CHAPTER 10

(A.D. 60)

ISRAEL

¹Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be Saved (Israel, as a Nation, wasnt Saved, despite their history; what an indictment!).

²For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God (should read, for God; they had a zeal which had to do with God as its Object), but not according to knowledge (pertains to the right kind of knowledge).

³For they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness (spells the story not only of ancient Israel, but almost the entirety of the world, and for all time; Gods Righteousness is that which is afforded by Christ, and received by exercising Faith in Him and what He did at the Cross, all on our behalf; Israels ignorance was willful!), and going about to establish their own righteousness (the case of anyone who attempts to establish Righteousness by any method other than Faith in Christ and the Cross), have not submitted themselves unto the Righteousness of God (Gods Righteousness is ensconced in Christ and what He did at the Cross).

⁴For Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness (Christ fulfilled the totality of the Law) to everyone who believes (Faith in Christ guarantees the Righteousness which the Law had, but could not give).

RIGHTEOUSNESS

⁵For Moses described the Righteousness which is of the Law (tells us plainly that the Law did contain Righteousness, but Righteousness to which man could not attain due to his fallen condition), That the man which does these things shall live by them (Paul is saying that no matter how hard a person tries to render perfect obedience, he will not be able to).

⁶But the Righteousness which is of Faith speaks on this wise (will proclaim the wonderful and beautiful simplicity found only in Christ), Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) (For one to be saved, one does not have to perform some great task such as bring Christ down in Person from Heaven. As we shall see, Gods Word is enough.)

⁷Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (Christ does not need to be brought down from Heaven or up from the abyss to impart to the sinner forgiveness and Holiness. The Christian Message contains no impossibilities.)

⁸But what does it say? (In other words, it says how to be saved!) The Word is near you (the Word of God), even in your mouth (speaks of the confession which must come from the mouth in order for one to be saved, even as Paul will say in the next Verse), and in your heart (proclaims the part of man in which Faith begins): that is, the Word of Faith, which we preach (presents the declaration by Paul that Justification is on the Faith-Principle, as opposed to the Works-Principle; it speaks of Faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross; in other words, every Preacher should Preach Christ and Him Crucified);

HOW TO RECEIVE

⁹That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus (confess that Jesus is the Lord of Glory, and the Saviour of men, and that He died on the Cross that we might be Saved), and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead (pertains to the Bodily Resurrection of Christ, as is obvious), you shall be Saved (it is that simple!).

¹⁰For with the heart man believes unto Righteousness (presents the word believing in a mode of thinking, not of feeling; the believing has to do with believing Christ, and that His Sacrifice of Himself Atoned for all sin); and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation (when Faith comes forth from its silence to announce itself and proclaim the Glory and the Grace of the Lord, its voice is confession).

¹¹For the Scripture says (combining parts of Isa. 28:16 with 49:23), Whosoever believes on Him (proclaims the fact that Salvation is reachable by all) shall not be ashamed (in essence says, shall not be put to shame, but rather will receive what is promised).

¹²For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek (should read, between the Jew and the Gentile; all must come the same way, which is by and through Christ and what He did at the Cross on our behalf): for the same Lord over all is rich unto all who call upon Him (the riches of Grace will be given to all who truly call upon the Lord).

¹³For whosoever (anyone, anywhere) shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be Saved (speaks of the sinner coming to Christ, but can refer to any Believer and with whatever need; the Cross is the means by which all of this is done).

¹⁴How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? (The great sin of mankind is the sin of unbelief.) and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? (Ignorance is not Salvation. It is the business of the Church to take the Gospel to the world.) and how shall they hear without a preacher? (This reveals Gods Method of proclaiming His Message.)

¹⁵And how shall they Preach, except they be sent? (Those who send the Preacher are just as important as the Preacher.) as it is written (Isa. 52:7), How beautiful are the feet of them who Preach the Gospel of Peace (presents the Message which, if accepted, will make things right between the sinner and God), and bring glad tidings (Good News) of good things! (Its all made possible by the Cross.)

¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the Gospel (all who hear the Gospel will not heed the Gospel). For Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report? ([Isa. 53:1] despite the fact of Who Christ was and what He did, only a few accepted Him as the Messiah.)

¹⁷So then Faith comes by hearing (it is the publication of the Gospel which produces Faith in it), and hearing by the Word of God (Faith does not come simply by hearing just anything, but rather by hearing Gods Word, and believing that Word).

NO EXCUSE

¹⁸But I say, Have they not heard? (This proclaims Paul bringing the subject matter back to the Jews.) Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world (plainly proclaims the fact that Israel knew about Christ, and rejected Him anyway).

¹⁹But I say, Did not Israel know? (There was no excuse for Israel not to know. They had the Word of God for their guide.) First Moses said (Deut. 32:21), I will provoke you to jealousy by them who are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you (some 1,600 years before Pauls day, Moses Prophesied the acceptance of the Gospel by the Gentiles).

²⁰But Isaiah is very bold, and said (Isa. 65:1-2), I was found of them who sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them who asked not after Me (as Moses, the Prophet Isaiah predicted that the Gentiles would hear and receive the Gospel).

²¹But to Israel He said, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people (by their rejection of Christ and the Cross, the majority of Israel fashioned themselves into vessels of wrath through their self-will and unbelief; is the Church presently doing the same?).