Rom 10:14-21 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 14 How then shall they call on him - As the apostle had laid so much stress on believing in order to salvation, and as this doctrine, without farther explanation, might be misunderstood, it was necessary to show how this faith was produced; and therefore he lays the whole doctrine down in a beautifully graduated order. 1. There can be no salvation without the Gospel: a dispensation of mercy and grace from God alone, here called, , the Gospel of peace; glad tidings of good things. 2. This must be preached, proclaimed in the world for the obedience of faith. 3. None can effectually preach this unless he have a Divine mission; for how shall they preach except they be Sent, . The matter must come from God; and the person mho proclaims it must have both authority and unction from on high. 4. This Divinely-commissioned person must be heard: it is the duty of all, to whom this message of salvation is sent, to hear it with the deepest reverence and attention. 5. What is heard must be credited; for they who do not believe the Gospel as the record which God has given of his Son cannot be saved, . 6. Those who believe must invoke God by Christ, which they cannot do unless they believe in him; and in this way alone they are to expect salvation. Professing to believe in Christ, without earnest, importunate prayer for salvation, can save no man. All these things the apostle lays down as essentially necessary; and they all follow from his grand proposition, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But, says the apostle, How shall they Call upon 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? And with what message which can bring salvation can they be sent, but with the Gospel of Peace, the Glad Tidings Of Good Things. When, therefore, there is: 1st, a proper Message; 2ndly, a proper Messenger; 3rdly, the message Preached, proclaimed, or properly delivered by him; 4thly, the proclamation properly Heard and attentively considered by the people; 5thly, the message which they have heard, conscientiously Believed; 6thly, the name of the Lord Jesus, by whom alone this salvation is provided, most fervently Invoked; then, 7thly, salvation, or redemption from sin and misery, and the enjoyment of peace and happiness, will be the result of such calling, believing, hearing, preaching, sending, and message sent: - and thus the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is guarded from abuse.

‏ Romans 10:14-21

Verse 14

How then shall they call on him - As the apostle had laid so much stress on believing in order to salvation, and as this doctrine, without farther explanation, might be misunderstood, it was necessary to show how this faith was produced; and therefore he lays the whole doctrine down in a beautifully graduated order.

1. There can be no salvation without the Gospel: a dispensation of mercy and grace from God alone, here called, Rom 10:15, the Gospel of peace; glad tidings of good things.

2. This must be preached, proclaimed in the world for the obedience of faith.

3. None can effectually preach this unless he have a Divine mission; for how shall they preach except they be Sent, Rom 10:15. The matter must come from God; and the person mho proclaims it must have both authority and unction from on high.

4. This Divinely-commissioned person must be heard: it is the duty of all, to whom this message of salvation is sent, to hear it with the deepest reverence and attention.

5. What is heard must be credited; for they who do not believe the Gospel as the record which God has given of his Son cannot be saved, Rom 10:14.

6. Those who believe must invoke God by Christ, which they cannot do unless they believe in him; and in this way alone they are to expect salvation. Professing to believe in Christ, without earnest, importunate prayer for salvation, can save no man. All these things the apostle lays down as essentially necessary; and they all follow from his grand proposition, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But, says the apostle, How shall they Call upon 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? And with what message which can bring salvation can they be sent, but with the Gospel of Peace, the Glad Tidings Of Good Things. When, therefore, there is: 1st, a proper Message; 2ndly, a proper Messenger; 3rdly, the message Preached, proclaimed, or properly delivered by him; 4thly, the proclamation properly Heard and attentively considered by the people; 5thly, the message which they have heard, conscientiously Believed; 6thly, the name of the Lord Jesus, by whom alone this salvation is provided, most fervently Invoked; then, 7thly, salvation, or redemption from sin and misery, and the enjoyment of peace and happiness, will be the result of such calling, believing, hearing, preaching, sending, and message sent: - and thus the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is guarded from abuse. Verse 15

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach - Dr. Taylor remarks on this quotation, which is taken from Isa 52:7, that "feet are variously used in Scripture, and sometimes have respect to things internal and spiritual. For as the life of man and the practice of piety are compared to walking, Psa 1:1, so his feet may signify the principles on which he acts, and the dispositions of his mind. Ecc 5:1 : Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. Agreeably to this, the feet of the messengers in Isaiah and of the apostles in this verse, may signify the validity of their mission - the authority upon which they acted, and any character or qualifications with which they were invested." Verse 16

But they have not all obeyed the Gospel - This seems to be the objection of a Jew; as if he had said: A Divine mission would be attended with success; whereas there are numbers who pay no attention to the glad tidings you preach. To this the apostle answers, that the Spirit of God, by Isaiah, Isa 53:1, foretold it would be so, even in the case of the Jews themselves, where he said, Lord, who hath believed our report? For although God brings the message of salvation to men, he does not oblige them to embrace it.

It is proposed to their understanding and conscience; but it does not become the means of salvation unless it be affectionately credited. Verse 17

So then faith cometh by hearing - Preaching the Gospel is the ordinary means of salvation; faith in Christ is the result of hearing the word, the doctrine of God preached. Preaching, God sends; if heard attentively, faith will be produced; and if they believe the report, the arm of the Lord will be revealed in their salvation. Verse 18

But I say, have they not heard? - But to return to the objection: You say they have not all Believed; I ask: Have they not all Heard? Have not the means of salvation been placed within the reach of every Jew in Palestine, and within the reach of all those who sojourn in the different Gentile countries where we have preached the Gospel, as well to the Jews as to the Gentiles themselves? Yes: for we may say of the preaching of the Gospel what the psalmist has said (Psa 19:4) of the heavenly bodies: Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. As the celestial luminaries have given testimony of the eternal power and Godhead of the Deity to the habitable world, the Gospel of Christ has borne testimony to his eternal goodness and mercy to all the land of Palestine, and to the whole Roman empire. There is not a part of the promised land in which these glad tidings have not been preached; and there is scarcely a place in the Roman empire in which the doctrine of Christ crucified has not been heard: if, therefore, the Jews have not believed, the fault is entirely their own; as God has amply furnished them with the means of faith and of salvation.

In Psa 19:4, the psalmist has קום kauuam, their line, which the Septuagint, and the apostle who quotes from them, render φθογγος, sound; and hence some have thought that the word in the Psalm was originally קולם kolam, voice. But that קו kau is used for word or speech is sufficiently evident from Isa 28:10, line upon line, precept upon precept, etc., where קו is analogous to word or direction. It is very remarkable that these words of David, quoted by St. Paul, are mentioned in Sohar. Genes. fol. 9, where it is said: עבדי משיחא אינון מלין Abdey mashicha innun millin. "These words are the servants of the Messiah, and measure out both the things above and the things beneath." To this notion of them the apostle may refer in his use of them in this place, and to a Jew the application would be legitimate. Verse 19

But I say, Did not Israel know? - You object to this preaching among the Gentiles; but is not this according to the positive declaration of God? He, foreseeing your unbelief and rebellion, said by Moses, Deu 32:21, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. As you have provoked me to jealousy with worshipping those that are no gods, I will provoke you to jealousy by those which are no people. This most evidently refers to the calling or inviting of the Gentiles to partake of the benefits of the Gospel; and plainly predicts the envy and rage which would be excited in the Jews, in consequence of those offers of mercy made to the Gentiles. Verse 20

But Esaias (the Greek orthography for Isaiah) is very bold - Speaks out in the fullest manner and plainest language, Isa 65:1, notwithstanding the danger to which such a declaration exposed him, among a crooked, perverse, and dangerous people: I was found of them that sought me not; I put my salvation in the way of those (the Gentiles) who were not seeking for it, and knew nothing of it: thus, the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to the law of righteousness, Rom 9:30, and they have found that redemption which the Jews have rejected. Verse 21

But to Israel he saith - In the very next verse, (Isa 65:2), All day long have I stretched forth my hands, manifesting the utmost readiness and willingness to gather them all together under my protecting care; but I stretched forth my hands in vain, for they are a disobedient and gainsaying people. They not only disobey my command, but they gainsay and contradict my prophets. Thus the apostle proves, in answer to the objection made Rom 10:16, that the infidelity of the Jews was the effect of their own obstinacy; that the opposition which they are now making to the Gospel was foretold and deplored 700 years before; and that their opposition, far from being a proof of the insufficiency of the Gospel, proved that this was the grand means which God had provided for their salvation; and having rejected this, they could expect no other. And this gives the apostle opportunity to speak largely concerning their rejection in the following chapter.

I. In the preceding chapter are several quotations from the law, the prophets, and the Psalms; and as the apostle seems to take them with considerable latitude of meaning, it has been thought that he only uses their words as being well calculated to express his sense, without paying any attention to their original import. This principle is too lax to be introduced in such solemn circumstances. Dr. Taylor has made some judicious and useful distinctions here. After observing that, if we allow this principle, no argument can be built on any of the apostle's quotations; and that it must have been an indifferent thing with him whether he did or did not understand the Scripture - as, on this supposition, they would serve him as well without as with the true meaning - he adds: the apostle was a strict and close quoter of the Scripture; but he did not always quote them in the same manner, or for the same purpose.

1. Sometimes his intention goes no farther than using the same strong expressions, as being equally applicable to the point in hand. So, Rom 10:6-8, he uses the words of Moses, not to prove any thing, nor as if he thought Moses spoke of the same subject, but only as intimating that the strong and lively expressions which Moses used concerning the doctrine he taught, were equally applicable to the faith of the Gospel. So, in the same manner, Rom 10:18, he quotes Psa 19:4, though it is likely (see the note on Rom 10:18) that those expressions were used by the ancient Jews in application to the Messiah as the apostle applies them.

2. Sometimes the design of the quotation is only to show that the cases are parallel: or, that what happened in his times corresponded with what happened in former days. So Rom 2:24; Rom 8:36; Rom 9:27-29; Rom 11:2-5, Rom 11:8-10; Rom 15:21.

3. Sometimes the quotation is only intended to explain a doctrinal point, as Rom 1:17; Rom 4:6-8, Rom 4:18-21; Rom 9:20, Rom 9:21; Rom 10:15; Rom 15:3.

4. Sometimes the quotation is designed to prove a doctrinal point. Rom 3:4, Rom 3:10-19; Rom 4:3-17; Rom 5:12-14; Rom 9:7, Rom 9:9, Rom 9:12, Rom 9:13, Rom 9:15, Rom 9:17; Rom 10:5, Rom 10:11, Rom 10:13; Rom 12:19, Rom 12:20; Rom 13:9; Rom 14:11.

5. Sometimes it is the intention of the quotation to prove that something was predicted, or properly foretold in the prophetic writings, as Rom 9:25, Rom 9:26, Rom 9:33; Rom 10:16, Rom 10:19-21; Rom 11:26, Rom 11:27; Rom 15:9-13.

These things duly considered, it will appear that the apostle has every where shown a just regard to the true sense of the Scripture he quotes, in the view in which he quotes it.

These rules may help to vindicate the quotations in all the apostolic writings. And it is evident that we cannot form a true judgment upon any quotation, unless we take in the intention of the writer, or the view in which he quotes.

II. The apostle here makes a just and proper distinction between the righteousness or justification that is of the law, and that which is by faith in Christ. And, in his view of the former, shows it to be absolutely impossible; for if no man is to live thereby - to have spiritual and eternal life, but he who does these things; then salvation on that ground must be impossible; for,

1. The law makes no provision for the pardon of sin.

2. It affords no helps for the performance of duty.

3. It makes no allowances for imperfections in duty, or for imperfections is our nature.

4. Its commandments, necessarily, suppose a righteous soul, and a vigorous body; and it does not lower its claims to the fallen state of man.

5. It requires perfect obedience, not only in all things, but in all places and circumstances. The man who comes up to this standard, has ever been in it, and has never swerved from it, shall, by the law, live for ever. But no man, since the fall, ever did so or ever can do so: therefore, salvation by the works of the law is absolutely impossible. But,

1. The righteousness or justification, which is by faith, receives Christ as an atoning sacrifice, by which all past sin is pardoned.

2. Receives continual supplies of grace from Christ by the eternal Spirit, through which the man is enabled to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as himself.

3. This grace is afforded in sufficient degrees suited to all places, times, and circumstances, so that no trial can happen too great to be borne, as the grace of Christ is ever at hand to support and to save to the uttermost. The law is the letter that killeth; the Gospel is the spirit that giveth life. Reader, let thy whole soul say with the apostle, Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!