Romans ~ Part 27

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As I’ve stressed in my previous post, our journey to comprehend the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letter to the Romans is not just a study but a crucial cornerstone of our faith.

Regarding the Jewish Experience ~ Part 5

In your public life, whether at work or in social settings, you may often feel hesitant to share your faith. Romans 10 reminds us of the importance of proclaiming the message of Yeshua. This week, make a conscious effort to initiate a conversation about your faith with a colleague or friend. Perhaps it can start with sharing a personal story of how God has guided you through a challenge. Show genuine interest in their beliefs, allowing an open dialogue that not only uplifts you but plants the seeds of the Gospel in their heart.

Salvation for All

The chain of reasoning begun in v. 2 continues (see my last post). Providing evidence for what was said in v. 4, these six verses (5-10) deal with Jews who trust; the extension to Gentiles who trust is discussed in Romans 10:11–13. The sequence of “Jew, then Gentile” is dictated by the fact that the Brit Hadashah was made with Isra’el, that is, with the Jewish people. In these verses, Sha’ul quotes not from the Tanakh generally but specifically from the Torah “proper,” the Five Books of Moshe, to prove that the righteousness grounded in the Torah (v. 5) is nothing other than the righteousness grounded in trust (v. 6).

⁵ For Moshe writes about the righteousness grounded in the Torah that the person who does these things will attain life through them. (Leviticus 18:5) ⁶ Moreover, the righteousness grounded in trusting says: 

“Do not say in your heart,

‘Who will ascend to heaven?’ ”—

that is, to bring the Messiah down— ⁷ or,

“ ‘Who will descend into Sh’ol?’ ”—

that is, to bring the Messiah up from the dead.

Sha’ul quoted Moshe on both sides of the issue. In Leviticus 18:5 (cp. Galatians 3:12), obedience to the law brings life, but no one can keep the law and gain righteousness (as implied by Sha’ul’s citation of Moshe in v. 6). Faith-based righteousness is from Yeshua. He is accessible. He died for us and was raised from the dead. Moshe pointed out that God’s revelation was accessible, and Sha’ul quoted his words to show that Yeshua is accessible.

⁸ What, then, does it say?

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. (Deuteronomy 30:11–14) —

that is, the word about trust which we proclaim, namely,

The nearness of the message of faith is at the heart and mouth of people, just as Moshe proclaimed the nearness of God’s revelation.

⁹ that if you acknowledge publicly with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered. ¹⁰ For with the heart one goes on trusting and thus continues toward righteousness, while with the mouth one keeps on making public acknowledgment and thus continues toward deliverance.

 

 

Yeshua is Lord is a confession of faith. Yeshua is not only the Messiah, but He is also God. Not only do we believe that the man Yeshua was raised … from the dead, but we also believe that He shares the same nature with God. This is the start of the understanding of Yeshua’s two natures, as articulated at the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE). Yeshua is fully human and fully God. Believers by definition believe and confess this truth.

¹¹ For the passage quoted says that everyone who rests his trust on him will not be humiliated. (Deuteronomy 30:12) ¹² That means that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—Adonai is the same for everyone, rich toward everyone who calls on him, ¹³ since everyone who calls on the name of Adonai will be delivered. (Joel 3:5(2:32))

The Gospel Produces Faith

¹⁴ But how can they call on someone if they haven’t trusted in Him? And how can they trust in someone if they haven’t heard about Him? And how can they hear about someone if no one is proclaiming Him? ¹⁵ And how can people proclaim Him unless God sends them?—as the Tanakh puts it, “How beautiful are the feet of those announcing good news about good things!” (Isaiah 52:7)

¹⁶ The problem is that they haven’t all paid attention to the Good News and obeyed it. For Yesha‘yahu says,

“Adonai, who has trusted what he has heard from us?” (Isaiah 53:1)

¹⁷ So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah. ^[1]

The short digression on the Gentiles (vv. 11–13) is followed by a return to the case against Isra’el. Sha’ul now utilizes a method he has employed before (Romans 3:1; 6:1, 15), one used by the rabbis throughout the Talmud—he introduces an imaginary opponent to make objections and forwards his case by answering them. This opponent is perhaps best thought of as a non-Messianic Jew defending Isra’el and looking for the flaws in the argument of Romans 9:30–10:13. He appears five times—by implication here (vv. 14–15), and explicitly at v. 18, v. 19, 11:1–2 and 11:11 (which we will cover in the weeks to come).

His first objection is to Sha’ul’s use of the quotation from Joel in v. 13. His (imaginary opponent) position is: “That verse about calling on the name of Adonai should not be applied to Jews in the way that you have done. It is not our fault if we don’t call on the name of Adonai through Yeshua, because no one was sent to proclaim Him to us.” (Gee, I have always thought that was Yochanon the Immerser.) His four questions detail the links: calling requires trusting, which requires hearing, which requires a proclamation, which requires that someone be sent—and the sender, in this case, would have to be God. In the end, therefore, he blames God: “If God had sent someone announcing good news about good things, we would have welcomed him, we would have thrilled to the sound of his feet”—that is the import of his quoting Isaiah.

Our next post continues to examine the theme: Regarding the Jewish Experience.

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^[1] Romans 10:5–17.