Title: Salvation of Faith
Expositions to Romans 81
salvation of faith
Romans 10:14-17
Introduction: The verses 14-17 that I read today can be seen as a spiritual interpretation of the verse 13, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Verse 14 says, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” These words spoken by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans are actually quoted from Joel 2:32 in the Old Testament. In Chapter 2, Joel deals with the events of the end of mankind before and after the Second Coming of the Lord. On that day, 'the great and dreadful day of judgment of the Lord,' everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." The saying, “He who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” is the essence of the gospel. The name of the Lord is the name of Jesus, and calling on his name is a good confession of faith because he is a poet of the mouth through faith (Romans 10:9-10).
1. The process of faith
Verses 14-I5 describe the process of confessing the Lord in detail.
(1) “How can we call him in the unbelieving?” Calling on the name of the Lord with your mouth is a confession of faith. Paul testifies about this in verses 9-10. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth confession is achieved, resulting in salvation.” Therefore, the poet of the mouth who believes in his heart and does not attain righteousness cannot be saved. For such a poet is a false confession. The word calling here is a true poet of faith and must be a confession.
(2) He said, “How can you believe in him of whom you have not heard?” A person's beliefs are formed in their hearts. Faith is not spontaneous. In the parable of the sowing of the seed, Jesus described the process of faith being built up in the heart.
“Therefore, listen to the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and takes away what is sown in his heart, who is the one who sowed by the roadside.” It bears fruit, and it is revealed that the seed is the word of God (Matthew 13:18-23; Luke 8:11-15).
(3) He said, “How can they hear without a preacher?” In this way, if faith comes from hearing, just as there must be a sower in a field, there must be a preacher who tells the word of faith. There must be a preacher to hear through the preaching, to have faith through hearing, and to call on the name of the Lord through that faith. Therefore, the position of the preacher is very important. The faith of everyone in this world comes from hearing the word from them by the preacher and having faith.
(4) “How can they preach unless they are sent?” If the preacher of the gospel was not sent by God, the preaching could not be the gospel. It is simply man's teaching and man's religion. All the prophets who delivered the word of God to Israel were also sent by God. Among the many prophets, there is not a single exception. Jesus, the subject of the gospel, was also sent by God. Jesus said to his disciples: “Jesus said to them, “I must preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to other towns as well, for this I have been sent” (Luke 4:43). Jesus declared this to us who will share his gospel. “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
(5) He said, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” The good news is the gospel as it is written in Nanha. They tell us that the feet of those who preach the gospel are beautiful. The most beautiful feet in this world are those that move to spread the Gospel. We are the Lord's messengers who have been commanded to go around the world and preach the gospel. The messenger must deliver the master's orders properly. The word beautiful here refers to the blessing that will be given to him. Because of this, there will be joy, hope, joy, and peace in his life. And the reward of the kingdom of God is also amazing. It says, “He who turns many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
Paul points out Israel's unbelief in verse 16. “But they did not all obey the gospel,” he said. We are referring to Israel. A detailed interpretation of this is found in verse 18 and below, which tells us that it was not because Israel did not hear the gospel and thus fell into unbelief, but because they did not obey. One of the great reasons Israel did not obey the gospel was that they forsook God's righteousness and tried to establish their own righteousness through the law. The law they received from God was the cause of their disobedience to the gospel. Isaiah prophesied about this a long time ago. “Who has believed our report?” he lamented (Isaiah 53:1).
Paul here draws his conclusions about faith in the light of Israel's disobedience. “Therefore faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (17). Faith comes from hearing. Hearing means obedience to the Word. Even if you listen to the Word, if you do not obey it, you cannot have faith. A seed that falls on a hard road, a seed that falls on a rocky field, or a seed that falls on a thorny field cannot bear fruit. Because Israel had a field like the hard road called the Law, they could not obey the gospel, so they had no choice but to be abandoned by God. He said that hearing comes through the word of Christ. The words of Christ speak the gospel. The gospel is the word of Christ, not a word invented by the philosophical knowledge of the world or human wisdom or experience.
Conclusion: We are sent as preachers of this gospel. We should use our feet as beautiful feet that preach the good news. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my servants in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”