Page 69 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

11.4 Chapter 10 - Salvation Illustrated in Israel: God’s Offer of Salvation to All People.

Introduction

The feature that marks out the beginning of each new point that Paul made in his
demonstration that Israel actually illustrated how God’s salvation works is a statement of how
he felt about the situation that his kinfolk were in because of their rejection of Jesus as their
Messiah. The first two verses of each of the chapters in this section contain some type of
expression of the emotions that stirred his heart when he thought of them. In this chapter he stated it this
way, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” This chapter
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focuses on the fact that God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ was to all people and did not, indeed
does not, exclude those who are Israelites. Their persistent resistance to the proclamation of God’s good
news did not mean that they were forever disqualified from becoming participants in God’s salvation.

The Jews, by seeking to establish their own righteousness, do not submit to Christ and thus do not have
the righteousness that He provides to those who trust in Him. (10:1-4)

The Jews did not attain a saving relationship with God because they were going about attempting to
secure such a relationship in the wrong way. They wanted God but they wanted God on terms that they
dictated and controlled. In their zeal for the law, they turned the law into a means by which they
attempted to manipulate God. Their idea was that if they kept the law scrupulously God would be
required to reward them with deliverance from their enemies and bring prosperity to their land. Paul
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called the pursuit of this type of righteousness “not according to knowledge” and “ignorant.” The
reason this is so is because it was attempting to be right before God without submitting to his
requirement that they trust Him. They were proudly trusting in their own abilities rather than trusting in
Christ who kept the law perfectly and thus could provide righteousness before God for all who believe in
Him. Romans 10:4.

The righteousness before the law that the Jews tried to establish by their own works is provided only
through trust in Christ who kept the law for all people and who saves those who call upon Him. (10:5-13)

The flaws of attempting to pursue righteousness before God based on the law are further investigated in
this paragraph. It is a law that came to Israel through Moses that was to regulate how they lived as those
who were trusting God. It was never a law that was intended to be practiced apart from faith in God as a
way for people to save themselves through their obedience to it. Such an idea was a distortion of the law
given by Moses and a misreading and misapplication of it. In verses 6-7 Paul illustrates the absurdity of a
law that functions apart from faith with two questions. The questions point out the inability of any person
to go to heaven and make Christ come down or go to Sheol and make Christ rise. His point with the
questions is that it was simply absurd for any person to believe that they had such power over the
enactment of God’s will.

Another question follows the examples that turned the attention of the Roman churches to the
Scriptures. It was followed by a quotation from some of Moses last words to Israel, “The word is near you,
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in your mouth and in your heart.” This word from Moses Paul called “the word of faith that we
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proclaim.” This raised the question: “What again is the relationship between faith and salvation?” The
remainder of the sentence is focused on answering that question. In it Paul wrote that two matters are
essential to a genuine salvation experience. They are confession and belief, and they are inseparable from

73 Romans 10:1, ESV.
74 Romans 10:2.
75 Romans 10:3.
76 Romans 10:8; ESV; Deuteronomy 30:14.
77 Romans 10:8, ESV.
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