Rom 10:14-17 | KingComments | STEP | . In Romans 3 you read that on account of sin there was (and is) no longer a difference between Jew and Greek (Greek and heathen being the same) ( ). Every person is a sinner and is guilty before God. Here you read that the same Lord is rich over all who call on Him, whether Jew or Greek. . Note that Paul constantly quotes verses from the Old Testament to support what he said. He’s doing it to prove that God is not merely the God of the Jews, but also the God of the heathen. Well, you as a heathen (Gentile) may know from your experience that He is a Lord rich in grace and that He has shown mercy to you, a poor sinner! He’s not a brutal Lord Who wanted to keep you outside of grace. Since and mention “whoever”, it doesn’t leave room for limitations. However, the condition ‘believes’ is in , and ‘calls on the name of the Lord’ is in . To be saved you have to believe and to call on the name of the Lord, this means to give honor to Him or to adore Him. You will agree with me that before your conversion you didn’t pay Him the honor due Him. Before, other things were important and you lost yourself in them, including sports, studying, your career, money or the way you looked. Maybe you were religious as well. However, it didn’t bring you happiness and didn’t offer you salvation. This is why you called on the name of the Lord to be saved. When you did this, it was the first time you really honored Him. He wants to be your Savior. This is exactly the meaning of the name of Jesus: Yahweh is Savior. Then in there is a quotation from . Isn’t it remarkable that He Who is called Yahweh in the Old Testament is the same as He Who receives the name of Jesus in the New Testament? . So the Lord Jesus is Yahweh of the Old Testament, but in the New Testament He comes to His people as Man. It is clear that, for the Jew, salvation was only to be found in Him. But what about us who belong to the nations? He didn’t come to us. We didn’t know of Him and didn’t believe in Him. So how then could we call on Him? Still, we were lost and had to be saved. But to be saved we had to believe in Him. If this is so, then we should be told about Him. And how could we ever have heard about Him if someone hadn’t preached Him to us? Here you see again it’s not the law and doing something that’s important, but the preaching, hearing and listening to the Word. . Someone must be sent if he is to preach. This sending is not done by some church or missionary union, but by the Lord: He is the Commissioner. And isn’t it a wonderful service for which you too have received an assignment? It is a service of proclaiming peace, proclaiming good things. One who’s proclaiming the gospel has “beautiful ... feet” as opposed to the time when his feet were swift to shed blood ( ). The citation of the “beautiful ... feet” is from Isaiah 52 ( ). There, it is about “him who brings good news”, that is one person. This can be no one else but the Lord Jesus. Isn’t it a wonderful thought that in proclaiming peace and good, you are being His follower? In a world of unrest, a world in which evil reigns, you may be a messenger of peace and of good news. Many people around you are waiting for this message. Will you leave them where they are, in their misery, or are you going to tell them of that rich Lord? Now read Romans 10:12-15 again. Reflection: With whom and when did you last talk about the Lord Jesus?

‏ Romans 10:14-17

Beautiful Feet

Rom 10:12. In Romans 3 you read that on account of sin there was (and is) no longer a difference between Jew and Greek (Greek and heathen being the same) (Rom 3:22). Every person is a sinner and is guilty before God. Here you read that the same Lord is rich over all who call on Him, whether Jew or Greek.

Rom 10:13. Note that Paul constantly quotes verses from the Old Testament to support what he said. He’s doing it to prove that God is not merely the God of the Jews, but also the God of the heathen. Well, you as a heathen (Gentile) may know from your experience that He is a Lord rich in grace and that He has shown mercy to you, a poor sinner! He’s not a brutal Lord Who wanted to keep you outside of grace. Since Rom 10:11 and Rom 10:13 mention “whoever”, it doesn’t leave room for limitations. However, the condition ‘believes’ is in Rom 10:11, and ‘calls on the name of the Lord’ is in Rom 10:13. To be saved you have to believe and to call on the name of the Lord, this means to give honor to Him or to adore Him.

You will agree with me that before your conversion you didn’t pay Him the honor due Him. Before, other things were important and you lost yourself in them, including sports, studying, your career, money or the way you looked. Maybe you were religious as well. However, it didn’t bring you happiness and didn’t offer you salvation. This is why you called on the name of the Lord to be saved.

When you did this, it was the first time you really honored Him. He wants to be your Savior. This is exactly the meaning of the name of Jesus: Yahweh is Savior. Then in Rom 10:13 there is a quotation from Joel 2:32. Isn’t it remarkable that He Who is called Yahweh in the Old Testament is the same as He Who receives the name of Jesus in the New Testament?

Rom 10:14. So the Lord Jesus is Yahweh of the Old Testament, but in the New Testament He comes to His people as Man. It is clear that, for the Jew, salvation was only to be found in Him. But what about us who belong to the nations? He didn’t come to us. We didn’t know of Him and didn’t believe in Him. So how then could we call on Him? Still, we were lost and had to be saved. But to be saved we had to believe in Him. If this is so, then we should be told about Him. And how could we ever have heard about Him if someone hadn’t preached Him to us? Here you see again it’s not the law and doing something that’s important, but the preaching, hearing and listening to the Word.

Rom 10:15. Someone must be sent if he is to preach. This sending is not done by some church or missionary union, but by the Lord: He is the Commissioner. And isn’t it a wonderful service for which you too have received an assignment? It is a service of proclaiming peace, proclaiming good things. One who’s proclaiming the gospel has “beautiful ... feet” as opposed to the time when his feet were swift to shed blood (Rom 3:15).

The citation of the “beautiful ... feet” is from Isaiah 52 (Isa 52:7). There, it is about “him who brings good news”, that is one person. This can be no one else but the Lord Jesus. Isn’t it a wonderful thought that in proclaiming peace and good, you are being His follower? In a world of unrest, a world in which evil reigns, you may be a messenger of peace and of good news. Many people around you are waiting for this message. Will you leave them where they are, in their misery, or are you going to tell them of that rich Lord?

Now read Romans 10:12-15 again.

Reflection: With whom and when did you last talk about the Lord Jesus?

The Preaching Rejected

Rom 10:16. Maybe the previous verses gave you fresh courage to preach of peace and of good news. You want to tell others what the Lord has done with you and how happy you now are. You can see it quite clearly. You think others will be impressed by your testimony and will be converted to the Lord. But many will not be converted. This will be a sad disappointment. The results you were so fervently hoping for would not come. Instead of conversions based on your testimony, they will turn against you.

Isaiah knew something about this. He spoke a lot about the Messiah Who was to come to His people, but few believed his preaching. At the coming of the promised Messiah, were the masses of people awaiting Him? You know they weren’t because He didn’t meet their expectations. They didn’t like it that He came as a Baby in a manger. Had it been someone appearing with pomp and circumstance, which would have been very different, they would have accepted Him. But what was their response? “Away with [Him], away with [Him], crucify Him!” (Jn 19:15a). The Lord Jesus was rejected and He returned to heaven. You can’t see Him now.

Rom 10:17. To have contact with Him, faith is required, and this faith must be stirred up by preaching. And the preaching must have the Word of God as its contents. Only then can man discover himself, Who God is, and what He has done to save him.

Rom 10:18. Consider the following question. At the time when the Word of God had not come to the Gentiles by way of preaching, hadn’t God already spoken to them? Certainly. So Paul quotes from Psalm 19. In this psalm David praises God’s glory and the work of His hands as seen in creation. The testimony of God that speaks from creation was and is not limited to Israel, but can be perceived all over the world. Here we have proof from the Old Testament that God preached to the Gentiles to enable them to have knowledge of Him and to believe in Him.

Rom 10:19. But then there is another question. Should Israel have known that God would make Himself known to the Gentiles, or shouldn’t we blame them for resenting God for also blessing the Gentiles? Moses is the first to speak in Rom 10:19. He was Israel’s great leader and they respected him. He was the one who told them of their unfaithfulness and that God would turn to another “nation” because of their unfaithfulness. By doing so, He wanted to awaken their jealousy so they would return to Him.

Rom 10:20. Isaiah is also quoted. Paul says it in the following way: “Isaiah is very bold and says.” This implies it was quite a bold venture of Isaiah, which it was. For it really was a direct attack on Israel’s national pride as God’s nation to tell them that God would consider another nation.

Rom 10:21. This last verse is the most penetrating. God Himself speaks. You can taste the sorrow of His heart when you read what He has to say to His people. You can see God, His hands wide open to bring His people to His heart. And God doesn’t remain with this attitude for only a few minutes, but “all the day long”. This refers to the entire time He dealt with that nation. Is there anything more grievous than being rejected in such a way?

From His viewpoint, God did everything to bless His people, but the only answer of His people was disobedience and opposition. They turned their backs on Him. The people broke their connection with God. Therefore, God had to put His people aside. But thankfully not forever. In Romans 11 we read that a new day will rise for Israel.

Now read Romans 10:16-21 again.

Reflection: What do you experience when your testimony is rejected?