unbelief on the ground of the difficulty or impossibility of faith (Rom_10:6-7).—Paul brings out prominently the faith of the heart against hypocrites and lip-Christians; and against the fainthearted and desponding confession—that is, the expression, the demonstration of Christianity by word and deed (Rom_10:9-11).
Besser: Faith and confession are related to each other as essence and manifestation, as light and rays, as fire and flame. … Salvation is the manifestation, the present and finite revelation of righteousness; and righteousness is salvation under cover, though the covering is transparent and fragrant, just as Christ is concealed in prophecy, and the enduring tabernacle of God in the Church on earth (Rom_10:10).
d. Rom_10:12-17. The gospel as a saving message for all, Jews as well as Greeks: 1. It is preached to all; but, 2. It is not believed by all (Rom_10:12-17).—There is no difference in nations before the one Lord, who is rich unto all that call upon Him; but whosoever calleth upon Him shall be saved (Rom_10:12-13).—How the calling upon the true God—who is perfectly revealed in Christ—and faith and preaching, are connected (Rom_10:13-16).—“Lord, who hath believed our report?” Thus Isaiah once lamented, and thus we, too, lament frequently; but we can only do it when we are conscious that we have performed our ministerial duty to the best of our knowledge and conscience; that is, if our sermons have proceeded: 1. From thoroughly searching into the Holy Scriptures; 2. From hearty prayer; 3. From a full acquaintance with the necessities of our congregations (Rom_10:16).—Christian preaching: 1. What does it effect? Faith. 2. By what means does it come? By the word of God (Rom_10:17).—Preaching stands midway between faith and God’s word. 1. It produces the former; 2. It draws its supplies from the latter (Rom_10:17).—The appealing power of preaching (Rom_10:17).
Starke: All kinds of people can have free access to God, and so pray that their petitions may be answered (Rom_10:12).—Hedinger: Oh, if a man would be saved, how much depends on hearing, teaching, and calling! A beautiful chain; but what is wanting in it? Hearing is defective; proper and thorough preaching is wanting; and many thousands are needed for preaching. Dreadful harm thereby ensues, &c. (Rom_10:14).—Cramer: The world ever remains the same—as in Isaiah’s day, so at the time of Christ and the Apostles, and even at this very hour. What a pity that the old lamentation must still be repeated! (Rom_10:16.)—Lange: Preacher, see that your discourses be delivered in simplicity and Divine power; and hearer, see that your attention is of the right kind (Rom_10:17).
Spener: 1. They must call upon Christ if they would be saved; 2. But if they would call upon Him; they must believe on Him; 3. If they would believe on Him, they must hear His word; 4. But if they would hear His word, it must be preached to them; 5. But if they would have preachers, people must be sent to them for that purpose. These are the successive links in the chain of Divine beneficence (Rom_10:14).—Roos: Here, as was always the case with the Apostle in his charges against the Jews, he cites passages from the Old Testament Scriptures; the first of which is Isa_28:16, where the “making waste” has the same force as “being ashamed.” … The second passage is in Joe_2:32, and comes down lowest to the weakness of men. Our advice to the greatest sinner who stands on the brink of hell is: “Call upon the name of the Lord, and thou shalt be saved.” … The third passage is in Isa_52:7, and is a prophecy of the friendly and beautiful heralds whom the Lord, having previously spoken himself, would send out at the time of the New Testament, in order to preach peace and good-will to men. But why? Undoubtedly in order that men might lay hold of the peace declared to them, and appropriate and enjoy God’s good-will toward them. But because this should take place by faith, these heralds lament, in the fourth passage, Isa_53:1 : “Lord, who hath believed our report?” (Rom_10:11-16.)—Bengel: Any man is worth more than the whole world.
Gerlach: God wills the salvation of all, but all do not wish the salvation of God; unbelief is the cause of the ruin of all who are lost (Rom_10:16).—It is God’s will that all should believe; and for this reason He has sent preaching, whose import is His own word (Rom_10:17).
Lisco: It is Christian duty to send teachers to the heathen world; missions are necessary, and according to the Lord’s will (Mar_16:15); and it is a glorious calling, to declare the message of Jesus, deliverance of the captives, and the new kingdom of God.—Preaching takes place by God’s word; that is, by virtue of the Divine call and a doctrine revealed by God (Rom_10:17).
Heubner: Living preaching is God’s chosen means of instruction (Rom_10:14).—God must send preachers; they cannot go of themselves (Rom_10:15).—All the effects of grace are connected with the word; this applies to fanatics, enthusiasts, and those who despise the word and preaching (Rom_10:17).
Besser: The Divine order of salvation admits of no personal or national distinction (Rom_10:12).—The help of the rich Lord, as He passes by, is invited by calling upon Him, though it be not with strong faith, yet with a hearty desire to believe; by calling upon Him, though we do not pray as we ought, yet are supported by the unutterable groans of the Spirit (Rom_8:26); by calling upon Him, if not with advanced knowledge, yet with the loud confession of Bartimeus: “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mar_10:47) (Rom_10:12.)—Bengel. says: “He who desires the end, will also contribute the means. God desires that all men call upon Him for salvation.; therefore He wishes them to believe; therefore, to hear; and, therefore, to have preachers. Hence He has sent preachers. He has done every thing necessary for our salvation. His antecedent gracious will is universal, and is clothed with energetic power” (Rom_10:14).—It is not only necessary for the real preacher in God’s name that the word preached be real, but also that the preacher say: “Here is the staff in my hand; the Lord has sent me” (Rom_10:15).
e. Rom_10:18-21. The relation of the Jews and Gentiles to the preaching of the gospel: 1. The former did not wish to understand the gospel, although they could understand it; 2. But the latter, although they Were ignorant, have understood it, because they wished to do so.—The conclusion of the whole chapter: The Jews are themselves guilty of their wretched fate, which took such a lively hold upon the Apostle’s sympathy. For, A. The gospel was: 1. Not far from them; 2. It was preached to them; 3. They could lay hold of it; but, B. They—the Jews—sought it; 1. Far off; 2. Did not like to hear it; 3. Would not understand it.
Starke: Who will blame God that so many people remain children of Satan, and are condemned? Behold, they are themselves the cause (Rom_10:21).—Roos, with reference to chaps. 9. and 10.: From all this it is plain that the word grace is the most comforting and most severe, the clearest and the darkest word in the Bible. It is the most comforting word, because it assures salvation to the creature (to whom his Creator is in nowise indebted), the sinner who deserves punishment. It is also the most severe word, because it utterly prostrates pride, slays defiance, and completely destroys the notion of self-righteousness, which is so natural to man. It is the clearest word, because it needs no description; but it is also the darkest word, because its simple meaning is understood by only a few humble souls. Many men, who think that they understand this word, conceive God’s grace very much as a prince’s favor, which always has regard to service, and is never disconnected from utility. But God needs no service. His will alone is free. No one can recompense Him. And yet He is righteous, and acts according to knowledge. Whoso is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them?
Heubner, on Psalms 19 : The gospel and creation are God’s two voices that reëcho about us.
Besser: Quotation of an expression of Luther, who compares preaching to a stone thrown into the water. The circles ever enlarge, but the water in the middle is still.
Lange: The intercession of Paul, who was persecuted by the Jews, for Israel.—His witness for Israel: 1. High praise; 2. Great censure.—The different forms of self-righteousness.—Self-righteousness is always opposed to God’s righteousness, which is: 1. Legislative; 2. Penal; 3. Merciful, justifying; 4. Awakening to new life.—The self-testimony of the law and the gospel to the inward nature of man: 1. The law, the ideal of his life; 2. The gospel, the life of his ideal.—The twin form, faith, and confession: 1. Is positively different; yet, 2. Inseparable.—The riches of the Lord to praying hearts—to the praying, sinful world.—The universality of the gospel.—The freedom and limitation of the message of salvation: 1. It is free to all in the world who call upon the Lord; 2. It is confined to faith, because unbelief contradicts it.
[Burkitt (condensed): Christ is the end of the law: 1. As He is the scope of it; 2. As He is the accomplishment of it; 3. As He is to the believer what the law would have been to him if he could have perfectly kept it—namely, righteousness and life, justification and salvation.—The natural man is a proud man; he likes to live upon his own stock he cannot stoop to a sincere and universal renunciation of his own righteousness, and to depend wholly upon the righteousness of another. It is natural to a man to choose rather to eat a brown crust, or wear a coarse garment, which he can call his own, than to feed upon the richest dainties, or wear the costliest robes, which he must receive as an alms from another.—Doddridge: Let us rejoice in the spread which the gospel has already had, and let us earnestly and daily pray that the voices of those Divine messengers that proclaim it may go forth unto all the earth, and their words reach, in a literal sense, to the remotest ends of the globe.—Lord, give us any plague rather than the plague of the heart!—Scott: Ministers who are faithful bear the most affectionate good-will to those from whom they receive the greatest injuries; and they offer fervent and persevering prayers for the salvation of the very persons against whom they denounce the wrath of God if they persist in unbelief.—Clarke: Salvation only by righteousness: 1. The righteousness, or justification which is by faith, receives Christ as an atoning sacrifice, by which all sin is pardoned; 2. It receives continual supplies of grace from Christ by the eternal Spirit, through which man is enabled to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as himself; 3. This grace is afforded in sufficient degrees, suited to all places, times, and circumstances, so that no trial can happen too great to be borne, as the grace of Christ is ever at hand to support and save to the uttermost.—Hodge: It is the first and most pressing duty of the Church to cause all men to hear the gospel. The solemn question, “How can they believe without a preacher?” should sound day and night in the ears of the churches. The gospel’s want of success, or the fact that few believe our report, is only a reason for its wider extension. The more who hear, the more will be saved, even should it be but a small proportion of the whole.—J. F. H.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rom_10:1.—[After δέησις, K. L. Rec. insert ἡ, defended by Philippi; omitted in א. A. B. D. F. G., by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, Tholuck, Alford, Tregelles. Probably inserted to limit πρὸς τὸν θεόν to δέησις, since it seemed improper to connect it with εὐδοκία. On the meaning of the last-named word, as involved in the critical question, see Exeg. Notes.
[2]Rom_10:1.—[א. A. B. D. F. G., all modern editors, read αὐτῶν, instead of τοῦ ̓Ισραήλ (K. L. Rec.). The latter was substituted as an explanatory gloss, which was the more necessary, as this verse began a church lesson (Lange). ̓Εστιν (to complete the sense) is inserted before εἰς σωτ. in Rec., on the authority of א3. K. L.; rejected by modern editors generally.
[3]Rom_10:1.—[Rec. (א.3. K. L.) insert ἕστιν before εἰς σωτηρίαν. This probably led to the paraphrase of the E. V.
[4]Rom_10:3.—[A. B. D., a number of versions and fathers, omit δικαιοαύην after ἰδίαν. (So Lachmann, Tischendorf, Wordsworth, Tregelles.) It is found in א3. F. K. L., Syriac, &c.; also after ζητοῦτες in one cursive. It is retained by Meyer, Lange; bracketted by Alford, who, in his notes, agrees with the authors just named, in thinking the repetition to be original and emphatic, but easily deemed superfluous; hence the omission.
[5]Rom_10:4.—[Dr. Lange’s rendering is striking: Denn das Endziel des Gesetzes ist: Christus zur Gerechtigkeit für Jeden, der glaubt (For the end of the law is: Christ as righteousness for every one who believes). Luther’s version is really a paraphrase: Denn Christus ist des Gesetzes Ende; wer an den glaubt, der ist gerecht.
[6]Rom_10:5.—[The E. V. has translated ὅτι, which is here merely a quotation-mark (ὅτι recitantis). The above emendation is from the Revision by Five Anglican Clergymen. The ὅτι is found before τὴν σικ. in א1. A. D1.—an alteration, on account of the accusative after γράφει.—The quotation is from Lev_18:5. If the reading of the Rec. be adopted, the only variation is ὁ, instead of ᾶ; a change necessary to adapt the citation to its position here. See next Note.
[7]Rom_10:5.—[The correct reading is difficult to determine. Most editors now retain αὐτά (Rec., א3. B. F. G., most versions and fathers). Instead of ἐν αὐτοῖς (Rec., א3. D. F. L., some versions and fathers, Meyer, Wordsworth Lange), the reading ἐν αὐτῆ is found in א1. A. B., many versions, and is accepted by Lachmann, De Wette, Alford Tregelles. The singular would be a variation from both the LXX. and the Hebrew; yet this but renders an alteration to the plural (for the sake of conformity) the more probable. On the other hand, Meyer urges strongly that the plural stands or falls with αὐτά, which is now generally accepted. The change to the singular may have been made to guard against the validity of the righteousness of works, as indeed A. substitutes ρίστεως for νόμου. With some hesitation, I hold to the reading of the Rec.
[8]Rom_10:6.—[From this point to the middle of Rom_10:8, we have a free citation from the LXX., Deu_30:12-14. Parts of the verses are quoted, but there is only one considerable variation (at the beginning of Rom_10:7). As the LXX. does not differ materially from the Hebrew, we give only the text of the former: (Rom_10:11, ὅτι ἡ ἐντολὴ αὕτη, ἥ ἐγώ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον, οὐχ ὐρέρογλός ἐστιν, οὐδέ μακράν ἀπὸ σοῦ ἐστιν.) 12. οὐκ ἐν τῶ οὐρανῶ ἄνω ἐστί λέγων. τίςἁναβήσεται ἡμῖν εἰν τὸν οὐρανόν καὶ λήψεται ἡμῖν καὶ ἀκούσαντες αὐτ̀ͅν ποιήσομεν; 13. οὐσὲ ρέραν τῆς θαλάσσηςἀναβήσεται ἡμῖν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν καὶ λήψεται ἡμῖν θαλάσσης καὶ λάβῃ ἡμῖν καὶ ἁκουστήν ποιήσῃ αὑτήν καὶ ποιήσομεν 14. ἐγγύς σου ἐστὶ τὸ ῥῆμα σφόδρα ἐν τῶ στο.ματί σου, καὶ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου ποῖεναὐτό. The New Testament text is remarkably well established throughout. The variations from the LXX. are noticed in the Exeg. Notes.
[9]Rom_10:9.—[B. has ὅτι κύριος ̓Ιησοῦς, some fathers; others add ἕστιν. These readings are doubtless explanatory glosses, and, as such, tend to confirm the interpretation given in the brackets above: Jesus as Lord. See Exeg. Notes; also on the rendering because.—The E. V. improperly translates ἥγειρεν, hath raised. It is the historical aorist.
[10]Rom_10:10.—[The E. V. has made this verb active, and the second one passive. Both are passive. It would seem as if this rendering was borrowed from the German: man glaubt, which exactly expresses the force of the Greek.
[11]Rom_10:12.—[Literally: there is no distinction of Jew and Greek; but this sounds too abstract, as if the distinctions were obliterated, as in Gal_3:28. Here it is better, then, to preserve the concrete idea, by using between. So Rev. Five Ang. Clergymen.
[12]Rom_10:12.—[Lange renders: Denn Einer und derselbe ist Herr von Allen. So Noyes: For one and the same is Lord over all. Five Ang. Clergymen: The same is Lord over all. The Amer. Bible Union as above. This is most literal. Alford, indeed, objects, “on account of the strangeness of ὁ αὐτός thus standing alone; but this is met by Dr. Lange in the Exeg. Notes, where he expands the phrase into: One and the same. Lord is Lord over all. Stuart: There is the same Lord; which is harsh. On the whole, it is best to find the predicate here, and not supply is with rich, as is done in the E. V.
[13]Rom_10:13.—[This is almost word for word from the LXX., Joe_2:32 (Heb_3:5): καὶ ἕσται πᾶς ὅς, κ.τ.λ. The γάρ is inserted to introduce the proof. In Act_2:21, the citation is made even more exactly. The strong form of the Greek is retained by rendering, every one whosoever (Alford, Five Ang. Clergymen); Amer. Bible Union, Noyes: every one who.
[14]Rom_10:14.—[In each of the four interrogative sentences of Rom_10:14-15, the exact form of the leading verb is doubtful. The Rec. in every case gives the future indicative, but the uncial authority supports the aorist subjunctive, the deliberative or conjunctive aorist. The MS. authority is given in the separate notes. Here the Rec., with K. L., and some fathers, reads: ἐπικαλέσ ονται; א. A. B. D. F. G.: ἑπικαλέσωνται. The future is supported by Meyer, and apparently accepted by Dr. Lange. The aorist is adopted throughout by most critical editors. (So Tregelles.) As the variation here involves only the change of ω into ο, it is readily accounted for. The E. V. gives a correct rendering of the future, which, indeed, in these cases differs little in meaning from the conjunctive. Can is substituted to express the force of the correct reading, although it is perhaps a shade too strong. The Amer. Bible Union omits have in the relative clauses throughout; but, although this is a literal rendering of the aorist, it here obscures the meaning by destroying the litotes. All other later versions properly retain the English perfect.
[15]Rom_10:14.—[Rec., A. K. L.: πιστεύσ ου σιν. א1. B. D. F. G. ἀκούσονται. The last two prefix the argument.
[16]Rom_10:14.—[Rec. L.: ἀκούσ ου σιν; א1. D. F. G.: ἀκούσονται; א3. A2. B. ἀκούσωσιν; the latter, though not so well supported as the other aorists, is probably correct, since there is no reason for a change of tense.
[17]Rom_10:15.—[Rec. (no MSS.): κηρύξ ου σιν;. א. A. B. D. K. L.: κηρύξωσιν. This well-supported aorist seems to decide the other cases.
[18]Rom_10:15.—[Isa_52:7. The quotation is not exact, though giving the sense of the Hebrew. The LXX. is scarcely followed at all. See Exeg. Notes.
[19]Rom_10:15.—[The words:εὐαγγελιζομένων εἰρήνην, τῶν, are omitted in א1. A. B. C., by some versions and fathers; rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles; bracketted by Alford. They are found in א3. D. F. K. L., many versions and fathers; retained by Meyer, Wordsworth, Lange, on the ground that the repetition might easily lead to the omission. This view will readily be allowed by any one who examines the passage, since it is easy to mistake the first occurrence of so long a word for the second. The original passage, of course, favors the retention.—The uncial authority against τά (Rec) before ἀγαθά, is decisive. The E. V. takes away the exact parallelism by rendering εὐαγγελιζμένων by a different phrase in each clause. A paraphrase is necessary in any case, from the poverty of our language.
[20]Rom_10:16.—[Here also gospel is too restricted. The above emendation is adopted by Amer. Bible Union, Noyes, Five Ang. Clergymen.
[21]Rom_10:16.—[As none of the modern versions have altered this citation, it is allowed to remain, but the reader will find, in the Exeg. Notes the view of Forbes, which would be thus expressed: Who (of us) hath believed what we heard?
[22]Rom_10:17.—[א1. B. C. D1., many versions (including the Vulgate) Χριστοῦ; adopted by Lachmann, Alford, Tregelles. The great majority of the fathers, of modern commentators sustain the reading of the Rec. (א. corr. A. D23. K. L., some versions). Bede: Dei Christi. Alford deems the received reading “a rationalizing correction,” while Meyer, De Wette, and most, think the other was a later gloss, which is more probable.
[23]Rom_10:19.—[The order of the Rec. is poorly supported. א. A. B. C, and others: ̓Ισραὴλ οὐκἔγνω, adopted by critical editors. The alteration in the order of the English text is sustained by modern versions.
[24] Rom_10:20.—[The Hebrew text of Isa_65:1, as far as cited by Paul, is:נִרְדַשְׁתִּי לְלוֹא נִמְצֵאתִי לְלאֹ בִקְשֻׁנִי׃
The LXX.: ἐμφανὴς ἐγεήθην τοῖς ἐμε μὴ ἐπερωτ͂σιν, εὑρέθην τοῦς ἐμέ μὴ ζητοῦσιν. The variations are a transposition of the clauses, and ἐγενόμην, instead of ἐγενήθην. The Hebrew is followed with exactness.—̓Εν is inserted after εὑρέθην, in B. D1. F.; bracketted by Alford and Tregelles.
[25]Rom_10:21.—[The order of the LXX. is: ἐζεπέτασα τ. χ. μ. ὅλην τῆν ἡμέραν ; otherwise the citation is exact. The καὶἀντιλέγον τα is an addition of the LXX. The Hebrew gives but one adjective, סוֹרֵר, rebellious.—To Israel, is not correct; with respect to, concerning, is the meaning, which, however, is sufficiently indicated by of; so Five Ang. Clergymen, Amer. Bible Union.—R.]
[26][Stuart, and others, take the phrase righteousness of God here as = God’s method of justification. How incorrect this is, will appear from a reference to p. 74 ff. Dr. Hodge says, very properly: “It is that on which the sentence of justification is founded.” Alford: “that righteousness, which avails before God, which becomes ours in justification.”—R.]
[27][Alford defends the passive sense, as expressing the result only, it might be themselves, or some other that subjected them—the historical fact was, they were not subjected. But as this verse presents an antithesis to μέν (Rom_10:1); and as the whole current of thought implies their personal guilt, the middle sense is preferable, and is adopted, by the majority of commentators.—R.]
[28][Meyer thus paraphrases: “For in Christ the validity of the law has come to an end, that righteousness should become the portion of every believing one.”—R.]
[29][Dr. Lange’s view is, on the whole, to be preferred; but he does not clearly state those of other commentators. We append, therefore, the three opinions most in faver. (1) Christ is the aim (Endziel) of the law. (So Chrysostom, Calvin, Beza, Bengel, Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, and others.) This view means either (a.) the end of the law was to make men righteous, and this end is accomplished in Christ (Chrysostom, Stuart, and others); or, (b.) the law led to Him, as schoolmaster (Calvin, and others, Tholuck reaches this from another point of view). (2) Christ is the fulfilment of the law (τέλον = πλήρωμα). This is, indeed, true, but scarcely meets the requirements of this passage, especially if law be limited to the ceremonial law. (3) Christ is the termination of the law (Augustine, Luther, Tholuck, Meyer, Hodge). This is the chronological view, which Dr. Lange calls the negative one. In what sense he is the termination of the law, is also a matter of dispute (ceremonial, or moral?). Some confusion exists in most commentaries in the citing of authorities. In fact, these meanings largely run into each other. In favor of the last, it may be urged that the Apostle is drawing such a contrast here between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith (Rom_10:5-6), as requires a strong antithesis between the law and Christ; but unless we interpret: “When Christ came, the old legal system was abolished, and a new era commenced” (Hodge), this antithesis will not be correct. Yet the fact that Paul quotes from the law itself to support the claims of the righteousness of faith, seems inconsistent with this view. (See below.) Nor will it be evident how this verse introduces a proof of the non-submission of the Jews to the righteousness of God (Rom_10:3), unless it asserts that the law led to Christ, rather than that Christ abolished the law. All three views may be included, but the first is the more prominent one.—R.]
[30][The translator found it necessary to make some changes in the order of the original. In making the additions, it was found to be impossible to avoid confusion, without further transpositions. Nothing has been omitted, but it has been an unusually difficult task to present Dr. Lange’s notes in a shape that would correspond to the order of the Apostle’s words.—R.]
[31][To this may be added the exalted sense which ζωή has in the New Testament. Comp. Tholuck, Trench (referring to Christ’s calling himself ἡ ζωή): “No wonder, then, that Scripture should know of no higher word than ζωή to set forth either the blessedness of God, or the blessedness of the creature in communion with God.” Syn. New Testament, § 27—R.]
[32][Dr. Lange thus attempts to avoid the two opposing views (1) that an actual outward obedience was followed by actual temporal blessings, and that this was all the saying of Moses meant; (2) that the law belonged to a covenant of works, the conditions of which could not be fulfilled. The first is altogether out of keeping with the Apostle’s argument. The second seems to put the law in a wrong position; for the law, although made a mere expression of the condition of a legal righteousness, is really something far more; it is the schoolmaster, &c. comp. chap. 7 and Gal_3:19-25. The antithesis between Rom_10:5-6 is not absolute, but relative. Even the doing and living, pointed to Christ, was fulfilled in Christ; who, by His vicarious doing and living, makes us live and do.—R.]
[33][Stuart: “But justification by faith speaketh thus. The sense is the same as to say: ‘one who preaches justification by faith, might say,’ ” &c. This is scarcely allowable, for it transfers the whole passage altogether out of the period of Moses’ words, besides putting a limited and inexact meaning uponσικαιωσύνη.—R.]
[34][So Hodge: “Without directly citing this passage, Paul uses nearly the same language to express the same idea.” Stuart: “It is the general nature of the imagery, in the main, which is significant to the purpose of the writer. Paul means simply to affirm that, if Moses could truly say that his law was intelligible and accessible, the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ is still more so.” But this method of regarding the passage is open to very grave objections. It regards Paul as sanctioning that dangerous use of Scripture, “by way of accommodation,” which is evidently wrong, judged by its evil effects on preacher and people at the present day.—R.]
[35][Either the word respecting faith, or, which forms the substratum and object of faith (Alford). The latter is to be preferred, since word, just before, must be taken in a very wide sense, as including the whole subject-matter of the gospel. The personal object of faith is near, is certainly implied in Rom_10:7; but this is not directly expressed here.—R.]
[36][Alford thus paraphrases: “With the heart, faith is exercised (πιστεύεται, men believe) unto (so as to be available to the acquisition of) righteousness, but (q. d., not only so; but there must be an outward confession, in order for justification to be carried forward to salvation) with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” “Σωτ. is the ‘terminus ultimus et apex justificationis,’ consequent lot merely on the act of justifying faith, but on a good confession before the world, maintained unto the end.”—R.]
[37][Dr. Hodge is very guarded here: “By confessing Him before men, we secure the performance of His promise that He will confess us before the angels of God.” But surely we may not fear to interpret salvation as an actual salvation, begun here in us, and to culminate at that time, when we shall be thus confessed.—R.]
[38][Alford: “The Apostle seems to use it here as taking up παντὶ τῷ πιστεύντι, Rom_10:4.” At all events, there is a recurrence to the starting-point, Rom_9:33, where the same passage was cited, and this enlargement of it is at once established in the verses which follow. A weighty monosyllable!—R.]
[39][Meyer means that, if God is referred to, we must add this definition, “God in Christ;” which is altogether arbitrary, as he well remarks.—R.]
[40][Dr. Hodge: “It is an argument founded on the principle, that if God wills the end, He wills also the means.” He properly opposes Calvin’s view, that the Apostle is proving the design of sending the gospel to the Gentiles from the fact that they have received it. Still, Dr. Lange’s view (which is that of De Wette and Meyer) seems yet more exact, since the providing of the means is more marked in this passage than their success.—R.]
[41][This is the classical usage, and all the New Testament passages can be quite as readily explained thus. The Hebrew word is not Hiphil, yet the common interpretation forces a Hiphil sense upon it.—R.]
[42][Stuart has a singular view respecting this verse. He finds in it the suggestion of the Jewish objector, whom he has already discovered in Rom_10:14-15, to the effect that “many of the Jews are not culpable for unbelief, inasmuch as they have not heard the gospel, and hearing it is necessary to the believing of it.”—R.]
[43][The LXX. thus renders קַוָּם, which means, first, their line; then, from the string of an instrument, their sound.—R.]
[44][Bretschneider and Reiche take Israel as the object of the verb, and supply God as subject. Did not God know Israel! But this is arbitrary, and not in accordance with the context.—R.]
[45][Noyes, in his version, preserves the parallelism of the verbs; παραζηλώσ ω, παροργῖω, by the paraphrase: I will move you to jealousy, I will excite you to indignation.—R.]
[46][Stier, Jesaias, nicht Pseudo-Jesaias, pp. 797 ff.—R.]
[47][So Conybeare: “The metaphor is that of a mother opening her arms to call back her child to her embrace.”—R.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. The Jew has Failed by preferring Birth-and-work conditions…
7. The Jew has Failed by preferring Birth-and-work conditions to that of Faith, Rom_10:1-11.
1. Brethren—The rebuking Who art thou, O man, is now softened down, and the apostle recognises, as in Rom_9:1-6, that the rebellious Jew is his dear brother. Still he firmly proceeds to maintain the charge that Israel’s downfall is his own fault. God’s willing as he pleased to have mercy was all conditioned on Israel’s faith, and Israel was fatally faithless. This whole chapter is a conclusive denial of the Calvinistic interpretation of chapter 9.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. Rom_10:1-21. Israel has rejected a salvation whose universal…
Ch. Rom_10:1-21. Israel has rejected a salvation whose universal intention, and yet partial acceptance, was foretold by the law and the prophets
1. my heart’s desire] Fully in the Gr., the preference indeed of my heart. The “indeed” suggests a “but” to follow. This does not occur, but is implied: St Paul’s choice and prayer contrast with the present state of Israel.—The word rendered “desire” is elsewhere in N. T. almost always used of the “good pleasure” of God. It thus means here not a longing but a choice, deliberate and decided; St Paul, as far as in him lies, decides for Israel’s good; a decision coming out in prayer to the Giver.
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for Israel] MSS., &c., give simply for them as the better reading. The reference of the pronoun is obvious.
that they might be saved] Lit., simply, unto salvation. His choice, and consequent petition, take that direction.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) My heart’s desire.—Strictly, the goodwill of my heart.…
X.
(1) My heart’s desire.—Strictly, the goodwill of my heart. The earlier portion of this chapter is occupied with a more particular exposition of the cause of Israel’s rejection, which has been just alleged. They sought to do a hard thing—to work out a righteousness for themselves—instead of an easy thing—simply to believe in Christ.
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This chapter, like the last, is introduced by an expression of the Apostle’s own warm affection for his people and his earnest desire for their salvation.
For Israel.—The true text is, “for them.” “Israel” has been put in the margin as an explanatory gloss, and thence found its way into the text. What made the rejection of Israel so peculiarly pathetic was that they were not a mere godless and irreligious people. On the contrary, they had a sincere zeal for religion, but it was a misdirected and ill-judged zeal.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In this chapter the view of the whole subject…
In this chapter the view of the whole subject introduced at Rom_9:30 is continued and carried out, according to which the present rejection of the Jews as a nation is traced to no absolute and irreversible Divine decree, but to their own refusal to accept God"s plan of mercy to all mankind; testimonies being, as usual, adduced from the Old Testament in support of the argument. But, before proceeding, the apostle renews expression of his regret (cf. Rom_9:1, seq. ) at the present position of his countrymen, and his earnest desire that it should be otherwise.
Brethren, my heart"s desire (eudokia , expressing good will) and prayer to God for them (for Israel, as in the Textus Receptus, has no good support) is, that they may be saved (literally, is unto salvation). "Non orasset Paulus, si absolute reprobati essent" (Bengel).
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Solicitude and supplication for the salvation of sinners.
Paul was himself a Jew, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. His first ministry was to Israelites, and, when upon his missionary tours, he made it his first business to address the frequenters of the synagogues. By his training and by his associations, and also by his evangelistic intercourse with his countrymen, he understood the Jewish mind, and how to deal with it. From the Jews he met with obstacles, opposition, and persecution; and he could not be blind to their faults and errors. This, however, did not prompt him to anger or to neglect; he loved his nation, and felt the claim of kindred and nationality. He laboured, spoke, wrote, and prayed for his Jewish kin; he sought above all things their salvation. Looking away from the special reference, let us consider the words of the apostle as supplying an example of the benevolent spirit of Christianity.
I WE MUST BE AWARE THAT THERE IS A WIDESPREAD NEED OF SALVATION. Many of our neighbours need saving from debasing vice and unjustifiable, inexcusable crime; many have fallen into dangerous errors, from which they need to be delivered; many need to be awakened from the densest ignorance and carelessness with regard to spiritual realities. Some are sensible of their need; multitudes are utterly indifferent to it. Go to a hospital, and you will see many and varied forms of disease, accident, privation, affecting men"s bodily state all want healing. So is it with sinful society: salvation, and nothing less than salvation, is the world"s great want.
II WE KNOW THAT THERE IS SALVATION FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT. As Christians, we are assured that our Redeemer is a mighty, all-sufficient Saviour; we believe that he came that the world should be saved through him; we have been authoritatively told that he is "the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world;" that God is "the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe." Further, we have ourselves experienced the grace and power of Jesus to pardon, purify, and bless; and what he has done for us he can do for others. The offers and promises of his gospel are free and valid. He saves to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.
III CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE ANXIOUS AND PRAYERFUL ON BEHALF OF SINNERS THAT THEY MAY BE SAVED. In this the apostle is an example to all who have themselves tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
1. It should be our heart"s "good pleasure" (for such is the literal rendering). A benevolent mind, in sympathy with the Saviour, who pitied, wept over, expostulated with sinners, will find pleasure in witnessing the power of the gospel to rescue and to save the lost.
2. Supplication should be offered with a view to the same end. We know that such prayer is acceptable; for Christ has said, "It is not the pleasure of my Father that one of these should perish." Supplication should not be selfish; it should be intercessory and benevolent.
IV CHRISTIANS SHOULD USE THE APPOINTED MEANS FOR THE SALVATION OF THEIR FELLOW-MEN. Sympathy and prayer, unaccompanied by effort, would be a mockery. Certainly, Paul was not the man to grieve over his erring countrymen, and at the same time to neglect endeavours for their recovery. Some of us may preach the gospel, others may "send" the preachers, others may invite their neighbours to hear the gospel; sympathy and prayer will lead to some form of practical effort.
APPLICATION.
1. Whilst others are concerned for your salvation, are you seeking this salvation for yourself?
2. Are you manifesting practically solicitude for the spiritual good of your neighbours and fellow-men?
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN. Vers. 1-4. Israel"s strength and weakness.
The apostle returns again to the tender solicitude for the spiritual welfare of Israel which he had already expressed in the beginning of the ninth chapter. He was no blind bigot. He could recognize the good qualities even of those from whom he differed. He knew how far Israel had departed from the truth of God, and yet he is quick to perceive that, even amid their errors and sins, there is much that is commendable in their character. What an example for every Christian, and especially in these days, when ecclesiastical divisions are so numerous and so sharply defined, to recognize what is good even in those from whom we differ most widely!
I ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE.
1. Israel"s zeal was an element of strength. "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God" (ver. 2). The apostle does them the justice of recognizing their zeal for God. Here he could speak with sympathy, the sympathy of personal experience. He knew how, before his conversion to Christianity, he himself had been influenced by the same sincere, though mistaken, desire for God"s glory. "I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day". (Act_22:3) Here is the same sympathetic recognition of Jewish zeal. This quality, when rightly applied, was their strength. It well fitted them to be the bearers of God"s message, and the channel of his blessings, to the world. A people without zeal will never accomplish anything permanent or great.
2. Zeal without knowledge was their weakness. They had a zeal of God, "but not according to knowledge." Zeal is not necessarily an unmixed blessing. Yet there are many who commend earnestness, utterly irrespective of the motives from which it proceeds, the methods it adopts, or the ends it has in view. On this principle the doctrines held or the character exhibited are of small importance, provided only there is earnestness and zeal. Mohammedanism and the Inquisition would therefore be both laudable, because they exhibited zeal. Zeal without knowledge may become the opened floodgate for a torrent of evil. Zeal in religion may lead to any excesses if it is not restrained and tempered by the wisdom which God"s Word imparts.
II WORKS WITHOUT FAITH. "For they being ignorant of God"s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (ver. 3). Thus it is plain that sincerity and morality will not save the human soul or procure acceptance with God. The essential condition of salvation is faith. Faith will lead us to accept God"s plan of salvation, and to be guided by his Word in our efforts to obtain it. St. Paul"s description of the Jews here might be appropriately applied to our Roman Catholic and ritualistic brethren. They too have a zeal for God. Their zeal and earnestness cannot be questioned. But their zeal is often not according to knowledge. They too are "going about to establish their own righteousness." They substitute works for faith, and by legal observances, by rites and ceremonies, by lastings and penances, they seek to work out s righteousness for themselves. Christ and his Word are too much set aside, and Church and priest and the commandments of men are set up in their place. Let us admit their strength, let us imitate their zeal, while affectionately "speaking the truth in love" we point out and avoid their weakness. C.H.I
HOMILIES BY T.F. LOCKYER Vers. 1-11. The freeness of salvation.
The apostle"s heart yearns for his people. For he recognizes their sincerity in much of their grievous mistaking of the ways of God. They had zeal for God, though the zeal was unreasonable and irreligious. Unreasonable; for how can man make himself just before God, guilty and sinful as he is? and why should the Jew think that, if this were possible, only one small portion of the race should be suffered to work out its righteousness? Irreligious; for instead of the humility as regards one"s self, and the charity as regards others, which are two essentials of the life in God, there was a proud self-assertiveness, and a narrow bigotry. They must learn that God"s favour is by grace (vers. 5-11), and for all (vers. 12-21). We have here-the freeness of salvation.
I THE ERROR OF THE JEWS.
1. Ignorance. "Of God"s righteousness." That is, of the fact that the justification of a sinner can only come of God"s free grace. Surely their Law might have taught them this: negatively, for it should have made them realize their own utter imperfectness and impotence; positively, for had they not read (Gen_15:6) that Abraham was counted righteous through faith in God? and (Hab_2:4) that all just ones shall live by faith?
2. Self-sufficiency. "Seeking to establish their own." That is (see Godet), as a monument, raised, not to God"s glory, but to show forth their own achievements. Here was the pride of man, which must be brought down before any way can be made towards God. (Mat_5:3)
3. Disobedience. "Did not subject themselves." For the very faith whereby we receive God"s free forgiveness is an act of submission, an abnegating of our false pride, a yielding to a way which is higher and better than our own. (see Rom_1:5 Rom_6:17)
4. Frustration of the very purport of their own Law. "For Christ is the End of the Law." All was designed to lead to him; the holy commands were to make them know their guilt and weakness, and crave for pardon and grace; the sacrifices and ceremonies were at once to stamp the fact of sin more deeply into their consciousness, and to give them a glimmering hope of propitiation and purifying. To Christ all these things directly and indirectly tended; but the veil was on their eyes, that they "should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away". (2Co_3:13)
II THE TRUTH OF GOD.
1. The righteousness which is of the Law" was, that it should be done by man"s efforts, conjoined with the grace of God. For, according to God"s intent, grace was with the giving of the Law: pardon, for realized imperfection; help, for realized frailty; the coming of Christ, as the end of all its precepts and ceremonial. But if man would ignore this element of grace, there was nothing for him but a perfect fulfilling of an impossible righteousness! Doing it, he should live by it. They tried; the world has tried: the end thereof is death!
2. The righteousness which is of faith" hath taught us better things.
(1) Not the severe effort of the soul, by ecstatic contemplation, to attain to communion with Heaven: the Buddhist, the Christian mystic. For Heaven has come down to earth; we have but to confess the Sonship of Jesus, and live a life in him who has hallowed all life. (Consider the Incarnation, and the gift of the Spirit, as illustrating "the Word is nigh thee.") So, "the trivial round," etc.
(2) Not the painful anguish of the soul, as by a crucifixion, to make atonement for its guilt: the devotee, the ascetic. For the atonement is made, and, to testify its completeness, he has risen from the dead. We have but to believe this in our heart, and then, "there is now no condemnation.
Yes, the faith which works by love: accepting with all our heart the free forgiveness which is through Christ"s death, and acknowledging him with our whole life as our true Lord and King. So no shame, but perfect liberty and perfect love. T.F.L.
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE Ver. 1. Anxiety for the salvation of our fellows.
It is the lot of reformers to be twitted as renegades, and to be exposed to the taunt of indifference to the welfare of their old companions. So the apostle was charged with noxiously subverting ancient customs, and he found it necessary to justify himself even to Jewish Christians against the reproach of wanton molestation of the hopes of Israel. It is difficult for prejudice in its blind conservatism to see that the change proposed is intended for the furtherance, not the injury, of what is held most dear the emancipation of the spirit by the transformation of the body. The apostle lays bare his heart to attest his intense yearning for the spiritual good of his traducers.
I WHY DID THE APOSTLE LONG SO ARDENTLY FOR THEIR SALVATION? He could not forget that the Saviour died to draw all men unto himself. A sinner unsaved lessens the reward of the "travail of his soul" and detracts from the possible glory of the atonement. But further, these men were his fellow-countrymen. Surely the condition of our "kinsmen according to the flesh" must be uppermost in our thoughts, and each man"s efforts naturally commence at his own house, his own neighbourhood, his own nation. Then, they were the descendants of men signally honoured in the past. Their lineage was so distinguished, that Paul could not calmly witness the exclusion from the kingdom of God of these sons of patriarchs and prophets. They were in a special sense the "brethren" for whom Christ died. What more affecting today than to witness religious apathy in the families of the godly, to see the place of the fathers unoccupied by the children in the house of faith? And the apostle had visions of the splendid results that would ensue if the veil were removed from their hearts, and they should recognize in the Nazarene their wished-for Messiah. What should the receiving of them into the Church be but "life from the dead"? The same reason impels us to seek the conversion of many around, whose talents and earnestness might be of such signal service in our ranks. As Saul the persecutor became Paul the missionary, so we may look upon a bigoted opponent as a potential future enthusiast in the cause of Christ.
II HOW DID THE APOSTLE"S CONCERN EXPRESS ITSELF? We answerIn his preaching. He ever visited first the Jews and the synagogue in his tours. It was God"s design that the gospel should be first preached to his ancient people, that by rejecting or receiving the message they might either fill up the measure of their iniquity and crucify the Saviour afresh, or free themselves from the guilt of their nation and welcome the breaking down of the partition wall between Jew and Gentile. And the writings of the apostle evince his unabated regard and anxiety for the Jews. He declared that he could wish himself "anathema" from Christ, if that self-sacrifice could procure their redemption. We are reminded of the supreme act of self-abnegation by Moses on the mount, when rejecting Jehovah"s offer to create from him a new people in the stead of that corrupt and obstinate generation. The apostle"s language breathes the spirit of the cross of Christ it is an emanation to the disciple from the Master"s self-immolation for the good of men. The prayers of the apostle showed the genuineness of his affectionate solicitude. Prayer is a thermometer that gauges the warmth of our desire to save men from misery and ruin. Does not the teacher bring the members of the class before God in earnest petitions, and the parent his children? We care little for those who are never mentioned in our supplications. Let us remember them where it most avails.
III WHAT CONTRIBUTED TO MAKE THIS DEEP CONCERN SO NOTEWORTHY? It was prayer for men who hated and maltreated him. With rancorous unceasing enmity did the Jews pursue the apostle. They were the chief cause of his imprisonments and tortures, they did their utmost to mar his success and embitter his labours, and at last secured his death. Thinking of their attempts to overthrow the faith of Christian converts, the apostle could use strong language for their discomfiture; but on his knees, in the solemn presence of the God and Father of all, larger and more generous thoughts possessed his soul, and he forgot all his personal annoyances in the overmastering impulse to seek their salvation. If wronged by any, take the matter to the throne of grace, and you shall begin to pity and then pray for him that did the wrong. It was prayer for those who had proved obstinate, and whose salvation seemed little likely.
No acquaintance with the decrees of God, nor the fact of God"s forethought and foreordination, could hinder the apostle"s entreaties. What a lesson for us not to despair, not to faint! Our mistrust too often paralyzes our intercessions, our human reasonings "limit the Holy One of Israel." This was a benefit conferred which they had no power to refuse. Prayer is a kind office which we may render to men who would accept nothing else at our hands. This they cannot hinder. S.R.A.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-11. Confession of a risen Saviour.
In the previous chapter we saw a Christian patriot lamenting that so many of his fellow-countrymen, through rejecting God"s mercy manifested in Christ Jesus, were becoming mere vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. At the same time, he sees in Divine sovereignty, its incidence and its justice, the real clue to the philosophy of history and the progress of the world. In the present chapter he discusses the rejection of Israel and its reasons, and the nature of that acceptance and salvation which the Gentiles received after the Jews had despised them. In the verses now claiming attention we have the apostle leading his readers up to faith in and confession of a risen Saviour.
I THE MISDIRECTED ZEAL OF THE APOSTLE"S COUNTRYMEN. (Vers. 1-3) The apostle"s desire and "supplication" (so Revised Version) for the Jews was that they might be saved. But, alas! their misdirected zeal was preventing their salvation. For instead of submitting to the righteousness which is of God, instead of making their way to Christ, who is the End to whom the Law when properly understood leads, they were going about with the one object of establishing their own righteousness. This zeal Paul knew himself experimentally. For years he also had aimed at Law-keeping, and in his self-ignorance he thought that touching the righteousness which is in the Law" he was "blameless". (Php_3:6) But the Law-keeping may be in the letter and not in the spirit. The spirit of the Law is love; yet Paul and the Pharisees tithed mint and anise and cummin, while they lived lives of hate, and hesitated not to persecute Christ-like people even to the death. To keep self-righteousness before the soul as the end of life is simply misdirected zeal. It keeps us away from Christ and all the bliss which his fellowship implies. And so a day came when Paul saw that his roundabout way, going about to establish his own righteousness, was a delusion, a snare, a loss, and not a gain, for it kept him long years from Christ. Let us be clear that we are not under a similar delusion. Let us give up self-righteousness and take God"s better way.
II A RISEN SAVIOUR IS THE END OF THE LAW AND OBJECT OF FAITH. (Ver. 4) Now, the moment we are led to take a spiritual view of God"s Law, to see that it demands perfect motive as well as decent outward morality, we see that we cannot keep it in its length and breadth; and therefore, instead of living by Law-keeping, we are condemned by the Law as its transgressors. Self-righteousness is seen to be self-deception. Condemnation is seen to be our natural state. Then is it that Christ and his perfect righteousness dawn upon our condemned and polluted souls. We see that he has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and so the Law serves its purpose when it lays us down at the feet of Christ, to be justified by faith. Instead of trusting our own righteousness, we see in our risen Saviour the true Object of faith and Source of righteousness. We pass out of shame into confidence in his finished work.
III THIS RISEN SAVIOUR IS EASILY FOUND. (Vers. 6-9) The idea of the human heart is that by some prodigious effort salvation must be secured. Abana and Pharpar are further off, as well as likelier rivers, than this brawling Jordan hard by, and so Naaman cries out, "May I not wash in them, and be clean?" Only ask us to do some great thing in order to salvation, and our self-righteousness will be secured, and we shall be satisfied. (cf. 2Ki_5:12, 2Ki_5:13) A far-off salvation suits man"s taste the best. Set it in heaven, and he will rack his brains for some ingenious device by which he will fly away and be at rest. Set it beyond the sea, and boats will be built and the voyage undertaken with alacrity. (cf. Deu_30:11-13) Make salvation to consist in a bringing of Christ down from above, and men like Titans will try to scale Olympus. Make salvation to consist in a descent to the lower world to bring Christ up from the dead, and many will try a journey like Orpheus after the lost Eurydice, to bring the Saviour from the shadows. But we have got to see that the risen Saviour is not so far away or so hard to find as this. As Charles Kingsley once wrote to a lady, "My object has been and is, and I trust in God ever will be, to make people see that they need not, as St. Paul says, go up into heaven, or go down to the deep, to find Christ; because he, the Word whom we preach, is very near them, in their hearts and on their lips, if they would but believe it; and ready, not to set them afloat on new and untried oceans of schemes and projects, but ready to inspire them to do their duty humbly and simply where he has put them and, believe me, the only way to regenerate the world is to do the duty which lies nearest us, and not to hunt after grand, far-fetched ones for ourselves." In the Word of the gospel the risen Saviour comes near to every one of us. We do not require any prodigious effort to reach him. We have simply to open the eye of faith, and there he is.
IV THE RISEN SAVIOUR MUST BE CONFESSED WHEN FOUND. (Vers. 10, 11) Faith in a risen Saviour who is waiting to be found of us must prove its genuineness by the confession of his Name. It is when we take the Lord"s side deliberately that we have tested the reality of our faith. There is a cowardly tendency to believe, but not confess; to get the benefits of salvation without running a single risk for our Saviour. But such a selfish, easy-going faith is mere delusion. Whoever really believes in Jesus will not be ashamed to confess him. And consequently we are encouraged first to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and then to confess him as our risen Saviour before men. There is undoubtedly a disposition to separate salvation from confession of Christ. It is thought to be wise and prudent to accept of the benefits Christ can offer, and at the same time to be silent about them. "Secret discipleship" is thought to be a masterpiece of wisdom. Everything is thus gained, and nothing risked or lost. But is everything gained? Is nothing risked or lost? Is the secret disciple ever likely to become a man of nobility and courage? Does he secure even self-respect? Must he not feel very much as a debtor who is always trying to shirk his obligations and ignore the debt? Or take the matter in the concrete. Was Nicodemus noble as he visited Jesus by night, and kept his discipleship a secret from the Sanhedrin? Was Joseph of Arimathaea noble as he gave his heart to the despised Saviour, but continued afraid to confess him? Neither man became noble until the Crucifixion brought decision, and they vied with each other what respect they could show to the remains of their great Master. Or would Saul of Tarsus have ever become the noble apostle of the Gentiles if he had sneaked into Damascus after his conversion, and resolved to risk nothing for his new-found Saviour? The manly character which Saul cultivated by confessing Christ was an infinite gain. It thus appears that confession of Christ is the wise test of the reality of our faith in him. May we all stand the test, and not be ashamed of him! R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for…
Rom_10:1-13
Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
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Pauls desire and prayer
I. Predestination should be no barrier in the way of prayer. The text derives a special interest from the very position which it occupies. He who saw the farthest into the counsels of the Divinity above, saw nothing there which should affect either the diligence or the devotions of any humble worshipper below. However indelibly the ultimate futurities of man are written in the book of heaven, this should not foreclose but rather stimulate his prayers. Let us quit arduous speculation, and keep by obvious duty--taking our lesson from Paul, who, though just alighted from the daring ascents among the past ordinations of the Godhead, forthwith busies himself among the plain and the present duties of the humble Christian. Theology has its altitudes shooting upwardly to heaven till lost in the cloudy envelopment which surrounds them. Yet there is a clear path which winds around its basement, and by which the lowliest of Zions travellers may find an ascending way that will land him in a place of purest transparency, where he shall know even as he is known.
II. Unless the desire of the heart goes before it, it is no prayer at all. The virtue does not lie in the articulation, but altogether in the wish which prompts it. It is thus that we can pray without ceasing. In the case of prayer, God has committed Himself to the amplest promises of fulfilment; but He is not pledged to the accomplishment of any prayer where the desire of the heart does not originate the utterance of the mouth. The want of such desire nullifies the prayer; and to imagine otherwise would be to countenance the superstition that a religious service consists in mere ceremonial. Be assured of this and of every other ordinance of Christianity, that, unless impregnated with life and meaning, it is but a body without a soul--a mere service which the hand can perform, but which the heart with all its high functions has no share in. It stands in the same relation of inferiority to genuine religion that the drudgery of an animal does to the devotion of a seraph. In one word, if in the doing of any ordinance there be not the intercourse of mind with mind, there substantially is nothing; and yet we fear it to be just such a nothingness as is yielded by many who are regular in prayer, and who walk with decency and order through the rounds of a sacrament.
III. The subject of the prayer. That Israel might be saved.
1. It is not all desire that will meet with acceptance in heaven, for the same Scripture which holds out the promise of ask, and ye shall receive, has also held out the warning that many ask and receive not because they ask amiss.
2. Still, Scripture does furnish the principles by which to discriminate the warrantable from the unwarrantable, and so classifies the topics of prayer. It is written that if we ask any thing according to His will He heareth us. This does not confer a sanction upon every suit, but certainly upon a vast number of them. Thus, surely, every petition in the Lords Prayer may be preferred with utmost confidence; and so it is that while we have no warrant to pray for this worlds riches, we have a perfect warrant to pray for daily bread. The same principle of agreeableness to the will of God sustains our faith, when praying for the salvation of ourselves or others, being expressly told that God willeth such intercessions to be made for all men, and on this ground too that He willeth all men to be saved.
3. So near does God bring salvation to us that there is no obstacle between our sincere wish for it and our secure possession of it. At least there is but one stepping-stone between them; and that is prayer. And so let us ask till we receive--let us seek till we find--let us knock till the door of salvation is opened to us.
IV. The whole extent and import of the term salvation.
1. Its common acceptance is a deliverance from the penalty of sin. Whereas, additionally to this, it signifies deliverance from sin itself. He shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins--save them from a great deal more than the torment of sins penalty, even from the tyranny of sins power. The first secures for the sinner a change of place, the second a change of principle. This last is the constituting essence of salvation; the other more the accompaniment. The one takes place after death. The other takes place now.
2. The legitimate desire, then, which should animate the heart when the mouth utters a prayer for salvation is for a future happiness, but also for a present holiness. Man might like to be put into a state of happiness without holiness; but God does not like that such a happiness shall be conferred upon him. It is most assuredly not Gods will that heaven should be peopled with any but those who are of the same family likeness with Himself. He loves the happiness of His creatures, but He loves their virtue more. And so from Paradise all that offendeth shall be rooted out. Now remember that in praying to be saved, you just pray that such a heaven may be the place of your settlement through all eternity. Else there is no significancy in your prayer. It is not enough that you seize by faith on a deed of justification. You must enter forthwith on a busy process of sanctification. Now that a way for the ransomed of the Lord is open, let us forget not that it is a way of holiness. There is a work of salvation going on in heaven, and by which Jesus Christ is there employed in preparing a place for us. But there is also a work of salvation going on in earth, and by which Jesus Christ through His Word and Spirit is here employed in preparing us for the place. And our distinct business is to be ever practising and ever improving ourselves in the virtues of this preparation. This desire for salvation, then, if rightly understood, is desire for a present holiness.
V. But this is an intercessory prayer, and suggests what we ought to do for the salvation of those who are dear to us. Paul had made many a vain effort for the salvation of his countrymen; but after every effort failed, still he had recourse to prayer. The desire of his heart was not extinguished by the disappointment he met with.
1. This might serve as admonition to those whose hearts are set on the salvation of relatives or friends--to the mother who has watched and laboured for years that the good seed might have future in the hearts of her children, but does not find that this precious deposit has yet settled or had occupation there, etc., etc. Let them never forget, that what has heretofore been impracticable to performance may not be impracticable to prayer. With man it may be impossible; but with God all things are possible. That cause which has so oft been defeated and is now hopeless on the field of exertion, may on the field of prayer and of faith be triumphant. God willeth intercessions to be made for all men, and He willeth all men to be saved. These declarations place you on firm and high vantage-ground in praying for souls. This, however, is a matter on which parents may delude themselves. They may be glad to stand exonerated from the fatigues of performance, and take refuge in the formalities of prayer. That prayer never can avail which is not the prayer of honesty, and it is not the prayer of honesty if, even though you pray to the uttermost for the religion of others, you do not also perform to the uttermost. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
Pauls desire and prayer
Notice here--
I. The apostle. Observe--
1. That ministers are not only to preach against wicked persons, and to exhort their people to obedience, but also to pray for them, as Samuel and Jeremiah did (1Sa_12:23; Jer_13:17).
2. When ministers are to speak of a matter that may distaste, they must wisely prevent all offence by preparing the minds of the hearers, and showing that they speak out of love, and a desire of their salvation. As physicians prepare, and nurses sometimes still their little ones with singing, so also must ministers attempt every way which may profit their people.
3. Paul loves the Jews, but tells them plainly of their faults; so must ministers do. The way to get peace among men is not to reprove, but this is the way to lose the peace of God.
4. The condition of ministers is painful. The care to save souls that we may give up a good account is infinite. But our joy is in the conscionable discharge of our duty, and for such as receive the Word with reverence we praise God for the joy wherewith we rejoice on their behalf (1Th_3:9).
II. The Christian. Observe--
1. Though the Jews seek Pauls life, yet he loves them. We are Pharisees by nature, loving our friends and hating our foes, but we are Christians by grace, and therefore must love our enemies and pray for them, as our Saviour taught and practised. Every man can love his friend, but only a godly man can love his enemy; and in this doing we do ourselves more good than our enemies. If, then, thou canst so rule thine affection as to love thine enemy and pray for him, it will be a sweet comfort to thy breast.
2. Pauls love was hearty; so let thine be. Some, after a controversy is ended, will promise friendship, but with a reservation of revenge. Judas kissed Christ, and betrayed Him; and Joab saluted Amasa courteously and slew him. Remember thou to mean the truth thou makest show of.
3. Let thy love appear in kind words and salutations, as Paul calls the Jews brethren, which condemns the practice of some, who, if they be offended, show that they are possessed either with a dumb devil--they will not speak; or with a railing devil--if they speak it shall be with taunts and reproaches.
4. Pray for them thou lovest. Thou shalt never have any comfort of his friendship for whom thou dost not pray. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)
Pauls chief desire for his countrymen
I. A title which should never be forgotten. Brethren has in its surroundings here more than one lesson for us. Did we remember this in the world, what a very much better world it would be; how much more and truer interest we would take in each other; how much less selfishness, how much more sympathy there would be felt and manifested. And, then, if we remembered it in the church, how much liker Christ the Church and Christians would be.
II. A marriage which none should divorce. My hearts desire and prayer to God. Let these two always be united. Then our hearts desires shall be right, and our prayers real; and then too our hearts desires shall be granted, our prayers answered. View the phrase for a moment from both sides. First, as it stands. Whatever is our hearts desire, let us make it our prayer to God. For several reasons we should do so; but to mention only two, one is, should our hearts desire be wrong, we shall find ourselves unable to pray for it; or in the very praying for it we shall discover its wrongness; and so praying against it we shall get rid of it, and rid too of the distraction which it causes. And the second is, if on the other hand our hearts desire be right, prayer to God is the true way and the sure way to secure it. Turn also the phrase about, and learn from it another lesson. Our prayer to God should be, and ever, our hearts desire, and we do not pray really until or unless it is so.
III. A patriotism above suspicion: for israel. Not all so-called patriotism is above suspicion. Sometimes it is simply partyism, and the interests of a section are sought, not of the nation as a whole. Sometimes, again, patriotism is but personalism; apparently zealous for the country or for the party, some are simply seeking through the party to serve and secure their own individual interests. Such patriotism bears the name, but it is not the thing. The patriotism, however, here exemplified, is of another stamp. It is patriotism of the highest kind and type.
IV. A need which is the most imperative. That they might be saved. Paul tells us elsewhere that he felt this need the most imperative for himself. He says, I count all things but loss, etc. (Php_3:8-9). And so here he speaks of it in the same way for others. And is it not so? Is this not the principal thing? What about health; what about wealth; what about all the gratification of earthly pleasures, the carrying out of earthly plans, the establishing of earthly prospects in comparison, or rather in contrast, with this? We need to be saved because we have sinned, and because we are already under sentence, and because we are utterly unable to remove or to escape that sentence by any merits or by any efforts of our own.. And let us rejoice that we may be saved. God is not willing that any should perish.
V. An earnestness which may be an error. For I bear them record, he continues, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. This may be said too about many of our countrymen. They put us to shame by the attention they pay to religious rights and duties. It might be said too about some amongst ourselves. But let us remember religiousness is not always religion. To be saved, we must come to a knowledge of the truth. Mere earnestness, mere sincerity will not avail.
VI. An ignorance which is quite inexcusable. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness. Gods righteousness means here, Gods method of justification; and this phrase suggesting the question, what is that method? may I not characterise ignorance of it as quite, inexcusable. God has so plainly, and fully, and repeatedly revealed it in His Word, that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein. See the succeeding verses here from the 5th to the 10th.
VII. An effort which must always be a failure. And going about to establish their own righteousness. Many would like to be saved, but they do not like to be beholden to Christ for salvation; or at all events they do not like to be beholden to Him entirely. And so they go about to establish their own righteousness, wearying themselves for very vanity. The apostles idea or image here would seem to be as if men in this attempt were trying continuously to set up upon its feet that which had no feet to stand upon; or as if they were persevering with stones unsquared, and mortar untempered to raise up, upon an insecure foundation, a wall which, ever as they raised it, tottered and toppled down again.
VIII. An obstinacy which must end in ruin. That is, it must do so if we continue it. If we wilt not submit ourselves to the righteousness of God; if, in other words, we will not consent to be saved through the redemption and righteousness of Christ; then we utterly shut the door of hope against ourselves, and leave God no alternative but to pronounce our doom. Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him; but there is no salvation in any other.
IX. A direction which is simple and certain. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. In order to salvation men can do nothing; but Christ has done all; He has made an end of sin and brought in everlasting righteousness.
X. A sine qua non of salvation. Many forget or fail to realise this: and therefore look for salvation to mercy alone. They do not take into account that if the sinner is to be saved, he cannot under the administration of God the righteous judge be so by any suspension of law, or setting aside of it; or by any failure to meet its just demands either of precept or punishment. In the salvation of the sinner, in other words, truth and mercy must meet together; and righteousness and peace embrace each other: and these can only meet, can only embrace in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
XI. An opportunity abundantly open to all. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
XII. A means sublimely simple to a salvation sublimely sure and glorious. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (D. Jamison, B.A.)
A comprehensive desire
Paul had just spoken with apparent severity of his brethren. To them his doctrines were peculiarly offensive. They must have regarded him as a traitor. Still he loved his kindred, and his loving heart gushes forth in this comprehensive desire. It is--
I. Heartfelt. My hearts desire. Not all who are interested in the salvation of men are influenced by this desire. There may be--
1. A professional desire. The evangelist, the teacher, the pastor may have it.
2. A duteous desire. Better this than none.
3. An intellectual desire. Pauls intellect was active, but it was sweetly submissive to Christ. All this gave him power. It gives power to-day. This is true of music, of art, of poetry. No heart, no power. Love evokes love. Heart responds to heart.
II. Prayerful. Genuine desire must voice itself in prayer. Our hearts desire is our prayer. The heart that goes out to men must go up to God. Often the shortest and surest way to reach men is by way of Gods throne.
III. Fraternal. Paul was a cosmopolitan man; still he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. The Christian is the true Jew. Judaism is the root; Christianity is the flower and the fruit. Judaism the dawn; Christianity is the splendour of noon. When Paul became a Christian he found that for which he always sought. Now he longs for his brethren. So ought we. There is a sanctified patriotism.
IV. Evangelical. That they might be saved. This was Christlike. Nothing short of this could satisfy the apostle. Not enough for them to be saved from national disaster; not enough from earthly sorrow. They must be saved from sin here, and death hereafter. Are you saved? Then make Pauls comprehensive desire yours. (R. S. MacArthur, D.D.)
Apostolic patriotism
St. Paul was not more distinguished as a saint and an apostle than as a patriot. His patriotism had a philosophy which discovered the cause of his countrys evils, and a policy exquisitely fitted to remove them. Without ignoring its temporal interests, his main endeavour was to raise its benighted intellect to light, and turn the current of its moral sympathies into the channel of truth and holiness. It was not an occasional sentiment passing off in chanting national airs or delivering florid speeches; it was with him a hearts desire and prayer to God. It was consistent with, and a development of, true philanthropy. The passion that inspires men to ruin other countries in order to aggrandise their own, has no affinity with the apostles passion. The statesmen, warriors, kings, who violate the eternal rights of man, bring a ruinous retribution upon their country. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. The apostles patriotism--
I. Sought the highest good of his country. What was that? Augmented wealth, extended dominion, a higher state of intellectual culture? No, salvation. Salvation is the master-theme of the Bible, the great want of the race. It implies deliverance from all evil, and a right state of soul in which every thought shall be true, every emotion felicitous, every act holy, and every scene gleaming with the smiles of an approving God. This hearts desire implies a conviction--
1. That his countrymen needed salvation. Their physical blessings were great; his brethren according to the flesh lived in a beautiful country. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. His countrymen had also the oracles of God, etc. Yet in spite of all this the apostle regarded his brethren as lost. He looked into the moral heart of his country, and he found that the soul was dead and dark under sin and condemnation; hence he sought their salvation. Whatever else a country has, if it has not true religion it is lost. This is its great want. Give it this, and every other good will come. All political and social evils grow out of moral causes, and godliness alone can remove these. It is profitable therefore unto all things.
2. A conviction that the salvation of his countrymen requires the interposition of God. Why else did he pray? The apostle believed in the adaptation of the gospel to effect the spiritual restoration of mankind. His triumphs he ever gratefully ascribed to the agency of God, and the co-operation of that agency was the grand invocation of his most earnest prayers. I have planted, Apollos watered, etc. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
3. A conviction that this interposition of God is to be obtained by intercessory prayer. Hence he prays for others; hence he calls for others to pray for him and his apostolic coadjutors. I know not how prayer influences the Almighty, nor why it should; but I know that it does, and that it must be employed if human labour in His cause is ever to be crowned with efficiency. The true patriot is a man of prayer. Never did David act more truly a patriots part than when he breathed this prayer to heaven:--Let the people praise Thee, O God, etc.
II. Recognised the characteristic evils of his country.
1. Corrupt zealotism (verse 2). He himself had been a Jewish zealot, and was therefore qualified to pronounce a judgment upon it. Zeal is an important element in every undertaking. There is not much success where it is not. But when it is dissociated from intelligence it is fraught with evils. Zeal when directed to wrong objects, when directed to right objects in wrong proportions, and when it cannot assign an intelligent reason for its action, is zeal without knowledge. This zeal was one of the cardinal evils amongst the Jews. Knowledge and zeal should always be associated. The former without the latter is a well-equipped vessel on a placid sea without the propulsion of steam, billow, or breeze. The latter without the former is like a bark on the billows with propulsion and no rudder. Both combined is like a goodly ship trading from port to port at will, steering clear of dangers, coping gallantly with hostile elements, and fulfilling the mission of its masters.
2. Ignorance of Christianity (verse 3). By Gods righteousness, here, we understand not His personal rectitude, but that merciful method by which He makes corrupt men right (Rom_8:2-3). Of this method the Jews were ignorant. Men perish for the lack of this knowledge. In the case of the Jew it was not only ruinous, but culpable. They had the means of knowledge.
3. Self-righteousness (verse 2). They considered their own righteousness to consist in their patriarchal descent, and their conformity to the letter of the law. In this they gloried as that which distinguished them from all the nations of the earth, and which met the righteous claims of Heaven. The apostle himself once felt this to be his glory (Php_3:1-21.). The Pharisee in the temple was a type of the leading religious sect, and his language is expressive of its spirit.
4. Gospel rejection. Have not submitted, etc. This is the grand result of all other evils, and the crowning sin of all. They refused the only Physician who could heal their diseases; the only Liberator that could break their fetters, the only Priest whose sacrifice could atone for their guilt. Such are some of the evils which Paul as a patriot discovered and deplored in his country. He is no patriot who shuts his eyes to his countrys crimes, and pours into her ears the most fulsome eulogies. Call not this patriotism; call it moral obliquity.
III. Proposed the right method for saving his country (verse 4). Note--
1. That righteousness is essential to the well-being of the people. There is no true happiness without righteousness. All the social, political, religious, moral evils under which all men and nations groan, spring from the want of righteousness. As no individual can be happy until he has been made thoroughly right in heart, so no people or country can. This rectitude is the only element that can work off all the evils that afflict mankind, and give them the tone and blessedness of a vigorous health. This is the only key-note that can set the discordant elements of the world to music. The righteousness which is essential to the salvation of a soul, is that which alone exalteth a nation.
2. That the grand aim of the moral law is to promote righteousness. Righteousness is the end of the law. The law was holy, just, and good. Conformity to it is righteousness in the creature (verse 5).
3. That the righteousness which the law aimed to promote is to be obtained by faith in Christ (verse 4). Christ did not abolish law, on the contrary He fulfilled it. He wrought out its principles in a grand life; He demonstrated its majesty in a wonderful death. Instead of releasing His disciples from obligation to the law, He brings the law to them with a mightier aspect and a greater force of motive. And the apostles method of making the sinner righteous is by faith in Christ. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Pauls concern for his people
I. its object--their salvation.
II. The cause of it (Rom_9:32).
III. Its intensity.
1. Heartfelt.
2. Inspired by the Spirit of God and belief of the truth.
IV. Its expression.
1. Prayer to God.
2. Effort. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The salvation of Israel
I. Contemplate the history of the Hebrew people, and judge whether it deserves our respect and veneration. And first, reflect on its antiquity. Before the empire of Persia was founded, when Greece was overrun by a few barbarian hordes, and Italy was an unpeopled wilderness, the race of Abraham was chosen by the Divine Founder of all empires as one distinct and peculiar people; incorporated by an inviolable charter from the Supreme Monarch of the universe, no human power has been able, for four thousand years, to dissolve its union, or shake its stability. But if this nation is venerable, as the grand depository of historical truth and ancient wisdom, much more is it distinguished and consecrated as the chosen instrument which the Divinity has employed for the religious instruction of mankind, the guardians and witnesses of every sacred truth; the hallowed fount which, springing from the sanctuary of God, has poured forth in unceasing and abundant profusion its healing and holy waters, to purify and bless the surrounding regions of the earth. But, beyond all this, in considering the blessings derived to us and all mankind from the Jewish law and the Jewish people, we never should forget the clearness and solemnity with which the great rules of moral conduct are promulgated in the Decalogue, and the two grand principles of love to God and love to our neighbour inculcated by the Jewish law. What a powerful claim to the respect, the gratitude of every man who values virtue or reveres religion must such a people possess, if we consider them merely as the depositaries and guardian of natural theology, the preservers and teachers of moral principle; but they are connected with us by ties much closer, they possess claims on our regard far more sacred: they were the instruments employed by God to prepare for the dominion of the gospel of Christ.
II. Let us next proceed to enquire how have Christians answered all these claims, how have they repaid this debt of gratitude? Alas, almost incredible to tell, their conduct towards this chosen nation has been one almost uninterrupted series of cruelty and calumny, of oppression and persecution. I do not mean to say that such cruelty and persecution were unprovoked and gratuitous; but I contend that however great the provocation, such cruelty and persecution were unjust and criminal. Would we vindicate our holy religion from the foulest reproach that ever stained its character, we will atone for the past oppressions heaped upon this ancient though unhappy race, by straining every nerve to promote from henceforward their happiness both temporal and eternal.
III. But what, you ask, are the signs of the times which encourage us now to hope for success in attempting the conversion of the Jews rather than at any preceding period of the world. (Dean Graves.)
How to promote the salvation of others
I. Our hearts must be in the work. It must be--
1. Our most earnest desire.
2. Our constant prayer.
II. We must correctly estimate their state and condition.
1. Appreciating what is good.
2. Discriminating what is defective.
III. We must guard them against--
1. Error.
2. Ignorance.
3. Self-righteousness.
4. Unbelief.
IV. We must point them to Christ.
1. The end of the law.
2. Through faith. (Dean Graves)
Zeal for the salvation of sinners
True religion consists chiefly in love to God and love to man; and wherever one of these is found, there is the other also. Observe--
I. That serious Christians plainly perceive the dangerous state of unconverted sinners around them. This state appears from--
1. Their openly living in sin.
2. Their carelessness about religion.
3. Their formality in religion.
4. Their reception for truth of great and fundamental errors as to the doctrines of religion.
II. That serious Christians earnestly and sincerely desire the salvation of their neighbours, whom they thus perceive to be in a dangerous state.
1. We tremble to think of their future misery (Rom_1:18).
2. As we wish to prevent their future destruction, so we earnestly desire that they may share with us in the joys and glories of the heavenly world.
3. We wish them to know and enjoy the present pleasures of true religion.
4. We wish the salvation of others on account of the glory of God, for which we feel ourselves concerned, and which will be promoted thereby.
5. Beside all, we have some view to our own peace and happiness. The conversion of a soul is the greatest honour and happiness, next to our own salvation, that we can enjoy.
III. In what manner this desire ought to be expressed.
1. By prayer.
2. By urging our friends to come and hear the gospel.
3. By the Christian education of children--our own and our neighbours.
4. By personal exhortation.
5. By a holy life. (G. Burder.)
Zeal for the conversion of relatives
I cant die till I see my brother converted. So said a very aged Karen chief to Mr. Mason. He had just returned from a last visit to this brother, who lived a long days journey from him. Too feeble to walk, he had made the journey on the back of a grandson, a fine intelligent Christian, whose willingness to perform the laborious service was worthy of the zeal with which the old man forgot his aching bones in the delight he felt at having once more exhorted his brother, and seen in him some evidences of Divine grace. (Mrs. McLeod Wylie.)
lsrael a lamentable example of the blindness of unbelief
I. Their zeal for the law.
1. Pitiable (verse 1).
2. Ignorant (verses 2, 3).
3. Ruinous, because misguided (verse 4).
II. Their rejection of Christ.
1. Relying on their own unavailing effort (verses 5-7).
2. Refusing the word of faith (verses 8-9).
3. Denying the salvation of the gospel. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
On zeal
The conversion of Paul did not cool the ardour of his affection for his countrymen. Fidelity impelled him to expose their errors, but charity inclined him to notice what was commendable. They were honest in their zeal; but honesty can make no atonement for dangerous errors or perverse abuses. They were ignorant, but they shut their eyes to the light.
I. The apostle here ascribes to the Jews an essential and most valuable property of the Christian, and more especially of the ministerial character. Two things seemed to be included under it--ardour, as opposed to lukewarmness, and activity, as opposed to remissness. It implies that the object which has called it forth is held in the highest estimation by us; that our hearts, engaged in the love and animated by the desire of it, prompt us to make every effort to secure its attainment. Christian zeal consists in the warm exercise of the graces of the Spirit, issuing in the decided and growing production of the fruits of the Spirit. It is founded on an enlightened and firmly-rooted conviction of the truth of the gospel. In its exercise, zeal, like charity, must begin at home. The man who searches abroad for evils to remedy, and overlooks those which attach to himself, is either a hypocrite or a fool, or both. But zeal, though it begins, does not terminate with ourselves. It feels for the honour of God and the souls of men, and endeavours to advance the one and save the other. When this principle is wanting, religion is an empty name, a lifeless carcass. But though there cannot be religion without zeal, there may be zeal without religion. Note some of the defects of that zeal which the apostle condemns.
1. It was exerted in contending for matters of inferior moment, and neglected those which were of supreme importance. The Jews expended the strength of their zeal on points of form and ceremony, and overlooked the weightier matters of the law. Those who are most ignorant or indifferent in regard to what is essential are invariably the most violent and tenacious in regard to what is circumstantial. Liberality, it is true, may be carried to a dangerous extreme, but so may intolerance, and it is better to err on the side of charity than to incur the imputation of bigotry. The object of zeal is to make converts, not proselytes; to bring accessions to the Church from the world, not to transfer the members of one religious denomination to another.
2. It was ostentatious and presuming. They wore broad phylacteries, said long prayers at the corners of the streets, etc. Our Lord saw through the disguise of their fair professions and their hollow sanctity, and inculcated a course of conduct quite the reverse of theirs. The zeal of which He approves is not that which assumes useless singularities, and is ever urging its claims to public admiration. It is not the men that make the most noise that do the greatest good.
3. It was overbearing and uncharitable. They excluded from the pale of the Church all who did not think as they thought and do as they did. It would have been well had the intolerant spirit of the Jews died with themselves; but it has, in this enlightened age, made its appearance in a most offensive and injurious form. When we see individuals setting themselves up as the only true Christians on earth, denouncing the religion of the whole world, except their own, we know not whether most to pity or to blame. As perfection is not attainable here, neither probably is uniformity.
II. From their defects let us now learn what ought to be the distinguishing features of zeal in us. To escape the charge which the Jews deservedly incurred, ours must be--
1. An enlightened zeal formed and regulated by clear, comprehensive, and correct views of truth and duty. Without this, zeal is a most dangerous principle. There are no extravagances which it will not practise; there are no cruelties which it will not perpetrate. Before his conversion Paul had zeal, but it was not according to knowledge (Php_3:1-21.).
2. Pure zeal; a zeal influenced by gospel motives and animated by Christs Spirit. Jehu boasted of his zeal for the Lord; but he had no higher aim than the gratification of his own ambition. In requesting our Lord to command fire from heaven for the destruction of the Samaritans, the disciples discovered an impure zeal, and spake under the influence of national prejudices and irritated feelings.
3. Prudent zeal: guarding against every avoidable occasion of offence to others; displaying all the wisdom of the serpent in selecting means and opportunities of doing good, and employing them with a tender regard to the feelings and prejudices of others. Destitute of this property, zeal is calculated to do far more harm than good, and awakens aversion where it should conciliate love.
4. Peaceable; calm in its exercise; prompting to no foolish extravagances; disposed to put the most favourable construction on others, and discovering a sincere regard for their welfare.
5. Decided zeal; above the meanness of all temporising accommodations; disregarding the fear of man; determined to pursue the path of duty; prepared to stand by the consequences.
6. Fruitful; not evaporating in words, but abounding in deeds of usefulness. (J. Barr, D.D.)
For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Zealous, but wrong
We ought to have an intense longing for the salvation of all sorts of men, and especially for those that treat us badly. We shall see more conversions when more people pray for conversions. We should earnestly pray for the conversion of the kind of people who are here described: self-righteous people, people that have done no ill, but, on the contrary, have laboured to do a great deal of good.
I. Why are we specially concerned for these people? Because--
1. They are so zealous. You see plenty of zeal where politics, fashion, art, etc., are concerned; but we are not overdone with it in religion. If anybody is a little zealous above others, great efforts are made to put him down. Therefore, when we do meet with zealous people, we take an interest in them, however mistaken their zeal may be. We like to associate with people who have hearts, not dry leather bottles. It does seem a pity that any zeal should be wasted, and that any one full of zeal should yet miss his way. And when we meet with any who are zealous in a wrong cause, they become peculiarly the object of a Christians prayers.
2. They may go so very wrong, and may do so much mischief to others. Those who have no life nor energy may easily ruin themselves, but they are not likely to harm others; whereas a mistaken zealot is like a madman with a firebrand in his hand. What did the Scribes and Pharisees in Christs day? And Saul afterwards? Take heed that none of you fall into a persecuting spirit through your zeal for the gospel, like zealous mistresses who will not have a servant in their house who does not go to their place of worship, and zealous landlords who turn every Dissenter out of their cottages.
3. They would be so useful. The man that is desperately earnest in a wrong way will be just as earnest in the right. See what Paul himself was.
4. It is so difficult to convert them. It requires the power of God to convert anybody; but there seems to be a double manifestation of power in the conversion of a downright bigot.
II. What these people are according to our text. They are--
1. Ignorant. For they, being ignorant of Gods righteousness, etc. you may be brought up under the shadow of a church, you may hear the gospel till you know every phrase by heart, and yet be ignorant of the righteousness of God. There are many who are ignorant as to--
(1) The natural righteousness of Gods character, and those who are satisfied with their own holiness are ignorant of this.
(2) The righteousness of the law. You may hear the ten commandments read every Sabbath-day, but you will not know anything about them by merely hearing or reading them. There is a depth of meaning in those commandments of which self-righteous persons are ignorant. For instance, Thou shalt not commit adultery--even a lascivious look breaks that. Let me stretch out the line before you for a moment. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc. Who among us has ever done that?
(3) Gods righteous requirements, viz., not only that thou shouldst do, but that thou shouldst think, love, and be that which is right. He desires truth in the inward parts.
(4) That God has prepared a better righteousness for us in Christ.
III. What they do. They go about to establish their own righteousness, but, like a statue badly constructed, it tumbles down. They use all manner of schemes to set up their righteousness upon its legs, but to no purpose. Or they have bad foundations for a house, and bad materials, and bad mortar, and they are by no means good workmen; and when they have built up enough wall to shelter themselves, it tumbles down. They are determined, somehow or other, to build up a righteousness of their own, which is worthless when it is built. At first the man says, I shall be saved, for I have kept the law. What lack I yet? Now, a very small hole will let enough light into the mans heart to force him to see that this pretence will not answer. No one of us has kept the law. When driven from this foolish hope, the man readily sets up another. If he cannot work, then he tries to feel. Or else he cries, I must join a bit of religion to my pure morals. I will pray regularly, etc. And when I have done all this, do you not think it will come pretty square? If a mans conscience is awake, it will not come square, and the man will say, No, I do not feel righteous after all! There is something amiss. Conscience begins to call out, It will not do. Peradventure the man is taken ill. He thinks that he is going to die, and he must keep his wretched pretence afloat somehow; and so he cries, if he is rich, I will endow an almshouse. According to the church to which he belongs, the zealous person becomes a determined partisan of his sect. Now suppose that you were to get to heaven in your way, what would happen? You will throw up your cap, and say, I have managed it after all! You will glorify yourself, and depend upon it sinners saved by grace will glorify Christ. But our Lord is not going to have any discord in heaven; you shall all sing His praises there, or never sing at all.
IV. What they will not do. They have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
1. Why, there are some that have not submitted even to hear it! Our law does not judge any man before it hears him, but these people both judge and condemn the gospel without giving it an hours attention. Are they not good enough of themselves? What can you tell them better than they know already? But it is always a pity not to know even that which we most despise. It will not hurt you to know. And yet there is such prejudice in the mind of some that they refuse to acquaint themselves with the verities which God has revealed. Sinners saved by grace! It is all very well for the commonalty; but we were always so good. Very well, then; there is a heaven for the commonalty, and it is highly probable that you ladies and gentlemen are too good to go there. Where will you go? There is but one way to heaven, and that way is closed against the proud.
2. And then there are others who, when they hear it, will not admit that they need it. What, sir! Must I go down on my knees and plead guilty? Yes, you must, or else you will never be saved. They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.
3. There are others who will not submit to the spirit of it, to the influence of it, for the spirit of free grace is this: if God saves me for nothing, then I belong to Him for ever and ever. If He forgives me every sin simply because I believe in Jesus, then I will hate every sin, and flee from it. I will love Him with all my heart, and for the love I bear Him I will lead a holy life. The virtue I aimed at before, in my own strength, I will now ask for from His Holy Spirit. Many will not submit to that; yet they can never be saved from sin unless they yield themselves as the blood-bought servants of Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blind zeal
As all zeal without discretion is as an offering without eyes, which was by God forbidden, so likewise all blind zeal is a blind offering, which God will never accept. (Cawdray.)
Zeal, cautious
As Minerva is said to have put a golden bridle upon Pegasus, that he should not fly too fast, so our Christian discretion must put a golden bridle upon our Pegasus--that is, our zeal--lest, if it be unbridled, it make us run out of course. (Cawdray.)
Zeal, false
There is a sort of men who seem to be mighty zealous for religion; but their heart breaks out wholly in this way: that they fill the place wherever they are with noise and clamour, with dust and smoke. Nothing can be said in their presence, but instantly a controversy is started, scarcely anything is orthodox enough for them; for they spin so fine a thread, and have such a cobweb divinity, that the least brush against it is not to be endured, and yet withal they are as positive and decretal in their assertions that the Pope himself is nobody to them. One would think they were privy counsellors of heaven. They define with so great confidence what will and what will not please God. (J. Goodman.)
Zeal, misguided
I. Its features. It errs in--
1. Its motives.
2. Its objects.
3. Its means.
II. Its prevalence.
1. In the world.
2. In the Church.
III. Its mischievous tendency. It breeds--
1. Delusion.
2. Disorder.
3. Hatred.
4. Contention.
5. Ruin. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The proper regulation of religious zeal
I. It must be founded upon knowledge of and judgment about the matter which engages our zeal. It is for wanting this that the apostle blames the zeal of the Jews. The necessity of such knowledge is, one would think, obvious, for without it our zeal may, for aught we know, be engaged in a bad cause. The man who, designing to make great haste, either shuts his eyes or takes no notice whither he goes, is the likeliest to stumble or go astray. Let us, then, take care that, before we suffer our zeal to grow warm for or against any cause, we get as thorough a knowledge of it as we can. And yet, as history shows, most of those in every age who have shown the warmest zeal have discovered the greatest ignorance, and where there has been most knowledge there has been most candour and forbearance towards those of a different opinion.
II. Must re free from prejudice and party views, and proceed from a sincere regard to truth and virtue. It is not my being thoroughly acquainted with a cause that will justify my zeal in it. If, knowing a thing to be false or unlawful, I strenuously insist upon it, all the zeal I express is faulty. Nay, though it be truth or duty, if my zeal is occasioned by prejudice, it is not of the right kind. We ought therefore to be very careful about the springs from whence our zeal flows. When the heart glows with an ardent love to God and for the cause of truth and virtue, there will be very little danger of running into extremes.
III. Must always be proportioned to the moment of the things about which it is engaged. The more important the thing is, the warmer may our zeal be, either for or against it; and the less important, the less need is there of being much concerned about it. That zeal is very irregular which is equally warm upon every occasion. It would be endless to tell you what trifling matters have given occasion to the most furious contests in the Christian Church.
1. Since it is of vastly greater importance to us that we should judge right in matters of doctrine and behave well in matters of practice ourselves than that others should do so, it follows that our zeal ought principally to be employed this way. Nothing is more common than to see the same men who express a great concern that others should think and act just as they do in matters of religion shamelessly careless in their own searches after truth, and in regulating their own conduct.
2. Plain duties are of more importance than matters of speculation, and therefore regular zeal will be more solicitous about the former than about the latter. And yet, as if mankind were resolved to act preposterously, they have generally acted from the opposite principle. Observe how contentedly some of the warmest zealots can let a drunkard, a swearer, etc., live peaceably by them, and yet take fire immediately on the utterance of a contrary opinion. But will not God much more easily pardon an error in judgment than badness of life?
3. Peace and love among Christians are of unspeakably more importance than any particular form of church government or any religious rites, and therefore if our zeal be regular, we shall be much less concerned about imposing these than for the securing peace and love among all good men.
IV. Must re attended with Christian charity, and must never break in upon those rights which all claim in common as men and Christians. Nothing has been more common than for intemperate zeal to do the greatest mischiefs and commit the most bare-faced violations of justice and humanity, under the pretence of charity to mens souls and a hearty concern for their everlasting welfare.
V. Must be under the conduct of Christian prudence, by which I mean the prudence that will direct to the choice, and in the use of the properest methods, and the fittest seasons for promoting these good ends. (W. Smyth.)
Zeal, true
True zeal is a loving thing, and makes us always active to edification, and not to destruction. If we keep the fire of zeal within the chimney, in its own proper place, it never doth any hurt; it only warmeth, quickeneth, and enliveneth us; but if once we let it break out, and catch hold of the thatch of our flesh, and kindle our corrupt nature, and set the house of our body on fire, it is no longer zeal--heavenly fire, but a most destructive and devouring thing. True zeal is an ignis lambens, a soft and gentle flame that will not scorch our hand; it is no predatory or voracious thing; but carnal and fleshly zeal is like the spirit of gunpowder set on fire, that tears and blows up all that stands before it. True zeal is like the vital heat in us that we live upon, which we never feel to be angry or troublesome; but though it gently feed upon the radical oil within us, that sweet balsam of our natural moisture, yet it lives lovingly with it, and maintains that by which it is fed; but that other furious and distempered zeal is nothing else but a fever in the soul. To conclude, we may learn what kind of zeal it is that we should use in promoting the gospel by an emblem of Gods own--those fiery tongues that on the Day of Pentecost sat upon the apostles; which sure, were harmless flames, for we cannot read that they did any hurt, or that they did so much as singe a hair of their heads. (R. Cudworth.)
Zeal, true and false
Andrew Melville, Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews in the reign of James VI, was a very bold and zealous man for the cause of God and truth. When some of his more moderate brethren blamed him for being too hot and fiery, he was wont to reply, If you see my fire go downwards, set your foot upon it and put it out; but if it go upwards, let it return to its own place. (J. Whitecross.)
Zeal without knowledge
I. The qualifications and properties of a zeal according to knowledge.
1. That our zeal be right in respect of its object; viz., that those things which we are zealous for be certainly good, and that those things which we are zealous against be certainly evil. Otherwise it is not a heavenly fire, but like the fire of hell, heat without light.
2. That the measure and degree of it must be proportioned to the good or evil of things about which it is conversant. That is an ignorant zeal which is conversant about lesser things and unconcerned for greater. A zealous strictness about external rites and matters of difference, where there is a visible neglect of the substantial duties of religion, is either a gross ignorance of the true nature of religion, or a fulsome hypocrisy.
3. That we pursue it by lawful means and ways. No zeal for God and His glory, for His true Church and religion, will justify the doing of that which is morally evil.
II. By what marks we may know the zeal which is not according to knowledge. It is a zeal without knowledge--
1. That is mistaken in the proper object of it; that calls good evil, and evil good.
2. That is manifestly disproportioned to the good or evil of things about which it is conversant, when there is in men a greater and fiercer zeal for the externals of religion than for the vital and essential parts of it.
3. That is prosecuted by unlawful and unwarrantable means, that, e.g., which warrants the doing of evil that good may come.
4. That is uncharitable, and is an enemy to peace and order, and thinks itself sufficiently warranted to break the peace of the Church upon every scruple.
5. That is furious and cruel, that which St. James tells us tends to confusion and every evil work.
6. A zeal for ignorance. This is a zeal peculiar to the Church of Rome, which forbids people the use of the Holy Scriptures in a known tongue.
III. Inferences.
1. If it be so necessary that our zeal be directed by knowledge, this shows us how dangerous a thing zeal is in the weak and ignorant. Zeal is an edge-tool, which children in understanding should not meddle withal. Zeal is only fit for wise men, but it is chiefly in fashion among fools. Nay, it is dangerous in the hands of wise men, and to be kept in with a strict rein, otherwise it will transport them to the doing of undue and irregular things. Moses in a fit of zeal let fall the two tables of the law which he had but just received from God. A true emblem of an ungoverned zeal, in the transport whereof even good men are apt to forget the laws of God.
2. From hence we plainly see that men may do the worst and wickedest things out of a zeal for God and religion. Thus it was among the Jews, who engrossed salvation to themselves, and denied the possibility of it to all the world besides, and the Church of Rome have taken copy by them.
3. Zeal for God and religion does not alter the nature of actions done upon that account. Persecution and murder are damnable sins, and no zeal for God and religion can excuse them. (Abp. Tillotson.)
Zeal and knowledge
There are two sorts of men hereby to be apprehended.
1. They which have a defect not of zeal, but of knowledge for the ground of their zeal.
2. They which have a defect not of knowledge, but of zeal answerable to their knowledge. Of the first of these may be verified the proverb, they set the cart before the horse. The second may be likened to Pharaohs chariots when the wheels were off, so slowly do they express their knowledge in their lives. The first are like a little ship without ballast and freight, but with a great many sails, which is soon either dashed against the rocks or toppled over. The second are like a goodly great ship, well ballasted and richly freighted, but without any sails, which quickly falleth into the hands of pirates because it can make no speed, sooner making a prey for them than a good voyage for the merchant. Separate zeal and knowledge, and they become both unprofitable, but wisely join them, and they perfect a Christian, being like a precious diamond in a ring of gold. Let not zeal outrun knowledge or lag behind it, but let it ad equale agree, going hand in hand with the same. For even as in an instrument of music there is a proportion of sound wherein is the harmony, beyond which, if any string be strained, it makes a squeaking noise; and if it be not strained enough it yields a clagging, dull, and unpleasant sound. So is it in our zeal if it be either more or less than our knowledge. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)
Zeal, uncontrolled
Phaeton took upon him to drive the chariot of the sun; but through his rashness set the world in combustion. What a horse is without a rider, or a ship without a rudder, such is zeal without knowledge. St. Bernard hits full on this point. Discretion without zeal is slow-paced, and zeal without discretion is strongheaded; let, therefore, zeal spur on discretion, and discretion rein in zeal. (J. Spencer.)
Zeal without knowledge
The first good use of some texts is, to endeavour to prevent a bad one.
I. The text has often been cited for the purpose of depreciating genuine zeal. Think on how many excellent designs it has been quoted against, and what would have become of home and foreign missionary enterprise had certain interpretations ruled! With men of indifferent, frozen temperament, the text has been a great favourite. So it has with timid, cowardly men, with the parsimonious, with idolaters of custom, and of everything established, and with that class which is content with mere speculation, regarding scarcely anything as worth attempting. With most of these, however, it is not zeal itself that is contemned, for none would be more zealous than they--on a proper occasion. But when can that occasion come? Is it to be expressly brought on by Providence to enable them to show this virtue? Or is it to be when all things are mended, so that there shall be less to be done? But who, then, is to do all this in the meantime?
II. But still there is in the world an ill-judging and unwarrantable zeal.
1. Indeed, if we take it in its general sense, persevering ardour in prosecution of a purpose, it has been, in its depraved operation, the animating demon of every active evil. And, many that are comparatively harmless, let but this fire be kindled by a torch from hell applied to the brimstone that lies cold and quiet in their nature--and we should see.
2. But not to dwell on these terrible operations of zeal, we see its effect in numberless things of a more diminutive order, e.g., long and earnest exertions for excellence in some most trifling attainment; unremitting efforts in prosecution of inquiry into something not worth any cost to know; an intense devotion to add particle after particle to the little sum of worldly possession; the earnest vying in little points of appearance, consequence, precedence. Zeal is an element that will combine with any active principle in man; it is like fire, that will smoulder in garbage, and will lighten in the heavens.
III. Zeal thus has its operation in all the active interests of men. But it is most usually spoken of as belonging to religion, and it is in this relation that we have here to consider it. Zeal of God.
1. And who can help wishing that there were a thousand times more zeal directed this way? Of the whole measure that there is being constantly expended what proportion might well be spared, nay, destroyed, to advantage? Nine parts in ten? Perhaps more. Now think, if one or more of these portions misapplied could be devoted to God! Look at an ambitious mans zeal; an avaricious mans zeal; an indefatigable intellectual triflers zeal! nine parts in ten misapplied; wasted at the best; a large portion worse than wasted! So it is going--while there is here what deserves it all--like clouds, heavy with rain, passing away from gardens and fields languishing under drought, to be discharged on mere deserts or marshes or sea. Or suppose a great city on fire in a severe winter; what a blessing so much fire would be if distributed into all the abodes of shivering poverty and sickness!
2. After such a view of the immense proportion of zeal altogether lost to God, we are reluctant to consider that a share even of the zeal that is directed to God may be not according to knowledge. The necessity of knowledge to religious zeal is fearfully illustrated by
(1) The mighty empires of superstition--Pagan, Mohammedan, Popish. It is true that many go no further than a stupid, slavish acquiescence; and that some are sceptics, only preserving appearances; but countless legions of them are burning with fanatic zeal--they know no better.
(2) The direful history of persecution. For, though some persecutors have only been politic, infernal hypocrites, yet the mighty host of them have really believed that they did God service.
(3) The wild novelties of fanaticism that have occasionally sprung up in the Christian community. In view of all this the good man has still to exclaim, Oh for knowledge! for knowledge!
IV. Turn now to the ordinary forms in which religious zeal is devoid of knowledge.
1. That which the apostle here speaks of, namely, mens zealously maintaining the sufficiency of a righteousness of their own, which God will not accept (verse 3). Fatal ignorance in zeal! Knowledge here would reveal to them the holiness, justice, and law of God; would reveal themselves to them; and then their zeal would go another way, as when a convinced pagan perceives his god to be a worthless idol.
2. Zeal when accompanied by no desire of knowledge, rather aversion to it. Horror of free reasoning. A notion that all religious speculation is necessarily destructive to religious feeling, insomuch that the very reasons for being zealous are not to be clearly defined. Whatever the strong impulse may be, it plainly is not zeal according to knowledge when a man does not know why he is zealous.
3. A capricious and fluctuating zeal, and what we have just described is likely to be such. It shall blaze at one time and seem sunk under the ashes at another, varying with the changeable recoil of the mans mind. It is true that there will be in most minds considerable variations of feeling, of which zeal will in a measure partake. But a most important counteracting and sustaining principle is a clear, decided knowledge of the object and reasons of the zeal.
4. The zeal which consists in a considerable degree of mere temper, where a mans irritability or impetuousness and restlessness goes into the zeal for the object, and is mistaken by him as all pure zeal respecting the object itself. So that, in this one point especially, it is not according to knowledge, for he knows not himself. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are off
5. That zeal which is less concerned about the object itself than about the man himself. Jehus zeal was, in mere point of fact, for the Lord of hosts, but he did not really care much for that sacred cause itself. It was a fine thing that he should be exhibited as a conspicuous vindicator in the ranks of the Lords hosts.
6. A great zeal for comparatively little things in religion. Now knowledge gives the scale of the greater and the less. There are minor points of doctrine, form, and observance. These have often been magnified and enforced as if they were the very life and essence of Christianity.
7. Zeal for great things for little reasons. Thus Christianity has been zealously advocated just on the ground that it is conducive to the temporal well-being of a state! By innumerable persons some one model of Christian faith is zealously maintained, chiefly because it has been maintained by their ancestors. We have known persons zealously holding some important doctrine because it has happened to coincide with some particular fancy or impression of the persons mind; not from a consideration of its own great evidences. This is a gross desertion of the rule--that zeal should be according to knowledge.
8. A zeal for single points in religion, especially the most controverted ones, as if the whole importance of religion converged to these, as we see in the most strenuous Calvinists and Arminians. Such zeal miserably impoverishes the interest for religion as a grand comprehensive whole, and for all the parts of it but the one. And thus the very knowledge itself will dwindle from taking account of the whole.
9. The excessive zeal for a religious sect or party, a mere worldly spirit of competition and jealousy. This indeed is according to knowledge, the wisdom that James describes as coming from below.
10. The zeal which is expended in some one way of attempting to serve religion when it might be applied to better purpose in another. Thus able men have exhausted their talents and labours upon comparative trifles when, with the same exertion, they might have served the greatest interests. And ordinary Christians have been invincibly set on serving God in ways foreign to their attainments and situations when there were plainly before them other ways of certain usefulness.
11. That zeal which, in attempting to do good, takes no account of the fitness of season and occasion. Knowledge would show the adaptation of means to ends--the laws and working of human minds--the favourable conjuncture. Knowledge, too, would point to consequences. And zeal should not fancy itself the more noble and heroic for setting all consequences at defiance.
12. That zeal which seems willing to let its activity in public plans and exertions to serve religion be a substitute for personal religion. In such zeal where is the mans knowledge if it does not strike him with irresistible conviction how indispensable is religion to his own self? (John Foster.)
Zeal without knowledge
I. The Israelites had one good quality while they wanted another, and the apostle makes their possession of this the reason of his prayer--For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. One would think that, if they wanted both, they would stand in greater need of his prayers; and the mystery is, how their having something good should be the moving cause why Paul should pray for their salvation, an intimation that if they had not been in the possession at least of this he would not have prayed for them.
1. The explanation is this. It is only the prayer of faith that availeth, and in proportion as this faith is staggered or weakened prayer loses its efficacy--e.g., you have not the same heart in praying for some unlikelihood as in praying for what is agreeable to the will of God. You cannot pray so hopefully for a confirmed reprobate as for a man in whom you perceive some lurking remainders of good. Paul was not yet discouraged about the Jews. He still observed one good point, even that very zeal which once actuated himself. And so he still could hope and pray for them.
2. From such an argument there may be constructed a powerful appeal to arrest the headlong way of that moral desperado, who, hastening on from one enormity to another, is fast losing all the delicacies of conscience, and whom the Spirit, tired and provoked by stubborn resistance, is on the eve perhaps of abandoning. Know, then, that your friends behold the progress of this impenitency, and supplicate Heaven on your account. But the time may arrive when your impiety shall look so desperate that to supplicate in faith is beyond them. And is it not time to retrace your footsteps, unknowing as you are how soon the very parents who gave yea birth may weep but cannot pray for you!
II. That must have been a valuable property, in virtue of which the Jews could still be prayed for. But that must have been a most important property from the want of which they eventually perished. Had they added knowledge to their zeal they would still have remained the favourites of Heaven.
1. From their actual history we may learn what a serious want this is. That day of their visitation, in the prospect of which our Saviour shed tears, came upon them just because they knew not the things which belonged to their peace. It is true that the extermination came upon them because they had killed the Prince of Life. But it was, as Peter and John testify, through ignorance that they did it, and had they known, Paul says, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Let us not, then, underrate the importance of knowledge in religion, nor be under the imagination that ignorance is not a responsible or not a punishable offence.
2. But in addition to the historical proofs of the importance of religious knowledge, there is abundance of still more direct proof. The knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ is said to be eternal life, and many are said to perish for lack of knowledge. Christ shall come to take vengeance on those that know not God. Knowledge and ignorance in fact are dealt with, even as righteousness and sin are dealt with.
3. Now the question is, ought this in moral fairness to be? The difficulty is to conceive on what ground the views of the understanding should be made the subjects of reckoning. Man is held to be responsible for his doings, which he can help; but not for his doctrines, which they say he cannot help. But we affirm that his belief in certain circumstances (and Christianity is in these circumstances) is that which he can help. It is by an act of the will that you set yourself to the acquisition of knowledge. It is by a continued act of the will that you continue a prolonged examination into the grounds of an opinion. It is at the bidding of the will, not that you believe without evidence, but that you investigate the evidence on which you might believe. It is in no way your fault that you do not see when it is dark. But it is in every way your fault that you do not look when either the light of heaven or of heavens revelation is around you. It is thus that the will has virtually to do with the ultimate belief, just because it has to do with the various steps of that process which goes before it. Where there is candour, which is a moral property, the due attention will be given; when there is the opposite of candour--moral unfairness--the due attention will be refused, and the man will be landed in the state of being wrong intellectually, but just because he is wrong morally.
4. You find a most impressive exemplification of this in the history of those very Jews. During the whole of our Saviours ministry upon earth they were plied with evidences which, if they had but attended to, would have carried their belief in the validity of His claims. But the belief was painful to them, and at all hazards they resolved to bar the avenues of their minds against the admittance of it. Theirs was not the darkness of men whom no light had visited, but of men who obstinately shut their eyes.
5. And this for our admonition. In this our day the want of faith is still due to the want of a thorough moral earnestness. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
Zealotry
The worst of madmen is a saint run mad. (Pope.)
To be furious in religion is to be irreligiously religious. (W. Penn.)
The way of salvation
I. Mans way.
1. Consists in zeal for God ignorantly directed.
2. Terminates in self-righteousness and unbelief.
3. Utterly fails, because Christ is the end of the law, and the law requires absolute obedience (verses 2-5).
II. Gods way.
1. Requires--
(1) Despair of our own efforts.
(2) A humble reception of the gospel.
(3) Confession and faith.
2. Terminates in salvation. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own … have not submitted … unto the righteousness of God.--
Ignorance of Gods righteousness, the guilt of
The ignorance here spoken of is something more than the mere passive blindness of those who cannot help themselves because of the total darkness by which they are encompassed. It was very much the ignorance of those who would not open their eyes. There was an activity, a will in it, as much as there was in the other things ascribed to them in the going about to establish a different righteousness from that which they would not submit to. This forms the true principle on which the condemnation of unbelief rests. They love the darkness rather than the light. Even as the Gentiles liked not to retain God in their knowledge--even so the Jews liked not in this instance to admit God into their knowledge, or give entertainment in their minds to that way of salvation which He had devised for the recovery of a guilty world. It is the part which the will has in it that makes ignorance the proper object of retribution; and so, when Christ cometh, He will take vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the gospel. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
Human righteousness only attainable by submitting to the righteousness of God
1. The righteousness of God is His truth, justice, holiness, wisdom, and love blended in eternal perfection, and embraces infinite hatred to sin with infinite love to the sinner. It is at once the terror of every guilty conscience, and the hope of every true penitent.
2. The world before and since the days of Luther has been making the same mistake as he at first made. It has so felt the need of righteousness as to make desperate efforts to attain unto it, now soaring to inaccessible heights, and then delving to unknown depths, while the blessing itself has been ever within reach.
I. Men, until they come to the knowledge of Christ, are everywhere vainly endeavouring to establish their own righteousness.
1. If it had been possible for any man to succeed, surely it had been Paul. Constancy, conscientiousness, self-denial, lofty motives, a blameless life, etc.; and yet, when viewed in relation to the object sought, how utterly vain! Solomons experiment ought to have been sufficient to satisfy all voluptuaries of the vanity of earthly things, and Pauls failure ought to convince all self-righteous moralists that righteousness is not attainable by the deeds of the law.
2. But the truth can only be known, or wisdom taught, by experience. And so Pauls experiment, in all its essential features, has been made again and again. Luther in his way repeated the experiment with the same result. These men remind one of the old alchemists, who, vary their experiments as they might, and imitate the colour of gold as they did, yet the base metal remained base metal after all.
3. And yet multitudes continue to go about to establish their own righteousness. It is impossible to avoid a feeling of mingled respect and pity for them. This feeling filled Pauls heart (verse 1). Going about to is old English for trying at. They were eager, restless, painstaking, ready to employ every means in order to secure it. But an April day might sooner establish its character for constancy, and the wide ocean its character as a refuge; the raven with its croak, and the owl with its hooting, establish theirs for melody; the farthing rushlight its right to rule the day; every little pool its claim to be considered a fountain; the bramble its pretensions to be king over the forest, than these misguided souls succeed in establishing their own righteousness. They are endeavouring to forge a key to unlock the grave, to build a lifeboat to swim in a sea of fire, to construct a ladder to scale the skies, to hush the thunders of Sinai by filling their ears with wool, to stop the lightning of Gods wrath by gossamer threads of human goodness, to arrest the course of Divine justice by piling up little heaps of stones in their path. God pronounces our righteousness--not our wickedness--to be filthy rags.
4. No man ever established his own righteousness to his own satisfaction. This sky was never without a cloud, this sun without a spot, this life without a defect. It was the consciousness cf this that quickened the steps of Saul of Tarsus in his persecution of the early disciples, and prompted him to a deadlier revenge. In proportion to a souls consciousness of what sin is will be its misery at the sight of it. God has set our sins in the light of His countenance; and when we remember that there may be impurity in a look, and murder in a desire, the very thought of establishing our own righteousness is the wildest of fancies, the wickedest of delusions!
5. And men thus court failure, because they are ignorant of Gods righteousness, both of what it is and what it requires. The whiteness of the snow, the morning light, the blue heavens, are figures that inadequately represent the righteousness of God. The heavens are not clean in His sight. God is so glorious in holiness that the angels cover their faces and their feet with their wings. Being thus essentially and absolutely righteous, what mere outward propriety or thin crust of goodness could satisfy Him? Motives as pure as the light, and ways as straight as a mathematical line, do but indicate what God requires of men if He enter into judgment with them. This they do not understand nor realise, nor that if Gods love is holy, His righteousness is tender, merciful, long-suffering to the vilest offender. If men knew that they had only to ask of Him, and He would cover them with the robe of His righteousness, they would desist from all their vain efforts to establish their own righteousness. His righteousness is unknown by men, and hence--
II. Their insane refusal to submit unto the righteousness of God--
1. For the very reason, in most instances, that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. And yet this glorious fact is the very essence of saving truth. Salvation by faith in Christ is taught in type, prophecy, history, promise, and doctrine. The same God who lights one world by another, and sustains one life by another, purposes to save all who truly repent and believe by Christs obedience, death, resurrection, and intercession. And yet infidels stigmatise the doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ as absurd, cruel, immoral, and many professedly Christian teachers speak of justification by the righteousness of another in disparaging terms. And if it were true that men might be saved by faith in Christ without a change of heart and life; if the caricature of this doctrine of justification set forth by its enemies were correct, then nothing more monstrous could be conceived.
2. Let, however, the apostles term rebuke their ignorant presumption. Men have to submit themselves to the righteousness of God. Is God or man to be Supreme? When man submits to God the cause of difference is removed, the moral distance between man and God is annihilated. A revolution has taken place. Repentance, justification, regeneration, conversion, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification are words which represent the various aspects of the one great reality, and do not exaggerate the greatness of the change that is experienced. The understanding is enlightened, the conscience rejoices in Gods righteousness in condemning sin and sinners, the will returns to its true allegiance, and the heart casts away its idols and loathes its sin.
3. It should not be lost sight of that it is to the righteousness of God that men have to submit--not to His caprice, nor to His will, divorced from purity and goodness. And so in the very act of submission man acquires a nobleness which in his condition of wilful independence had been impossible. It never can be degrading or injurious to submit to righteousness. As righteousness is the glory of God, when man submits to it it becomes his also.
4. As Christ was hated by Scribes and Pharisees on account of His goodness and purity, and as the Jews who searched the Scriptures for eternal life had no sooner discovered that it centred in Christ than they refused to come to Him that they might have life, so submission to the righteousness of God seems more difficult because it involves an acknowledgment of and delight in the fact that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Yet this exactly meets mans case as a sinner. Christ has satisfied every requirement. Gods righteousness is established. His vindication is complete, and in the act of showing mercy His truth and justice receive their brightest manifestation.
5. The blessing which is received is also retained by faith. Faith first joins us to Christ, and by faith the union is perpetuated. We set no limits to Gods power, but the eternal inheritance is reserved for those who are kept by it through faith. The just shall live by faith. The righteousness of Christ is not only appropriated and retained by faith, but it must also be attested, shown, illustrated. And thus, while sinners become righteous through the righteousness of another, yet, as the Apostle John says, He that doeth righteousness is righteous. This, by His indwelling Spirit, He enables believers to do. (F. W. Bourne, D.D.)
Reasons why men reject the righteousness of God
1. The position of the apostle was a very affecting one. He was in plenary possession of the great saving truth. He had submitted to the righteousness of God, and was persuaded that nothing could separate him from the love of God. But to an unselfish mind personal security is not always perfect felicity. Suppose that a man has found refuge in a fortress on the alarm of a sudden invasion, but has not succeeded in carrying all his kindred with him, the first emotion, as he realises the commanding position of the castle, will likely be assurance, exultation, gratitude. But, alas! out on the open plain he descries a brother who has thus far escaped, but who, by some infatuation, is running past the castle gate in quest of some other inlet. In such a case the brother saved would only eye with the more lacerating anguish the wilfulness of that brother who was fleeing from the door of safety. This was the apostles situation. He had found the refuge. He was looking over the ramparts of salvation--so far, a happy man. But there, in: the open field of danger, were his kinsmen according to the flesh. Some blindness had happened to them, for scarcely one of them made for the door of hope; and though, in the fulness of his fraternal affection, he had lifted up his voice and directed them to the open door, scarce one believed his report.
2. The reason given in this chapter for his sorrow was not merely his patriotic love of his countrymen, but his respect for the motives and character of many among them. They were not atheists; they had a zeal of God. They were not infidels, reprobates, or libertines, for they had a great regard for the law, and a real anxiety to establish a righteousness for themselves,
3. Unhappily, the very same thing which wrung the apostles heart is still going on in the world. Multitudes of people, the facsimiles of these zealous Jews, are falling short of heaven for the same reasons which proved so fatal in the days of Paul. Let us consider these reasons:--
I. Ignorance of Gods righteousness.
1. It is the glory of heaven that there is nothing unholy there. A perfect righteousness is the only passport into the presence of a holy God.
2. But in this world of ours there is no such thing as a spotless soul. The only real righteousness on earth is a righteousness which came down from heaven. The Word was made flesh. He bare our sins, and in His own body on the tree made ample satisfaction for them. His blood cleanseth from all sin. But it is not enough that the guilt be cancelled. The rebels attainder may be removed, but he may not be restored to his place beside the sovereigns person, nor put anew in his patrimonial possessions. A creature may be cleansed from the pollution of actual sin, and remain in all the insipidity of no positive righteousness. Now herein consists the completeness of the great redemption. During the thirty years which preceded His directly expiatory work the sinners Representative was living a life of vicarious obedience. Year by year He was accumulating that merit which He needed not for Himself, but which was needful for every one that would enter heaven. Now observe these two things go together; the neutralising and the positive ingredients make up one righteousness--the sin-cancelling atonement and the heaven-claiming merit--the sufferings which shut the sinners hell and the obedience which opened the ransomed sinners heaven. But Christ was God. His obedience had a Divine virtue in it, and His sufferings had a Divine virtue in them. And therefore His obedience and satisfaction are called the righteousness of God.
3. Now many are ignorant of the existence of such a righteousness. This righteousness is so hid in its notoriety, so puzzling in its plainness, so overlooked in its studious obviousness, that people who, in their anxiety after acceptance with God, would give all that they had for the least scrap of unquestionable merit, never dream that the righteousness of God--neither Adams righteousness, nor an angels righteousness, but Gods own righteousness--was that which they might appropriate as their own. We have heard of scholars who could speak many tongues, but who did not know the meaning of Jehovah Tsidkenu. We have known chronologists who could tell most of the remarkable events of history, but who could not tell the year which brought in everlasting righteousness. And we have listened to acute reasoners and metaphysicians who could discourse eloquently on the powers of human nature, and high-souled moralists who described the beauty of true virtue, and divines full of zeal for God, but who never adverted to that righteousness which alone the apostle deemed worthy of the name.
II. Some are aware that such a righteousness exists who do not know how they are to benefit by it.
1. They say in their heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? By what process of self-elevation shall I render myself worthy of this righteousness? Or who shall descend into the deep? How humbled must I become before I be in a fit state for God to impart this righteousness? Now the righteousness of God is brought so near that nothing which the sinner can do can bring it nearer.
2. The Lord Jesus did not purchase pardon and then deposit it in some far island of the sea, so that it would be needful to undertake a tedious and hazardous voyage in order to arrive at it. Nor did He perch it on some cloud of the upper firmament, so as to rack the anxious invention in finding out the aerostation which would soar up to it, or the spell which would charm it down. And yet the intricacy of system has conveyed some such idea to many minds. You may perfectly perceive that the righteousness of Jesus is the righteousness of God, but you may fancy that faith is the ship which you need to float you over this abyss, or the wings you need to waft you up to the airy elevation where this righteousness dwells. But the righteousness is not only wrought out, but brought so near that not a moment of time nor a point of space intervenes between you and its present possession. If you have such affection for the Lord Jesus as to confess Him before men--and this you will have if you really believe that God has raised Him from the dead as your Redeemer--thou shalt be saved.
3. A welcome from the King (as our Lord taught in the parable) depends entirely on having on a wedding robe, and none who is willing need want it, for it is gratuitously given to all. That robe is righteousness--not mans, but Jehovahs (Php_3:8-9). Be persuaded--put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye poor and blind! step in to the feast--ye halt and maimed! creep in. When at heavens gate they ask in whose right you come, make mention of Jesus righteousness, and the everlasting doors will open to receive you. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth; speak it out. Avow your faith in Him by the life and language of discipleship. The Lord has not bid you do some great thing, not even sent you to wash in Jordan seven times.
III. Some reject Gods righteousness in their anxiety to establish their own.
1. I have broken Gods law times without number, but I see that it is good, and it would be a real satisfaction to myself if I could do anything to atone for my transgressions; and if you could only prescribe what I should do--if it were only revealed from heaven how many prayers I should offer, how many fasts I should keep, etc., I would grudge no sacrifice. When to a soul so convinced of sin you say, Believe and live--accept the righteousness of God and nothing more is needed, the simplicity of the prescription is almost provoking. The soul wants to do some great thing. Bent on establishing a righteousness of its own, it is not easy to submit to the righteousness of God.
2. In this state of mind there is a just feeling, and there is also a strong delusion. It is a just feeling that the law should be vindicated, and that sin should receive its commensurate punishment. But it is a delusion to imagine that a sinner can atone for sin. But the greatest delusion of all is that you think yourself wiser than God when you prefer your plan to His, and mightier than Immanuel if you consider your work more perfect than His. Believe in Christ, who is the end of the law, and you are righteous in Him.
IV. You fear lest so free and prompt a forgiveness should be fatal to future obedience. You find, by experience among men, that a pardon too easily obtained is apt to be abused, and you fear lest this scheme should encourage men to sin because grace is so abundant.
1. Remark, however, that the gospel pardon, though so prompt and free to the sinner, is not a cheap nor easy pardon to Him who first of all procured it; owing to the darkness of the human understanding and the perversity of the human will, it is seldom too suddenly or lightly attained by the sinner, who eventually finds it his own. And I think it might be commended to reason that real obedience begins only where slavish terror ends, and that the principle most prolific of loyalty and unwearied services is love.
2. But the gospel puts the matter beyond all question by its express declarations. It assures us that the faith which receives the Saviour is the first step of new obedience--that the moment when Gods righteousness is accepted is the moment when morality begins.
V. Some earnest seekers miss salvation because they go too far to find it. There was a small colony planted on a creek of a vast continent. Their soil was very fertile, but its limits were somewhat narrow. On the landward side it was enclosed by rocky mountains, on the other it looked out on the immeasurable main. A pestilence broke out, which made fearful havoc all through the population, and the doctors declared that it was beyond their skill. Just at the time the plague was raging worst a stranger appeared and told them of a plant which healed this disorder, and left a paper in which, he said, they would find a full description of it and directions how to find it. The tidings diffused considerable activity. A plant of such efficacy deserved the most diligent search. Almost all agreed that it must be far away, but a discussion arose whether it lay beyond the cliffs or across the sea. Most thought the latter, and a ship was launched, which they christened Ecclesia, and sent in search of the famous plant, and all who wished to escape the plague were invited to take passages in this good ship. A few others, however, thought that they would have better success by trying to get over the cliffs. This was an arduous enterprise, for the precipices were steep and extremely high. A few attempts were made, and, after many weariful efforts, the climbers either grew dizzy and fell back, or allowed themselves to slide down again. But others, more inventive, busied themselves constructing artificial wings and serial engines of various kinds, Imitatio Christi, asceticism, penitential prayers, and such like; and some of them answered exceedingly well for a little, and rose so high that their neighbours really thought they would reach the top; but, after getting a certain height, they uniformly found themselves again on the spot from which they first ascended. A long time had now passed on, and multitudes had died of the plague, when a poor sufferer who had already gone a fruitless expedition in the ship, and from the severity of his anguish was eager in trying every scheme, lay tossing on his bed. He got hold of a large paper roll which lay on a shelf beside him. It was very dirty, and the ink was faded. He at once suspected that it was the book which the stranger had left. It gave a full description of the Plant of Renown, and as he advanced in his feverish earnestness, hoping that it would tell him the very spot where he should look for it, he found the plant itself! There it lay in the heart of the long-neglected volume, and Luthers eye glistened as he read Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. But where is Christ to be found? Must I ascend the height or descend into the deep? Oh, no! Christ is here--nigh me--Gods present gift to me conveyed in the volume of this book. I accept Him. I believe. The apologue has prematurely betrayed itself, but no matter. The cure for a plague-stricken, dying world was long concealed in the Bible, till, led by the Spirit of God, Luther found it there. You have only to go where Luther went. (James Hamilton.)
Mans tendency to trust in his own righteousness
I. Man feels that he is under law to God. He knows that there is a power above him to which he is subject. He may try to deliver himself and claim independence, but ever and anon he is made to see that there is a moral law commanding him to do this and avoid that. He may refuse to obey only to find that it imposes a penalty in the shape of a reproach of conscience, or thwarting of his plans, etc. He may drown it in folly, but it will take its revenge when the hour of reflection comes. Under this feeling every man is made to realise that he must give an account of himself to God.
II. There is a fear in every one that his conduct cannot stand a sifting inspection. So he has an apprehension at times that the power above him may be hostile. Our own consciences condemn us, and we cannot but see that God, who is purer than our conscience, must also condemn us. So we shrink from the law which we have broken and from the lawgiver. When I remembered God, I was troubled. We are troubled, as the boy is by the presence of his father whose command he has just disobeyed. We strive to press down the thought, but it is unsuppressible. So, in consequence of the pressure of these two feelings on each other, a third feeling is brought forth. This may be one or other of two sorts.
III. We may banish God and His law from our thoughts. This may be our first impulse. We act as the disobedient child who flees from his father. It was thus with Cain and Jonah. True, there will be times when God appears to allure or warn, but sinners do not wish to be disturbed, and they pray to Him, as the Gadarenes did when Jesus visited them, to depart out of their Coasts; and He left them, never to return.
IV. Another class act in an equally unworthy manner. They go about to establish their own righteousness. They know that God requires His intelligent and responsible creatures to give obedience to His royal law of love. According to the first covenant every man was to work out a righteousness for himself. But man has failed in this; he is not able to present a perfect obedience. He has only to search himself to discover that he has sinned. But then he would in future make amends for the past. See the self-righteous man as he goes about so diligently in working out a righteousness of his own. Listen to him as he talks to himself in the chamber of his thoughts. When he does a smart act, he, as it were, says, How clever I am! He relieves distress, and it is followed by the thought, How tender-hearted I am! He engages in a religious service, and then feels that he is so pious. This self-righteousness is all along offensive to God, and apt to be offensive to our fellow-men. It shows itself in a haughty manner, and in the perpetual narratives of our ability and prowess. A ploughman, whom Hervey once addressed to the effect that it was our first duty at once to abandon our sins, answered, There is a prior duty, and that is to abandon the trust in our own righteousness. There was true philosophy in this. As long as we are trusting in our own righteousness we have little motive to search out our sins and destroy them. Let a man feel that his deeds are as filthy rags before God, and then he will be disposed to give them up and seek for a better clothing. This self-righteous spirit is that of the Pharisees, so severely condemned by our Lord. It is embodied in the prayer, Lord, I thank Thee, etc. It was the spirit of the Stoics which seized on some of the highest minds in Greece and Rome. The meditations of Marcus Aurelius contain very lofty moral precepts, but his ethics are self-righteous throughout; the good man stands before God in the strength of his own merits. This being so, we can understand how the philosophers of this school should have been unwilling to submit to the humbling doctrines of the Cross, which require us to trust in the righteousness of another. What a humiliation must it have been to Saul of Tarsus when he was arrested on the road to Damascus, when not only his person but his pride were cast down to the ground! But his humiliation was a step necessary in order to his exaltation. He gave up trusting in his own righteousness, and went forward in the strength of Him who there and then conquered him, and thereby enabled him to conquer himself, and sent him forth to proclaim a doctrine which conquered the Roman world. Every man needs to pass through such a crisis. As long as the man is cherishing a self-righteous spirit he feels himself restrained on all hands. He cherishes a sense of merit, and yet is not satisfied, He makes now and greater exertions, only to find that they do not come up to the full requirements of the law. And the unforgiven sin will ever trouble the sinner till it is forgiven. Better at once submit, and instead of the prayer of the Pharisee put up the prayer of the publican. When the ground is as it is in winter, we might try to soften the hardness and remove the cold by shovelling away the frost and snow. But there is a better way. Let us have the returning sun of spring, and the coldness will disappear, and the earth will array itself in the loveliest green. So when we feel our hearts to be chilled and hardened, let us seek that the light of Gods countenance shine upon us, and the hardness will be dissolved, and the graces of peace and love will flow forth as the streams do in spring. (J. McCosh, D.D.)
Self-righteousness--ruin of many
A gentleman in our late civil wars, says Cowley, when his quarters were beaten up by the enemy, was taken prisoner, and lost his life afterwards only by staying to put on a band and adjust his periwig; he would escape like a person of quality, or not at all, and died the noble martyr of ceremony and gentility. Poor fool! and yet he is as bad who waits till he is dressed in the rags of his own fancied fitness before he will come to Jesus. He will die a martyr to pride and self-righteousness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Phariseeism
Concerning the Jews, consider--
I. what they did.
1. They trusted to their self-righteousness.
2. They sought to establish it
3. They laboured diligently to do this.
II. What they did not do. They did not--
1. Accept Gods righteousness.
2. Realise its extent.
3. Bow down to it.
III. The cause of their self-righteous ignorance, which was--
1. Wilful.
2. Persistent.
3. Destructive. (J. Burns, D.D.)
Barriers broken down
The text sets forth three difficulties in the way of a mans salvation.
I. Ignorance.
1. Ignorance is the mother of devotion, according to the Church of Rome; the mother of error, according to the Word of God.
(1) Men do not know what that righteousness is which God requires. If you want to be saved by your own righteousness, know that it must be perfect. If you have committed but one sin, your hope of perfect righteousness is gone. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. If I break one link in a chain of twenty I have broken the chain. Suppose that I should have to give a perfect vase of crystal as a present to the Queen. But it has got chipped a little. What is to be done? I may cement the little pieces in their places; but if it must be perfect before royalty can accept it I must get another vase. Now, while I am talking about a chip here and a chip there in your life, you may be saying, But we are smashed right up; and as to broken links, why, we have fairly melted the chain. I am glad to hear it. If you have no righteousness of your own, you have got to the half-way house of salvation. When you strip a man you are partly on the way to clothing him.
(2) Men do not know that God has provided a righteousness. God came here in human form, and became obedient to His own law, even to the death of the cross. And His obedience is ours, if we believe. Christ was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Alas! how many there are who do not know that God justifieth the ungodly; that sinners can be regarded as just, through what Christ has done and suffered.
(3) Many are ignorant as to how they are to receive this righteousness. The current notion is, I must pray so much; I must weep so much; I must feel so much. Ah! this is the common ignorance; whereas men should know that there is life for a look at the Crucified One.
(4) The worst of this terrible ignorance is, that the mass of mankind do not know Him who is our righteousness. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2. This ignorance--
(1) Is of the facts of the truth. You do not know that in the very midst and heart of London there are tens of thousands who do not know the name of Christ.
(2) Of the excellence of the gospel. They do not know the peace, the joy, the rest it brings.
(3) With many is wilful. Nobody is so blind as the man that does not want to see; nobody so deaf as the man that does not wish to hear.
(4) Some are ignorant despairingly. The devil tells men, first, that they can be saved any day they like; so they may put it off. Then he says, Salvation is not for such as you. But Christ says that whoever comes to Him He will in no wise cast out.
II. Self-will. Men, ignorant cf Gods righteousness, go about to establish their own.
1. They set up the poor idol of their own righteousness. There is a treasure of gold, and the man says, No, I will not have that. I think that I could make a sovereign at home out of a bit of brass. If I were at heavens gate, and a voice should say, Enter freely, and I replied, No, I think I prefer the Surrey hills, or a place down by the seaside, what a fool I should be! A human thing at best, how shall that match the Divine righteousness? An imperfect thing at best, how shall I compare that with the perfect righteousness of Christ? A fading, fleeting thing, always apt to be damaged by the next moments temptation, how can I be so foolish?
2. In what vain efforts they spend their time and strength! You will better understand the text if I read it: They go about to set up their own righteousness. It is a dead thing. The corpse of our own righteousness has a tendency to fall, and down it goes! It wants something inside; for until there is life within, it will not stand. It is like a man trying to patch up an old house which has not been repaired for fifty years. So he puts in a beam there, and a strut there, and another timber there; and, by the time he has spent as much as would have built a house, he has got a very handsome ruin left, and nothing more. Charles the First used to swear, God mend me. Somebody said it would be an easier job to make a new one of him. When men say, God mend me, they had better say God make me new.
3. They go about to do this.
(1) They set about it with great zeal. When a man says, I am going about a thing, he means that he is going to take his coat off. I recollect how I set to work in my shirt-sleeves to make a righteousness of my own; and I did very nicely indeed while it was dark. But when a little light from the Cross broke in I began to see the filthiness of it.
(2) They have various ways of doing it. I have talked with a person, and said, Can you trust in your own works? Oh, no. Well, can you come to Christ, and take the righteousness of God? Well, no; I do not feel enough my own emptiness. Each time you drive him out of his refuge of lies he hastens back to the old ground again--something of himself. There is a ship out at sea, and one of the crew says, I know that we shall not drift far out of our course. Why? … . Because we have such a big anchor on board. Why, an anchor on board is no good to anybody! It is when you let go the anchor, and lose sight of it, that it is good for something. So you want to have your anchor on board. You do not like it to enter into that which is within the veil. You want to feel something, to have something of your own. O self-will! God will have salvation to be all of grace, and man will have it of debt.
4. These efforts of men for their own salvation are deadly efforts. God will save them one way, and they want to be saved another. God says, There is medicine; take it. Man says, No, I will compound my own physic. Can he ever get well in such a way as that? God says, I will forgive. Man says, I will try and deserve to be forgiven--as if that could be possible.
III. Flat rebellion. They have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God? This is--
1. A strange word. Here is a criminal who will not submit to be pardoned; a sick man who will not submit to be made well; a poor beggar who will not submit to be made into a gentleman.
2. A searching word. Do I stick out? Am I such a self-willed fool that I will not submit before my Maker--will not yield even to have salvation for nothing?
3. A true word. There is many a sinner who has nothing to be proud of, and yet he is as proud as Lucifer. A dustman can be as proud as my Lord Mayor. The worse the man, the harder he is to bow before the righteousness of God.
4. A suggestive word. They will not own that God is King. When a man denies the rights of the magistrate to condemn him, how can he be pardoned? You must yield. Submit to the fact that God is God, or else you will not submit to Gods righteousness.
5. A very word. All I have to do is to submit myself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 21
Chapter 21
JEWISH UNBELIEF AND GENTILE FAITH: PROPHECY
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Rom_10:1-21
THE problem of Israel is still upon the Apostles soul. He has explored here and there the conditions of the fact that his brethren, as a mass, have rejected Jesus. He has delivered his heart of its loving human groan over the fact. He has reminded himself, and then his readers, that the fact, however, involves no failure of the purpose and promise of God; for God from the first had indicated limitations within the apparent scope of the Abrahamic Promise. He has looked in the face, once for all, the mystery of the relation between Gods efficient will and the will of the creature, finding a refuge, under the moral strain of that mystery, not away from it, but as it were behind it, in the recollection of the infinite trustworthiness, as well as eternal rights, of mans Maker. Then he has recurred to the underlying main theme of the whole Epistle, the acceptance of the sinner in Gods own One way; and we have seen how, from Israels own point of view, Israel has stumbled and fallen just by his own fault. Israel would not rest upon "the Stone of stumbling"; he would collide with it. Divine sovereignty here or there-the heart of Jewish man, in its responsible personality, and wholly of itself-rebelled against a man-humbling salvation. And so all its religiousness, its earnestness, its intensity, went for nothing in the quest for peace and purity. They stumbled-a real striking of real wayward feet-at the Stumbling Stone; which all the while lay ready to be their basis and repose.
He cannot leave the subject, with its sadness, its lessons, and its hope. He must say more of his love and longing for Israel; and also more about this aspect of Israels fall-this collision of mans will with the Lords Way of Peace. And he will unfold the deep witness of the prophecies to the nature of that Way, and to the reluctance of the Jewish heart to accept it. Moses shall come in with the Law, and Isaiah with the Scriptures of the Prophets; and we shall see how their Inspirer, all along from the first, indicated what should surely happen when a salvation altogether divine should be presented to hearts filled with themselves.
Brethren, he begins, the deliberate desire of my heart, whatever discouragements may oppose it and my petition unto God for them, is salvationwards. He is inevitably moved to this by the pathetic sight of their earnestness, misguided indeed, guiltily misguided, utterly inadequate to constitute for them even a phantom of merit; yet, to the eyes that watch it, a different thing from indifference or hypocrisy. He cannot see their real struggles, and not long that they may reach the shore.
For I bear them witness, the witness of one who once was the type of the class, that they have zeal of God, an honest jealousy for His Name, His Word, His Worship, only not in the line of spiritual knowledge. They have not seen all He is, all His Word means, all His worship implies. They are sure, and rightly sure, of many things about Him; but they have not "seen Him." And so they have not "abhorred themselves". {Job_41:5-6} And thus they are not, in their own conviction, shut up to a salvation which must be altogether of Him; which is no contract with Him, but eternal bounty from Him.
Solemn and heart-moving scene! There are now, and were then, those who would have surveyed it, and come away with the comfortable reflection that so much earnestness would surely somehow work itself right at last; nay, that it was already sufficiently good in itself to secure these honest zealots a place in some comprehensive heaven. If ever such thoughts had excuse, surely it was here. The "zeal" was quite sincere. It was ready to suffer, as well as to strike. The zealot was not afraid of a world in arms. And he felt himself on fire not for evil, but for God, for the God of Abraham, of Moses, of the Prophets, of the Promise. Would not this do? Would not the lamentable rejection of Jesus which attended it be condoned as a tremendous but mere accident, while the "zeal of God" remained as the substance, the essence, of the spiritual state of the zealot? Surely a very large allowance would be made; to put it at the lowest terms.
Yet such was not the view of St. Paul, himself once the most honest and disinterested Jewish zealot in the world. He had seen the Lord. And so he had seen himself. The deadly mixture of motive which may underlie what nevertheless we may have to call an honest hatred of the Gospel had been shown to him in the white light of Christ. In that light he had seen-what it alone can fully show-the condemnableness of all sin, and the hopelessness of self-salvation. From himself he reasons, and rightly, to his brethren. He knows, with a solemn sympathy, how much they are in earnest. But his sympathy conceals no false liberalism; it is not cheaply generous of the claims of God. He does not think that because they are in earnest they are saved. Their earnestness drives his heart to a deeper prayer for their salvation.
For knowing not the righteousness of our God, His way of being just, yet the Justifier, and seeking to set up their own righteousness, to construct for themselves a claim which should "stand in judgment," they did not submit to the righteousness of our God, when it appeared before them, embodied in "the Lord our Righteousness." They aspired to acceptance. God bade them submit to it. In their view, it was a matter of attainment; an ascent to a difficult height, where the climber might exult in his success. As He presented it, it was a matter of surrender, as when a patient, given over, places himself helpless in a master-healers hands, for a recovery which is to be due to those hands alone, and to be celebrated only to their praise.
Alas for such "ignorance" in these earnest souls; for such a failure in Israel to strike the true line of "knowledge"! For it was a guilty failure. The Law had been indicating all the while that their Dispensation was not its own end, but one vast complex means to shut man up to a Redeemer who was at once to satisfy every type, and every oracle, and to supply "the impossible of the Law," {Rom_8:3} by giving Himself to be the believers vicarious Merit. For the Laws end, its Goal, its Final Cause in the plan of redemption, is-Christ, unto righteousness, to effect and secure this wonderful acceptance, for everyone who believes. Yes, He is no arbitrary sequel to the Law; He stands organically related to it. And to this the Law itself is witness, both by presenting an inexorable and condemning standard as its only possible code of acceptance, and by mysteriously pointing the soul away from that code, in its quest for mercy, to something altogether different, at once accessible and divine. For Moses writes down thus the righteousness got from the Law, "The man who does them, shall live in them"; {Lev_18:5} it is a matter of personal action and personal meriting alone. Thus the code, feasible and beneficent indeed on the plane of national and social life, which is its lower field of action, is necessarily fatal to fallen man when the question lies between his conscience and the eternal Judge. But the righteousness got from faith, the acceptance received by surrendering trust, thus speaks {Deu_30:12-14} -in Moses words indeed (and this is one main point in the reasoning, that he is witness), yet as it were with a personal voice of its own, deep and tender; "Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend to the heaven?" that is, to bring down Christ, by human efforts, by a climbing merit; "or, Who shall descend into the abyss? that is, to bring up Christ from the dead," as if His victorious Sacrifice needed your supplement in order to its resurrection-triumph. But what does it say? "Near thee is the utterance, the explicit account of the Lords willingness to bless the soul which casts itself on Him, in thy mouth, to recite it, and in thy heart," to welcome it. And this message is the utterance of faith, the creed of acceptance by faith alone, which we proclaim; that if you shall confess in your mouth Jesus as Lord, as divine King and Master, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, owning in the soul the glory of the Resurrection, as revealing and sealing the triumph of the Atonement, you shall be saved. For with the heart faith is exercised, unto righteousness, with acceptance for its resultant; while with the mouth confession is made, unto salvation, with present deliverance and final glory for its resultant, the moral sequel of a life which owns its Lord as all in all. For the Scripture, {Isa_28:16} "Everyone who believes on Him shall not beashamed," shall never be disappointed; shall be "kept, through faith, unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time". {1Pe_1:5}
We have traversed here a tract pregnant of questions and mystery. We have to remember here also, as in previous places, that the Scripture is "not a sun, but a lamp." Much, very much, which this passage suggests as problem finds in its words no answer. This citation from Deuteronomy, with its vision of ascents and descents, its thoughts of the heaven and the abyss, what did it mean when aged Moses spoke it in the plains of Moab? What did it mean to him? Did he see, did he feel, Messiah in every clause? Had he conscious foreviews, then and there, of what was to be done ages later beyond that stern ridge of hills, westward of "the narrow stream"? Did he knowingly "testify beforehand" that God was to be born Man at Bethlehem, and to die Man at Jerusalem? We do not know; we cannot possibly know, until the eternal day finds Moses and ourselves together in the City of God, and we better understand the mysterious Word, at last, in that great light. If our Masters utterances are to be taken as final, it is quite certain that "Moses wrote of Him". {Joh_5:46} But it is not certain that he always knew be was so writing when he so wrote; nor is it certain how far his consciousness went when it was most awake that way. In the passage here cited by St. Paul the great Prophet may have been aware only of a reference of his words to the seen, the temporal, the national, to the blessings of loyalty to Israels God-given polity, and of a return to it after times of revolt and decline. But then, St. Paul neither affirms this nor denies it. As if on purpose, he almost drops the personality of Moses out of sight, and personifies Justification as the speaker. His concern is less with the Prophet than with his Inspirer, the ultimate Author behind the immediate author. And his own prophet insight is guided to see that in the thought of that Author, as He wielded Moses mind and diction at His will, Christ was the inmost purport of the words.
We may ask again what are the laws by which the Apostle modifes here the Prophets phrases, "Who shall descend into the abyss?" The Hebrew reads, "Who shall go over (or on) the sea?" The Septuagint reads, "Who shall go to the other side of the sea?" Here too "we know in part." Assuredly the change of terms was neither unconsciously made, nor arbitrarily; and it was made for readers who could challenge it, if so it seemed to them to be done. But we should need to know the whole relation of the One inspiring Master to the minds of both His Prophet and His Apostle to answer the question completely. However, we can see that Prophet and Apostle both have in their thought here the antithesis of depth to height; that the sea is, to Moses here, the antithesis to the sky, not to the land; and that St. Paul intensifies the imagery in its true direction accordingly when he writes, "into the abyss."
Again, he finds Justification by Faith in the Prophets oracle about the subjective "nearness" of "the utterance" of mercy. Once more we own our ignorance of the conscious purport of the words, as Moses words. We shall quite decline, if we are reverently cautious, to say that for certain Moses was not aware of such an inmost reference in what he said: it is very much easier to assert than to know what the limitations of the consciousness of the Prophets were. But here also we rest in the fact that behind both Moses and Paul, in their free and mighty personalities, stood their one Lord, building His Scripture slowly into its manifold oneness through them both. He was in the thought and word of Moses; and meantime already to Him the thought and word of Paul were present, and were in His plan. And the earlier utterance had this at least to do with the later, that it drew the mind of the pondering and worshipping Israel to the idea of a contact with God in His Promises which was not external and mechanical but deep within the individual himself, and manifested in the individuals free and living avowal of it.
As we quit the passage, let us mark and cherish its insistence upon "confession," "confession with the mouth that Jesus is Lord." This specially he connects with "salvation," with the believers preservation to eternal glory. "Faith" is "unto righteousness"; "confession" is "unto salvation." Why is this? Is faith after all not enough for our union with the Lord. and for our safety in Him? Must we bring in something else, to be a more or less meritorious makeweight in the scale? If this is what he means, he is gainsaying the whole argument of the Epistle on its main theme. No; it is eternally true that we are justified, that we are accepted, that we are incorporated, that we are kept, through faith only; that is, that Christ is all for all things in our salvation, and our part and work in the matter are to receive and hold Him in an empty hand. But then this empty hand, holding Him, receives life and power from Him. The man is vivified by his Rescuer. He is rescued that he may live, and that he may serve as living. He cannot truly serve without loyalty to his Lord. He cannot be truly loyal while he hides his relation to Him. In some articulate way he must "confess Him"; or he is not treading the path where the Shepherd walks before the sheep.
The "confession with the mouth" here in view is, surely, nothing less than the believers open loyalty to Christ. It is no mere recitation of even the sacred catholic Creed; which may be recited as by an automaton. It is the witness of the whole man to Christ, as his own discovered Life and Lord. And thus it means in effect the path of faithfulness along which the Saviour actually leads to glory those who are justified by faith.
That no slackened emphasis on faith is to be felt here is clear from Rom_10:11. There, in the summary and close of the passage, nothing but faith is named; "whosoever believeth on Him." It is as if he would correct even the slightest disquieting surmise that our repose upon the Lord has to be secured by something other than Himself, through some means more complex than taking Him at His word. Here, as much as anywhere in the Epistle, this is the message; "from faith to faith." The "confession with the mouth" is not a different something added to this faith; it is its issue, its manifestation, its embodiment. "I believed; therefore have I spoken." {Psa_116:10}
This recurrence to his great theme gives the Apostles thought a direction once again towards the truth of the worldwide scope of the Gospel of Acceptance. In the midst of this philo-judean section of the Epistle, on his way to say glorious things about abiding mercy and coming blessing for the Jews, he must pause again to assert the equal welcome of "the Greeks" to the Righteousness of God, and the foreshadow of this welcome in the Prophets. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek wonderful antithesis to the "no distinction" of Rom_3:23. For the same Lord is Lord of all, wealthy to all who call upon Him, who invoke Him, who appeal to Him, in the name of His own mercies in His redeeming Son. For we have the prophecies with us here again. Joel, in a passage {Joe_2:32} full of Messiah, the passage with which the Spirit of Pentecost filled Peters lips, speaks thus without a limit; "Everyone, whoever shall call upon the Lords Name, shall be saved." As he cites the words, and the thought rises upon him of this immense welcome to the sinful world, he feels afresh all the need of the heathen, and all the cruel narrowness of the Pharisaism which would shut them out from such an amplitude of blessing. How then can they call on Him on whom they never believed? But how can they believe on Him whom they never heard? But how can they hear Him apart from a proclaimer? But how can they proclaim unless they are sent, unless the Church which holds the sacred light sends her messengers out into the darkness? And in this again the Prophets are with the Christian Apostle, and against the loveless Judaist: As it stands written, {Isa_52:7} "How fair the feet of the gospellers of peace, of the gospellers of good."
Here, as an incident in this profound discussion, is given forever to the Church of Christ one of the most distinct and stringent of her missionary "marching orders." Let us recollect this, and lay it on our own souls, forgetting awhile, for we may, the problem of Israel and the exclusiveness of ancient Pharisaism. What is there here for us? What motive facts are here, ready to energise and direct the will of the Christian, and of the Church, in the matter of the "gospelling" of the world?
We take note first of what is written last, the moral beauty and glory of the enterprise. "How fair the feet!" From the viewpoint of heaven there is nothing on the earth more lovely than the bearing of the name of Jesus Christ into the needing world, when the bearer is one "who loves and knows." The work may have, and probably will have, very little of the rainbow of romance about it. It will often lead the worker into the most uncouth and forbidding circumstances. It will often demand of him the patient expenditure of days and months upon humiliating and circuitous preparations; as he learns a barbarous unwitten tongue, or a tongue ancient and elaborate, in a stifling climate; or finds that he must build his own hut, and dress his own food, if he is to live at all among "the Gentiles." It may lay on him the exquisite-and prosaic-trial of finding the tribes around him entirely unaware of their need of his message; unconscious of sin, of guilt, of holiness, of God. Nay, they may not only not care for his message: they may suspect or deride his motives, and roundly tell him that he is a political spy, or an adventurer come to make his private gains, or a barbarian tired of his own Thule and irresistibly attracted to the region of the sun. He will often be tempted to think "the journey too great for him," and long to let his tired and heavy feet rest forever. But his Lord is saying of him, all the while, "How fair the feet!" He is doing a work whose inmost conditions even now are full of moral glory, and whose eternal issues, perhaps where, he thinks there has been most failure, shall be, by grace, worthy of "the King in His beauty." It is the continuation of what the King Himself "began to do," {Act_1:1} when He was His own first Missionary to a world which needed Him immeasurably, yet did not know Him when He came.
Then, this paragraph asserts the necessity of the missionarys work still more urgently than its beauty. True, it suggests many questions (what great Scripture does not do so?) which we cannot answer yet at all:-"Why has He left the Gentiles thus? Why is so much, for their salvation, suspended (in our view) upon the too precarious and too lingering diligence of the Church? What will the King say at last to those who never could, by the Churchs fault, even hear the blessed Name, that they might believe in It, and call upon It?" He knoweth the whole answer to such questions; not we. Yet here meanwhile stands out this "thing revealed." {Deu_29:29} In the Lords normal order, which is for certain the order of eternal spiritual right and love, however little we can see all the conditions of the case, man is to be saved through a personal "calling upon His Name." And for that "calling" there is need of personal believing. And for that believing there is need of personal hearing. And in order to that hearing, God does not speak in articulate thunder from the sky, nor send visible angels up and down the earth, but bids His Church, His children, go and tell.
Nothing can be stronger and surer than the practical logic of this passage. The need of the world, it says to us, is not only amelioration, elevation, evolution. It is salvation. It is pardon, acceptance, holiness, and heaven. It is God; it is Christ. And that need is to be met not by subtle expansions of polity and society. No "unconscious cerebration" of the human race will regenerate fallen man. Nor will his awful wound be healed by any drawing on the shadowy resources of a post-mortal hope. The work is to be done now, in the Name of Jesus Christ, and by His Name. And His Name, in order to be known, has to be announced and explained. And that work is to be done by those who already know it, or it will not be done at all. "There is none other Name." There is no other method of evangelisation.
Why is not the Name already, at least externally, known and reverenced in every place of human dwelling? It would have been so, for a long time now, if the Church of Christ had followed better the precept and also the example of St. Paul. Had the apostolic missions been sustained more adequately throughout Christian history, and had the apostolic Gospel been better maintained in the Church in all the energy of its divine simplicity and fulness, the globe would have been covered-not indeed in a hurry, yet ages ago now-with the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Fact, as Truth, as Life. We are told even now by some of the best informed advocates of missionary enterprise that if Protestant Christendom (to speak of it alone) were really to respond to the missionary call, and "send" its messengers out not by tens but by thousands (no chimerical number), it would be soberly possible within thirty years so to distribute the message that no given inhabited spot should be, at furthest, one days walk from a centre of evangelisation. This programme is not fanaticism, surely. It is a proposal for possible action, too long deferred, in the line of St. Pauls precept and example. It is not meant to discredit any present form of well-considered operation. And it does not for a moment ignore the futility of all enterprise where the sovereign power of the Eternal Spirit is not present. Nor does it forget the permanent call to the Church to sustain amply the pastoral work at home, in "the flock of God which is among us." {1Pe_5:2} But it sees and emphasises the fact that the Lord has laid it upon His Church to be His messenger to the whole world, and to be in holy earnest about it, and that the work, as to its human side, is quite feasible to a Church awake. "Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people" to both the glory and the necessity of this labour of labours for Thee, "that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of it, may of Thee be plenteously rewarded," in Thy divine use of their obedience, for the salvation of the world.
But the great missionary anticipates an objection from facts to his burning plea for the rightness of an unrestrained evangelism. The proclamation might be universal: but were not the results partial? "Here a little, and there a little"; was not this the story of missionary results even when a Paul, a Barnabas, a Peter, was the missionary? Everywhere some faith; but everywhere more hostility and still more indifference! Could this, after all, be the main track of the divine purposes-these often ineffectual excursions of the "fair feet" of the messengers of an eternal peace? Ah, that objection must have offered no mere logical difficulty to St. Paul; it must have pierced his heart. For while His Master was his first motive, his fellow men themselves were his second. He loved their souls; he longed to see them blessed in Christ, saved in Him from "the death that cannot die," filed in Him with "life indeed" η οντως ζωη. {1Ti_6:19} The man who shed tears over his converts as he warned them {Act_20:31} had tears also, we may be sure, for those who would not be converted; nay, we know he had: "I tell you, even weeping (καί κλαων), that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ." {Php_3:18} But here too he leans back on the solemn comfort, the answer from within a veil, -that Prophecy had taken account of this beforehand. Moses, and Isaiah, and David had foretold on the one hand a universal message of good, but on the other hand a sorrowfully limited response from man, and notably from Israel. So he proceeds: But not all obeyed the good tidings, when "the word" reached them; for-we were prepared for such a mystery, such a grief-for Isaiah says, {Isa_53:1} in his great Oracle of the Crucified, "Lord, who believed our hearing," the message they heard of us, about One "on whom were laid the iniquities of us all?" And as he dictates that word "hearing," it emphasises to him the fact that not mystic intuitions born out of the depths of man are the means of revelation, but articulate messages given from the depths of God, and spoken by men to men. And he throws the thought into a brief sentence, such as would lie in a footnote in a modern book: So we gather that faith comes from hearing; but the hearing comes through Christs utterance; the messenger has it because it was first given to him by the Master who proclaimed Himself the Way, Truth, Life, Light, Bread, Shepherd, Ransom, Lord. All is revelation, not reverie; utterance, not insight.
Then the swift thought turns, and returns again. The prophecies have foretold an evangelical utterance to the whole human world. Not only in explicit prediction do they do so, but in the "mystic glory" of their more remote allusions. But I say, Did they not hear? Was this failure of belief due to a limitation of the messengers range in the plan of God? Nay, rather, "Unto all the earth went out their tone, and to the ends of mans world their utterances." {Psa_19:4} The words are the voice of that Psalm where the glories of the visible heavens are collocated with the glories of the Word of God. The Apostle hears more than Nature in the Sunrise Hymn of David; he hears grace and the Gospel in the deep harmony which carries the immortal melody along. The God who meant the skies, with their "silent voices," to preach a Creator not to one race but to all, meant also His Word to have no narrower scope, preaching a Redeemer. Yes, and there were articulate predictions that it should be so, as well as starry parables; predictions, too, that showed the prospect not only of a world evangelised, but of an Israel put to shame by the faith of pagans. But I say (his rapid phrase meets with an anticipating answer the cavil yet unspoken) did not Israel know? Had they no distinct forewarning of what we see today? First comes Moses, saying, in his prophetic Song, sung at the foot of Pisgah, {Deu_32:21} "I [the I is emphatic; the Person is the Lord, and the action shall be nothing less than His] I will take a no-nation to move your jealousy; to move your anger I will take a nation non-intelligent"; a race not only not informed by a previous revelation, but not trained by thought upon it to an insight into new truth. And what Moses indicates, Isaiah, standing later in the history, indignantly explains: But Isaiah dares anything and says, {Isa_65:1} "I was found by those who sought not Me; manifest I became to those who consulted not Me." But as to Israel he says, in the words next in order in the place, {Isa_65:2} "All the day long I spread my hands open, to beckon and to embrace, towards a people disobeying and contradicting."
So the servant brings his sorrows for consolation to-may we write the words in reverence?-the sorrows of His Master. He mourns over an Athens, an Ephesus, and above all a Jerusalem, that "will not come to the Son of God, that they might have life." {Joh_5:40} And his grief is not only inevitable; it is profoundly right, wise, holy. But he need not bear it unrelieved. He grasps the Scripture which tells him that his Lord has called those who would not come, and opened the eternal arms for an embrace-to be met only with a contradiction. He weeps, but it is as on the breast of Jesus as He wept over the City. And in the double certainty that the Lord has felt such grief, and that He is the Lord, he yields, he rests, he is still. "The King of the Ages" {1Ti_1:17} and "the Man of Sorrows" are One. To know Him is to he at peace, even under the griefs of the mystery of sin.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 1–4. Brethren. In 9:3, the “brethren” refers to his…
1–4. Brethren. In 9:3, the “brethren” refers to his countrymen, his Jewish kinsmen, brethren according to the flesh. Here it means his brethren in Christ, those united by spiritual ties. My heart's desire and prayer for Israel. Concerning Paul's deep solicitude for the salvation of his countrymen. See 9:1–3.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Rom_10:1.—That the apostle speaks not in the preceding chapter…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_10:1.—That the apostle speaks not in the preceding chapter of the absolute reprobation of Israel is evident from this prayer and vehement desire. ἡ εὐδοκία.—The good-will of my heart and my prayer on Israel’s behalf is for salvation, and thus he assumes the possibility of salvation for the rejected.
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Rom_10:2. A zeal for God.—Hence some were called zealots, taking the name from those who were zealous for that which is good.
Rom_10:3.—They not knowing, not considering the righteousness of God. The way for man to attain unto the position of the righteous.
Rom_10:4.—Refers more especially to Christ’s active obedience: “The man that doeth them shall live by them” By doing men were accounted righteous under the law; while the gospel says, Believe, and live—believe, and do as the fruit of faith.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_10:1-4
Mistakes rectified.—In previous chapters St. Paul had described the sad condition of his countrymen. And now he pours forth the ardent longings of his soul: “Brethren, my heart’s good pleasure and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” Here is the utterance of the Christian patriot. Spiritual salvation is the highest good for the individual and the community. This secured, other needful good will follow in its train. Earth’s patriots begin at the surface and work downwards; the Christian patriot begins at the root and works upwards. Civilise, then Christianise. Spiritual salvation is the true civilising force. Salvation in every sense is the dream and the aim of every true Christian. His soul is in heaviness because of the unsaved; he sighs over the lost; he weeps over the guilt and the impending doom of a great city; he prays for his kinsmen that they may be saved.
I. The relationships of life suggest solemn thought.—Israelites were St. Paul’s kinsmen according to the flesh. Love of kin is the surest basis for love of kind. The man who does not care for his relations is not likely to care for the world beyond. St. Paul was by pre-eminence the apostle of the Gentiles; and may we not suppose that this broader office arose out of his love to Israel? Love is expanding. Love to Israelites feeds love to Gentiles. However this may be, we have here St. Paul’s deep love for his kinsmen according to the flesh, and it suggests to him solemn thoughts.
1. Israel is unsaved. Brethren after the flesh, aliens after the spirit. “That they might be saved “opens out a wide domain of thought to the apostolic mind. The spiritual mind of the apostle would scarcely content itself with the idea of the salvation of Israel as a temporal power. He was anxious, not for the restoration of David’s throne as an earthly monarch, but for the establishment of the supremacy of David’s greater Son and Lord. “That they might be saved” is the apostle’s great goal for the human race. He walked through the earth oppressed with the thought that its millions were unsaved; but he did not give place to despair, nor lose himself in generalities. He set himself to the work near at hand. He prayed and worked for his kinsmen.
2. Israel had a false zeal. St. Paul could bear witness to the zeal of the Jews. He himself had been most zealous. The men without fire and glow are the men to cumber the earth; the men with enthusiasms are the men to exalt the race. Lofty ideas stirring the nature dignify humanity. Religious ideas are the loftiest. False zeal is better than indifference. The Jews had zeal for the ceremonials. They tithed mint, anise, and cumin; they were punctilious about the letter of the Sabbath, about postures, and the shape of garments. Their zeal was not divinely enlightened. It was not a zeal from God. It was not pure, nor full of love.
3. Israel had a false method. They were going about to establish their own righteousness. Many of the sons of men are still going on this fruitless pilgrimage. The little words “their own” are suggestive. How much men will do for “their own”! What long and weary pilgrimages men will take to establish their own righteousness! They go up and down the earth, and their last state is worse than their first. Their own righteousness is flattering to pride. Submission unto the righteousness of God is possible only to Christian humility.
II. Solemn thought prompts intercessory prayer.—St. Paul prayed that Israel might be saved. Prayer is a relief to the solemnity of our thought; prayer throws light on the deep problems of existence. Solemn thought depresses; intercessory prayer inspires and invigorates.
III. Intercessory prayer moves to outward action.—St. Paul did not pray in the monastic cell, and shut himself out and away from the sins and sorrows of a struggling humanity. He sought strength in prayer, and used that strength in action. He obtained divine light and teaching by prayer, and he used the blessings for the good of his fellows. The praying man is the best teacher. St. Paul can show the Jews the right method. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The moral law discloses the wounds sin has made. The ceremonial law shadows forth the remedy. The law given as a tutor to conduct us to Christ. Its authority as a covenant terminates in Christ. “He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The law of works is killed by the law of love. Moses laid down rules, but he did not thereby render humanity upright. Christ inbreathed a loving spirit, and the glorified nature had no need of precise enactments. He that believeth in Christ has both a justifying and a sanctifying righteousness.
IV. Intercessory prayer conjoined with suitable action cannot fail.—Failure in the human thought and to the human estimate there may be, but it does not follow that there is a failure in the divine plan and purpose. “Fail” is a word for human weakness and human limitations. Fail cannot be a word for Omnipotence. Soul energy cannot brook the idea of failure. Is it to be supposed that the soul energy of the Infinite can admit failure? Man may fail, but a God must be ever victorious. It might be true that Israel was not saved, and yet that Paul’s prayer was answered. Divine answers do not move along human channels. Let us pray and work in faith. Prayer offered to God cannot be fruitless. Work done for God cannot come to naught.
Rom_10:4. The end of the law.—Two questions arise:
1. What is the “end” (τέλος) of the law?
2. How is Christ that “end”?
Answer
1. The “end “of a law is to make men righteous—teach what is right, what is wrong. Law does this by plainly declaring God’s will. Yet by this merely its end not gained. What is wanted?
Answer
2.
(1) An ideal life—to illustrate righteousness by perfect example.
(2) A gift of power—to keep the law. Christ led the life and gives the power. (Doctrine of sanctification.)
Mark: No other religious system supplies these two wants. Contrast Christianity with Buddhism and Mohammedanism. Neither claims
(1) to exhibit perfect life, or
(2) give sanctifying power.
The ideal life is near to us; the gift of power is near to us (Rom_10:6-9).—Dr. Springett.
Rom_10:4. Relation of the law to the gospel.—Now this spirit of legality, as it is called, is nearly the universal spirit of humanity. It is not Judaism alone; it is nature. They are not the Israelites only who go about to establish a righteousness of their own; the very same thing may be detected among the religionists of all countries and all ages. If a man will persist, as nature strongly inclines him, in seeking to make out a title-deed to heaven by his own obedience, then that obedience must be perfect, else there is a flaw in the title-deed which is held to be irreparable. In defect of his own righteousness, which he is required to disown as having any part in his meretorious acceptance with God, he is told of an everlasting righteousness which Another has brought in, and which he is invited, nay commanded, to make mention of. It is thus that Christ becomes the end of the law for righteousness—that is, for a justifying righteousness, or for a righteousness which gives a right to him who possesses it. There appears to be the very strength and spirit of a moral essence in that doctrine which they hold, and it seems the fruit of their more adequate homage to the law that, under the feeling of their own distance and deficiency therefrom, they have laid hold upon Christ as the end of the law for righteousness. Obedience for a legal right is everywhere denounced in the New Testament as an enterprise, the prosecution of which forms the main business of every disciple, and the full achievement of which is that prize of his high calling to which he must press forward continually. Human virtue hath ceased, under the economy of grace, to be the price of heaven; for this power is lost, and lost irrevocably, by its ceasing to be perfect. But human virtue is still the indispensable preparation for heaven; and we, helped from the sanctuary above to struggle with all the imperfections of our corrupt and carnal nature below, must, by a life of prayer and painstaking and all duteous performance, make way through the frailties and temptations of our sinful state in time, to a meetness for the joys of that endless inheritance which is beyond it. First, then, know that the legal right is what you cannot work for, but that in the gospel of Jesus Christ it is freely offered for your acceptance. But, secondly, having thus secured what the apostle in one passage calls “the end of the law,” count it your unceasing business to labour for what the apostle in another passage calls “the end of the commandment.” Though the law has ceased as a covenant, it has not ceased as a rule of life. Oh, let us then do honour to the faith that we profess by our abounding in those fruits of righteousness which emanate therefrom, and never let gainsayers have to allege of that holy name by which we are called that it is prostituted by those who wear it into a licence for iniquity! Let the faith of the gospel approve itself in our hearts, to bring along with it the charm and the efficacy of a new moral existence.—Dr. Chalmers.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_10:2-4
Zeal for God.—I desire, it may be observed; that zeal of God in general—that is, a hearty and passionate concernment for religion—the apostle here finds no fault with. On the contrary, he approves it as a commendable thing; for you see he represents it as a piece of virtue in his countrymen, and speaks it to their commendation that they had a zeal of God. A man will have but small comfort, when he comes to die, to reflect that he has been zealous of the privileges and property and rights of his countrymen, but it was indifferent to him how the service of God and the affairs of religion were managed. The apostle’s carriage to the unbelieving Israelites, who, though they were zealous for God, yet were in a great mistake as to their notions of the true religion. He thinks them the more pitiable and the more excusable in that this their opposition proceeded from their zeal of God, though it was misinformed, irregular zeal. Our tenderness to mistaken zealots must always be so managed as that the true religion or the public peace suffer no damage thereby. The apostle’s tacit reprehension of the Jewish zeal upon this account—that it was not according to knowledge. For be our zeal of God never so great, yet if it be not a zeal according to knowledge it is not the right Christian zeal. And though we see others never so fervent and vehement in pursuing a religious cause—and that too out of conscience—yet if this zeal of theirs be not according to knowledge it is a zeal that justly deserves to be reproved. And though both we and they may, “for our sincerity in God’s cause, expect some allowances both from God and man, yet neither they nor we can justify it either to God or man that we are thus foolish and ignorantly zealous. So that a right zeal for God implies that we do so well inform ourselves of the nature of our religion as not to pretend a religious zeal for anything that is not a part of our religion. If our zeal for God be as it should be, it must certainly express itself in matters that are good, about such objects as God hath made to be our duty. “It is good,” said St. Paul, “to be always zealously affected in a good matter” But if we mistake in our cause, if we take that for good which is evil, or that for evil which is good, here our zeal is not according to knowledge. The zeal that is according to knowledge is always attended with hearty charity. It is not that bitter zeal which the apostle speaks of, which is accompanied with hatred and envy and perverse disputings. But it is kind and sociable and meek even to gainsayers. Another inseparable property of zeal according to knowledge is that it must pursue lawful ends by lawful means, must never do an ill thing for the carrying the best cause. How many unlawful acts have popish zealots used to subject all the Christian world to their Lord and Master! How many forgeries for this purpose have they been the authors of and maintained them afterwards! How many disturbances have they given to the peace of Christendom in the most unjust and unnatural ways for the advancement of the papal cause! It was out of zeal for God’s service and the interest of holy Church that so many princes have been excommunicated and deposed, that so many tumults and rebellions have been raised, that so many crusades for the extirpating heretics have been sent out. By which and suchlike means it may justly be computed that as much Christian blood has been shed for the establishing popery as it now stands—nay, and a great deal more—than ever was during all the times of the heathen persecutions for the supporting of paganism.—Archbishop Sharpe.
False zeal.—“A zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” The faster a man rides, if he be in a wrong road, the farther he goes out of his way. Zeal is the best or worst thing in a duty. If the end be right, it is excellent; but if wrong, it is worthless.—Gurnall’s “Christian in Complete Armour,” vol. iii., p. 479.
It is better, according to Augustine, even to halt in the road than to run with all our might out of the proper path.—Calvin.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 10
Rom_10:1. Cecil’s child.—“I see my child drowning,” says Mr. Cecil; “that child’s education lies near my heart. But what do I think of his education now? Bring him safe to land first. I will talk of his education afterwards. Paul’s first desire is that Israel might be saved. The great concern of preachers should be neither biblical criticism, nor the refutation of heresies, nor to be thought men of intellectual power, but that the hearers may be saved.”
Rom_10:2. The balance of the sanctuary.—In the reign of King Charles I. the goldsmiths of London had a custom of weighing several sorts of their precious metals before the Privy Council. On this occasion they made use of scales poised with such exquisite nicety that the beam would turn, the master of the company affirmed, at the two hundredth part of a grain. Nay, the famous attorney-general, standing by and hearing this, replied, “I should be loath then to have all my actions weighed in these scales.” “With whom I heartily agree,” says the pious Hervey, “in relation to myself. And since the balance of the sanctuary, the balances in God’s hands, are infinitely exact, oh, what need have we of the merit and righteousness of Christ to make us acceptable in His sight and passable in His esteem!”
Rom_10:3. The moral magnifying glass.—Some people carry about with them a moral magnifying glass. They are fond of using it. Through it they look intently at their own excellences. Their virtues seem so great that they fail to see their need of pardon. David Rittenhouse, of Pennsylvania, was an astronomer. He was skilful in measuring the size of planets and determining the distance of stars. But he found that, such was the distance of the stars, a silk thread stretched across the glass of his telescope would entirely cover a star. He even found that a silk fibre, however small, placed upon the same glass would cover so much of the heavens that the star, if a small one, would remain obscured several seconds. Our sun is 886,000 miles in diameter; yet, seen from a distant star, it could be hidden behind a thread that was near the eye! Is there nothing like this in the spiritual world? Alas! there is. Too often men allow a very slender, slight thread of virtue to hide from them the glorious Sun of righteousness. Paul tells us of such. “They, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.”
Rom_10:4. More grace wanted.—When Lord North, during the American war, sent to the Rev. Mr. Fletcher of Madeley (who had written on that unfortunate war in a manner that had pleased the minister) to know what he wanted, he sent him word that he wanted but one thing, which it was not in his lordship’s power to give him, and that was more grace. The place to lose self.—A person who had long practised many austerities, without finding any comfort or change of heart, was once complaining of his state to a certain bishop. “Alas!” said he, “self-will and self-righteousness follow me everywhere. Only tell me when you think I shall learn to leave self. Will it be by study, or prayer, or good works?” “I think,” replied the bishop, “that the place where you lose self will be that where you find your Saviour.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 1. “Brethren, truly the desire of my heart and…
CHRIST THE ONLY WAY, AND RECEIVED BY FAITH ALONE
1. “Brethren, truly the desire of my heart and my prayer to God in their behalf is for salvation.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Prevalent Errors on Justification Considered.
Rom 10:3
Prevalent Errors on Justification Considered.
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Note:—
I. The notion that the spirit may receive an honourable discharge at the great day on the ground of obedience to the law. It is an opinion which exists, indeed, in floating, formless hopes, rather than in the shape of clear and lighted thought; yet it is sufficiently defined and powerful to sway the existence of vast multitudes. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." No law can acquit a man who is convicted of its violation; if we should receive acquittal, it must be on another principle.
II. A more prevalent theory is that which supposes that sorrow for the past and amendment for the future will be accepted as the ground of justification. But the law "requireth that which is past." The law would still say, "Pay me that thou owest." We should still be in hopeless debt. For this additional reason amendment would not justify. There could be no justification, filling the soul with soft and sure delight after the tears of sorrow and the struggles for amendment, like the clear shining after rain.
III. Another prevalent opinion is, that justification is wrought by Christ, along with certain co-operative actions of the creature. What is the truth? The oracles of God declare the truth as to the provision that is made for our justification. We are assured that the sinner is justified by Jesus Christ alone. We must "submit" to the righteousness of God." We must submit to enter an ark which we could not build, which we may not navigate, but which we must only enter in powerless dependence on unseen love and grace. The work of saving man, like the work of creating man, is Divine throughout. Other religions represent it as man’s work towards God; our religion as God’s work toward man.
C. Stanford, Central Truths, p. 99.
References: Rom 10:3.—W. Cunningham, Sermons, p. 213; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. ix., p. 282; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 264.
Rom 10:4
The Law of the Spirit.
In this text there are three subjects which call for remark: the Law, Righteousness, and Faith. Consider them in succession.
I. "The Law." By the Law is meant the eternal unchangeable Law of God, which is the revelation of His will, the standard of perfection, and the mould of fashion to which all creatures must conform, as they would be happy. As Adam, the child of the dust, was also an image of God, so the Jewish Law, though earthly and temporary, had at the same time a Divine character. It was the light of God shining in a gross medium, in order that it might be comprehended; and if it did not teach the chosen people all, it taught them much, and in the only way in which they could be taught it. And hence, in the text, St. Paul, when on the subject of the Jews, speaks of their Law as if it were the eternal Law of God; and so it was, but only as brought down to its hearers, and condescending to their infirmity.
II. By "Righteousness" is meant conformity to the law—that one state of soul which is pleasing to God. It is a relative word, having reference to a standard set up, and expressing the fulfilment of its requirements. To be righteous is to act up to the law, whatever the law be, and thereby to be acceptable to Him who gave it. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," because He effects the purpose of the law. He brings that about which the law cannot do, because it is weak through the flesh, through our unregenerate, unrenewed, carnal nature.
III. But here the question may be asked, How can we be said to fulfil the law and to offer an acceptable sacrifice since we do not obey perfectly? I answer as follows: He can only be justified, certainly, by what is perfect; no work of ours, as far as it is ours, is perfect, and therefore by no work of ours, viewed in its human imperfections, are we justified. But when I speak of our righteousness I speak of the work of the Spirit, and this work, though imperfect considered as ours, is perfect as far as it comes from Him. Our works done in the Spirit of Christ have a justifying principle in them, and that is the presence of the All-Holy Spirit. And this Divine presence in us makes us altogether pleasing to God. But again, there is another reason why, for Christ’s sake, we are dealt with as perfectly righteous, though we be not so. God anticipates what will be, and treats believers as that which they are labouring to become. Faith is the element of all perfection; he who begins with faith will end in unspotted and entire holiness.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. v., p. 143.
References: Rom 10:4.—A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 229. Rom 10:6, Rom 10:7.—Homilist, vol. iv., p. 421. Rom 10:6-10.—W. Hay Aitken, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 199. Rom 10:6-8.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. ii., p. 47. Rom 10:6-9.—W. Anderson, Discourses, p. 180.
Rom 10:8
Spiritual Exhaustion.
These words were spoken to men who were speculating on mysterious subjects, and they touch, of course with necessary change, one of the troubles of this time. For many of us are wearying ourselves with endless speculation on the loftier subjects of thought in religion. It is not wrong—nay, it is right, for such is our nature, to speculate on these high matters; but if we do nothing else, then we injure our religious life, and lose the use of lofty speculation. Pride or despair follows, but chiefly exhaustion of the spiritual faculty, and oftentimes its death.
I. How can we retain the pursuit of high mysteries and truth and not lose ourselves in them, or be cast away in their despair? Whether in life with nature or in spiritual life, exhaustion and its results follow on a straining of our powers. We are ravished at first by the grandeur and the solemn beauty of the mighty questions of religion, and we neglect the wayside beauty of the Christian life. But after a few years at most the mystic glory dies away. These things are too much for us. We are bewildered by the multitude of questions which one after another, like a thousand paths from one centre, open out from each of the great problems. Who can count the dust of thoughts which fly around the question of immortality?
II. We should turn, when exhaustion threatens to tire and then to kill the spiritual faculty, to the simple Christian charities and tenderness of daily self-sacrifice, to the unassuming sanctities of those common duties which Christ urged us to do because God Himself did them and loved to do them. In making our home happy by filling it with the spirit of gentle love—in musing on the life of our children, and seeing God in it—in watching for and rejoicing in the heavenly touches of Divine things, which meet us in the common converse of life—in the quiet answer, the genial smile, the patience, zeal, industry, cheerfulness, truthfulness, courtesy, and purity which God asks of us as we pass on our hourly way—in doing and watching and loving these things, we shall not be wearied. They make no violent strain on the imagination or the intellect or the spirit. They do not ask us whether we believe this or that doctrine, or involve us in the storm of life’s problems. They are not impossible or inaccessible to any one. Their world lies all around us—in the ordinary relations of man to man, of man to animals, of man to nature, and a mighty God is in them that grows not old. They only need an attentive heart to find them out and a loving heart to do them, and they will give you rest. They will put you in possession of the promise, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls."
III. But we shall lose, we say, in this humbler life, the beauty and sublimity which in pursuing high things we found in youth, and we cannot do without beauty, nor aspire without sublimity. We look for beauty of act and feeling too much in the splendid sacrifices, and victories of more than ordinary life, in the lives of men at whom the world stand to gaze. The stormy life of Elijah, the agonised life of St. Paul, struggling continually with the higher questions of feeling, passed in an Alpine realm of thought. Both have their lofty beauty, but they do not win us to their side, or breathe peace into the heart, as the ineffable beauty of the simple daily love of Christ. As we understand Christ better, we see that His quietude was grander than the passionate struggle of the others, that His still obedience places Him in union with the sublimity of God, that His simplicity is the result of infinite wisdom at home and conversant with the deep roots of things. Lowland life, but always on its horizon infinite Paradise.
S. A. Brooke, The Spirit of the Christian Life, p. 177.
Rom 10:8-9
I. Confession with the mouth. Confession does not stop, though it begins, with the confession of sin, of the greatness of its guilt, and the justice of its punishment; it rapidly advances to the confession announced in our text; the confession of sin being not only involved in the confession of Christ, but issuing in that confession in the largest and least qualified sense. He who feels that sin is destroying him is in the exact position to take home the truth that Christ died to deliver him. Where there is genuine confession of sin there will equally be genuine confession of all that is vital in the system of Christianity. Why then should not the being saved follow, as it is made to follow in our text, on confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus?
II. Faith in the heart is that which will produce confession with the mouth. It is very easy, but very unfair, to speak of faith as a mere act of the mind, which naturally follows where there is a sufficiency of evidence, over which, therefore, a man has little or no control, and which, in consequence, ought not to be made the test or criterion of moral qualities. We pronounce this unfair, because it does not take into account the influence which the affections exert over the understanding, in consequence of which a man will readily believe some things and obstinately disbelieve others, though there be no difference in the amount of furnished testimony. It should be remembered that where the things to be believed are things which a man would naturally and strongly wish to disbelieve, there is great probability that the heart will operate injuriously on the head; and if notwithstanding the assent be given, and the unwelcome facts be admitted, we have much reason to suppose that there has been a struggle in the breast, a contest between the power of truth and the power of the inclination, which makes the case widely different from the mere yielding on sufficient evidence which is all, we are told, that can be predicated of faith. Belief with the head might leave the life what it was, but belief with the heart must be a belief unto righteousness, a belief which will be evidenced by the whole tenor of the life. Faith cannot be a barren or uninfluential principle. The doctrines of Scripture are such as, if acknowledged, are of the strongest possible interest to man, so that we must be justified in concluding, as we would of any matter of common life, that all real faith must be wanting where there is manifest disregard of all which faith would enjoin.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2167.
Rom 10:9
Belief in the Resurrection of Christ.
I. That which serves for the condemnation of the unbeliever, setting at nought all his wisdom, works in every way for the good of the faithful, and so is it with that marvellous fulfilment—the Resurrection. It was such as quite surpassed all the thoughts even of good men. So that when our Lord so often spoke to the apostles of His sufferings and resurrection, it is said they "understood it not." Now, if that were the case then, so will it always be in the fulfilment of those things of which Scripture speaks; the great mysteries of Godhead, the wonders of redemption, things which lie before us, and are around us, and beyond us in Christ’s spiritual kingdom; such as no senses are cognisant of, no thought of man hath conceived.
II. We have no faculties to comprehend the resurrection; our knowledge is made up of images of varied death; death is stamped on every thought we can entertain; we must then believe what we can in no way understand. Nay, we shall understand it by believing better than by any wisdom we know of. Our life here must be that of daily dying according to this law, until the Spirit shall bid us rest from our labours. O Blessed Saviour, Thou art always in the midst of us, Thy words always are of peace, Thy presence always is of peace, "It is I, be not afraid"; but we are troubled about many things, we cannot raise our hearts to take hold of Thee, to apprehend the substance and reality of God—man with us. "Why art thou so vexed, O my soul? and why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God, for I will yet thank Him who is the help of my countenance and my God."
Isaac Williams, The Epistles and Gospels, vol. i., p. 420.
This is a short chain to reach from earth to heaven—from hell to glory. And God meant it to be easy, and it is easy, but its ease is its difficulty.
I. "If thou shalt believe." It is of immense importance that we understand and realise the fact that all real faith lies in the heart. It does not dwell in the understanding; it does not lie in the province of the intellect; it is not the result of reasoning; no education will give it: it is in the affections. Faith is the belief of the heart. But why does God say, "Believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead"? (1) The resurrection is the seal of all. By raising Him from the dead, the Father showed that He accepted the ransom Christ had paid, therefore all the rest is contained in this, God raised Him from the dead. (2) That resurrection of Christ is our resurrection. We rise in Him, now, with a newness of life; presently, to a life in glory.
II. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus." What is the confession of the mouth? It may be that general acknowledgment of Christ, and the great doctrines of the Christian religion, which ought to characterise and pervade our common intercourse and our daily conversation. To talk of Christ requires an effort and offends people. And why it offends them, it is very difficult to see, but it does. We all know it and feel it, and yet it is a very solemn thought that Christ spoke these words—"By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." (2) But there is another sense in which the words may be taken. There can be no doubt that from the first, all Christians were required to make, at some time, a public declaration of their faith. This confession, which was once, and is still, properly a part of adult baptism, now belongs to confirmation. Till he is confirmed a person has never made a public confession of Christ and of the Christian religion before God and the world. Then he does it. This places confirmation in its true light, and shows its great and paramount importance.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, vol. xx., p. 13.
References: Rom 10:9.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ix., p. 131. Rom 10:9, Rom 10:10.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ix., p. 273. Rom 10:10.—Ibid., vol. iii., p. 282; W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 64; W. Page Roberts, Liberalism in Religion, p. 75; A. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, p. 419; Bishop Westcott, The Historic Faith, p. 185.
Rom 10:12
I. This declaration, at the time when it was first uttered, was probably equally astonishing to the Jew and the Greek: for the Jew, with his long-descended traditions, his sense of privilege of the most exalted kind, his habit of regarding the nations of the earth as in some degree unclean by the side of the people of the circumcision, to be told that within the pale of the Church he must doff his privilege and take rank according to his spiritual growth in Christ and not according to the purity of his blood; for the Greek, with his eager inquiring intellect, his keen sense of beauty, his frank enjoyment of full sensuous life, to be told that within the Church he was no better than one of the strange race—the Chinese of the Roman world—whom he knew vaguely as believing in wonders and worshipping abstractions, avoiding the hospitable board and the festive gatherings in which he himself so much delighted—this was no doubt a hard saying, such as a true Greek would scarcely hear with patience. And hence it is, probably, that in its early day Christianity made more progress in mixed populations, like those of Antioch and Ephesus and Corinth, where the Jew was somewhat less a Jew, and the Greek somewhat less a Greek, than among the pure Jews of Jerusalem, or the pure Greeks of Athens.
II. But, however startling it might be, there it was, one of the root principles of the Christian Church. No doubt national or ethnic peculiarities have had a very large influence in determining mankind to receive the easy yoke of Christ, and in modifying the Christianity of various tongues and peoples; but once within the Church, a man is a man; the body, soul, and spirit of a man are the qualifications for entering the Church of Christ, not the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or pure descent from the shadowy glories of Theseus or Herodes.
III. The Christian Church of the first ages was emphatically a great brotherhood. Perhaps at the time when St. Paul argued for the admission of Jew and Greek into the same community many of his countrymen imagined that he was introducing a long war of sects into that society where all should be peace and love. Yet the war between Christian Jew and Christian Greek was soon past, and out of this fermenting mass sprang the Catholic Church as we see it at the end of the third century. May we not hope that the time will come when the old traditions of the English Church, freshened and vivified by new influences, under the guidance of the One Spirit, may rise to higher wisdom and new life, and win more perfectly the love of a larger fraternity?
S. Cheetham, Sermon preached on St. Andrew’s Day, 1871.
References: Rom 10:12, Rom 10:13.—Homilist, new series, vol. ii., p. 463. Rom 10:13, Rom 10:14.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 32.
Rom 10:14
The opponents of "faith by hearing" are accustomed to speak highly of the general sources of enlightenment—the prospect of creation without us and the light of conscience within.
I. As regards the former—its universality and perpetuity, as a disclosure of deity to mankind, are utterly contrasted with the Christian system. If God were to interfere at all, they maintain, it would be by some universal agency, simple, general, and obvious, as the laws of His visible creation. They smile at the notion of God’s greatest exhibition of His will to man being acted upon the reduced theatre of a petty province and made dependent on the chances of human testimony. But what if we retort that those very laws of nature "on a great scale" have caused God to be forgotten? It is the permanence and uniformity of natural laws of creation that have beguiled men into speculative and still more into practical atheism; it is the very perfection of the laws which has hidden the legislator. Men ever cling to the nearest object: in the law they lose the lawgiver; or, what is more irrational, make a lawgiver of the law and deify the world.
II. The law of conscience. The gospel system overpasses every rival remedy, because it brings the affections to reinforce the conscience. Is this to debase the dignity of virtue? It is, as truly as when the virtuous father teaches his wayward child to love virtues by winning him to love his teacher. Is this to debase the majesty of the law—to unveil the adorable benevolence of Him who is its living impersonation? Is it a weakness to keep the law through love of Him who gave the law? Proud and cruel mockery, which freezes to despair, on pretence of hardening to fortitude, which forbids the sick to be healed on any terms but those which the healthy alone could use, and rejects a remedy because it is remedial, which would delude us to starve in the midst of bounty, because forsooth it is unmanly to be dependent on food—to perish of hunger rather than condescend to eat the Bread of Heaven!
W. Archer Butler, Sermons, 1st series, p. 343.
Rom 10:14-15
Modern Missions.
It is an integral point of the Christian gospel that it recognises the unity of mankind, abolishes old walls of division, and aims at establishing on earth a universal spiritual brotherhood. Consider how thoroughly in harmony it is with this gospel of human brotherhood that to every man is given the privilege of calling every other man home to God. Christ, in re-establishing unity among mankind, has done more than make man his brother’s keeper; He has made man his brother’s reconciler. Far from monopolising to Himself this supreme function, He has, as far as could be, associated every one of us with Himself in the highest and most sacred office of brotherhood. The missionary is a genuine apostle of equality and fraternity, true mediator between ancient foes, and herald of peace on earth; walking in the footsteps of that Divine Brother who, as the head of every man, "hath reconciled us to God in one body by His Cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
II. Again, it is another design of Christianity to reproduce in human bosoms the Divinest features of the Divine image. It aims at realising a practical community of feeling, interest, and effort betwixt God and man. Till His disciples get to be inoculated with the saving interest they are but half His, but half in sympathy with Him. If we are not only to have life—a niggard share of it—but to have life abundantly, then we must have love enough to propagate life; must be, not a cistern, but a well springing up and running over to the life of God.
III. Is it not the most startling and characteristic thing about our holy faith that it blends together in mysterious co-operation supernatural with natural forces? The Church has her part to play no doubt, and it cannot be dispensed with; but she does not play the part in her own strength alone. All through history the Spirit of God is at work rousing and directing effort, inspiring and rewarding sacrifice. There is therefore no room for any unworthy alarm, lest God’s high designs for mankind should in the end be frustrated through man’s neglect. When Christ hinged the world’s conversion on the co-operation of His people, He called to His side a fellow-worker who was no stranger, but the very mystical body of which He Himself is the head and the heart.
J. Oswald Dykes, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 216.
References: Rom 10:14, Rom 10:15.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. vi., p. 50. Rom 10:15.—J. Baines, Sermons, p. 86. Rom 10:20.—C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 120.
Rom 10:21
The appeal which Jesus Christ makes, with His hands stretched out upon the cross, to the hearts of Christians is twofold.
1. It is an appeal on behalf of God’s standard of holiness, and against the laxity and sin of man. And He makes this appeal by the force of His own example. There are two ways of teaching duty—by word of mouth or precept, and by personal conduct or example. The first is necessary; it is indispensable. The second is more effective than the first. Teaching by precept is the method common to the saints and to the philosophers. Teaching by example is the high prerogative of the saints. Teaching by precept begins with the understanding; it may or may not reach the heart. Teaching by example begins with the heart. The understanding can hardly fail to learn its lesson at a glance. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ uses both methods. Between the Sermon on the Mount and the last discourse in the supper room, He was continually teaching by word of mouth, sometimes single souls, sometimes His disciples, sometimes the Jews, now those who listened, and again those who refused to listen. But side by side with the method of precept, He employed the method of example. All through His life He reinforced His precepts by the eloquence of His conduct; but He gathered up all these lessons, or the most difficult of them, into one supreme appeal to the dormant moral sense in man when He raised Himself upon the cross and stretched out His hands to die.
II. Jesus Christ with His hands stretched out upon the cross makes an appeal to our sense of what He has done for us. Why is He there? Not for any demerit of His own; not only or chiefly to teach us virtue. He is there because otherwise we are lost; because we must be reconciled to God by the death of His Son. He is there because He has first taken our nature—made Himself our representative, and then, in this capacity, in bearing the penalty which, in virtue of those moral laws whereby the universe is governed, is due to our sins. When He suffers, we too suffer by implication. When He dies, we too share His death. His appeal is the appeal of love, of love the most tender, the most practical, the most disinterested. There are two lessons, in conclusion, which we may endeavour to make our own. (1) One is particular. Jesus Christ stretching out His hands on the cross is a model for all Christians who are in any position of authority, not only for monarchs or statesmen or great officers, but for that large number of us who, in various ways, have others dependent on us, under our government and influence. The model for Christians, parents, masters, employers, governors, is rather Christ upon His cross in anxious pain, stretching out the arms of entreaty and compassion, than Christ upon His throne finally dispensing the awards of judgment. (2) The other lesson is general. The longest day has its evening, and after the evening comes the darkness of the night. As the soul passes the gate of eternity, the pierced hands of Christ, which during the long day of life have been outstretched upon the cross, seem to the soul’s eye to detach themselves and to fold together for judgment.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 868.
References: Rom 11:5.—Homilist, vol. v., p. 197; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 270. Rom 11:7.—Philpot, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. v., p. 49; Durrant, Ibid., vol. ii., p. 301. Rom 11:15.—Bishop Temple, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 129. Rom 11:17-21.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 272. Rom 11:20.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 72; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 53. Rom 11:22.—J. H. Thom, Laws of Life, p. 64; E. M. Goulburn, Occasional Sermons, p. 160; J. Wells, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. v., p. 377; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 402. Rom 11:25.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 86. Rom 11:26.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 21. Rom 11:32.—Homilist, vol. vi., p. 196; Plain Sermons, vol. vii., p. 15; J. Pulsford, Our Deathless Hope, p. 202. Rom 11:33.—G. Huntingdon, Sermons for Holy Seasons, 2nd series, p. 253.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Subdivision 2. (Rom 10:1-21.)
Subdivision 2. (Rom 10:1-21.)
The contrast between law and the faith of the gospel.
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The contrast is now drawn between the law and the faith of the gospel. This might seem to have been sufficiently discussed; but the law is so thoroughly according to man’s mind, that it is hard indeed to divorce one from it. After all the treatment which is given to it in this epistle we shall find, in that to the Galatians, how the soul even that has learned to rejoice in the grace of the gospel may still go back to what is the entire opposite of this, and we shall have to take up again the question of this opposition there, though from a different point of view to that which we have at present. Yet the very word "salvation," in the sense in which the gospel has made us to know it, is not found in connection with the law; which, at best, puts it on the wicked man to save himself, and that by turning from his wickedness and doing what is lawful and right, a thing which all his past has proved impracticable.
1. Here it is for the salvation of Israel that the apostle longs and prays. He testifies that they have a zeal for God, a thing which reminds us of the terrible fact that there is a way which seemeth right to a man, where yet the end may be the ways of death. This is a thing which men would gladly forget. The open ways of death are many enough, and every one recognizes that men do not get to heaven by drunkenness or violence; but that there should be a way seeming right to a man and in following which, therefore, he may be perfectly sincere, yet proving in result to be the way of death, this is indeed a startling matter to face. Let all consider, therefore, that the "broad way which leadeth to destruction, and many they are which go in at it," is not of necessity a way of open wickedness; on the contrary, while sinful self is indeed and necessarily against God, yet righteous self is a more universal and a worse antagonist. The publicans and sinners followed Christ. The Pharisees and religious people could not believe in Him. The apostle reminds us here that the whole effort of the heart characteristically in Israel was to establish their own righteousness, and thus the righteousness of God was ignored. The effort proves that men have not measured themselves in the presence of God. Christ is now proclaimed for righteousness "to every one that believeth," and that is the opposite of law. The law says: "He that doeth"; the gospel says: "He that heareth." "Christ is the end of the law," replacing and setting it aside, and bringing in a totally contrastive principle.
2. The contrast with living by doing is plain. That is not faith, nor is it salvation. For the righteousness of faith, the apostle quotes, however, in what many seem a very strange fashion, Moses too. He puts into his words clearly what is not in Moses; and the language of Deuteronomy the thirtieth, which he uses, unquestionably speaks of the law itself. "This commandment which I command thee this day" could be nothing else but this. It was of this commandment that Moses says: "It is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off; it is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven to bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it; neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for it and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it; but the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Yet, in principle at least, the apostle seems to find the gospel in this. Can it be implied, where not expressed? The beginning of the chapter shows that Moses has been speaking of the time when the predicted blessing and the curse shall have been alike fulfilled, and when, scattered in every land, Israel will return in heart to what was then commanded them. This explains the words "not in the heavens." The law had been given them in the first place from heaven, God speaking to them thence; and again, "not beyond the sea" refers to their scattered condition far away from their land, and yet with the word in their hands, and now through grace in their hearts also, for through grace it is. When they return in heart to God at that time, God will have compassion on them. They will be no more able to keep the impossible terms of the law than they ever have been, and if God takes them up at the end of their wanderings, it can only be in grace after all, although by that grace itself the law is now written in their hearts. This reminds us at once of the new covenant, for the terms of the new covenant are: "I will write My laws in their hearts"; yet how different is this "I will write" from the legal compact, "thou shalt do" so and so! Thus the light dawns on us. The apostle really makes explicit what is implicit in Moses, words; but then again, for this, Christ must come in. With Moses that is yet a secret thing which at least does not come into the passage quoted, but the apostle puts it in as, in fact, indispensable. There could be no grace apart from Christ. There could be no salvation apart from grace, and we are familiar with the new covenant as that which, of necessity, must have Christ for its fulfilment. When once we see this, we need have no difficulty about what is said here; and for us "Who shall ascend into heaven, and who shall descend to the abyss?" can only refer to Him. It seems strange at first sight that he should put it, "Say ye not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven," and for the purpose named; who ever did say that? No one, assuredly, ever thought of bringing Christ from heaven, as no one ever thought of raising Him from the dead. These are things outside of the range of man’s natural expectation, much more of any accomplishment on his part; but this is, nevertheless, what was absolutely needed, and thus the hopelessness of any effort on man’s part is confessed at once. If we cannot ask, even, Who shall do this? this after all is what has secured salvation for us and nothing else could secure it. Thank God, it is an accomplished thing; and therefore still more, no one could need to ask the question. Only the word of it remains, the report which awakens faith and of which faith lays hold. There is simply the word in the mouth and the heart, a word of confession for the mouth, and of faith for the heart. The apostle does not hesitate to put these together. He does not think of the possibility of a faith without confession. He does not own such a thing to be faith. "Faith if it have not works, is dead, being alone." It is, of course, the basis of all, necessarily. One must believe that God has raised Christ from the dead or there will be no confession of Him as the Lord of all, and the apostle joins confession with salvation surely, as looking on to that time when Christ will confess in His turn those who have confessed Him upon earth. That is the time when salvation will be complete. The calling on Him as to which he quotes from Joel, in the same way as Peter at Pentecost, necessarily implies this. "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." Notice how fully the deity of Christ is recognized here, for "the Lord" in Joel is Jehovah; and notice, too, that by the words of Joel himself the Gentile cannot be excluded. If it be "whosoever believes" and "whosoever confesses," the Gentile, of necessity, may come in here upon the same footing as Israelites themselves.
3. Here then is the gospel. To fulfil its purpose, it must be published, sent out. Here is the wide-spread mission call of Christianity, and of such a call the law knew nothing. It had a special priesthood, but no recognized ministry outside the bounds of Israel itself. That special priesthood proved, in fact, that those who were outwardly nigh were still, as to the mass, far off, and the priesthood themselves, as we know, could not really draw near to God. How little, therefore, was there for a gospel to the world! The exclusive position of Israel, of which Pharisaism boasted so much, was, in fact, the confession that the time was not yet come for the proper revelation of God. God was not yet in the light, the way into the holiest was not manifested. When this takes place, immediately the question is raised which the apostle puts in this epistle: "Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles?" Could He possibly reveal Himself, and yet hide that revelation from any of His creatures? On the contrary, it must now everywhere be pressed that God has drawn near to man, and the claim for answer must he pressed along with it. There is still an obedience requisite, an obedience of faith, without which there can be no blessing; and this comes nearer home to every man than any call under the law could possibly do; for let a man hear the law as he might, it was not the man that heard, but the man that did, that was accepted. Now, on the other hand, if a man hears, truly hears, he is accepted at once, and thus the question of obedience to such a call is urged at once. There is no reservation of it to a possible future, when he shall have fulfilled impracticable conditions.
4. The apostle goes on now to Israel’s rejection. The call had been given her. The apostle quotes for this the words of the nineteenth psalm. The voice of the heavens in creation, of which it speaks, is that which corresponds to the world-wide call, now that the heavens are indeed speaking; but the prophets had foretold what, in fact, has now taken place. God had said that He would anger Israel by a foolish nation, that is, by an idolatrous one, for this is the thought of "foolish" constantly in the Old Testament. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God," or, at any rate, has wandered from the right One. Thus Israel’s rejection was not only a present fact, but a fact that had been long before announced. If there was a remnant at all, it was a remnant according to the election of grace.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Israel rejected through lack of Faith
Israel rejected through lack of Faith
In Romans 9 St. Paul, defending the gospel against objections founded upon the fact that it had been rejected by the Jews as a whole, showed that God had never bound Himself to the Israelitish race, but had always kept Himself free to choose His own instruments. In Romans 10 he declares that Israel have caused their rejection by failure to recognise God's methods, and by obstinate rebellion in spite of the patience of His love.
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1-15. The zeal of the Jews is useless, because they follow their own way instead of God's (Rom_10:1-4), although God's way of salvation is so easy (Rom_10:5-11), and open to all (Rom_10:12-13), and made known to all (Rom_10:14-15).
Paraphrase. '(1) I pray for the salvation of my people, (2) for they still are zealous for God, though with such lack of insight (3) that they are blind to His free offer of salvation, and Vainly seek to win acceptance by their merits, (4) whereas faith in Christ has taken the place of obedience to law as the motive and inspiration of life and the condition of acceptance with God. (5) The old system of works called for an obedience beyond human power to give. (6) But acceptance by faith in Christ makes no impracticable demand. Christ has brought Himself within our reach by His Incarnation which made Him man among men, (7) and by His Resurrection which restored Him to us for ever; (8) so that the faith the gospel asks for is a simple thing, (9) only to acknowledge publicly that Jesus is Lord and really to believe in His Resurrection. (10)
All that is required can be done by human hearts and human lips, (11) even as Isaiah promises complete security to every one who has faith in the Christ. (12) The promise is for all, for Christ's Lordship extends over all races of men, and He has love enough for all who worship Him (13) as Joel testifies; (14, 15) and God has made His offer known by commissioned preachers, so that the Jews have no excuse for unbelief.'
1. Might] RV 'may.'
2. Zeal] which St. Paul had shared: cp. Gal_1:14; Php_3:6. Of] RV 'for.' Knowledge] i.e. insight into God's will: cp. Col_1:9.
3. God's righteousness] i.e. His gift of free acceptance on condition of faith.
Going about] RV 'seeking.'
4. End] i.e. termination. Law, as the means of winning favour with God by its fulfilment, has been brought to an end now Christ has come: cp. Gal_3:10, Gal_3:13; Col_2:14. For] RV 'unto,' i.e. so that every one who has faith may be accepted.
5. RV 'For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness.. of the law,' i.e. all the Law requires, 'shall live thereby': from Lev_18:5.
6. Speaketh] The words that follow are selected from Deu_30:11. where they refer to the accessibility of the Law. St. Paul applies them to the gospel, as opposed to the Law, not as formal quotation of Scripture, but as adapting familiar language. Yet the passage is one of several which show that holy men under the Law looked forward to the spirit of the gospel: cp. Psa_51:16.; Hos_6:6; Mic_6:8.
7. Deep] RV 'abyss,' i.e. Hades, the abode of the dead: cp. Act_2:27; 1Pe_3:19; 1Pe_4:6.
8. The word of faith] i.e. which announces faith as the method of salvation.
9. Confess] i.e. at baptism; in daily life; and in persecution: cp. Mat_10:32. The Lord Jesus] RV 'Jesus as Lord,' i.e. as King and God: see on Mat_10:12, and Joh_20:28; 1Co_12:3; 2Co_4:5. Raised] cp. Rom_4:24.; The Resurrection is spoken of as the object of faith, because, if not risen, Christ would be no Lord and no Saviour, and union with Him would be impossible.
10. Unto] i.e. resulting in. Salvation] i.e. final salvation. 'Confession' represents the whole life of devotion to Christ which springs from faith.
11. From Isa_28:16 : cp. Rom_9:33.
12. Difference] RV 'distinction': cp. Rom_3:22. Greek] i.e. Gentile. The same Lord] i.e. Christ: cp. Act_10:36; Rom_9:5. Over all] RV 'is Lord of all.' Rich]cp. Eph_3:8. Call upon him] i.e. as His worshippers: cp. 1Co_1:2. From the custom of beginning prayer with the name of the deity, the expression 'to call upon the name of' came to signify 'to be a worshipper of.' Hence, this verse implies the Divinity of Christ. In the next verse, the name 'Jehovah' ('Lord') is applied to Him: cp. Joh_12:41.
13. From Joe_2:32.
14. Not heard?] supply, 'but they have heard.' Without a preacher?] supply, 'but there are preachers.'
15. Sent] The Gk. word is that from which 'Apostle' is derived. Supply, 'but apostles have been sent.' How beautiful] from Isa_52:7.
16-21. The Jews have had every opportunity, and their fall is due to their own obstinate wilfulness.
Paraphrase. '(16) It is no argument against the message to say it has only partially succeeded, for Isaiah lamented that the Jews would not listen to it, (17) in words which imply that there would be a Divine message about Christ meant to call forth faith. (18) Nor can any one say that the Jews have not heard the message, for it has been preached everywhere. (19) Nor can it be said that the nation which had received the Scriptures did not know that the Gentiles were to be included in God's favour. Even so far back as Moses they were warned that it would be so; (20) and Isaiah uses the plainest language. (21) No excuse can be made for them. Their fall is due to the same stubborn rejection of God's unwearied love which Isaiah saw in his day.'
16. Lord, etc.] From Isa_53:1.
17. Hearing] The same Gk. word as that translated 'report' in Rom_10:16.
18. Their sound, etc.] from Psa_19:4, i.e. the gospel message was diffused as widely as the declaration by the heavens of the glory of God. Not literally so, but probably every considerable Jewish colony had heard the gospel: cp. Col_1:6, Col_1:23.
19. I will provoke, etc.] From Deu_32:21.
20. From Isa_65:1.
21. From Isa_65:2. Gainsaying] i.e. contradicting.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Brethren [Seven times in this Epistle Paul thus addresses…
Brethren [Seven times in this Epistle Paul thus addresses the brethren at Rome generally ( Rom_1:13 ; Rom_8:12 ; Rom_11:25 ; Rom_12:1 ; Rom_15:14 ; Rom_15:30 ; Rom_16:17 ). Twice he thus addresses the Christian Jews ( Rom_7:1 ; Rom_7:4 ), and this "brethren" is evidently a third time they are especially spoken to. So thought Chrysostom, Bengel, Pool, Alford, Barnes, Hodge, etc. "Dropping now," says Bengel, "the severity of the preceding discussion, he kindly styles them brethren"], my heart's desire [literally, "my heart's eudokia, or good pleasure, or good will" ( Luk_2:14 ; Eph_1:5-9 ; Phi_1:15 ; Phi_2:13 ). At Mat_11:26 ; and Luk_10:21 ; it is translated "well pleasing"; at 2Th_1:11 ; the literal "fulfil every good pleasure of goodness" is translated, "fulfil every desire of goodness." Eudokia does not mean desire, but we have no English word which better translates Paul's use of it. Stuart conveys the idea fairly in a paraphrase "the benevolent and kind desire"] and my supplication to God is for them [the Israelites], that they may be saved . [Those who tell our faults and foretell their punishment usually appear to us to be our enemies. Paul described the sin and rejection of Israel so clearly that many of them would be apt to think that he prayed for their punishment. This did him gross wrong. Every time the Evangelist denounces sin from love toward the sinner. (Comp. Gal_4:16 ) As to the apostle's prayer, it showed that his conception of foreordination was not Calvinistic. It would be of no avail to pray against God's irrevocable decree; but it was very well worth while to pray against Jewish stubbornness in unbelief, trusting to the measureless resources of God to find a remedy. So the remark of Bengel is pertinent, "Paul would not have prayed, had they been utterly reprobates." Paul's prayer being in the Spirit ( Rom_9:1 ) was a pledge that no fixed decree prevented God from forgiving, if Israel would only repent and seek forgiveness.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
saved
(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. Israel’s Condition. (Rom 10:1-4.)
CHAPTER 10
1. Israel’s Condition. (Rom 10:1-4.)
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2. Righteousness by Works and by Faith. (Rom 10:5-13.)
3. The Gospel Published Abroad. (Rom 10:14-17. )
4. Israel’s Unbelief. (Rom 10:18-21.)
Rom 10:1-4
For His beloved people Israel the great apostle of the Gentiles prayed to God, that they might be saved. What an example he has given to us believers of the Gentiles. We owe a great debt to Israel; but how little prayer there is among Gentile Christians for the salvation of the Jews! Paul bears witness that they had zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Their ignorance consisted in not knowing God’s righteousness, that which is found in the first part of the Epistle, seeking therefore to establish their own righteousness; in doing this, they did not submit themselves unto the righteousness of God. They were religious, kept the law outwardly, and Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, they rejected. Alas! The same is still the condition of the Jews.
Rom 10:5-13
Righteousness by works and by faith is contrasted. Moses, in whom they trusted as their great teacher, describes the righteousness which is of the law in these words, “the man who doeth those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness by faith is likewise mentioned by Moses; but for the Holy Spirit calling attention to it in this passage, it would never have been known. Deu 30:1-20, where these words are found, speaks of the time, when Israel in a world-wide dispersion, will return with the heart to God and when He will have compassion upon them. Then their heart will be circumcised and grace will be manifested towards them. Driven out of the land for having broken the law, they will hearken to the Word and obey in faith.
“The Apostle therefore quotes such terms as exclude ‘doing’ on the part of man. Righteousness springs out of the finished work of Christ (Rom 10:3-4), and there can be no ‘finished’ work while man is endeavoring to be saved by law, for this would be virtually to undo what Christ has done. That which would be impossible to man, God has already done in Christ. All the ‘doing’ required by the law, has been accomplished by Jesus Christ, and everything that is required now from men is to believe what Christ has done. Christ has neither to be brought down from heaven, nor to be raised again from the dead; everything has been accomplished, and all that is left is to accept in trustful thankfulness. Faith has not to acquire or Win a Saviour, but to accept One Who has already accomplished the work of redemption. God’s righteousness is not distant and difficult, but near and easy” (Professor W.A. Griffith Thomas).
And this word, which is nigh, the Apostle saith “is the word of faith which we preach.” And this it is “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” How blessedly simple all this is. Jesus must be owned as Lord; He, who died for our sins, and whom God raised from the dead. Blessed assurance, “thou shalt be saved!” Saved by grace, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
“Moreover, this faith is manifested by the proof it gives of its sincerity--by confession of the name of Christ. If some One were convinced that Jesus is the Christ, and refused to confess Him, his conviction would evidently be his greater condemnation. The faith of the heart produces the confession of the mouth; the confession of the mouth is the counterproof of the sincerity of the faith, and of honesty, in the sense of the claim which the Lord has upon us in grace. It is the testimony which God requires at the outset. It is to sound the trumpet on earth in face of the enemy. It is to say that Christ has conquered, and that everything belongs in right to Him. It is a confession which brings in God in answer to the name of Jesus. It is not that which brings in righteousness, but it is the public acknowledgment of Christ, and thus gives expression to the faith by which there is participation in the righteousness of God, so that it may be Said, ‘He believes in Christ unto salvation; he has the faith that justifies.’“
Then twice the word “Whosoever” is mentioned, that Precious Gospel word, which includes all, Jews and Gentiles, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, for the same Lord over all is such unto all that call upon Him. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joe 2:32; Act 2:21). All proves that righteousness is by faith and is offered to all. The statement in Joel also refers to a future day in connection with the coming deliverance of the remnant and the coming of the Lord.
Rom 10:14-17
And this good news for Jews and Gentiles must be proclaimed, for how can they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent? Of such a gracious world-wide mission the law had nothing to say. Its message and the promises were confined to the nation Israel. The Lord Jesus as the minister of the circumcision sent His messengers only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat 10:1-42); but after His death and resurrection He gave the commission “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached unto all nations, beginning in Jerusalem” (Luk 24:47). And the Lord sends forth His messengers; even so it was written before in Isa 52:7. (A careful study of this passage and the context shows its future meaning likewise, at the time, when the Lord reigneth, “when the Lord shall bring again Zion,”) All is of Him, the righteousness, the salvation as well as the proclamation. But not all obeyed the gospel, nor do all obey the gospel call now. This also was foretold by Isaiah, in the great chapter (53) in which Israel’s rejection of the Messiah is foretold, as well as the future confession of that rejection. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Rom 10:18-21.-- Israel is unbelieving. They heard and believed not. The law and the prophets had borne witness to the fact that the Gentiles would believe (Deu 32:21; Isa 65:1). And in infinite patience and longsuffering the Lord had stretched forth His hands unto Israel as a disobedient and gainsaying people. They were unbelieving and set aside. Their future restoration is the theme of the next chapter.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Jews the Cause of Their Own Rejection.
The Jews the Cause of Their Own Rejection.
Their refusal to accept the righteousness of God:
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v. 1. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
v. 2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
v. 3. But they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
v. 4. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
The apostle continues the line of thought which he had begun in chap. 9:30. But he cannot go on without giving expression to the deep grief which the situation causes him. He assures his brethren, his readers in the congregation at Rome and elsewhere, that the salvation of the Jews is a matter of prayerful concern to him, that he feels anything but satisfaction at the necessity devolving upon him to speak of their rejection by God. His kind and earnest desire in their behalf, the supreme wish of his heart, which finds its expression in his supplication to God, is their salvation. That is the object which he has in mind as he makes his plea before God, as he intercedes in their behalf, that they might obtain salvation. Far from desiring to exaggerate and to play up the evil of their conduct, the apostle is rather inclined to give them full credit for whatever may be commendable in their behavior. He bears them witness, he is perfectly willing to testify in their behalf that they have a zeal for God, toward God. So much one must acknowledge and yield to them, that they are not indifferent to God and to His glory. For centuries they had held fast to the doctrine and cult of their fathers as they understood it, even enduring bloody persecutions for the sake of Jehovah. And they believed that by this insistence upon the outward formalities of religion they were meriting salvation, Act 26:7. But in spite of all this well-meant effort their zeal was not in accordance with correct knowledge. Their lack of proper knowledge was not only an intellectual, but also a moral fault. In spite of all the teaching on the part of the prophets, they persisted in their external worship, refusing to accept the proper knowledge of God. A service of God as they had developed it for themselves they adhered to, and all other opinions were rejected by them. But the true zeal for God and His glory stays within the bounds of God’s revelation and does not follow human opinion.
And now Paul pictures the contrast to his own desire and prayer in the behavior of the Jews according to their false knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not placed themselves under the righteousness of God. Instead of the proper knowledge the Jews showed ignorance; instead of having the true righteousness, hey were bound to bring out their own. God has found a way of justifying sinners; He has prepared for them a perfect righteousness: He offers them this righteousness in the Gospel But because the Jews are willfully ignorant of this righteousness of God, because they maliciously ignore His justification and are determined to set up their own righteousness of works, therefore they would not and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God, the divine order and arrangement for the salvation of men, the way of justification. And therefore all their zeal for God will avail them nothing, since they refuse to see the one way of salvation, by the acceptance of the righteousness of God through faith.
And Paul brings another proof that the pursuit of one’s own righteousness by the observance of the Law is a mistake and cannot result in salvation: For the end of the Law is Christ unto righteousness to everyone that believes. Christ is the end of the Law: He has fulfilled all its demands perfectly, in every detail, and therefore in Christ the Law has found its end, its termination. That the Law still has its value, even in the Church of the New Testament, the apostle has shown above, 3:20; 7:7 ff. The Law, being fulfilled by Christ, can no more accuse and condemn us, for full and complete righteousness is now present and ready for every one that believes; that is the aim of Christ’s being the end of the Law. A person need but accept the fulfillment of the Law, the perfect obedience rendered to the Law by Christ, and he will, by such faith, be the possessor of the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him in and by the act of justification. And this is true not because of any intrinsic merit in the act of faith, but because it is the only means of apprehending and appropriating the righteousness of Christ as gained for us. In this way v. 4. is a summary of the entire Gospel message.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul continues stating his desire for Israel to believe but emphasizes that both those who are Jews as well as everyone else can only be saved by faith in Jesus.
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Brothers
Here this means fellow Christians, including both men and women.
my heart's desire
Here "heart" is a metonym for a person's emotions or inner being. AT: "my greatest desire" (See: Metonymy)
is for them, for their salvation
"is that God will save the Jews"
I testify about them
"I declare truthfully about them"
For they do not know of God's righteousness
Here "righteousness refers to the way God puts people right with himself. You can make this explicit in the translation. AT: "For they do not know how God puts people right with himself" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
They did not submit to the righteousness of God
"They did not accept God's way of putting people right with himself"
translationWords
brother
heart
God
save
testimony
zeal
righteous
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.