Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
September 2, 2018
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The legitimacy of Paul's apostleship to the Gentiles rests in the indisputability of their need to "hear".
Introduction: In our look at the previous paragraph, we saw that the hopelessness of the message of "Law" is countered by the message of "the faith". The Law could never bring a person to a righteousness standing before God, so God provided a righteousness apart from Law that is rooted in "faith; a righteousness that is "by faith" for one reason: it is absolutely necessary that God act and "faith" says we have a promise that He has.
This led us into Paul's extended treatment of the fact that "the word of the faith" consists of both a "belief" in the heart regarding the issue of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead and a "confession" to God by the mouth of the fact that it is Jesus of Nazareth that is God's appointed "Lord".
From there he argued, on the basis of Joel's prophecy of how things would develop "in the last days", that God had opened the door to "the righteousness of faith" to "anyone" who "calls upon the name of the Lord". This "anyone" applied to both Jews and Gentiles "without distinction".
Now, in the verses before us this evening, we see that Paul is arguing that "for the 'anyone' to be saved, there must be a "Sent" "herald" to make the message available.
- I. The Larger Picture.
- A. Paul was hated for two reasons.
- 1. He preached the Gospel of Grace in direct, and vehement, contradiction to the Jewish perversion of the Law's basic message.
- 2. He preached that Gospel to non-Jews, offering to them a real relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- 3. He did these two things in direct harmony with Moses' support according to 10:19's quote of Deuteronomy 32:21.
- B. Paul was insistent upon the validity of his apostleship to the Gentiles.
- 1. He first made the claim in 1:5.
- 2. He first argued for a change in the divine Plan under a "no distinction" reality in 3:22-31.
- 3. He returned to the "no distinction" reality in the text before us.
- 4. He claimed that the Gentiles had a need the Jews did not: a need for a "Sent Messenger".
- a. The Jews had heard and rejected what they heard.
- b. The Jews "knew" and refused to acknowledge their knowledge.
- c. The Gentiles did not have those special privileges that belonged to the Jews, so they had a need for someone to tell them of the door of Grace that had opened to them.
- C. Paul was also insistent that he did not return the hatred with which he was hated.
- 1. In 9:1-3 he insisted that his love for "Israelites" was all-consuming.
- 2. In 10:1 he insisted that his objective was Israel's salvation in both desire and prayer.
- II. The Argument in a Series of Questions.
- A. The first question: How can someone "call" upon someone they do not "believe"?
- 1. This question weds the "fruit" to the "root" that leads to "the righteousness that is by faith".
- a. The "fruit" is "confession to God with the mouth of the reality of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth as "Lord".
- b. The "root" is "belief in the heart that God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead".
- 2. This question also declares the impossibility of the "fruit" without the "root".
- a. The basic assumption of the question is that the "call" cannot happen without the driving "faith".
- b. This absolutely necessitates whatever is required for "faith" to come into being.
- B. The second question: How can someone "believe" on someone of whom they have not "heard"?
- 1. This question makes "faith" a "content-dependent" conviction.
- 2. This question makes it absolutely necessary for the "content" to be "delivered" (using the ears and hearing as the most likely method).
- C. The third question: How can someone "hear" unless there is a "herald"?
- 1. This question, then, addresses the impossibility of "hearing" without some kind of "herald".
- 2. This establishes the absolute need for a "content-deliverer".
- D. The fourth question: How can someone "herald" a message unless he has been "sent"?
- 1. This question, finally, raises the issue of whether a person can legitimately "herald" a "content" worth "believing" without having a legitimate foundation.
- 2. This question establishes the requirement of being "sent" by the "Content-Creator".
- III. The Validation of the Obvious Answers.
- A. Isaiah 52:7 declares the "beauty" of the feet of those who bring "good news" of "good things".
- B. The "messenger(s)" should be treated as a very positive factor, rather than a hated and opposed enemy.