Faith Comes by Hearing

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

Romans 10:14-21 – Romans: The Righteousness of God
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – July 23, 2023 (am)

In order to appreciate what Paul is teaching his readers in today’s text, I want to create a picture in your mind.

Imagine we’re out walking in a large meadow on a beautiful summer day. The sun is shining brightly. The sky is a cloudless expanse of deep, rich blue. The air is warm. But there’s a cool breeze blowing that makes walking an unusually pleasant experience. And the breeze is creating waves in the waist-high prairie grass that make it feel more like you’re floating than walking. There are many, many others walking along with you, all in the same direction, but you’re not bunched together. There’s just enough space between you that you can hear the serene quietness that surrounds you without the slightest distraction. But you’re still close enough together that you can talk easily without raising your voice. You’re all heading to a destination of your own choosing on the far side of the meadow, but you’re in no hurry to arrive there. And honestly, the day is just so nice that the walk itself feels like an equally desirable destination.

Suddenly, though, a slight noise begins to draw your attention. It’s almost inaudible at first, but it’s still very different from the whispering sounds that have been filling your ears. It’s disturbing somehow. A little at a time you realize why. You begin to recognize it as human voices yelling from far, far away. And by that time you’re honestly not sure how long you’ve been hearing them. It’s almost like they’re awakening you from a deep sleep more that approaching you from a great distance. As they draw nearer, you can hear that they’re shouting warnings. Get out of the meadow! Turn around right now! Your first thought is that they must be crazy! But as they get even closer these approaching people start providing crisp, direct explanations. Dangerous beasts live all through this meadow! They hide in the tall grass and just wait for their prey to approach! And there are bogs filled with quicksand that don’t show up in the waving grass! Get out of the meadow! Turn around!

Switch roles now and imagine that you’re one of the yelling voices. The meadow is part of a large ranch with a generous Owner who’s erected wire fences and posted warnings all around the perimeter of his property that all these travelers have disregarded and now barely recall. They climbed the fences and skirted the signs just to take a walk in this beautiful meadow on this beautiful day. So, you and some others have been sent out by the Rancher to warn them yet again of the inescapable dangers hidden in the meadow, and to call them back. To your shock and amazement, though, almost none of them respond! Some act like they don’t hear you. Others outright refuse to listen, as though you’re lying to them! So, you begin doing the only thing you can: you physically pick up the nearest one to you, throwing them over your shoulder, and you run as fast as you can toward safety! You drop them outside the fence then run back to get another! By now, though, you can hear screams in the distance as different ones discover the bog, or happen upon one of the beasts. But you still pick up another and run back to the fence. Then return again, and again, and again, until you see no one else you can save.

Finally, you climb over the fence and out of the meadow. You flop down among those you’ve carried, who’ve since been watching as though from the sidelines, hearing the distant screams. Now they’re just so thankful that you were sent with that warning, and that you were willing to go, risking your life to save theirs. And none of you can fully grasp why anyone would’ve ignored such a warning.

I’m sure you recognize this story by now. It becomes more obvious the longer it continues. But I think it help us understand what we’re hearing from Paul in Romans 10. Let’s look at this passage in three parts.

Paul Spotlights God’s Faithful Delivery of the Gospel – 14-15

Paul has just recited a core principle of God’s eternal plan of redemption, quoting the OT prophet Joel (2:32) when he wrote: 13 … everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So, salvation is available to all who will humble themselves before God in repentance of their sin and trust in the saving work of Jesus as their propitiation, as the basis of their reconciliation with God. That’s what it means to call on the name of the Lord, to come to Him in repentance and faith.

But that just gets Paul started on a series of questions (14-15), one that’s intended to clarify how it happens that people call on the name of the Lord, but also to demonstrate the truth of his quote from Deu.30:14: the word is near you (8). God hasn’t left us on our own to go out and find Him, or really to do anything that contributes to our salvation. No, vv.14-15 string together questions that are meant to operate as a unit, proving that God has brought salvation right to Israel’s doorstep, and also to each and every one of our doorsteps. 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Do you follow? What Paul is affirming here is that God has acted to send preachers of the good news (gospel) so that people can hear and believe and call on the name of the Lord and be saved. It’s a rescue, just like in the grassy meadow. God has sent out messengers to warn of the very present dangers in the meadow and to proclaim to them faithfully the only way they can be saved!

Paul Identifies Our Problem Receiving the Gospel – 16-17

Yet, the next word we read is But. 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. Some have, but not all. And this is just the way God told us it would be. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” The same prophet whom Paul quoted about the beautiful feet of the gospel messengers (Isa.52:7) poses the question (in the same context [Isa.53:1]): Lord, who’s [listening]? That’s hard to believe, isn’t it, that some would hear the good news of salvation and not heed it—in fact outright reject it?

But that’s how it works. It’s just like those in the summer meadow in our opening image. No one will turn around unless someone takes hold of them and saves them—unless someone turns them around and walks them to safety. 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. This means hearing [according to the gospel] of Christ.  It’s telling us the same thing we heard back in 9 … if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, just as in 13 … everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But that’s just the problem: not all who hear and understand will actually turn and be saved. So, Paul poses a couple more questions that clarify where the responsibility lies.

Paul Confirms Our Responsibility for This Problem – 18-21

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. So, if there’s a problem, it’s not that the message hasn’t been delivered. Quoting Psa.19, which is talking about God’s general revelation giving constant testimony everywhere to His glory and his handiwork, even so His special revelation in Jesus, the word of Christ (17), has been spread all over the earth (Moo 2018 6825). Or, as Calvin observed, seeing implications for the yet broader themes in this portion of Rom., Psa.19 gives evidence that God didn’t confine His revelation of Himself to Israel alone even under the old covenant. But it is also a prelude (Calvin 403) to the fact that He would both send His saving message to the nations and that it would spread to the ends of the world.

So, that confirms that Israel hasn’t failed to hear the gospel. Yes, they heard (18(. 19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? Yes, they also understood. First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry,” quoting Deu.32:21. And this is an interesting choice of passages. What Paul is doing here is proving not only that Israel heard the good news that was preached, but understood its implications, to the degree that they were jealous and angry with those who received and believed it! You can’t say you don’t get something if you’re angry with those affirm it!

Second: 20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, speaking for God, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me (cf. 9:30). So, God has revealed Himself to the Gentiles, 21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people,” proving to everyone watching, even to themselves, that Israel has nothing special about them at all except what God chooses to give them. If He doesn’t intervene and open their eyes, He can bring His eternal salvation and His promised Messiah right to their doorstep and they will reject it all with jealous anger, indignant at the very thought that these gifts may be from God!

21 … All day long, meaning, all through this age (cf. 2Pe.3:8), perpetually, since the need for salvation arose, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” Think of a loving mother teaching her child to walk, [holding] out [her] hands offering to assist, and the child refusing. There’s the picture. And that’s how much sense it makes—Israel’s rejection of God’s salvation. Think of a devoted father [holding] out [his] hands to a wayward son, offering to free him from the trap he’d fallen into yet again, and the son refusing. That’s just about how much sense it makes here.

What is even more strange, though, is that some still want to levee the charge against God, blaming Him for Israel’s unbelief. How many of us thought of blaming the Rancher in that little vignette we crafted to start this morning? How many of us even considered asking why the Rancher didn’t send more messengers to save more of those people who wouldn’t even listen to the ones He did send? How many of us even thought about blaming the messengers for not saving more—for not running a bit faster, or maybe carrying one on each shoulder rather that going just one at a time?

I doubt that any of us blamed the Rancher or the messengers. We just wondered: Why don’t you all just listen to the warning and turn back? And that is precisely the perspective Paul is wanting his readers to gain right here. That is how salvation works.

We listen and tend to blame God, asking: Why don’t you save more? In the same way that we want to think that choosing Christ as Savior is our own decision, we also want to hold God responsible for not saving more! But all along, in reality, we resist every overture God makes, every warning He issues, every call He extends, and even then receive His salvation only if He picks us up on His shoulder and carries us to safety Himself.

That’s the way it is with Israel. That’s the way it is with the nations. And that’s the very point Paul wants his readers to understand in this section of his letter (cc.9-11).

Conclusion

So, what’s our takeaway today? Answer: See! Grasp! Understand the fact that God has brought salvation near—right to your doorstep. Don’t look past it. Receive it! Embrace it by faith! Trust in the finished work of Christ as your propitiation—removing your sin from you as far as the east is from the west (Psa.103:12) and having the penalty of your sin absorb by Him in His sacrifice on the cross—and be reconciled to God! Hear (13; 17) the preaching of the good news (14), believe it (14), call on the name of the Lord (13), and be saved (13). That is our takeaway today.

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Resources

Arnold, Clinton E., gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 3, Romans-Philemon. Romans, by Douglas J. Moo, 2-95. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Barnhouse, Donald Gray. 1952. Romans, four volumes. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans

Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Romans, by Mark A. Seifrid, 607-694. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Romans, by Douglas J. Moo, 1115-1160. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Chadwick, Henry, gen. ed. 1957. Harper’s New Testament Commentaries. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, by C. K. Barrett. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

Comfort, Philip W., gen. ed.  2007. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary. Romans, by Roger Mohrlang. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale.

Cranfield, C. E. B. 1990. Romans: A Shorter Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 6, The Message of Romans: Justification, 146-166. Wheaton: Crossway.

Dockery, David S, ed. 1995. New American Commentary. Vol. 27, Romans, by Robert H. Mounce. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Green, Joel B., ed. 2018. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Letter to the Romans, by Douglas J. Moo. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Hodge, Charles. 1989. The Geneva Series of Commentaries. Romans. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth.

Hubbard, David A., and Glenn W. Barker. 1988. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 38ab, Romans, by James D. G. Dunn. Dallas: Word.

Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2008. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 11, Romans-Galatians. Romans, by Everett F. Harrison and Donald A. Hagner, 19-237. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Luther, Martin. 1976. Commentary on Romans. Translated by J. Theodore Mueller. Grand Rapids: Kregel.

Moo. Douglas J. 2000. The NIV Application Commentary. Romans. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1985. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 6, Romans, by F. F. Bruce. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Moule, H. C. G. 1977. Studies in Romans. Grand Rapids: Kregel.

Murray, John. 1968. The Epistle to the Romans, 2 Vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Nygren, Anders. 1949. Commentary on Romans. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Owen, John, ed. Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, by John Calvin. Translated by John Owen.

Sproul, R. C. 2005. The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus.

Stott, John, NT ed. 1994. The Bible Speaks Today. The Message of Romans, by John Stott. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Yarbrough, Robert W., and Joshua W. Jipp, eds. 2018. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Romans, by Thomas R. Schreiner. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

NEXT SUNDAY: Kipp Soncek will be preaching on a selected theme from Paul’s letter to Rome