HOW WILL THEY HEAR?
Romans 10:14–21
Paul has just made a sweeping statement:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
— Romans 10:13
Jew or Gentile.
There is one Lord.
And everyone who calls upon Him may be saved.
But that raises another question.
How can someone call upon a Lord they do not believe in?
And how can they believe if they have never heard?
Paul now works backward through the process.
HOW CAN THEY CALL IF THEY HAVE NOT BELIEVED?
Paul asks:
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?”
— Romans 10:14
Calling upon the Lord doesn't come out of nowhere.
First there must be faith.
Then Paul asks:
“And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”
Faith requires a message.
People cannot believe something they have never heard.
Then:
“And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”
Someone must proclaim the message.
And finally:
“And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
— Romans 10:15
Notice the progression.
Sent.
Preach.
Hear.
Believe.
Call.
Paul works backward from calling upon the Lord to the sending of someone who proclaims the message.
“HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET”
Paul then quotes Isaiah 52:7:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
The beauty isn't really about feet.
It is about the message they carry.
Isaiah pictured a messenger arriving with wonderful news:
Good news.
Peace.
Salvation.
God reigns.
Paul sees the gospel of Christ as the fulfillment of that good news.
The King has acted.
Salvation has come.
The message must be announced.
BUT NOT EVERYONE OBEYED THE GOSPEL
Then Paul says something we shouldn't pass over:
“But they have not all obeyed the gospel.”
— Romans 10:16
Notice his wording.
He doesn't merely say:
Not everyone heard.
He says:
Not everyone obeyed.
Then he quotes Isaiah:
“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
Paul moves naturally between:
believing the message
and
obeying the gospel.
Biblical faith is not merely acknowledging that certain facts are true.
Faith responds to God's message.
WHERE DOES FAITH COME FROM?
Then comes one of the best-known statements in Romans:
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
— Romans 10:17
Faith is not a leap into the dark.
Faith responds to a message.
And the message is about:
Christ.
This fits Paul's argument throughout Romans.
The gospel is proclaimed.
People hear it.
They believe it.
They respond to it.
BUT DID ISRAEL HEAR?
Now Paul anticipates another objection:
“But I ask, have they not heard?”
— Romans 10:18
This is crucial.
Could Israel's unbelief simply be explained by saying:
They never had an opportunity to hear?
Paul's answer is:
“Indeed they have.”
Then he quotes Psalm 19:
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
Whatever questions we may have about the exact way Paul uses Psalm 19 here, his answer to his own question is unmistakable.
Israel had heard.
Their problem was not simply lack of information.
PERHAPS ISRAEL DIDN'T UNDERSTAND?
Paul asks another question:
“But I ask, did Israel not understand?”
— Romans 10:19
Now Paul goes back to Moses.
“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
This comes from Deuteronomy 32:21.
Think about what Paul is doing.
Even Moses had warned Israel that God would use people outside Israel to provoke Israel.
The inclusion of Gentiles should not have been completely unimaginable to anyone who knew Israel's Scriptures.
THEN ISAIAH BECOMES EVEN BOLDER
Paul quotes Isaiah:
“I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
— Romans 10:20
That sounds very much like what Paul said in Romans 9:30:
“Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it.”
People who had been outside Israel were finding God.
Gentiles were responding to the gospel.
But what about Israel?
Paul saves that statement for last.
GOD HELD OUT HIS HANDS
Paul writes:
“But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’”
— Romans 10:21
That is a striking picture.
God's hands are:
held out.
And how long?
“All day long.”
What is Israel doing?
They are:
“Disobedient and contrary.”
That is where Paul ends the chapter.
And it matters enormously for how we read everything that came before it.
LOOK BACK AT ROMANS 9
Romans 9 spoke of:
God's purpose.
Election.
Mercy.
Hardening.
The potter and clay.
Vessels of wrath.
Those statements are true.
We should not weaken them.
But Paul has continued his argument.
Now he describes unbelieving Israel as:
“A disobedient and contrary people.”
And God?
“All day long I have held out my hands.”
That doesn't sound like people who desperately wanted God but were prevented from coming because they weren't selected.
Paul describes resistance on Israel's side.
And extended invitation on God's side.
Both truths belong in our interpretation.
DID GOD MAKE ISRAEL DISOBEY?
Paul doesn't say that.
Look at the words he has used since Romans 9:30.
Israel:
did not pursue righteousness by faith.
stumbled over Christ.
had zeal without knowledge.
did not submit to God's righteousness.
did not all obey the gospel.
had heard.
and finally were:
“Disobedient and contrary.”
Meanwhile God says:
“All day long I have held out my hands.”
Whatever we conclude about God's sovereignty in Romans 9 must make room for Paul's description of human responsibility in Romans 10.
We need both.
SOMETHING ELSE IS EASY TO MISS
Paul says:
“They have not all obeyed the gospel.”
Then immediately quotes:
“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
Paul seems comfortable placing obeying and believing beside each other.
That shouldn't surprise us.
He began Romans by speaking of:
“The obedience of faith.”
— Romans 1:5
And he will end Romans with essentially the same idea:
“The obedience of faith.”
— Romans 16:26
Paul's letter is framed by that expression.
Biblical faith is not merely mental agreement.
It is faith that responds to God.
DOES “FAITH COMES BY HEARING” MEAN HEARING ALONE SAVES?
No.
Again, don't make one verse say everything.
Romans 10:17 explains where faith comes from.
“Faith comes from hearing.”
It does not say:
Everything involved in salvation is contained in the act of hearing.
In this very paragraph Paul has already spoken of:
hearing,
believing,
calling,
and obeying.
And elsewhere in Romans he has spoken of:
repentance,
grace,
Christ's blood,
faith,
and being baptized into Christ's death.
Let Paul say everything Paul says.
READ PAUL BEFORE READING A SYSTEM INTO PAUL
This is especially important in Romans 9–11.
If we stop at one verse, we can make Paul sound like almost any theological system we want.
But Paul's argument keeps moving.
Romans 9 emphasizes God's freedom and sovereignty.
Romans 10 emphasizes Israel's faith, unbelief, hearing, obedience, and resistance.
Paul does not seem troubled by putting those truths together.
Perhaps we shouldn't be either.
God remains sovereign.
Human beings remain responsible.
Israel heard.
Israel could have believed.
But much of Israel resisted.
And God's picture of Himself is:
“All day long I have held out my hands.”
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Ask the text:
How can people believe without hearing?
They cannot.
How does the message reach them?
Someone proclaims it.
Where does faith come from?
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Had Israel heard?
Paul says:
“Indeed they have.”
Did hearing automatically produce faith?
No.
“They have not all obeyed the gospel.”
How does Paul describe unbelieving Israel?
“Disobedient and contrary.”
How does he picture God?
“All day long I have held out my hands.”
So has God completely rejected Israel?
That is exactly the question Paul asks next.
And his answer begins with himself:
“By no means! For I myself am an Israelite.”
NEXT: HAS GOD REJECTED HIS PEOPLE?
Romans 11:1–10
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
Questions, comments, or disagreements?
We welcome them. Use the response form on ourHOME page to send us a note.