About Jesus

About Jesus Steve Sweetman

Chapter 9:30 to 10:21

Israel ’s Unbelief (ch. 9:30 to 10:21)

In verses 30 to 32 Paul asks the question here in the beginning of this section, “why have the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness find it, while the Jews pursued righteousness but did not find it”. Paul answers by saying the Jews did not pursue a righteousness that is by faith. They pursued a righteousness that was by works.

I might add this from my own thoughts. Even though Israel pursued righteousness by works, and that was through the Law, for the most part in their history they didn't even do that. They often forsook the Law of Moses and lived as they wanted. So in one respect, they didn't even pursue righteousness. Paul is speaking generically here. He is not talking about the specific history of the Jews. In Old Testament times they were to obey the Law, but even at that, they needed faith in their God to obey. It is hard to obey someone when you don't trust him.

The Jews thought that righteousness would come by all of the good things they did. Yet Paul has clearly pointed out that the real righteousness from God is obtained by trusting in what Jesus has already done. We cannot obtain it through anything we do. This is proved in the life of Abraham. Although Abraham did not understand Jesus as we do, or at least I think he didn't, he did trust God. He did understand that trust, or faith was the important thin, was the foundation to his relationship to God.

Paul goes on to say in verse 33 that Israel has “stumbled over the stumbling block”. Paul quotes from Isaiah 8:14 where it says that God laid in Zion a stumbling block and a rock of offence that people would stumble over. The stumbling block is Jesus. Peter, in 1 Peter 2:8 quotes this same Old Testament passage. Paul and Peter both tell us that Jesus is a stumbling block to many. This is so evident in our present day world. Jesus stands out from all of the religious leaders in history. His claim to Deity causes many to stumble. People can accept him as a good and important leader, but Jesus being God, they can’t accept. They stumble over this truth. Jesus is truly a rock of offence. Many are offended when you say that there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus. They say, “how dare you be so dogmatic and intolerant of other ways of thinking”. Christians are “exclusive” since they believe that there is only one way to God. The mentality of our day is to be “inclusive” and accept all ways of thinking as being equal. This is not what Paul, nor the rest of the Bible teaches.

Isaiah says that God will lay "in Zion " a stumbling stone or a rock that offends. The word " Zion " is in reference to Israel . Often in the Old Testament there are many other names used for Israel . Judah is another example of a name used to represent Israel . Judah was one of the two tribes that formed the southern kingdom in Israel that out lasted the northern kingdom. The point to be made here is that Jesus, the stumbling stone rose right in the midst of Israel . They stumbled over one of their own people. As John says in the first chapter of his gospel, "Jesus came unto His own and His own received Him not." (John 1:1 to 6)

We should note at this point that God laid in Zion this rock that would cause men to fall. God didn't make it easy for Israel . What He did was offensive to the Jew. Too often in Evangelical circles we want people saved so bad that we make it too easy for them to get save, when in fact they don't get saved because we have cut corners with the gospel. In the end, things are worse than they were in the beginning.

Paul opens chapter ten as he did chapter nine by stating his love and desire for his own countrymen, the Jews. In verse 2 He admits that the Jews have a zeal for God, but “the zeal is not based on knowledge”. The Jews did not really understand what their religion was all about. Yes, there were laws to obey, works to be done, but faith was still fundamental to these works of Law.

In verse Paul goes on to say that the Jews “did not submit to God’s righteousness”, which is now by faith. The righteousness that they were trying to attain was by doing good things, by obeying the Law. Yet in chapter 10 verse 4 Paul says a very clear and dramatic statement. He says that “Christ is the end of the Law”. Can this point be any clearer?

The Greek word “telos” means “the point at which a person or thing ceases to be what it is meant to be”. Christ fulfilled all of the reasons why the Law was in effect, thus ending the need for the Law, thus the Law was no longer meant to be what it was intended for. The law lost all meaning for its existence. The meaning for our existence was now found in Jesus. Our righteousness came by trusting Him and what He has done for us.

Gal. 3:23 – 26 makes this point clear as well. “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the Law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the Law”. Let me say once again, as I have said before, that if God’s Law cannot save us, then no man made law will save us as well. We are saved solely by what Jesus has done for us. If we add any law to that, whether God’s Law or our law, we tell Jesus what He has done for us is not good enough. We need to add to what He has already done to make it better. I cannot think of a worse sin than that.

When verse 4 says that Christ is the end of the Law, Jesus is the end of the Law for the purpose of salvation. The Law still exists, but for other reasons. The most important other reason is that it still speaks prophetically of things to come.

In verse 5 Paul states how Moses viewed the law. He quotes from Lev. 18:5 which says, "the man who does these things will live by them." The words "these things" refer to the commands of the Law. Simply put, the one who obeys the Law, that is to be his lifestyle, his way of living.

Paul says some strange things in verses 6 through 8. He says, “who will ascend into Heaven .. who will descend into the deep…”. He is quoting from Duet. 30:11 – 13. Here in Duet. 30 Moses is saying that obeying God’s commands is not too hard. No one has to go to Heaven or into the deep to proclaim this word, or get help to follow God’s desires. Moses says that you don’t have to go anywhere to get the words to obey. “They are in your mouth and in your heart” (Duet. 30:14).

Paul clarifies in verse 8 what “word” Moses is talking about. Paul says that it is “the word of faith we are proclaiming.” To put it plainly, Paul is saying that our salvation is as close as our hearts and mouths. We don’t need to go anywhere to be saved. All we need to do is to “confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus was raised from the dead and we will be saved” as he says in verses 9 and 10. It does not matter who confesses and believes. You can be Jew or Gentile.

Believing in your heart must be understood as more than giving mental ascent to what you believe is true about Jesus. The word "believe" and the word "faith", by the definition of the Greek word "pistis' from which it is translated from, and from the contextual uses of "pistis", tells us that the believing Paul is speaking of is "giving your life to Jesus'. Once you've really done that from the bottom of your heart, you then begin to confess what you've done with your mouth.

Verse 10 links believing with the heart and confession with the mouth to justification and salvation. We need to note that justification and salvation are two tightly connected words. The word "salvation" is more of a general word that includes all aspects of salvation, one of which is "being justified", that is, being declared righteous by God, just as God Himself is righteous.

In verse 11 Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:16 by saying, "whoever trusts in Him will never be put to shame." God will always honour those who trust Him. He will never shame them. We may shame ourselves, but God won't.

In verse 12 Paul makes the point again that concerning salvation, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The reason for this is that the Law was given to the Jews, and now the Law has nothing to do with being righteous or finding salvation. That opens the door for the Gentiles who were never under the Law in the first place. Besides, as Paul has already said, acceptance before God has always been by faith, as seen in the life of Abraham.

In verse 13 once again Paul brings this point home. “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved”. The Greek word for "call" is "epikeleo". The type of call here is "an appeal". The one who calls out to Jesus, that is, appeals to Him by faith for his salvation will be saved. This is a heart felt appeal, not some quick sinners prayer.

The following few paragraphs are an expository of Romans 10:9. This is one very important verse.

Romans 10:9 says, "if you confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." This is an often quoted verse, but is it well understood?

Back in the Jesus Movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's we did a lot of street witnessing to hippies, and want-to-be hippies. Some of our witnessing was powerful, and some was a bit flakey. An example of flakey witnessing is, "hey man, try Jesus. You can't lose. Believe He's Lord, and you'll be saved." The Lord did use us at times despite our ignorance, but He doesn't want us to remain ignorant of Biblical truth.

When studying Biblical passages, we need to ask, "what is the author saying?" We don't ask, "what do I think the passage means?" So concerning Romans 10:9 we ask, "what is Paul saying?" We can't superimpose our thoughts over his thoughts which were formed from his education, culture, and of course, divine revelation.

For the most part, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the language of the Jews, whom Paul was. Paul was also a Roman and spoke fluent Greek, which is the language of the New Testament. Decades before Paul was born, the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek. This translation is called the "Septuagint". Paul would have studied from both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Septuagint. This bit of information is important in understanding Romans 10:9.

I'll address four words from Romans 10:9. They are, "Jesus, Lord, confess, and believe." If you understand these words, you'll understand what Paul is saying, and what salvation is all about.

The English name "Jesus" is translated from the Greek name "Iesous", which is a transliteration of the Hebrew name "Jashweuh", or, "Joshua" in English. "Jesus" means, "Yahweh (God) is our salvation or deliverer." This is important because it was God who named Him. (Matthew 1:21) It's also important because it tells us who Jesus is.

"Yahweh" is the name God wanted Israel to know Him by. (Exodus 3:14) "Yahweh" means "I AM". Simply put, "God is". So, when God named His son Jesus, meaning, He was saying that "Jesus is God, and He will save people".

The word "Lord" in Romans 10:9 is translated from the Greek word "kurios". '"Kurios" means, "lord or master," and was used in ordinary conversation for any human lord or master.

Now to the reason why I mentioned the "Septuagint". The name "Yahweh" is translated as "kurios" in the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament. The Septuagint translators understood the name "Yahweh" to mean the same as the word "Lord". Therefore, when Paul used the Greek word "kurios", or "Lord" in English, in Romans 10:9 and elsewhere, he would have understood the "Lord" to be "Yahweh", or, "God". His study of both the Septuagint and the Hebrew Old Testament would have formed his thinking on these words. This is why I said it's important to understand where Paul came from in order to understand what he is saying.

By virtue of the fact that the name Jesus means "Yahweh is salvation", and the word "Lord" is associated with "Yahweh", Paul understood Jesus to be the manifestation of God in human flesh. This is who Jesus is. It is this Jesus alone who saves us.

In today's ecclesiastical circles, the race is on to redefine Jesus to be someone other than who Paul states here. Any redefined Jesus can't save you, because he is a myth, a fabrication of a humanistic mind. He's not real.

All this is important. When we share Jesus with others, we must make it clear what Jesus we're talking about. We must clearly state that "Jesus was, and still is God" even though people might not fully comprehend this. This is fundamental to salvation because only this Jesus will save those to whom we speak. If we simply present Jesus as a man in history, we've misled those to whom we speak, and fail to teach the gospel. It's amazing to me how often we preach the wrong Jesus.

Now to the word "confess". Confess is translated from the Greek word "homologio", which means, "to speak the same thing." The idea here is that we must "speak the same thing" that God would speak, and in this particular verse, the thing we must confess is that Jesus is Lord, or, Jesus is God.

The word "believe" is translated from the Greek word "pisteuo", which means, to be persuaded and convinced of, resulting in trust." "Pisteuo", or, "to believe", as it relates to Jesus means that we have a "trusting relationship with Him because we are convinced that He is God. Believing isn't just acknowledging the existence of Jesus, although that is a first step. Believing is trusting your life to Him because once you understand who He is, you have no other logical choice than to trust Him with your life.

The words, Jesus, Lord, confess, and believe, state the gospel message. We confess with our mouths, and we trust in our hearts that Jesus is God and that He has risen from death to save us. Only this Jesus can rescue us from the penalty of our sin. No other redefined Jesus can save anyone. We must have no other conviction. There is only one Jesus, and He is God who now lives in a supernatural body, which all believers will have some day as well.

In verses 14 and 15 we have the most often quoted verses in history by missionaries. “How can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one in whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” These words are often used to call men and women to the mission fields, whether the fields are across the ocean or within the limits of our own city. Paul is emphasizing that the gospel must be preached, must be spoken.

Paul is being very logical when he asks how can one call on Jesus, or appeal to Jesus, if he does not believe in Jesus? The word "believe" here is a heart felt acceptance of who Jesus is. You must believe in your heart that Jesus is their before you, ready to hear your appeal. If this is not your frame of mind, there is no logic in thinking you will call out to Jesus.

Paul's next question is just as logical. He asks how one can believe in Jesus if he has never heard of him? Then he asks how people can hear about Jesus if there is no one to preach Jesus to them? The point that Paul is about to make here goes to the importance of going out and preaching the gospel to those who have not heard. This is to motivate the Christian to preach the good news of Jesus. Obviously, Christians back then needed to hear this message as well as we do today.

In verse 15 Paul quotes from Isaiah 52:7. The passage speaks of the beauty of the one who preaches the gospel. So when you share Jesus with others, God sees you as one beautiful person

Many people would like to have had Paul expand further on the question concerning how will the unbeliever believe if he has not heard the gospel. This is one often asked question. I merely point out the question. I will not get involved in the answer here.

In verse 16 Paul quotes from Isaiah 53:1 to support his next point. Paul is using lots of Old Testament passages to back up what he is saying. Here he quotes Isaiah saying, "who has believed us." Not all the Jews accepted the good news, not from the lips of Jesus, nor Paul, or not any other first century Christians. Paul says this to make his next point in verse 17.

In verse 17 Paul says, “consequently, faith comes from hearing the message…” This is a true point. One cannot trust in Jesus unless someone speaks the good news to them. I have often heard people say, “live the life, and if necessary preach”. I believe Paul would be furious at these words. Yes, we do need to live the life, but it is through the preaching of the gospel that men and women come to faith in Jesus. They need to hear the words. People need to know why you are living a good life.

Notice in verse 17 the message that Paul is speaking of here that needs to be preached is "the word of Christ". If the gospel we preach is not about Jesus and who He is, we are not preaching the gospel of the New Testament. The gospel we preach is not the gospel about God only, it is the gospel about Jesus, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 18 Paul asks a couple of questions about Israel . The first one is, “did Israel not hear”. Paul answered by saying, "of course they did." Now this is interesting. In context, Paul is saying that the Jews throughout history past heard "the gospel of Christ". He did not say that they heard the gospel of God, or of Yahweh. He said they heard the gospel of Jesus. Paul quotes from Psa. 19:4 that states "their voices and words went out throughout the earth. The word "their" in this instance refers to the heavens above. The heavens cry out the gospel, but it's not a generic gospel. It's the gospel of Jesus. At this moment in time, I'm not sure how the heavens preach Jesus specifically, other than it was He who made them.

In verse 19 Paul asks, “did Israel not understand?” Paul does not answer this question directly, but we know his answer. Paul quotes from Deut. 32:21 and Isaiah 65:1. Both of these passages state that God would turn to the Gentiles and they would be incorporated into the people of God. The Jews knew these passages. They should have understood what they meant, but they refused. As these two passages state, the inclusion of the Gentiles into the people of God was to make Israel jealous, and even angry. It was to stir them on the accepting the gospel of Christ.

In verse 20, God, through Isaiah says that He was "found by those who did not seek Him, and was revealed to those who did not ass…" This is clearly in reference to believing Gentiles. God sent the stumbling block who was Jesus, who Paul notes a few verses back. God used Israel 's failure to believe to bring the Gentiles into His family.

In verse 21 Paul quotes Isaiah 65:2. God says that "all day long He has held out His hand to a disobedient and obstinate people." While the Gentiles were finding Jesus, the Jews were forsaking their God, even though His hand was held out for them. In the next chapter we will see that even though Israel refused to come to their God, He did not, nor will not, turn His back on them. Israel still has prophetic significance, and a place in the heart of God.

chapter 9

chapter 11

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