The task of the evangelist is not only to point out to people the right way to go but also to explain that they are already heading the wrong way. Because most people have an intense distaste for being told they are wrong, great care should be taken in pointing out error. Paul exhibits three helpful characteristics in this regard. First, he is clearly deeply concerned about the people themselves. He does not see them as statistics but as individuals whose eternal salvation is in question. His “heart’s desire… is that they might be saved.” Second, there is no trace of superiority in his remarks about their error, but only a humble reliance upon God to whom he prays for them and from whom alone he looks for blessing. Third, he speaks from a deep understanding of the true position of the people to whom he ministers. For him there is no superficial stereotyping of their beliefs and no inadequate research of their condition. He can “bear them witness” or, literally, “speak on their behalf” because he knows what he is talking about.
Paul means that belief in Christ as Lord and Savior ends the sinner’s futile quest for righteousness through his imperfect attempts to save himself by efforts to obey the law. The Jews were outwardly zealous for God, but they were not zealous to know Christ. Seeking to establish their own righteousness, Israel missed the gift God offered them. For Israel to receive God’s righteousness, they had to stop relying on works and, rather, believe in Christ’s work. The error of Israel is also to be seen in that they are fundamentally “ignorant of God’s righteousness.” The ignorance of which Paul speaks is not an academic illiteracy but a basic failure to grasp the significance of data readily available to them in the Scriptures they prize so highly.
Israel’s persistence in a self-righteous attempt to “establish their own righteousness” by keeping the demands of the law regardless of what the law-giver himself wrote: that life through the law comes to those who keep the law and those who do not keep it in its entirety are condemned by the law they thought would bring life.
We all know the voice that tells us that in order to be “good enough” we have to attain a certain level of success, or our kids have to turn out a certain way, or we have to look just so, or we have to have more and better stuff than our neighbors. We think we are “taking care” of ourselves when we obey these dictates of the false god within, but in reality we are simply locking ourselves in the prison of our own selfish desires.
Christ is the goal or fulfillment of the law, the object to which the law pointed. Christ, Paul says, “is the end of the law for righteousness,” meaning that He is the end in the sense of the fulfillment of the law, but also in that He terminated the era of the law and introduced the new era where men and women could be delivered from the hopeless task of fulfilling the law and could be invited to be saved through faith. The error of Israel was, in a special sense, that they were chauvinistic despite the fact they had been chosen. Those who endeavor to communicate the Christian gospel should take note of the errors of Israel because they are common to most people in one form or another.
Paul seems to expect that God’s good news actually gets inside of people. It is not simply something to be spoken but it is a power that changes hearts and lives. Recall that in Paul’s day, the heart is the seat of physical, intellectual and spiritual life, including the will, emotions, and desires, while the mouth gives expression (or denies) what is in the heart.
Paul proceeds to illustrate both the impossibility of justification through keeping the law and the possibility of being blessed through that which God has made available. He ingeniously uses Moses’ farewell speech of encouragement to the children of Israel to realize that through their relationship with the Lord they could find the spirit of His law in their hearts and mouths and live in a way pleasing to Him without feeling the necessity to go to extreme lengths to find in the heavens or the depths the needed strength.
If a person chooses to be justified by the law, he or she must, of necessity, live by the law. There is no room for error; the entire law must be kept because keeping a portion of it has no value. The law demands absolute perfection without any mitigation. But for the Jewish person deeply steeped in the idea that salvation came through the fulfilling of the law through their own efforts, this message seemed so simple as to be simplistic and so free as to be insulting.
Similar attitudes confront the proclaimer of the gospel in today’s world. While the religious systems of self-effort vary in many degrees from those Paul wished to counter, the fundamental attitude of many people is that they must do something to merit or earn their salvation. This attitude is perfectly understandable in those societies where people have learned all their lives that “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” The task of the modern-day evangelist is still the same, namely, to explain the impossibility of salvation through self-effort and the availability of salvation through faith in Christ.
Faith being the basis of assurance, it becomes clear that everyone is capable of assurance because everyone is capable of exercising faith. When the fulfillment of law is seen as the basis of justification and forgiveness, only those initiated in the law can hope to be saved, but faith transcends all limitations and makes salvation a possibility for all people. This means that there is “no distinction between Jew and Greek”—a concept the Jews had not been prepared to accept even though the prophet Joel had proclaimed the fact that “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul speaks of righteousness as if it were a person. One need not ascend into heaven to bring righteousness down; Christ has already done that. One need not descend into the abyss; Christ has already been raised from the dead. No worldwide journey is needed. Christ is absolutely accessible by faith, as near as people’s mouths and hearts. All they have to do is reach out and receive Him by faith.
Confessing Christ is evidence of genuine faith. Salvation comes through belief in Christ, acknowledging that He is God and was raised from the dead. Christ’s death satisfied God’s righteous demand for the penalty for sins and Christ’s resurrection validated both His claims and the Father’s statements that He is God.
For Paul, salvation is a merciful God’s intention to bring healing to a broken world. It is a gift of a God whose goal is to free us from our own self-destructive bondage to the powers of sin and death. God offers salvation to every individual, regardless of ethnic background. Salvation comes through believing in Jesus—no amount of good works can ever be sufficient to win God’s approval.
But for everyone, there needs to be a breakthrough of some kind, a moment when we call out to the Lord and access “the righteousness that comes from faith”. It may be a moment of loss or weakness when we realize we don’t have the resources to handle life alone. It may be a moment of softening of our hearts toward someone or some group we have kept at arm’s length or thought of with hostility.
We discover that, when we call out to the Lord, God doesn’t have to go very far at all to reach us. God is not like the friend who lives four hours away and both of you agree that you wish you lived closer so you could visit more. God is in the neighborhood and comes when we call.
Because Christ is God, His death, burial, and resurrection took care of the world’s sins. Just as all who sin will be judged, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. When we place our faith in Christ, God looks at us just as He looks at Jesus, who completely obeyed the whole law, without exception and without fault. The perfect record of Christ becomes ours through faith.
Christ lived the life we could not live and took the punishment we could not take to offer the hope we cannot resist. His sacrifice begs us to ask this question: if He so loved us, can we not love each other? Having been forgiven, can we not forgive? Having feasted at the table of grace, can we not share a few crumbs? “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” as stated in 1 John 4:11.
Only by recognizing the illusions that bind us in the prison house of shame can we find the freedom to live the life God intends for us. Acknowledging Jesus as one through whom God brings the life and joy and love of God’s rule into our lives can be a step toward that freedom. Taking that step requires that we recognize that when we obsessively pursue our own selfish agenda, we remain imprisoned in our shame. The way to begin the process of becoming free from that voice of shame is to acknowledge that there is one who loves us unconditionally, irrevocably, undeniably—throughout time and eternity. To this one we are always of infinite worth, we are always wanted, chosen, and loved. To this one we can turn and know that “No one who believes in him will be put to shame” as stated in Romans 10:11.
(An audio version of this message can be found by clicking this link: Romans 10 verses 1-13 Christ is the Fulfillment of the Law)
Bibliography
- Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1558-1559)
- Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 193-198)
- Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005
- MacArthur, J.F., Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
- Audrey West, “Commentary on Romans 10:8b-13.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
- Alyce McKenzie, “Good News or Bad News? Reflections on Romans 10:5-15.” Retrieved from www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/good-news-or-bad-news-alyce-mckenzie-08-04-2014
- The Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm, “No More Shame.” Retrieved from www.thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2010/02/no-more-shame-rom.html
