Bible Commentaries
Romans 10

Verses 1-21

God today is not dealing with nations. I want to emphasize this to you. God today is dealing with individuals—you, me.

The question is, what is your relationship, what is my relationship to the living God? He has already made very, very clear that there is a way open whereby any man or any woman, who­ever he or she is, whatever he or she may be, can come to know Him. This is what you have in Chap­ter 10.

Although the nation of Israel as such is under governmental discipline, having been scattered among the nations of the earth, God is dealing with Jews and Gentiles as individuals.

Now in the first 11 verses of Chapter 10, Paul gives to us the difference between righteousness by works and righteousness by faith; and I want to go a little easy on this for the simple reason that I want you to see what the Apostle Paul is after.

And I may make some strong statements about this. I do so because I believe the Word of God declares them. The tragedy is that too many of God’s people today have never seen the com­pleteness of Christ’s work on the cross nor have they seen the value, the importance of the resur­rection.

First, let us look at the difference between right­eousness by works and righteousness by faith (Romans 10:1-11):

Romans 10:1. Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

We had the same thing in the first two or three verses of chapter nine where Paul said he called God to be his witness that he had great sorrow and continual grief in his heart. He could wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren’s sake, the Israelites, that they might be saved.

Again, I say, mark the tremendous yearning of this man for his people Israel, for the Jews, not only as a nation but as individuals.

He yearns that they might be saved. And, as I said in chapter nine when we were discussing it, this man had unceasing pain in his heart. He was really burdened before God that these people might be saved.

Now in verses 2 and 3, you notice the ignorance of Israel concerning God’s righteousness—and the same thing can be said today of Christendom. In fact, I would say that even among many professing Christians today there is an appalling ignorance of the righteousness of God. Our very lives manifest that. Our theology manifests it.

Man is so occupied with man, so occupied with self-image, with love of self and with the importance of self-esteem, that he is blind to the righteousness of God.

Romans 10:2. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

Romans 10:3. For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Notice, they had a zeal for God; but zeal and sin­cerity are no ground for safety. Having zeal doesn’t imply that a person’s heart is right with God.

Take these Jews. You can’t read the history of Israel, especially between the fourth and the first century B.C. and not find that the Jews suffered. They were torn to pieces because they refused to deny the law of God. They had a tremendous zeal for God, but they didn’t know God personally.

The Jews claimed that they were following God’s law. Did God not give them the law? Did they not say to God, “All that the LORD has spoken, we will do”? I’m quoting Exodus 19:8.

Yes, they believed that the law was given by God to them. In fact, they believed they were the only ones who had the revelation of God through the law. Gentiles have no law. The law was given to Is­rael.

What for?

To make them good?

Oh, no. The law of God was given to prove they were no good that they might turn to Him in sim­ple faith and accept His mercy.

We have that same problem today. A great many people are depending upon their goodness, their morality. They pay their debts. They’re good parents. They don’t do anything really bad. They don’t get drunk. They don’t do this or that. They go to church every Sunday morning.

“Why, Mr. Mitchell, what more do you expect?”

I don’t expect anything. I say only this. If you are depending on that, then the evidence is that you are ignorant of the righteousness of God.

From the time a Jew entered his world until he died, his whole life—socially and materially and re­ligiously—was interlocked with the religious life of his people. Yet he was wrong.

The Apostle Paul could say in Philippians, chap­ter 3, that all these things that were gain to me— born a real Jew; of the tribe of Benjamin; a Phari­see; a fundamentalist with plenty of zeal in perse­cuting the church; touching the righteousness which was in the law, blameless—did nothing to save him. He was blameless but lost. But once he caught a glimpse of God’s righteousness, the rest just faded out of the picture.

And that was the Jew’s trouble. He knew the character of God. He knew that God is holy, but he was ignorant of the fact that nothing short of God’s righteousness would stand. Legal righteous­ness can never stand in God’s presence.

The third verse brings this out. Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, this righteousness that comes by faith, he tried to establish his own right­eousness; and, by trying to establish his own righteousness, he didn’t submit himself to the righteousness of God.

When a man or woman seeks to establish his own righteousness, he is manifesting ignorance of God’s righteousness.

“But, Mr. Mitchell,” a man says to me, “I am do­ing the best I can. I am trying to keep the golden rule. I am trying to keep the Ten Commandments. I am attending church. I was baptized. I joined the church. I pay my tithes. I’ve done all these things.”

Yes, but that is the manifestation of your igno­rance of God’s righteousness. If you are trusting those things for your salvation by establishing your own righteousness, that doesn’t mean you’ve got the righteousness of God.

So we have this question of the Jew in verses 2 and 3. He had no spiritual discernment—like a lot of folks today. For him it was a system of “do.” D­O. It was a system of works that barred him from the righteousness of God. The Jews never saw two things: They never saw their own frailty, weak­ness, sinfulness; and they never saw the right­eousness of God.

The rich young ruler was a very admirable per­son, but he was ignorant of two things. He was ig­norant of the character of God; and he was igno­rant of his own frailty, weakness and sinfulness. The lawyer in Luke 10:25 said, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

You see, we squirm, we turn around and do anything, anything but face up to the reality of the fact that God of necessity must be righteous and I must be a sinner who has no righteousness. So how can we come together? How can I come into the presence of God and be accepted? Verse 4 is the answer.

Romans 10:4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to eve­ryone who believes.

This is God’s method. Christ is the end of the law, not the beginning of the law. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. The law has had nothing to say since the cross.

When our Lord was raised from the dead, He started something entirely new; and the law doesn’t belong to this new creation. The law was an added thing, imposed upon the people of Israel to show them how bad they were and how they needed a Saviour.

No Jew—and no Gentile—will ever be able to stand before God, the righteous God, unless he is covered with the righteousness of Christ.

Now don’t jump to the conclusion, as so many theologians have, that Jesus Christ kept the whole law for us. He didn’t. You can’t find that in the Scriptures. They say because Christ kept every demand of the law, because He kept the whole law, that that is put to our account.

That is not true. Christ kept the whole law that He might be a perfect, satisfactory sacrifice for you. You are not joined to Christ because He kept the law. You were joined to Him because He bore your sins and died for your sin on the cross.

Let me make this thing very clear.

Christianity starts on the resurrection side of the cross. The law is through, either as a means of life or as a rule of life. The bill is canceled. It is out. Christ is the end of the law, outside of its ju­risdiction entirely. The law came to the cross, and the law was satisfied at the cross in what Christ did for us there.

I wish in some way this amazing truth of the righteousness of God by faith would get hold of your heart. If I were to ask you to witness to me, you would probably say, “Well, thank God, I was saved by faith in Christ.”

Why don’t you say, “Thank God, I was declared righteous by God when I accepted Christ.”

It might stagger your imagination if you said that, and yet faith and righteousness are coupled together over and over and over again.

God has pronounced us righteous, righteous with a righteousness that equals God’s righteous­ness. As Paul could say in Philippians 3:8-9, “I count all things to be loss.” What for? That I might be found in Jesus Christ, “not having a righteous­ness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of (through) faith.”

Now starting at Romans 10:5-11 and running down to verse 11, we have works and faith contrasted. Christianity is not a life of do’s and don’ts. It’s a life of walking with Him.

There are many things we push to one side be­cause we love Him and want to attract people to Him. We are now under the law of love because of our union with the God of love.

Romans 10:5. For Moses writes that the man who practices the right­eousness which is based on law shall live by that righteous­ness.

Romans 10:6. But the righteousness based on 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).”

Romans 10:8. But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART’—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.

The law’s demand of righteousness would be evi­dent by perfection if one would never, never, never break the law in one point. But the moment he breaks the lawjust once—then the judgment of God falls upon that man. You see the utter frailty and hopelessness and helplessness of man. If anybody is going to be saved, God has got to do it. And He’s got to do the whole thing—the whole thing. You have this in Leviticus 18:5 coupled with Galatians 3:11-12.

You see, what we need is not more strength to keep the law. What we need is a power from the outside. And God has made His salvation apart from man. And that salvation is in His Son. As it says in verse 4, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Now then, in verses 6 to 8, we have “the right­eousness based on faith” (not great works) and this depends upon divine testimony.

This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 30:11-14: “For this commandment which I command you to­day is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”

The Spirit of God applies these words to Christ. Our Lord did come. He did die. He was raised again from the dead, and the work is all done. The whole work of redemption is completed. God doesn’t need to do another thing.

When I think of the tremendous truths that are in this book, I just pray that every Christian might become saturated with the truth revealed to us by His Spirit here.

It is a precious thing to know that the moment a person accepts the Saviour he stands before God, our righteous God, in all the beauty, in all the merit, in all the righteousness of Christ.

Isn’t this a wonderful thing?

No man can stand in the presence of God with­out Christ. That’s very clear. Righteousness by the law is dependent upon doing. The righteousness of God is received by faith, and it shuts out all doing.

As I have so often said, “Oh, that men would stop their deadly doing and trust the Lord Jesus.”

Now, in Romans 10:9-11, we have righteousness realized.

Romans 10:9.That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;

Romans 10:10. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteous­ness; and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salva­tion.

Romans 10:11. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

Now, notice. The great thing here is not the nature of your faith. It is the object of your faith.

People say today, “As long as you believe and are honest in what you believe, you will be all right.” Well, the Muslim believes, the Shintoist believes, the Animist believes, the Buddhist believes. Be­lieves what? They believe their doctrines, they be­lieve in their gods, they are honest; and sometimes they may put you and me to shame with their de­votion to their gods. That doesn’t mean they are saved and fit for the presence of God. No, the ob­ject of faith is the important thing.

How often men have said to me, “Mr. Mitchell, I don’t see any difference between you and me. I have faith and you have faith.”

But I say, “There is a great deal of difference be­tween you and me. The difference is in the object of our faith.”

Is Jesus Christ the Son of God? He is the One of whom the Spirit of God spoke on the Day of Pente­cost, when Peter said (let me paraphrase it), “This Jesus whom you took by wicked hands and cruci­fied has God raised up and exalted to be both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:23-24; Acts 2:36).

If Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, His work on the cross does not avail. If He was never raised from the dead, then our faith goes down the drain. It doesn’t do any of us any good.

We must confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is our Lord. He must be the object of our faith. We recognize His position. He is Lord. This One, whom men put on a cross, God put on the throne. Men crucified Him as an accursed thing. God exalted Him to be Lord. Men cast Him out; heaven took Him in. The world repudiated Him, but heaven rejoiced in exalting Him as Prince and Saviour.

We are to confess this Jesus as Lord. How? With our mouth. It is a confession, I say, of a Person. You have it in 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” It is our belief in a Person and our confession of His work.

If you will “believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Notice, nothing is said here about the work at the cross. There is no need to. Paul has already spent eight chapters on that. He is writing about the confirma­tion, the guarantee that the work that Christ did on the cross absolutely satisfied the righteous character of God.

We’ve had this in chapter 3, and I only want to remind you that God is just and the Justifier of those who believe in Jesus. And when you confess with your mouth He is Lord and you believe in your heart—the very depths of your being—that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved.

Now, I’m not saved by confessing. But, be­cause I am saved, I confess.

Someone has well said, “We testify of the One in whom we have put our trust. We testify to God, and we testify to men.”

If you were to give me a gift or if you were going to give somebody else a gift, you would expect the recipient of that gift at least to say, “Thank you.” There would be a response to it. And, if we receive eternal salvation from God as a gift, the least we can do is thank God for it. And, by so doing, we confess that Jesus Christ is our Saviour, our Lord.

When the risen, glorified Saviour is the object of our faith, then we receive His salvation and His life. We are covered with His righteousness, His beauty and His merit. In fact, as Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” My, what a place to be! Just to be in Christ!

Of course, you can’t work your way into that. There is only one way, God’s way. And that’s the way of faith. And so we have here, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”

The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the guarantee from God to you that this Jesus who was crucified is His Son and that the work He did on the cross absolutely satisfied God.

What a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ is the object of your faith and that He gives to you a salvation that is complete, that is personal.

And here you have in verse 11, “Whosoever be­lieves in Him will not be disappointed.” God will see to it. I think of that verse in 1 John 2:28, “Lit­tle children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

Now, starting in at Romans 10:12-18 and running through verse 18, Paul writes that righteousness by faith is for all. That is, it is open for all, irre­spective of whether you are a Gentile or a Jew. In the first 11 verses, he dealt with personal salva­tion. Now he is going to deal with a salvation for anybody.

Do you remember Romans 1:5 talks about the “obedience of faith among all the Gentiles”? This is not for any particular group. It is for the individ­ual. The great thing here in these verses is that righteousness by faith is for anybody who wants it. It’s for all.

It’s not limited to any group. It’s not limited to any nation or one country. It’s open for everybody who lives on the face of the earth; it doesn’t matter who they are. This righteousness through faith is open to everyone.

Romans 10:12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.

His character declares this. If God is righteous, He is not going to show any favoritism. God is righteous, and He offers this righteousness to any­one and everyone who will receive it. “For there is no distinction (no difference) between Jew and Gentile.”

You remember in Romans 3:23, there was no difference in sin. “All have sinned (Jew and Gen­tile), and fall short of the glory of God.”

Now he is saying in verse 12 that there is no dif­ference in salvation. All are lost and need a Sav­iour, and the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him.

You remember Romans 3:29-30, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also?

Yes, of Gentiles also—if indeed God is one—and He will justify the circumcised (the Jew) by faith and the uncircumcised (the Gentile) through faith.” You see, there is no difference whether you are rich or poor, whether you are wise or ignorant, whether you are brown or black or white or red or yellow or whatever your color may be. Whatever country you belong in, whatever tongue you may have, wherever you go in the world, this salvation is for all.

And I say, the very righteous character of God declares this.

Not only His character declares this, but His promises declare it.

Romans 10:13. For “WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

There’s a “whoever” in John 3:16 that puts you in, too, doesn’t it? This 13th verse is Joel 2:32 all over again. It is repeated in Acts 2:21 and Revelation 22:17 (“Let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost”). This salvation from God is for anybody, anywhere and for anyone who will believe God’s good news concerning His Son. The Jews wanted to keep salvation for themselves; and, because they did that, they became occupied with themselves and they missed God’s salvation. Now Paul is saying it is for all.

God’s character declares it in Romans 10:12. His promises declare it in Romans 10:13. And now in Romans 10:14-18, His servants declare it.

Romans 10:14. How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:15. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!”

Romans 10:16. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”

Romans 10:17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Romans 10:18. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have: “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”

The servants of God, the called of God, are sent with good news.

Now, remember, the law is not good news. The law says if you sin, you die. There is no re­course. But God has raised up men and women to go and tell their friends and their family, their neighbors, and everybody around some good news. God wants to communicate to men the good news concerning His Son. How is He going to do it? Through those who know the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “Therefore, we are ambas­sadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg on behalf of Christ, be recon­ciled to God.”

The last words of our Saviour in Matthew 28:1-20 were, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” Our Lord could say in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

What a change, I say. In the Old Testament when the Jews were called, their nation was set apart from others so they could reveal to the world the wonders of our God. They failed in that, and so what is God doing now?

He has turned to the Gentiles, to the saved men and women, and said, “You take My good news. Tell your friends. Go into all the world. Wherever there is a man or a woman who doesn’t know the Saviour, you go and bring the Word of God to that person.”

I say this with a great deal of sadness that after 2000 years of having the gospel of the grace of God, we still have not touched the whole world.

Is God’s purpose going to be defeated? No. Even right now, God’s good news is being beamed out to practically every part of the globe. God has seen fit to use this means of mass communication by ra­dio, by television, shortwave, whatever it may be. There is hardly a place in the world today where you cannot hear the precious Gospel of God as re­vealed in Christ.

The coming of the Lord is very, very near; and, my Christian friend, I would plead with you as I plead with my own heart. May the Lord deliver us from any coldness or indifference concerning the salvation of men and women.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.” If you have the Word of God, in some way then by your life, by your testimony, bring the good news to those around you that they may know Him whom to know is life eternal.

I would plead with you to be much in prayer that God will send forth laborers into His harvest field.

I believe Paul in verse 18 in his reference to the “voice” has the voice of creation in mind. Everyone has, through creation, heard of the Living God. There is no excuse for unbelief in the Living God.

No one will be able to stand before God and say, “I have never heard of the Living God.” For “the heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice (the voice of creation) is not heard” (Psalms 19:1-3). They may not have heard about the Saviour, but they have heard about the Living God.

Oh, how we Christians have failed to get behind God’s messengers who have gone to the farthest ends of the earth, sacrificing themselves and leav­ing their family and friends, to reach precious souls with the Word of Life.

Usually it takes missionary candidates two years to gather their support. This is to our shame.

And how often do we pray for them when they are there on the mission field? I just plead with you friends to spend some time remembering the servants of God in different parts of the world, es­pecially in those places where there is so much trouble.

My, what a wonderful, wonderful thing that God should call you and me to pass on the good news to our generation.

It is a universal salvation. It is for everybody. And this is right. If God is righteous, it has to be that way. His very character demands it. His promises declare it. His servants declare it.

So when we come down to verses 19 through 21, you find there is no excuse for the people of Israel. They should have known that God was not only the God of the Jews, but He is also the God of the Gentiles. They believed there was only one God, but they didn’t want the Gentiles to come under His blessing. Human nature is a strange thing. You want things for yourself but not for anybody else. This was their attitude. Is it yours?

So Israel was cast away under the discipline of God. For more than 1900 years, Jews have been in bondage, scattered over the face of the earth.

Romans 10:19. But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At the first Moses says, “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.”

Romans 10:20. And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO SOUGHT ME NOT, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”

Romans 10:21. But as for Israel He says, “ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

There is absolutely no excuse for Israel because the Jews were not ignorant. Neither are you, my friend.

If the Gentiles in their heathendom discovered the wonderful truth of righteousness by faith, there is no excuse for Israel which had the Word of God. And if there are people coming to know the Saviour in Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and those different parts of the earth we call the Third World, then there is no excuse for those of us who have heard the name of the Lord Jesus all of our lifetime.

Whether we were raised in a Christian family or not, we knew about the Saviour. We knew about the Bible. We knew something.

But the very fact that men and women in pagan countries have come to know the Saviour is a re­buke to those in our land who in their arrogance have turned away from Jesus Christ as their Sav­iour. They are in the same position as Israel.

“Did not Israel know?” Of course they knew.

“But Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people.”

The very fact that Gentiles were coming under the blessing of God should have stirred Israel to jealousy to seek their God and be obedient to Him.

And Isaiah is saying the same thing—that God had already declared that He would save Gentiles. Hence, there is no excuse for Israel because they knew it. But why should they get mad at Paul who was going out among the Gentiles and preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ? Why should they be envious of Paul? Why seek to persecute him when their own Scriptures declared that God would speak to them through other nations?

The Gentiles, who did not seek God, accepted Him. Israel, which had the Word of God, was indif­ferent to him and full of unbelief.

What did God say? “But as for Israel He says, All the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” In Exodus 19:5, God told His people, “You shall be My own posses­sion among all the peoples.” Oh, the blessings, the mercy, the love He poured upon them; but they never turned to Him. They became colder and colder.

Take the Book of Joshua when the people en­tered the land after the captivity. What happened? God gave them victories; and, when we come to the beginning of the Book of Judges, they are fighting their enemies. But they are coldly indiffer­ent to God. In the last half of the book, they are fighting among themselves and idolatry comes in.

And you find them all down through their history full of unbelief—unbelief. In fact, they were so indifferent to God, they didn’t care whether God wanted them or whether God had anything for them. They didn’t care anything about God.

That’s why God said with a broken heart to Jeremiah, “Oh, if I could only find one just man in the city, I would save the city for the one man’s sake.”

How God yearned over Israel. My, how He loved them. How He mourned over them.

Why?

What broke His heart?

They rejected a free salvation (Romans 10:1-11), and they rejected a universal salvation in the last half of the chapter.

Now another question is raised, “Has God cast away His people?”