[𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘖𝘋 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘡𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘌𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴”, 𝘣𝘺 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘥. 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭’𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘦.]

True confessions?  The study of Romans has been a bit intense for me.  These chapters are very dense with doctrinal truth and intricate Christian apologetics.  My brain was starting to feel a bit tired from all its stretching to reconcile unarguable truths with pieces of the grand story of GOD’s redemption that will remain a mystery to my finite mind.

I am immensely grateful that I trust in a GOD who is beyond my comprehension.  I cannot pretend to even scratch the surface of His heart, mind, and purposes.  Yet He welcomes me to know Him, to hunger to understand Him more and more over time in genuine, thriving relationship with Him, engaging with His Word.

I wonder if He knew I needed a chapter in the middle of Paul’s letter that seems gloriously simple and straightforward.  Maybe I am not alone in this?

This is the bottom line where we rest our weary souls:

If you confess with your mouth that JESUS is LORD and believe in your heart that GOD raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  … Everyone who calls on the Name of the LORD will be saved. (Romans 10:9, Romans 10:13 quoting Joel 2:32).

Period.  End of discussion.  Confess JESUS is LORD.  Believe GOD raised Him from the dead [after securing redemption for us with His own life’s blood].  Call on the Name of the LORD.  Be Saved.  Praise GOD!

I don’t need to fully understand CHRIST’s fulfillment of the law in all He accomplished for me.  I don’t need to fully comprehend GOD’s sovereign choices or how “elect of GOD” sits side by side with “whosoever will.”  Among the many mysteries of GOD, this is not one of them:

JESUS died for me.  Because He lives, I will live also.  When I called on His Name, He saved me.

Period.  Eternally unchanging, immovable, indisputable.  By His grace, through faith in the finished work of CHRIST, I am now a redeemed child of GOD, accepted in the Beloved.  

From the beginning of time, redemption was always the Father’s plan.  He loves me.  He provided salvation for me.  He did for me what I could not do for myself.  I am eternally grateful for the open invitation to receive such good news and rest in His indescribable gift of eternal life, forever united with Him!

.   .   .

In addition to these clear and simple gospel statements in Romans 10, Paul reiterated several passionate themes we have traced through this letter:

Paul was heartbroken over Israel’s rejection of GOD’s plan of justification through faith in His Son (10:1-4; 16-21).

“He prayed most earnestly for the salvation of the people of Israel.  Far from condemning them as godless and irreligious, the apostle testified of their zeal for GOD (10:2).  But zeal is not enough – it must be connected with truth, or it can do more harm than good.  

This is where they failed.  They were willfully ignorant of the fact that GOD imputes righteousness on the principle of faith and not of works (10:3).  They tried to win GOD’s favor by their own efforts.  They steadfastly refused to submit to GOD’s plan for reckoning righteous those ungodly sinners who believe in His Son.”  (William MacDonald, p 101)

Paul confidently proclaimed that GOD’s salvation is available and accessible to everyone! (10:6-13).

In chapter three, Paul stated plainly that all men have sinned.  All men need to be saved.  Here in chapter ten, he added with glorious clarity that all men can be saved!

In our Emmaus study, William MacDonald shared these thoughts about Paul’s reference to Deuteronomy in verse 7-8 (pp 102-103):

“In their setting in Deuteronomy, these verses are not referring to faith and the Gospel at all.  They are speaking about the Law and specifically the commandment to “turn to the LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 30:10).  GOD is saying that the Law is not hidden, distant, or inaccessible.  A person doesn’t have to go up to heaven or cross the sea to find it; it is near at hand and waiting to be obeyed.  

But the apostle Paul takes these words and reapplies them to the Gospel.  He says that the language of faith doesn’t ask a man to climb to heaven to bring CHRIST down.  For one thing, that would be utterly impossible.  But it would also be quite unnecessary because CHRIST has already come down to earth in His incarnation.

When the apostle quotes Deuteronomy 30:13, he changes it from “… who will go over the sea” to “who will descend into the abyss,” meaning the grave.  His point is that the Gospel does not ask men to descend into the grave to bring CHRIST up from among the dead – that would be impossible.  But again, it would be unnecessary because CHRIST has already risen from the dead.  

Paul adapts Deuteronomy 30:14 to say that the Gospel is near, accessible, intelligible, and easily obtained; it can be expressed in familiar conversation (“in your mouth”), and it can be readily understood in the mind (“in your heart”).

To confess with one’s mouth that JESUS is LORD and to believe in one’s heart that GOD has raised Him from the dead is to personally appropriate the person and work of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.  This is saving faith.”

The Gospel Coalition added this comment:

“Trusting CHRIST is quite simple (Romans 10:9).  This is so simple, in fact, that JESUS implies that the kingdom is precisely for those of a childlike faith (Matt 19:14) – trusting, vulnerable, unselfconscious.  Every other religion and philosophy specifies steps and tips – law, in other words – to reach whatever they see as ‘salvation’.  Only Christianity says that the work is accomplished, and it is ours to simply believe.  What good news!”

Paul was devoted to the privilege and responsibility of telling everyone the Good News of salvation through CHRIST! (10:14-15).

• Everyone who calls on the Name of the LORD will be saved. (10:13, Joel 2:32)
• How can they call on Him unless they believe in Him? (10:14)
• How can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? (10:14)
• How can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? (10:14)
• How will anyone go and tell them without being sent? (10:15)
• How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news! (10:15, Isaiah 52:7)

Mr. MacDonald extended Paul’s appeal to each one of us (p 105):

“Here we have the heartbeat of Christian missions! Paul is vindicating his preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles.  GOD is the One who sends; we are the ones who are sent.

In Isaiah, we read of the beautiful feet of the Messiah.  Here in Romans 10:15, the “Him” becomes “them.”  He came with beautiful feet more than 2000 years ago.  Now it is our privilege and responsibility to go with beautiful feet to a lost and dying world.”

I really appreciated this connection to Romans 9 suggested by the Gospel Coalition:

“While in Romans 9 Paul teaches us about GOD’s sovereignty, in Romans 10 he teaches us that divine sovereignty coexists with our responsibility.  Paul’s reasoning shows that GOD’s sovereign will fuels, not replaces, the urgency of telling others the gospel of JESUS CHRIST (10:14-17).  Indeed, the urgency of evangelism would be hindered if GOD were not sovereign, for then we would have no reason to hope that anyone would be brought from death to life by our preaching and witnessing.

.   .   .

Paul closed this chapter referencing Old Testament prophesy (Isaiah 65:1-2) that foretold a varied response to the spread of the Gospel.  Isaiah proclaimed long ago that GOD would delight in Gentiles accepting the Good News of faith in CHRIST, even though they were not initially drawn to seek after GOD.  Sadly, Isaiah also prophesied that although the LORD continues to faithfully plead, arms extended wide, for His chosen people to accept His plan of redemption, many will remain stubborn and rebellious. 

Much like my current study of Revelation with BSF, I finished this chapter with mixed emotions:  joy-filled confidence in the hope I hold in CHRIST… and …a heavy-hearted ache for those who still do not know JESUS as their Savior (and even more tragically, for those who do not believe they want or need Him).

The Good News of salvation in CHRIST is simple, straightforward, and accessible to all.  I am so grateful for the statements in this chapter on which I can firmly plant and grow my faith in the One who loves me and gave Himself for me – that I can know from the Word of GOD that I am saved!

I long for others to know the same security, reconciled to GOD, safe for all eternity!  May His Spirit direct me to hearts that are open and grant me His words of life to share with them!

For GOD says, “At just the right time, I heard you.  On the day of salvation, I helped you.”  Indeed, the “right time” is now.  Today is the day of salvation.  (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST and you will be saved! (Acts 16:31)

RESOURCES:

“The Letter to the ROMANS,” by William MacDonald, Emmaus Worldwide, 2020, Revised 2023.

The Bible Project, video summary of the book of Romans, Parts 1 & 2.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/romans-1-4/

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/romans-5-16/

“Knowing the Bible: Romans”, by Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel Coalition,  thegospelcoalition.org .