Chapter Ten

The goal of the Law is Christ (1–4). Salvation by grace (5–11). Israel is itself to blame for its rejection (12–21).

Romans 10:1. Brothers! My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is for their salvation. The Apostle now begins to develop and deepen the thought expressed in verses 30–33 of chapter IX. Israel, blinded by its own notion of attaining righteousness, did not understand that the goal toward which the Law was leading the Jews was Christ and the righteousness from faith that He brought. “Desire” — more accurately: goodwill (eudokia).

Romans 10:2. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Romans 10:3. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness, “To establish,” that is, to make something obligatory (cf. Rom 3:31; Heb 10:9). — “Their own righteousness,” that is, such as could come about through people themselves performing certain deeds and efforts (cf. Phil 3:9 and Rom 1:17). — “God’s righteousness,” that is, the divine order of life to which people are to express submission through faith.

Romans 10:4. for Christ is the end of the Law, for righteousness to everyone who believes. “For…” With this the Apostle proves that the disobedience of the Jews to Christ arose from their failure to understand the divine righteousness of which the Law testified. The Law pointed to Christ; in Christ the righteousness appeared before us to which the Law pointed as the ideal, and it is given to everyone who believes in Christ. A properly understood Law should have served the Jews as a guide to lead them to Christ, so that they might be justified through faith in Him. — Thus the expression “the end of the Law” is better replaced with another expression: the goal of the Law, as other commentators have also understood this passage (John Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact). Such a translation corresponds also to the meaning of the expression in the Greek text (telos nomou). But how could the Law point to Christ as its own goal? In the Law the ideal of righteousness is set forth. Since this ideal was set forth by God Himself, it must inevitably be realized. Meanwhile, people have learned from their own experience that none of them is able to realize this ideal by their own strength (Rom 3:20). Therefore Christ came, and He realized it. Already on this basis the Apostle could say that Christ is the goal of the Law. But this is not all. The Law has not yet fully accomplished its purpose when a single person fulfilled its prescriptions — the Law was given for all. And so Christ’s righteousness, proceeding from Christ, is transferred to all who believe in Him. Thus Christ is the goal of the Law in the fullest sense of the word, and at the same time, perhaps, its end as well, because He definitively accomplishes the goal of the Law — the justification of the human being.

Romans 10:5. Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the Law: the person who does them shall live by them, The Lawgiver himself, Moses, acknowledged the attainment of righteousness to be an impossible thing, because for this a person had to fulfill all the many-faceted prescriptions of the Law. Yet the attainment of justification now, with the coming of Christ, appears altogether possible, because it requires from a person only firm faith in Christ. Wishing to show the unreasonableness of the Jews, who stubbornly held to the former way of justification — through fulfillment of the Law — the Apostle says that Moses himself regarded such a path as not leading to the goal, since, according to his declaration, life or justification can be obtained only by the person who fulfills all, without exception, the prescriptions of the Law (Lev 18:5). And that such fulfillment is beyond the power of any mortal — this had already been shown by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom 3:4-20).

Romans 10:6. but the righteousness from faith speaks thus: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” that is, to bring Christ down, Romans 10:7. “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. On the contrary, the righteousness from faith, which now appears as the savior of humanity, speaks thus: “Do not say.” The Apostle, well aware that Moses could not yet have said what the righteousness from faith now says, nonetheless uses his words to express his own thought, which relates to the situation of his own day. Moses (Deut 29:1-30) was by no means asserting that the fulfillment of the Law is an easy matter, but was only saying that Israel cannot excuse its transgressions by ignorance of the Law. He pointed out that Israel had no need to wait for some messenger from heaven where God dwells, or to send for one overseas, to some foreign people where perhaps something about God’s will was known; God Himself had already spoken to Israel in the Law, had Himself declared His will to them (Deut 6:6-9 and following). The Apostle, however, uses the expressions of Moses in a different sense. He says that the one who asks “Who will ascend into heaven?” is by this very question “bringing Christ down from heaven.” The expression “that is” indicates the view or intention with which the question is posed. The unbelieving Jew, whom the Apostle has in mind here, supposes that the Messiah has not yet appeared but will appear in the future, perhaps from heaven or perhaps from the underworld (abyss is used here in the sense of the underworld, cf. Luke 8:31; Rev 11:7). But to speak thus is to repeat the same offense that the ancient Jews committed when they did not see in the Law a sufficiently full explanation of God’s will.

Romans 10:8. But what does the Scripture say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith that we proclaim. “But what does the Scripture say?” According to the better manuscripts one reads: “But what does she say?” (that is, this righteousness from faith). Here the righteousness from faith now gives a positive explanation of the matter. The Apostle, however, also here clothes his answer in the form of the speech of Moses (Deut 30:14): “the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” But the Apostle, instead of saying that the Messiah has already appeared and lived on earth — thereby clarifying how near “the word” is even for unbelieving Jews — speaks, in explanation of this nearness, of the preaching of the apostles about the Messiah who has come (cf. Rom 1:3). He does this in view of the fact that Christ for unbelieving Jews is indistinguishable from other people who died and remain in the underworld. On earth, however, He is present for them in the word of preaching that sounds from the mouths of the apostles. And this preaching is the word of faith in contrast to the Law of works (cf. Rom 3:27; Gal 3:2). It announces the accomplished redemption, for the reception of which nothing is required except faith, whereas the Law always required deeds from the person himself. And this word of faith is incomparably nearer for its hearers than the teaching of the Law of Moses, because the path from hearing the apostolic preaching to faith and confession is much shorter than the path from hearing the commandments of the Law of Moses to their complete fulfillment.

Romans 10:9. For 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, This is the final word of the righteousness from faith, with which she now addresses the unbelieving Jew. Since the speech here is still directed at the unbelieving Jew, the Apostle especially emphasizes the necessity of faith in the resurrection of Christ (cf. Acts 1:22).

Romans 10:10. for with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Here it is the Apostle himself speaking, explaining the requirement set forth above in the words of the righteousness from faith. He distinguishes here between righteousness or justification received at entry into the Church of Christ, and the final salvation that will be given to believers at the second coming of Christ to earth. The former is attained only by the sincere, heartfelt acceptance of the Gospel (with the heart), while the latter is attained by a steadfast confession of Christ before His enemies, continued throughout the whole of a Christian’s life (cf. Matt 10:32; 2 Cor 4:13).

Romans 10:11. For the Scripture says: “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. And the Old Testament through the mouths of the prophets (Isa 28:16 and Joel 2:32) expressed the conviction that all people will receive final salvation only through faith and prayer addressed to the one Lord of all — Jesus Christ, who, as was said above, is the “blessed God” (Rom 9:5).

Romans 10:12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, rich toward all who call on Him. “The same Lord” — this is the Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of all people who call on Him (John Chrysostom). — “Rich” — of course, in grace and salvation (cf. Rom 5:15; 2 Cor 13:13). — “Who call on Him.” As is evident from what follows, the Apostle makes no distinction between calling on Christ and calling on God.

Romans 10:13. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. What Joel says about God (Joel 2:32, according to the Greek text of the LXX), the Apostle applies directly to Christ. Therefore, the passage from the book of the prophet Joel has, according to the Apostle, a messianic meaning.

Romans 10:14. But how are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? But in order to believe in the Savior as the Lord, one needed first to hear the preaching about Him. There had to appear preachers or heralds of Christ who necessarily had to have authorization from God for this work. Thus it means that it was God’s will for the preaching of salvation through faith to be proclaimed to the Jews as well. If the Jews proved inattentive to this preaching, there is no need to be troubled by this: the Jewish people’s own prophets foresaw and foretold this unbelief of the Jews, just as they foretold the turning of the Gentiles to Christ. Israel evidently did not wish to believe in Christ and thus is itself to blame for its rejection.

Romans 10:15. And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, who bring good news of good things! Romans 10:16. But not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us? Romans 10:17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God. “Through the word of God,” that is, from the divine command (Luke 3:2; Heb 11:3).

Romans 10:18. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In Ps 18 the reference is first of all to God’s revelation in nature, but the Apostle had full grounds for applying these words to God’s revelations in general, and therefore also to the New Testament preaching of salvation.

Romans 10:19. But I ask, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by a nation that is not a people; by a nation without understanding I will make you angry. “Did Israel not know?” that is, “did the Jews really not understand the preaching of salvation through faith?” The answer to this question the readers themselves are to give, and this answer is clear: yes, they did not understand the Gospel! The Gentiles understood, but the Jews did not, and in this was fulfilled the prophecy of Moses (Deut 32:21).

Romans 10:20. Then Isaiah is bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me. Romans 10:21. But of Israel he says: “All day long I held out My hands to a disobedient and stubborn people. Why then did the Jews not understand the Gospel? Because they are a disobedient and stubborn people in their unbelief. They did not wish to believe, as Isaiah the prophet also prophesied, boldly, without fear of the hostility of a people who jealously guarded their rights to the Kingdom of the Messiah.