"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Romans 10:15
Romans 10Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 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. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 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. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
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"When Christ died, He bore for Israel the curse of the Law, for they, and they alone, were under the Law. Divine Law, being broken, does not ask for future good conduct on the part of the infractor; but for his death,—and that only. Now Christ having died, all the claims of the Law against that nation which had been placed under law were completely met and ended. So that even Jews could now believe, and say, “I am dead to the Law!”
To him that believeth, therefore, Jew or Gentile, Christ, dead, buried, and risen, is the end of law for righteousness,—in the sense of law’s disappearance from the scene! Law does not know, or take cognizance of believers! We read in Chapter Seven (verse 6) that those who had been under the Law were discharged from the Law, brought to nought, put out of business (katargeo), with respect to the Law! The Law has nothing to do with them, as regards righteousness.
The Scripture must be obeyed with the obedience of belief: “Ye are not under law [not under that principle] but under grace” (the contrary principle). “Ye are brought to nothing from Christ [literally, “put out of business from Christ”], ye who would be justified by the Law; ye are fallen away from grace” (Gal. 5:4). Paul writes in Heb. 7:18, 19: “There is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment, because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God.” Again, “Christ abolished in His flesh the enmity [between Jew and Gentile], even the Law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Eph. 2:15); again, speaking as a Hebrew believer, Paul says, “Christ blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us: and He hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross” (Col 2:14).
If these Scriptures do not set forth a complete closing up of any believer’s account toward the Law, or to the whole legal principle, I know nothing of the meaning of words.
The words Christ is the end of the Law, cannot mean Christ is the “fulfilment of what the law required.” The Law required obedience to precepts—or death for disobedience. Now Christ died! If it be answered, that before He died He fulfilled the claims of the Law, kept it perfectly, and that this law-keeping of Christ was reckoned as over against the Israelite’s breaking of the Law, then I ask, Why should Christ die? If the claims of the Law were met in Christ’s earthly obedience, and if that earthly life of obedience is “reckoned to those who believe” the curse of the Law has been removed by “vicarious law-keeping.” Why should Christ die?
Now this idea of Christ’s keeping the Law for “us” (for they will include us among the Israelites! although the Law was not given us Gentiles), is a deadly heresy, no matter who teaches it. Paul tells us plainly how the curse of the Law was removed: “Christ redeemed us,” (meaning Jewish believers), “from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). And how He became a curse, is seen in Deuteronomy 21:23: “He that is hanged is accursed of God.” It was on the cross, not by an “earthly life of obedience,” that Christ bore the Law’s curse!
There was no law given “which could make alive,” Paul says; “otherwise righteousness would have been by it.” Therefore those who speak of Christ as taking the place of fulfilling the Law for us,—as “the object at which the Law aimed” (Alford); or, “the fulfilment or accomplishment of the Law” (Calvin); give the Law an office that God did not give it. There is not in all Scripture a hint of the doctrine that Christ’s earthly life—His obedience as a man under the Law, is “put to the account” of any sinner whatsoever! That obedience, which was perfect, was in order that He might “present Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot unto God,” as a sin-offering. It also was in order to His sacrificial death, as “a curse,” for Israel.
The gospel does not begin for any sinner, Jew or Gentile, until the cross: “I delivered unto you first of all, that Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3).
And for those under the Law, that was the end (telos) of the law. The Law had not been given to Israel at the beginning as a nation. They came out of Egypt, delivered from Divine wrath by the shed blood of the passover; and from Egypt itself by the passage of the Red Sea; Jehovah being with them. Go now to Elim with its “twelve wells of water and three score and ten palm trees”: there the nation is encamped with their God. They have yet not been put under law at all. The Rock is smitten, giving them drink, and Manna, the bread of heaven, is given, all before Sinai!
Therefore we must believe God when He says in Romans 5:20: “The Law came in [not as an essential, but] as a circumstantial thing.” (The Greek word, pareisēlthe, “came in along-side,” can mean nothing else.)
In Paul’s explanation of God’s dealing with Israel in 9:31-33; 10:5-10; 11:5,6, the meaning of this word telos “end,” appears: that, when an Israelite believed on Christ he was as completely through with the Law for righteousness as if it had never been given. He had righteousness by another way!
The vast discussion among commentators concerning the expression “the end of the Law,” would never have been, had it been recognized: (1) that God gave the Law only to Israel—as He said; (2) that it was a temporary thing, a “ministration of death,” to reveal sin, and therefore the necessity of Christ’s death; (3) that Christ having come, the day of the Law was over—it was “annulled” see Heb. 7:18.
It is because Reformed theology has kept us Gentiles under the Law,—if not as a means of righteousness, then as “a rule of life,” that all the trouble has arisen. The Law is no more a rule of life than it is a means of righteousness. Walking in the Spirit has now taken the place of walking by ordinances. God has another principle under which He has put his saints: “Ye are not under law, but, under grace!”
5 For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the Law shall live thereby. 6 But the righteousness which’ of faith saith thus. Say not in thy heart. Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down:) or, 7 Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 9 because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be [thy] Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: 10 for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
The apostle now takes us into a great contrast between the way of the Law and the way of faith. He first quotes Leviticus 18:5, where God said to Israel: “Ye shall therefore keep My statutes, and Mine ordinances; which if a man do, he shall live in [or by] them: I am Jehovah.” You ask, Why did God make such a statement if no one was to obtain life by the Law? The answer is two-fold. First, in the plain utterance of Galatians 3:21: “If there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the Law”: God never placed in the Law the power to give life! Second, the Law is called a ministration of death and condemnation: “But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory . . . if the ministration of condemnation hath glory” (II Cor. 3:7-9). It was never intended that people should’ gain hope by it, but rather that they should despair and be driven to cast themselves upon God’s mercy, as did David (Psalm 51:1-19). Thus the Law becomes a “youth-leader” leading unto Christ (Gal. 3:24). Now, we humbly beg you, permit these Scriptures to “shut you up,”—according to Gal. 3:22! God had a right to put Israel under the Law for 1500 years from Moses to Christ; and He did so, knowing they could obtain neither righteousness nor life by that Law, since both were through faith in Christ only: and, “the Law is not of faith” (Gal. 3:12).
Now follows a most remarkable use by Paul of a Scripture out of Moses’ own mouth which he spake to Israel concerning the Law, and which Paul here applies to Christ. It will be best to quote the passage from Deut. 30:11-14 in full:
“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say. Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”
Moses, who had been with Israel forty years, and had been their mediator in bringing the Law down from Mount Sinai unto them, is about to die. He is leaving with them not only the ten commandments, but also all the statutes, ordinances, precepts and judgments connected with them. Now what will be the natural reaction in the hearts of Israel, when Moses goes up to the top of Pisgah and dies, and Jehovah buries him? It will be this: “Moses, who brought us this Law, is gone! Moses received this Law from Jehovah, who came down from heaven to the top of Sinai in great majesty and display of glory. Now Moses is dead; and all we have left is, these written words! Our circumstances are altogether different from those of our fathers, who saw the awful presence of Jehovah on Sinai and heard His voice. Who will go up to heaven for us now, and come down, and make us hear this Law, in the same way our fathers heard, that we may do it? Or, if there be someone away beyond the sea, some wonderful teacher (like Moses) whom we can send for, to come across the sea and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it—.”
Now Moses’ answer to all this is, “The word is nigh unto thee— in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” That is, the written words of the Law the people knew: they could repeat them; they were told to teach them diligently unto their children, and, as David did, “hide them in their hearts “ that they might not sin. It was all simple, indeed. And, of course, there were those, like Joshua, who said, “As for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah”; or who, like Zecharias and Elisabeth in Luke 1:6, were “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”
But the great point Moses makes with Israel is that there was the Law, in simple, plain words. They needed no sign, no manifestation; that had all been done at Sinai. But the great difficulty in the human heart (with Israel just as with us), is simple subjection to God’s words. See how the Jews in our Lord’s day kept asking of Him, “Show us a sign from heaven.”
Verse 6: Now Paul knows the human heart to be the same today as in the days of Moses, so he lifts out of Deuteronomy Moses’s words about the Law and applies them to faith in Christ: The righteousness which is of faith [instead of asking a sign] saith thus, Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down:). This would be the natural working of the heart of a Jew. The Messiah, Christ, was to be sent to him from God; in fact, the nation had kept looking for Him. But the perpetual rising of unbelief, apart from “a sign from heaven,” was there.
It is very striking, as has been observed by others, that the Spirit of God should select the verses quoted above from Deuteronomy. For this chapter plainly prophesies that the Jews will be scattered among the nations because of their despising of God’s Law. So that all hope from the Law will have perished, and they will be cast wholly upon the mercy of God:
“among all the nations, whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and shalt obey his voice . . . with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, . . . and will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, . . . and He will do thee good.”
Into this dead, hollow shell, then, of legal hope, Paul here in Romans Ten, takes verses 11 to 14 of Deuteronomy Thirty, and puts faith in Christ in place of the Law! Israel will at last, at the end of the age, be cast upon the mercy of God! And then they will understand these great chapters, Romans Nine, Ten and Eleven, were written concerning them!
Verse 7: So that the Jew said in his heart. Who can ascend to heaven to bring Him down unto me? Then further, Christ being proclaimed that He had been sent already, and had borne their iniquities according to prophecy,—that He had died,—there would come the question in the Jewish heart: Who shall go down into the abyss and bring Him up from the regions of the dead that I may see Him and thus believe on Him?
Verse 8: Now, answering all these inquiries, these sign-askings, came the simple word of faith preached by Paul. This expression, “the word of faith,” involves the whole story of the gospel: that Jesus was the Christ, that He had come, died for sin, been buried, been raised, and been seen by many witnesses after His resurrection (I Cor. 15:3-8).
Verses 9 and 10: Paul speaks, then, in these verses—as if addressing a Jewish hearer: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord [literally, Jesus, Lord; or, Jesus to be (thy) Lord], and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It is assumed the whole gospel has been preached to this hearer. And now is he persuaded that this Risen Jesus, was really the Messiah? And, though rejected by Israel, that He is Lord over all,—the Deity? And is his Lord? And is he willing so to confess Him as his own Lord before men?
With thy mouth—We remember that in our Lord’s ministry among the Jews, “Even of the rulers many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God” (John 12:42, 43).
Then does this Jewish hearer, in short, being persuaded of Jesus’ Lordship and confessing it, believe in his very heart that God raised Him from the dead? For Christianity, as we have said, “begins with the resurrection.” No matter how thoroughly persuaded a Jew might be that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies in His birth, life, ministry, and death; there remained this stupendous task of faith, to believe in the heart that God had raised Him from the power and domain of death, of that which was the wages of sin,—the “King of Terrors” (Job 18:14) of the whole world!
Those thus confessing Christ’s Lordship, and believing in the heart that God had raised Him, would be saved! The explanation of the apostle of what has happened in such a case is, that with the heart the man, believed unto righteousness; while with the mouth the faith of the heart is boldly followed in confession, resulting in salvation.
You may ask, would not a Jew (for these chapters particularly concern Jews) who had “believed unto righteousness” have, thus, salvation? It is better to let the Scripture language stand. God here connects the word salvation with the word confession, not with the word faith. Peter, in his second epistle, speaks of those who “had known the way of righteousness,” which is always faith,—and then afterward “turned back from the holy commandment delivered unto them” (II Peter 2:20, 21); while our Lord in Luke 8 says of the rocky-ground hearer that he “believed for a while, and in time of temptation fell away.” Therefore, while in both parts of Romans 10:10, Paul refers to the man of verse 9 as one who is to be “saved,” it is well to let the verse remain as it is. The Lord when on earth among the Jews asked that they confess Him publicly; the Spirit still asks this. Not only Jews but Gentiles must confess Him; although the form of presentation of the truth in Chapter Ten is as it would apply to a Jew, to whom had been offered a Messiah, concerning whose claims he had to decide, according to several Old Testament Scriptures. The Gentiles did not have the Scriptures, and the matter of the presentation of the gospel to them was much more simple. But “confession with the mouth” will follow “the faith of God’s elect,” Jew or Gentile.
Now, as ever when dealing with the Jews, Paul turns to their Scriptures, and quotes eight times from the Old Testament, before this Tenth Chapter is out—thirty times altogether in these three chapters (9,10, and 11)!
11 For the Scripture saith. Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame. 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him: 13 for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!
Verses 11 and 12: The Scripture saith: the believer learns to love this word, “the Scripture” (our old word graphē!). The manner in which its Author, the Holy Spirit, makes the Scriptures of the Old Testament speak, in the New, is comfort without limit! And here is Isaiah 28:16 again, which was quoted (from the Septuagint) in the last verse of Chapter Nine. The Jews should have seen from that word whosoever believeth that simple faith in their Messiah was God’s way, and that the message meant “whosoever.”
They should have been warned also that inasmuch as believing was God’s way—the path in which those who walked would not be put to shame; those who chose the way of works, of self-righteousness, would surely be put to shame. This word “ashamed” or “put to shame” is in the Hebrew, to flee—from fear. Those who have exercised simple faith in Christ, and abide thus in Him, shall “have boldness: and not be ashamed before Him [Christ] at His coming”—“;boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, even so are we in this world” (I John 2:28; 4:17).
This “whosoever” message is further developed in verse 12, where we see the familiar words no distinction between Jew and Greek. We remember this as the exact expression used as to universal sinnerhood in Chapter 3:22; which is now used as to salvation. For, first, He is Lord of all, and second, He is rich unto all that call upon Him.
These great words must be laid to heart. They bring great comfort, directly to any Jews who desire the Savior, and also to the hearts of all of us, Jew and Gentile, because the universal availability of salvation is so gloriously opened out here, based as it is upon the universal lordship of Christ. As Peter said at Cornelius’ house to Gentiles, “The word which He sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all).” It is a great day when a human heart turns to this Savior who is Lord of all, for he immediately finds Him “rich unto all.”
Verse 13: And then the great word by the prophet Joel is brought forward: Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:32). Now who could miss the meaning of this simplest of all messages? Now, (if we should preach on this verse!) First, salvation is promised. Second, it is a be-saved, not save-yourself, salvation. Third, it is the Lord who is to do it. Fourth, He does it for those who call upon His Name. Fifth, He does it for the whosoevers, for anybody. What a preacher, Joel! But note that Paul is writing to Jews, and is giving Old Testament texts. For Paul’s great gospel message is to hear and believe “the word of the cross, which is the power of God.” This message goes away beyond that of the Old Testament. Paul preached the good news of a work finished. It was for the “whosoevers”: and Joel’s use of that word should have convinced any Jew of God’s purpose of salvation to any one, to all. But Paul does not mean that his gospel was “Call on the Lord.” His gospel was, Christ died for our sins: He was buried, and was raised, for you: hear and believe.
These “whosoevers” should have taught the Jews that the way of salvation was not by their Law or any special way for them, but for any and all. Alas, the word “whosoever” was too wide for the narrow Jewish mind in Joel’s day and Paul’s day and is so today.
Verses 14 and 15: But now Paul takes these two “whosoever” verses, and from them answers the Jew, who not only relied on his law-keeping instead of on simple faith to save him, but also denied that either Paul or any of the apostles had any right to proclaim salvation by a simple message,—a message that left out the Law and Judaism. If salvation were to come unto them that “call on the name of the Lord” argues Paul, calling is impossible to one who has not believed on the Lord; and believing is impossible to one who has not heard the message about the Lord; and hearing is impossible unless some one comes preaching the message; and preaching is impossible except the messenger be Divinely sent! And again Paul clinches it with the Scripture (Isa. 52:7): How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! Moses’ Law was not glad tidings, but a ministration of death and condemnation. “The Law worketh wrath.” But the gospel—“Glad tidings! Good things!” And God who knows, calls “beautiful” the feet that carry such news. Are our feet “beautiful”—in God’s eyes?"
William R. Newell
From Romans Verse by Verse
