Introductory remarks:
We begin this chapter with the fact that both Jew and Gentile are lost. "The Jews are lost because they want to be righteous by their works, but salvation requires dependence on Christ's righteousness. Whoever believes that God raised Jesus from the dead, whether Jew or Gentile will be saved. The Word has gone out to the Gentiles and they have become God's people though they didn't know God before. The Jews have known God but they remain disobedient, that is, they refuse to accept Christ as Savior" (A Survey of Romans - by Brenda). This chapter may be outlined as follows: the present state of Israel vv. 1-4; salvation for all vv. 5-21.
Present State of Israel
Verse 1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
LGT "Brethren, the good will of my own heart, and supplication to God on behalf of them unto salvation."
Brethren: Paul has in mind in this context his fellow Jews. The good will of my own heart: this is my sincere heartfelt desire for the Jews; and supplication to God on behalf of them: Paul not only had this heartfelt desire, he expressed it in his prayers and fellowship with God. Unto salvation: that the Jews would stop their rejection and believe in the gospel of grace he was preaching.
Barnes makes this historical note:
"The reasons why the apostle commences this chapter in this tender manner are the following. (1.) Because he had started and defended one of the most offensive doctrines that could be preached to a Jew; and he was desirous to show them that it was not from any want of affection for them, but that he was urged to it by the pressure of truth. (2.) He was regarded by then as an apostate. He had abandoned them when bearing their commission, and while on his way to execute their favorite purposes, and had preached the doctrine, which they had sent him to destroy; comp. Acts 9. He had opposed them every where: had proclaimed their pride, self-righteousness, and crime in crucifying their Messiah; had forsaken all that they valued; their pomp of worship, their city, and their temple; and had gone to other lands to bear the message of mercy to the nations that they despised. He was willing to show them that this proceeded from no want of affection for them, but that he still retained towards them the feelings of a Jew, and could give them credit for much that they valued themselves on, vs. 2. (3.) He was aware of the deep and dreadful condemnation that was coming on them. In view of that he expressed his tender regard for their welfare, and his earnest prayer to God for their salvation. And we see here the proper feelings of a minister of the gospel when declaring the most terrible truths of the Bible. Paul was tender, affectionate, kind; convincing by cool argument, and not harshly denouncing; stating the appalling truth, and then pouring out his earnest desires to God that he would avert the impending doom. So should the awful doctrines of religion be preached by all the ambassadors of God."
Verse 2, "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
LGT "For I bear witness to them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge."
In other words, the Jews are very religious, but they have no knowledge of the gospel of God's grace, that is, faith alone in Christ alone. The Jews had a zest for the letter of the law but were ignorant of the grace of God. The Jew had no knowledge of God's grace because they rejected Christ, and in their natural zealous state Christ was a stumblingstone.
Verse 3, "For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
LGT "For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own [righteousness], they submitted not to the righteousness of God."
For being ignorant of the righteousness of God: "The Jews ignorance was voluntary, and therefore criminal." God cannot accept man's righteousness; God can only accept His own perfect righteousness that comes by faith alone in Christ alone. And seeking to establish their own righteousness: The Jews thought (1) they were accepted by God based on their being His chosen people, and (2) that they kept His laws and found favor with Him. They were wrong on both accounts. (1.) They failed in God's purpose of choosing them, for they were to be a witness to the other nations, and instead of witnessing to them they joined them in their ridiculous idolatry, and (2.) They never kept God's laws, but only added their commentaries to God's laws, that is, added what they thought God meant by His laws, and in the process made God's laws a mockery, and as Vincent says: "They would erect a righteousness of their own as a monument to their own glory and not to God's." They sought eternal life by their own merits without Christ. For if they would have attentively studied the Old Testament Scriptures they would have accepted Christ as their Messiah. They submitted not to the righteousness of God: this is the barrier Christ tore down by His death on the cross. There is no barrier as destructive as self-righteousness. The Jews, to this very day, have not submitted to faith alone in Christ alone; instead they mock Jesus Christ our Lord with every part of their silly services. All of the Jews rituals in the Old Testament pointed to Jesus Christ, and they rejected Him when He came to them, and they still reject Him today. The Jews are still looking for their Messiah, and so, instead of finding their Messiah, they are lost and dying in their own conceit. They stand condemned because as Paul said in 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." The Jew today rejects our Lord Jesus Christ and they are lost and going to hell.
Verse 4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
LGT "For Christ is [the] end of law for righteousness to every one that believes."
For Christ is the end of law: the law was never given to save the Jew, but it was given as Paul says in Galatians 3:24, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. "The law is no more a rule of life than it is a means of righteousness" (Newell). To every one that believes: salvation by faith alone in Christ alone is not only for God's chosen people, the Jews, but it is also for us Gentiles; salvation is for all who will believe. Thank God for His wonderful grace!
Salvation for All
Verse 5, "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them."
LGT "For Moses writes [of] the righteousness which [is] of [the] law, That the man having practiced those things shall live by them."
Paul is quoting from Lev. 18:5. The righteousness, which is of the law: that is, the righteousness in keeping every letter of the law; of course we all know this is impossible. What Moses is writing is that one must keep the whole of the law. That the man having practiced those things shall live by them: man either stands or falls by practicing the law. As I have said before, the law was not given to obtain God's righteous approval, it was given to take us by the hand and lead us to Christ, the One who imputes to the believer His perfect righteousness, and therefore makes us acceptable and approved of God.
Verse 6, "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:)
LGT "But the of-faith righteousness speaks thus: Thou mayest not say in your heart, Who shall ascend to the heaven? That is, Christ to bring down:"
But the of-faith righteousness: Paul makes the righteousness from faith describe itself, that is, it is the of-faith righteousness. Righteousness and faith cannot be divided. Speaks thus: Paul quotes Deut. 30:11-14 from the LXX: Thou mayest not say in your heart: to say in your heart is to think. Who shall ascend to the heaven: it is not necessary for someone to ascend to heaven to bring the word down to us, for Christ has already come down to us. That is, Christ to bring down: "Religion had no such difficult work to do as to ascend to heaven to bring down a Messiah. That work was already accomplished when God gave His Son to become a man, and to die. To save man it was indeed indispensable that Christ should have come down from heaven. But the language of faith was that this had already been done. Probably the word Christ here includes all the benefits mentioned in vs. 4 as resulting from the work of Christ" (Barnes).
Verse 7, "Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead)."
LGT "Or, Who shall descend into the abyss? That is, to bring up Christ from among the dead."
Paul says it is not needful to bring Christ down from heaven or to raise Him from among the dead, for these facts have already taken place. Two doctrines of the Christian faith are brought out here, (1.) the deity of Christ, that is, to bring the God-man down from heaven, and (2.) the resurrection of Christ, to bring up Christ from among the dead. These two doctrines Paul stresses here are the ones the skeptics still use against Christianity, saying that they are impossible. "The sense of the whole is this, that the doctrine of justification by faith, doth not propose such difficult and impossible terms, as the [false] doctrine of justification by works. The righteousness of the law, that speaks terror, and puts us into a continual fear of hell, and despair of heaven; but the righteousness of faith, that speaks comfort, and forbids all amazing fear and troubles about our salvation or damnation" (Matthew Poole).
Verse 8, "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."
LGT "But what says it? The Word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the Word of faith which we proclaim."
But what says it: what says this righteousness, which is of faith. What does the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone teach? The Word is near thee: "Christ has accomplished the two great things necessary for salvation. He has descended to earth and has risen from the dead. All that is necessary is to accept by faith the incarnate and risen Christ, instead of having recourse to the long and painful way of establishing one's own righteousness by obedience to the law [which leads to eternal death]" (Vincent). In thy mouth and in thy heart: the Word of justification by faith was so familiar to them that it was already part of their everyday conversation. That is the Word of faith: faith alone in Christ alone. The gospel of grace Paul preached. Which we proclaim: the gospel of grace was proclaimed throughout the whole world, and it was very well known by the church at Rome. Paul was so dogmatic about the truth of this gospel of grace that he told the church in Galatia that If any man preach any other gospel than the gospel ye have received, let them damned (Gal. 1:9).
Verse 9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
LGT "That if thou confess with thy mouth [the] Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from among [the] dead, thou shalt be saved."
This does not mean a public confession any more than the last verse of Paul telling them that they already knew the Word. We will see this as we develop this verse and the next. That if thou confess with thy mouth: the word "confess" in the Greek is homologeo, which means to say the same thing about the Lord Jesus that God says about Him; this confession is made to God and not men. Our eternal salvation does not require us to confess to others that we believe Jesus is Lord. Think about it; how ridiculous would it be for God to save us if we confessed Christ before men; we are not saved based upon anything we do; salvation is by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. The Lord Jesus: the fact that Paul uses these two titles must mean that Jesus is the Lord, that is Yahweh; no Jew would confess this unless they were convinced that He was the Lord; no Gentile would express this confession unless he knew that the reigning Caesar was not Lord. By confessing the Lord Jesus, Christ was confessed as deity. And believe in your heart: the heart here means the entire person. The confession to God is that what we believe in our heart about Christ we speak to God with our mouth, that is, our lip service is consistent with what we believe in our minds. That God raised Him from among the dead: this phrase not only admits to His resurrection, but it also admits that He died for our sins. Christ's resurrection is at the center of our salvation. Thou shalt be saved: from eternal hell. To believe that Jesus is who He says He is and to believe that He was resurrected is all that is required for a person to be saved from hell. Paul said earlier He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification (Rom. 4:25).
Verse 10, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
LGT "For with [the] heart is belief to righteousness, and with [the] mouth is confession to salvation."
For with the heart: the term "heart" means the entire personality. Is belief to righteousness: the true order is brought out in this verse; man believes first and he is saved, and then confession is made to God. And with the mouth is confession to salvation: God knows who are His children the moment they put their trust in Christ as their Savior; so confession once again is for the believers assurance and benefit and not for God's benefit. "Believing is a mode of thinking and not feeling" (Vincent). When man goes to God with his confession of salvation it is his praising God for what He has done through Christ. Belief is the cause of our salvation, whereas confession is the natural fruit, that is, our response to so great Salvation.
Verse 11, "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
LGT "For says the Scripture, Everyone that believes on Him shall not be confounded."
For says the Scripture: Paul is quoting Isa. 28:16 with the addition of the word Everyone, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." Everyone that believes on Him shall not be confounded: The difference in our translation is not due to Paul's changing the quotation. Rather, the word for confounded and make haste is the same. It means to flee because of fear. Paul is quoting Isaiah to enforce his previous statement that the "by faith righteousness" is taught in other passages of the Old Testament. This passage also shows the universal character of salvation in the word whosoever" (McGee). It also proves that salvation has always been by faith alone in Christ alone; as far as the doctrine of salvation is concerned, there is no such teaching of a progressive Revelation.
Verse 12, "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."
LGT "For there is not a distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord of all [is] rich toward all the ones that call upon Him:"
For: Paul is explaining the whosoever of verse 11. There is no distinction: there is no distinction in regards to sin. Between Jew and Greek: this takes in all mankind, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Jew cannot come to God by keeping the Law, and the Greek cannot come to God through philosophy. For the same Lord of all is rich toward all the ones who call upon Him: to all the ones who call, that is, believe on Christ, they not only receive salvation from hell, but they automatically become beneficiaries of the Divine Riches of Grace.
Verse 13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
LGT "For Everyone whoever may call on the name of [the] Lord, will be saved."
Paul is quoting Joel 2:32. To call on the name of the Lord, is to believe on Christ by faith.
Verse 14, "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?"
LGT "How then shall they call on [Him] whom they believed not? And how shall they believe on [Him] whom they heard not? And how shall they hear apart from [one] preaching?"
How then shall they call on Him whom they believed not: we must understand the background of Paul to understand these verses. The Jews were shunning Paul and the other apostles that were preaching the gospel of grace that omitted the Mosaic Law as a way of salvation, which had been perverted by the Pharisees. "Paul is justifying the universal preaching which itself is a stumbling block to the Jews. Every one who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved, and therefore the conditions of such invocation must be put within reach of every one" (TEGT). Paul says how could the Jew, or anyone else for that matter; call on someone for help in whom they did not believe existed. In the case of the Jews, they had rejected the Christ as their Messiah. And how shall they believe on Him whom they heard not: "The implied objection was, that men could not be expected to believe in one of whose existence they knew nothing, and, of course, that they could be blamed for not doing it. It was not right, therefore, to make eternal life depend, both among the Jews and Gentiles, on faith in Christ. And how shall they hear apart from one preaching: here the objection follows that how can they be held accountable to believe in Christ if they have never heard that salvation is based on belief in Him.
Verse 15, "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!"
LGT "And how shall they preach unless they be sent? Just as it has been written [and stands written], How beautiful the feet of the ones announcing the glad tidings of the good things."
And how shall they preach unless they be sent: Paul refers back to 1:1 where he says that he was not sent by men but by God; so it is his apostolic ministry he is referring to. We know that this apostolic ministry ceased with the completion of the Scriptures, of which Romans is a chief part; so it is, as described in the Expositor's Greek Testament, grotesque to teach that this ministry is part of the constitution of an organized church. We believers are all in full time Christian service, and to even think that we must be ordained by an ecclesiastical denominational body to be sent out to preach is whimsical at best, and heresy at worst. How beautiful the feet of the ones announcing glad tidings of the good things: this is a condensed quotation from Isaiah 52:7. This quotation is making reference to the prophets who foretold the restoration of Israel from their seventy years of Babylonian captivity. The glad tidings Paul is making reference to in his ministry is the Gospel of Grace.
Verse 16, "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?"
LGT "But not all submitted to the glad tidings. For Esaias says, Lord, who believed our report?"
But not all submitted to the glad tidings: the Jews are in Paul's mind here, but the verse may be applied more universally to all who hear the Word of the Gospel of Grace. The word "obeyed" is better translated submitted to or hearkened to the glad tidings. Lord, who believed our report: Paul is quoting Isaiah 53:1, and it could mean the report that the prophets presented to Israel, or it also could mean the report given to the prophets by God; either way it means that God's Word was not submitted to.
Verse 17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
LGT "So faith [is] by report, but the report by [the] Word of Christ."
So faith is by report: not all who hear believe, but there is no faith where there is no report; and in this context the report is the Word of God about His Christ. But the report by the Word of Christ: and this is the Word about the Lord Jesus Christ. "It must be noticed, that faith is grounded on nothing else but the truth of God; for Paul does not teach us that faith springs from any other kind of doctrine, but he expressly restricts it to the word of God; and this restriction would have been improper if faith could rest on the decrees of men. Away then with all the devices of men when we speak of the certainty of faith. Hence also the Papal conceit respecting implicit faith to the ground, because it tears away faith from the word; and more detestable still is that blasphemy, that the truth of the word remains suspended until the authority of the Church establishes it" (Calvin). If you have paid attention to the sermons in our so-called fundamental churches today, you will notice that all that is preached is a humanist gospel in lieu of the Gospel Paul preached, that is, the Gospel of Grace. The dreadful condition of the preaching of the true Gospel of Grace has gone from modernism, to postmodernism, to a social gospel, to a humanist gospel; today we are in full-blown humanism. Now humanism is what you read when you read such books as the Purpose Driven Life; you see, what Warren, the author of the book, is teaching is nothing but learning to do good by the energy of the flesh, and this is diametrically opposed to Paul's teaching of free-grace. We will not be rewarded at the Bema-Seat of Christ for what we have produced, but what the Holy Spirit has produced in us; so it is not the doing that counts, it is the willingness to let Him do through us. We must study Bible doctrine and allow the Holy Spirit to use what we have learned. In the end God receives all the Glory.
Verse 18, "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."
LGT "But I say, Did they not hear? Yes, rather, Into all the earth went out their voice, and into the ends of the habitable world their words."
But I say, Did they not hear: Paul says, did they fail to hear, expecting a negative answer; "surely it is not true that they did not hear." Into all the earth went out their voice, and into the ends of the habitable world their words: Paul is giving testimony to the fact that both Jew and Gentile have heard the message of the grace of God from the beginning of time. The objection to this point was that they had not heard sufficiently to hold them accountable; and to this Paul answers, Yes, rather, they have been sufficiently instructed, by nature and by the preached Word. Paul quotes from the Psalmist David, 19:4, to make his point that the Word had been universally given. We have all been taught that this is given to the church to go into all the world and preach the gospel; however, this is not Paul's teaching at all. If a man goes to a so-called heathen nation to teach believers, fine, but don't tell me this is the mission of the church today. I believe it is fine to tell other nations that have forgotten God the gospel of grace; but, please, don't tell me they have never heard. If the Holy Spirit leads a man to some other country to minister the Word, great; but I add, this is not the churches mission; the teaching of the Word of God is an individual thing a man wants to do; for the church was not commissioned corporately, but individually.
Barnes comments on this verse:
"In the Psalm, the heavens are represented as speaking, and teaching men the knowledge of the true God. But the meaning of the apostle is, that the message of the gospel had sounded forth; and he referred doubtless to the labors of the apostles in proclaiming it to the heathen nations. This epistle was written about the year 57. During the time, which had elapsed after the ascension of Christ, the gospel had been preached extensively in all the known nations; so that it might be said that it was proclaimed in those regions designated in the Scripture as the uttermost parts of the earth. Thus it had been proclaimed in Jerusalem, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, Arabia, and in the islands of the Mediterranean. Paul, reasoning before Agrippa, says, that he could not be ignorant of those things, for they had not been done in a corner, Acts 26. In Col. 1:23, Paul says that the gospel had been preached to every creature, which is under heaven; see Col. 1:6. Thus the great fact and doctrines of the gospel had in fact been made known; and the objection of the Jew was met. It would be sufficiently met by the declaration of the Psalmist that the true God was made known by His works, and that therefore they were without excuse (comp. Rom. 1:20); but in fact the gospel had been preached, and its great doctrine and duties had been proclaimed to all nations far and near."
Verse 19, "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."
LGT "But I say, Did not Israel know? First, Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy through those not a nation, through a nation without understanding I will anger you."
But I say, Did not Israel know: know what? That the gospel had gone into all the earth, and that the Gentiles, whom Paul was commissioned to tell the whole gospel of grace. First, Moses says: Paul is quoting Deut. 32:21. I will provoke you to jealousy through those not a nation: Paul begins by using the words of Moses telling them that the Gentiles are not excluded from the grace of God, and that the reason God had chosen Israel was that they would be a witness to these heathen; however, the Jews failed in being a witness, instead, they adopted the idols of the heathen. Now the promises had shifted from the Christ rejecting Jews to the Christ accepting Gentiles. The Judaizers, who were self-righteously claiming to be the seed of Abraham, became jealous over the fact that the heathen Gentiles were now on the same footing as they. This is the stumbling block to their accepting their Messiah. Through a nation without understanding I will anger you: The Jews jealousy turns to anger, and who could blame them? They were a favored nation whose God visited them on a daily basis, a claim no heathen could brag; and now they are being put on the shelf, so to speak, in favor of the former idol-worshipping Gentiles; O! How revolting!
Verse 20, "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."
LGT " But Esaias is very bold, and says, I was found by those not seeking Me, I became manifested to those not enquiring after Me."
But Esaias is very bold, and says: Paul is quoting Isaiah 65:1 stressing his boldness. I was found by those not seeking Me, I became manifested to those not enquiring after Me: Isaiah foretold this fact that the Gentiles who were steeped in darkness would be found by Christ, and they would accept Him as their Savior. "Following the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures], with the inversion of the first two clauses. Hebrew: I have offered to give answers to those who asked not. I have put myself in the way of those who sought me not. I have spread out my hand all the day to a refractory [unruly] people. The idea in the Hebrew is I have endeavored to be sought and found. Compare the clause omitted in Paul's quotation: I have said 'here I am' to a people who did not call upon my name" (Vincent). Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost.
Verse 21, "But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."
LGT "But to Israel He says, The whole day I stretched out My hands to a disobeying and contradicting people."
What a wonderful verse to close out this chapter. If Christ holds out His hands to this Christ rejecting, Christ dishonoring, and Christ profaning nation Israel, how assured we are that he hasn't yet given up on the Gentiles; and most assuring of all is that He hasn't given up on me. The phrase disobeying and contradicting people, means "Disobeying and talking contradictory" (Robertson). "For their [Israel's] contumacy [swell up with pride] showed itself in this, because the people, with untamable pride and bitterness, obstinately rejected the holy admonitions of the Prophets" (Calvin). The history of the Jewish nation bears out the fact that they are a deliberate, and obstinate Christ rejecting people. We must never forget that the Jews deliberately reject God's love, and that they refuse to accept the fact that they need a Savior.
Barnes makes this note on this verse:
"That God will withdraw His favors from those nations that are disobedient and rebellious. Thus He rejected the ancient Jews; and thus also He will forsake all who abuse His mercies; who become proud, luxurious. Effeminate and wicked. In this respect it becomes the people of this favored land to remember the God of their fathers; and not to forget, too, that national sin provokes God to withdraw, and that a nation that forgets God must be punished."
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