So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Parallel Translations
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So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
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So then fayth cometh by hearynge and hearynge cometh by the worde of God.
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Then faith is by hearing, and hearing by the worde of God.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Romans 10:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Galatians 3:2 I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- Galatians 3:5 He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- Luke 11:28 But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
- Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe.
- Mark 4:24 He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.
- Luke 8:21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.”
- Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
- Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?
- Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- 1 Corinthians 1:18-24 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
- Luke 16:29-31 “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’ ”
- James 1:18-21 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
- 1 Peter 1:23–2:2 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls; but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you. Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
- Revelation 1:9 I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
- Jeremiah 23:28-29 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh. “Isn’t my word like fire?” says Yahweh; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
- Colossians 1:4-6 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 17. Faith then is by hearing, etc. We see…
17. Faith then is by hearing, etc. We see by this conclusion what Paul had in view by the gradation which he formed; it was to show, that wherever faith is, God has there already given an evidence of his election; and then, that he, by pouring his blessing on the ministration of the gospel, to illuminate the minds of men by faith, and thereby to lead them to call on his name, had thus testified, that the Gentiles were admitted by him into a participation of the eternal inheritance.
And this is a remarkable passage with regard to the efficacy of preaching; for he testifies, that by it faith is produced. He had indeed before declared, that of itself it is of no avail; but that when it pleases the Lord to work, it becomes the instrument of his power. And indeed the voice of man can by no means penetrate into the soul; and mortal man would be too much exalted, were he said to have the power to regenerate us; the light also of faith is something sublimer than what can be conveyed by man: but all these things are no hindrances, that God should not work effectually through the voice of man, so as to create faith in us through his ministry.
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It must be further noticed, that faith is grounded on nothing else but the truth of God; for Paul does not teach us that faith springs from any other kind of doctrine, but he expressly restricts it to the word of God; and this restriction would have been improper if faith could rest on the decrees of men. Away then with all the devices of men when we speak of the certainty of faith. Hence also the Papal conceit respecting implicit faith falls to the ground, because it tears away faith from the word; and more detestable still is that blasphemy, that the truth of the word remains suspended until the authority of the Church establishes it.
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 A conclusion of the former gradation: we must ascend…
A conclusion of the former gradation: we must ascend from faith, to our vocation, as by our vocation we came to the testimony of our election.
By God’s Commandment.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing…
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Ver. 17. By the word of God] That is, by the word of God’s command, sending out preachers gifted for the purpose, and saying to them, "Go preach," &c.
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 This is the conclusion of the former gradation, Rom…
This is the conclusion of the former gradation, Rom 10:14. He speaketh here of the ordinary means whereby faith is wrought; not confining or limiting the Spirit of God, who worketh, or may work, by extraordinary means, yea, without any means at all. See Poole on "Rom 10:14".
By the word of God; by the command of God: q.d. The gospel could not be lawfully preached to them, for them to hear it, but by God’s command; and therefore the apostles and others, in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, had good authority for what they did.
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 As if the apostle had said, "It is very…
As if the apostle had said, "It is very evident, and these testimonies show, that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the preaching of the word of God." The grace of faith is wrought by the Spirit in the act of hearing: and the matter heard by which this faith is wrought, is the word of God preached. Persons must hear, that they may believe; and God’s word must be preached, that they may hear. A non-preaching minister then is no minister; he is like a bell without a clapper, or a crier without a voice; he neither answers the design of his commission, nor the end of the gospel’s institution, which was to be the instrumental mean of faith. Faith cometh by hearing.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So then faith comes by hearing,.... That is, by…
So then faith comes by hearing,.... That is, by preaching; for the word hearing is used in the same sense as in the preceding verse; and designs the report of the Gospel, or the preaching of the word, which is the means God makes use of, to convey faith into the hearts of his people; for preachers are ministers, or instruments, by whom others believe:
and hearing by the word of God; or "of Christ", as some copies read, and so do the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; and intends either the holy Scriptures, which have God for their author, and Christ for the subject of them; and which furnish the men of God, or ministers of the Gospel, with proper materials to preach; and so hearing or preaching is by them, or else the command of God or Christ, which more properly signifies; and the sense is, that men preach the Gospel in obedience to the commandment of the everlasting God, and according to the orders, mission, and commission, warrant and authority, of the Lord Jesus Christ: and so these words are the conclusion, and sum of the whole; that as invocation is owing to faith, so faith to hearing, hearing to preaching, preaching to a mission; whence it follows, that it is the original will of God, to send forth his apostles and ministers, to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews; that they hearing might believe, and believing call upon the Lord, and so be saved by him: it is a saying of the Jews, , "hearing depends upon the word" (e).
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(e) Zohar in Deut. fol. 110. 3.
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 Faith, indeed, ordinarily cometh by hearing; even by hearing…
Faith, indeed, ordinarily cometh by hearing; even by hearing the word of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing] Preaching…
Verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing] Preaching the Gospel is the ordinary means of salvation; faith in Christ is the result of hearing the word, the doctrine of God preached. Preaching, God sends; if heard attentively, faith will be produced; and if they believe the report, the arm of the Lord will be revealed in their salvation.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So then faith cometh ... - This I take…
So then faith cometh ... - This I take to be clearly the language of the objector. As if he had said, by the very quotation which you have made from Isaiah, it appears that a report was necessary. He did not condemn people for not believing what they had not heard; but he complains of those who did not believe a message actually delivered to them. Even by this passage, therefore, it seems that a message was necessary, that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the divine message. It could not be right, therefore, to condemn those who had not obeyed the gospel because they had not heard it; and hence, not right to make salvation dependent on a condition which was, by the arrangement of God, put beyond their power. The very quotation from Isaiah, therefore, goes to confirm the objection in Rom 10:14;15.
By hearing - Our translation has varied the expression here, which is the same in two places in the Greek: “Isaiah said, Who hath believed our report τῇ ἀκοῇ tē akoē? So then, you must admit that faith comes by that report ἐξ ἀκοῆς ex akoēs, and therefore this report or message is necessary.” When it is said that faith cometh by hearing, it is not meant that all who hear actually believe, for that is not true; but that faith does not exist unless there is a message, or report, to be heard or believed. It cannot come otherwise than by such a message; in other words, unless there is something made known to be believed. And this shows us at once the importance of the message, and the fact that people are converted by the instrumentality of truth, and of truth only.
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And hearing - And the report, or the message (η ̔ἀκοὴ hē akoē), is by the Word of God; that is, the message is sent by the command of God. It is his word, sent by his direction, and therefore if withheld by him, those who did not believe could not be blamed. The argument of the objector is, that God could not justly condemn people for not believing the gospel.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by…
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God--"This is another confirmation of the truth that faith supposes the hearing of the Word, and this a commission to preach it."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. So then—Or, therefore. From Isaiah’s words, even if…
17. So then—Or, therefore. From Isaiah’s words, even if they describe a disbelief of the hearing, yet it follows that hearing is the proper means of faith. He confirms this instance from Isaiah by maintaining that the Gentiles had heard, (18,) and that Israel had known from hearing prophetic warnings, (19-21.)
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 17. So then faith, &c.] In this verse, which…
17. So then faith, &c.] In this verse, which forms a parenthesis of thought, St Paul uses the quotation just made in a new reference; not now to the fact of unbelief, but to the means of faith. Isaiah’s words imply that the “report” of Messiah’s messengers was the appointed means for the conveyance of faith (“who hath believed?”) in Messiah. But this faith was (see above, Rom_10:11,) for Gentiles as well as Jews. Therefore Gentiles as well as Jews must have the “report” carried to them.
hearing] Same word in Gr. as that rendered report just above. See margin of E. V.
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by the word of God] i.e. either “by His order,” or “by (the delivery of) His message;” “by the utterance of truth from and about Him.” The latter is on the whole more likely, both grammatically and by the context, where the necessity of evangelization is the main point.—A various reading, but not decisively supported, is “by the word of Christ.”
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 (17) So then faith cometh.—Inference from the prophecy just…
(17) So then faith cometh.—Inference from the prophecy just quoted. Before men can believe, there must be something for them to believe. That something is the word of God, which we preach and they hear. It must be remembered that the word for “report” in Rom_10:16, and for “hearing” in Rom_10:17, is the same, but with a slight difference of meaning. In the first place, both the act of hearer and preacher are involved; in the second place, only the act of the hearer.
By the word of God.—We should read here, without doubt, “by the word of Christ”—i.e., by the gospel first delivered by Christ and propagated by His ministers.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by…
Rom_10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
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How can I obtain faith?
If I am thirsty, how shall I quench my thirst? By a draught of water. But in what way can I obtain water? It is enough to tell me to go to the tap or the fountain. There is no need to explain that the water is supplied by a reservoir, having been first drawn from the river, which received it from the clouds. To the thirsty all you want to say is, Theres the water, drink. A man is hungry, and he asks you, How can I get bread? … . Go to the bakers, you say. If he wants to know how bread is obtained, we can give it to him at another time. And when you are dealing with an anxious person, it will suffice to say, Faith cometh by hearing; further information can be supplied under happier circumstances.
I. The way by which faith comes to men. By hearing.
1. Negatively. It does not come--
(1) By hereditary descent. The heirs of salvation are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and nothing more.
(2) By sacraments. Is not faith a concomitant of regeneration? and what is that regeneration worth which leaves a person an unbeliever? Faith cannot be sprinkled upon us, nor can we be immersed in it. It is not to be poured into us from a chalice, nor generated in us by consecrated bread.
(3) By feeling. Till certain men have felt what they have heard described in religious biography they cannot believe. You may get the best feeling from faith, but you will be long before you will find any faith worth having from frames and feelings.
(4) By dreams and visions. The notion is still current that if you dream of seeing Jesus, or if a passage of Scripture strikes you, or if you imagine that you hear a voice speaking to you, you are then a believer. Now, though you should see all the angels in heaven, it would not prove that you would go to heaven, any more than my having seen the Popes bodyguard would be a proof that I shall be made a Cardinal. Moreover, men saw Christ, and yet blasphemed Him.
(5) Through the eloquence, earnestness, or any other good quality of the preacher. If so, being born of the power of the flesh, it will die, and so prove itself unlike the faith which springs from the incorruptible word of God, for that liveth and abideth for ever.
2. Positively: Faith cometh by hearing. Sometimes faith has come into mens minds by hearing--
(1) The simple statement of the gospel. All some have wanted has been merely to be informed of the way of salvation.
(2) Of the suitability of the gospel to the individual case. While some have heard it preached as a gospel for sinners, they have felt that they were certainly among that class.
(3) Of the condescending pity and the melting love of Jesus. When such texts have been preached on This Man receiveth sinners, Come unto Me, all ye that labour, etc., that strain has touched the heart, and led the most hardened to believe in a Saviour so kind to the undeserving.
(4) Of its authority. There are persons who, when they have heard the gospel, have not at first believed it, but if the minister has been led to show that God has set His sanction upon it, they have yielded and given over all further question.
(5) Of the veracity of the sacred writers.
(6) The explanation of the gospel. When the preacher takes up one by one the soul difficulties which keep a man from looking to Christ, and when a man shows that all his help for salvation is laid upon one that is mighty, it has often happened that faith has come through the hearing of such an explanatory word.
(7) The gospel preached with peculiar soul-revealing pointedness. Remember the Samaritan woman.
(8) The experience of those who have tasted the word of life; when the preacher tells how he trusted in Jesus, and found peace; when he is able to point to others who have felt the same, then conviction and faith are wrought in the mind. To set the whole matter clearly: Suppose you are labouring under a very serious disease, and a physician professes to heal you, how would you get faith in him? By hearing. You hear him speak, and you perceive that he understands your case, for he describes exactly all your symptoms. He next describes to you as much of the method of cure as you can comprehend. Then you inquire as to the mans character; you find that he is a skilful practitioner. Moreover, suppose that he does everything gratis, moved only by a kind desire to remove pain and save life. But if, in addition, he shows you his case-book, and bids you read case after case similar to your own in which he has effected perfect cure, and if some of these are your own acquaintances, you will not insult him by saying, I wish I could believe you. In the same way faith in Christ comes.
II. The obstructions which often block up this way.
1. A want of intention. Many persons come to hear, but they have no wish to be led into faith. Like the butterflies which flit from flower to flower, they extract no honey because they come not for such a purpose; while the bees dive into the cups and bells of the flowers, and come up loaded with their luscious food.
2. A want of attention. Sleepy hearers are not likely to be led to faith. Wandering hearts lose the benefit of the truth, and vain minds trifle away the privilege of a gospel ministry.
3. A want of candour. If a man hears with a prejudiced heart he is not likely to be convinced.
4. The want of after meditation. The juryman who is most likely to get at the truth of a given case will be the man who, having heard attentively, takes the notes of the evidence, weighs it, and endeavours to sift out the truth. So when you hear us preach, sift the sermon afterwards, pick holes in it if you like, but do search into the truth, and be not content till you find it. Here is a bag, and I drop into it pound after pound, but I find that the bag is just as empty as before; the reason is, there are holes in it, and the money drops through. Too many hearers are as a bag full of holes, and golden sermons will not bless them because they wilfully forget all.
III. The importance that faith should come to us by this way. If you have been a hearer and faith has not come to you, you are, this moment, in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. The wrath of God abideth on you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The faith hearing the word of God
I. What is faith?
1. An historical (Jam_2:19).
2. A dogmatical (Act_8:13; Act_8:33; Luk_4:41).
3. A temporary (Luk_8:13; Joh_5:35).
4. A faith of miracles (Luk_17:6; 1Co_13:2).
5. A saving faith (Rom_10:10; Act_16:31; 1Pe_2:6).
II. What is the worn by the hearing whereof faith comes?
1. Not the word of men.
2. Not of angels (Gal_1:8).
3. But of God.
III. What is meant by hearing this word? Hearing it--
1. Read.
2. Expounded.
3. Preached.
IV. How is faith wrought by the word? Not as by the principal, but only instrumental cause. Thus--
1. The minister commissioned by God speaks it to the ear, sometimes of Gods mercy, sometimes of mans duty (2Ti_4:2).
2. The ears of the hearer take in what the preacher speaks, and convey it to the understanding. But that cannot receive it (1Co_2:14), therefore--
3. The Spirit goes along with the word, and enables the understanding to receive it.
4. The Spirit having done so inclines the heart to embrace it (Php_2:13; Rom_7:15; Heb_4:12).
V. Use of reprehension.
1. To those who think themselves above ordinances.
2. To those who will not come up to them. This doctrine meets, as the angel did Balaam, with a drawn sword--
(1) Such as will not so much as.come to hear.
(2) Such as will come, but not to hear, but out of custom, or to stop the mouth of a brawling conscience.
(3) Such as will come to hear, but will not hear when they are come (Eze_33:31). They come and bring their ears too, but they are either stopped (Psa_58:4-5), dull (Mat_13:15), or itching (2Ti_4:3-4).
(4) Such as will hear when they come, but do not mind or understand what they hear (Eze_33:32; Act_9:7; cf. Act_22:9).
(5) Such as mind what they hear, but will not believe what they mind.
(6) Such as do believe what they mind, but will not resolve to practise what they believe (Eze_33:1-33.).
(7) Such as will resolve to practise what they believe, but will never practise what they resolve (Jam_1:23-24).
VI. Motives. Consider--
1. Whose word it is.
2. What a word it is (Psa_19:7; Rom_1:16; Jam_1:21).
3. What thou mayest get by coming to it; what thou mayest lose by staying from it.
4. The time will come when thou wilt curse thyself for every opportunity lost, or bless God for everyone embraced (Mat_23:39).
VII. Directions.
1. Before hearing--
(1) Consider what thou art going about and whom thou art going before.
(2) Set aside all worldly thoughts, as Abraham his servants, and Nehemiah (13:19, 20), especially sins (Jam_1:21).
(3) If thou wouldst have God pour forth His blessings upon thee in preaching, do thou pour out thy spirit before Him in prayer (Psa_10:17; Psa_65:2).
(a) For the minister (Rom_15:20).
(b) For yourselves, that God would assist the word (Isa_8:11).
(4) Come--
(a) with an appetite (Mat_5:6; Job_29:23).
(b) With large expectations.
(c) With strong resolutions to practise.
2. In hearing. Hear--
(1) Reverently.
(2) Diligently, with hearts as well as ears.
(3) Meekly (Jam_1:21).
(4) With faith (Heb_4:2).
(5) With self-application (Job_5:27).
3. After hearing--
(1) Meditate (1Ti_4:15).
(2) Confer with others.
(3) Square thyself according to it, that thy life may be a comment on the sermon (Jam_1:22; Mat_7:24-25). (Bp. Beveridge.)
The two great instruments appointed for the propagation of the gospel; and thy duty of the Christian public to keep them both in vigorous operation
I. The general lesson of the text.
1. As all is suspended upon God, and as He reigns with as supreme a dominion in the heart of man as in the world around us, all relating to the salvation of the soul is His work. But on the ether hand, it is evident that though it be God alone that worketh, yet He worketh by instruments. None were more impressed than Paul with the pious sentiment that all depends upon God; yet he says Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If, in that extraordinary age, when the Author of nature broke in upon the constancy of its operations by miracles, one of His own inspired messengers does not overlook the use of instruments, it would ill become us to overlook them.
2. Now observe that the operation of the two instruments laid before us in the text is somewhat different at present from what it was in the days of the apostles. Those were the days of inspiration; and faith came by the hearing of inspired teachers; and hearing came by the Word of God--for the apostles spake only as God put the word into their mouth. But whatever is capable of being spoken is capable of being written also; and it was not long before the Christian teachers committed to writing the doctrine of salvation; and if you read what they wrote with the impression that it is the genuine production of inspired men, you are in circumstances likely for receiving faith. Now, however, there is a change in one of the instruments. Instead of the messenger delivering the message in person, you have the substance of it in a written communication. And now faith comes by reading, and reading by the Word of God.
3. We are not to suppose, however, that reading is substituted for hearing. True you can no longer hear the immediate messengers of heaven; but you can hear the descendants of these messengers. And although you have the inspired documents, heaven still gives a saving influence to the living energy of a human voice.
4. In no age of the Church, indeed, does it appear that the one instrument ever superseded the other. Nehemiah not only read in the book of the law of God distinctly, but gave the sense, and caused the people to understand the reading. And this reading and expounding of the law from the days of Ezra formed a permanent institution among the Jews. We meet with traces of its existence in the New Testament (Act_13:14, etc.; Luk_4:16, etc.). And it has descended, without interruption, through all the ages of Christian worship. The apostles deemed it necessary to leave something more than the written volume of inspiration behind them. They left teachers and overseers; and to this very day, the readings, and the explanations, and the sermons of Christian pastors, are superadded to the silent reading of Christian people; and both are found to be instruments of mighty operation, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
5. Neither instrument is to be dispensed with.
(1) If you have hearing without reading, you lay the Church open to all the corruptions of Popery. You have priests, but you have no Bibles. You take your lesson from the wisdom of man, and throw away from you all the light and benefit of revelation. Keep fast, then, by your Bible. Let not your faith come by hearing alone; but let your hearing be tried by the Word of God. Let it not be said that what you believe is what you have heard merely.
(2) But if you have reading without hearing, you throw away the benefit of a public ministry--an institution sanctioned by the Bible. Though you have no knowledge to receive, you have memories to be refreshed; minds which, however pure, need to be stirred up by way of remembrance.
II. Its application to the evangelisation of the world. The propagation of the gospel is a cause the maintenance of which consists of the providing of Bibles, and the providing of human agents. The latter, by teaching them to read, teaches unlettered people to use one of the instruments of the text; and to the latter belongs the exclusive office of bringing the other instrument to bear upon them--the instrument of hearing. The society whose office it is to provide the former is the Bible Society. The society whose office it is to provide the latter instrument is the Missionary Society. It is the duty of a Christian public to keep both instruments in vigorous operation. Each of these societies has mighty claims upon you. The two go hand in hand. The one ploughs while the other sows; and let no opposition be instituted betwixt their claims on the generosity of the public. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
Hear and live
A poor man being on his death-bed, asked that the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah should be read to him. Though weak and faint, and full of pain, yet when he heard the words, Incline your ear and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live, he gathered up his strength to say, What a mercy, sir, that it is not Read, and your soul shall live, for if it had been I could not have been saved, for you know I am no scholar. But, blessed be God, it is Hear, and your soul shall live. I have heard and believed, and trust I shall be saved.
Power to hear, a blessing
It is said that a beautiful countess of one of the Orkney Islands was a deaf mute. One day, when her firstborn child was a few months old, as it was sleeping in its cradle, she softly approached its side, to the terror of the nurse, with a large stone in her hands, and dropped it on the floor, eagerly watching the face of the babe to see the effect of the noise. To the inexpressible joy of the fond mothers heart the child started and awoke, so that she knew it had the sense of hearing. She embraced both child and nurse, and wept tears of gratitude to God that her own sad affliction was not transmitted to her offspring.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 17. So, then, faith cometh by hearing. Hence the…
17. So, then, faith cometh by hearing. Hence the need of preaching. If God by a miracle wrought faith in the heart, he could dispense with the preacher. But the divine arrangement is that it should result from hearing the word of God preached. For an example of the gospel plan, see Acts 18:8.
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.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain So [as I said, and, as you see, Isaiah…
So [as I said, and, as you see, Isaiah corroborates] belief cometh of [is born of, or grows out of] hearing, and hearing by [by reason of, because of] the word [saying, behest, command. See Luk_5:5 ; Heb_11:3 ; Rom_1:3 ] of Christ . [And so, briefly paraphrasing the apostle's thought, it runs thus: Can God's glorious purpose and inimitable means fail to accomplish the universal glorification of man? Assuredly they can, for Isaiah so predicted. To accomplish universal salvation there must be a universal heed-hearing. But Isaiah complained, "Lord, who hath believed that which we have caused them to hear?" meaning that very few gave a heed-hearing. So we see from Isaiah that it is precisely as I said ( Rom_10:14-15 ); namely, that belief comes of hearing, and hearing is caused by the command or commission of Christ, as is made apparent by the fact that Isaiah reports back to Christ (whom he calls Lord) that men have not heard what Christ sent, or commissioned, him to tell them. How culpable, then, was Israel as foreseen in the visions of Isaiah and as literally seen by the eyes of Paul! A message commanded by Christ the Lord! How could they be excused for not giving it a heed-hearing, an obedience? Only in two ways: first, by showing that they had never heard it; second, by proving that they were misled by their Scriptures so that they could not recognize it as coming from their Lord--and the point where they would assert and attempt to prove the misleading was this very one now mooted; namely, universality, for the Jew regarded the reception of the Gentile as contrary to all that God had ever revealed, or caused to be written down. Therefore the apostle takes these two excuses in order, and exposes their emptiness.]
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.