Romans 10:14-21

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Romans (Acts)

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Rusty's Notes

Last week we ended with Romans 10:13 - For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.[1]

• Joel 2:32 - Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised, among the survivors the Lord calls.[2]

 
ISRAEL’S REJECTION OF THE MESSAGE
Romans 10:14-21
14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?
15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

• Isaiah 52:7-13 - How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 8 The voices of your watchmen—they lift up their voices, shouting for joy together; for every eye will see when the Lord returns to Zion. 9 Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has displayed his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 11 Leave, leave, go out from there! Do not touch anything unclean; go out from her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. 12 For you will not leave in a hurry, and you will not have to take flight; because the Lord is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.
  
  THE SERVANT’S SUFFERING AND EXALTATION
• See, my servant, will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were appalled at you—his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being--15 so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.[3]

 

• Isaiah 53 - Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. 10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.[4]

 
16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? (Isaiah 53:1)

• His point seems to be that using the OT to show that Israel has had opportunity to respond.
• People have been sent proclaiming the good news.
• They have had the opportunity to see what God’s plan was, as they read the OT itself.
• So they are rightly faulted for their failure to understand and respond appropriately.[5]

17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ., 18 But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did:

• Paul begins to quote OT passages and not using them in their previous context but using them in current context.
• We do that all the time with movie quotes:
• “Go ahead make my day.”
• “There’s no crying in baseball.”
• “There’s no place like home.”
• “May the force be with you.”
• “You can’t handle the truth.”
• “You had me at hello.”
• “I’ll be back”
• “Show me the money.”
• “Freedom”

Their voice has gone out to the whole earth,
and their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:4)
19 But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said,
I will make you jealous
of those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation
that lacks understanding. (Deuteronomy 32:21)

• If Gentiles, who were darkened theologically, could understand the gospel, Jews could certainly have understood it.
• Israel is responsible for their unbelief because they had received enough understanding of the way of salvation.
• Their own scriptures should have enabled them to see God at work in the gospel.
• It was to Israel’s shame that they didn’t believe, whereas Gentiles did believe.[6]

20 And Isaiah says boldly,
I was found
by those who were not looking for me;
I revealed myself
to those who were not asking for me. (Isaiah 65:1)
21 But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.[7] (Isaiah 65:2)

• Paul is in effect saying, “Just as knowledge of God has gone out among all the world (because of the way God created the world), so now through the preachers of the gospel is a particular message of Jesus Christ going out, a message that can’t be ignored, and a message that makes everyone—Jews included—responsible for their response to it.”[8]
• At the end of my notes every week, I have this statement:
• “Understanding the Spirits role, how would you communicate this message if your eighteen-year-old son had made up his mind to walk away from everything you have taught him, morally ethically and theologically, unless he had a compelling reason not to?”

How would you communicate this message?

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ro 10:13). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Joe 2:32). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Is 52:7–15). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Is 53). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Moo, D. J. (2014). NT331 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Abernathy, D. (2009). An Exegetical Summary of Romans 9–16 (p. 113). Dallas, TX: SIL International.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ro 10:14–21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] Moo, D. J. (2014). NT331 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.