Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
September 2, 2018
Humble, Texas
(072)
1769 Translation:
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith [
cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by [
them that are] no people, [
and] by a foolish nation I will anger you.
20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
1901 ASV Translation:
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So belief [
cometh] of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
18 But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily, Their sound went out into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.
19 But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding will I anger you.
20 And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I became manifest unto them that asked not of me.
21 But as to Israel he saith, All the day long did I spread out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
- I. The Larger Context.
- A. From the beginning of this section in 9:1, Paul has been defending his identity as both a lover of Israel and an apostle to Gentiles. He reiterates this identity at the beginning of chapter ten. The strong implication of the last questions of this series of questions with the need for a Sender and a herald is that Paul is still defending the legitimacy of his apostleship to Gentiles.
- B. In 9:30-33 Paul argues that we must "conclude" that God's Plan included a reaching out to Gentiles that was effective and a stumbling of Israel so that they did not arrive at righteousness. This is followed by 10:16 and following so that we see Paul continuing to argue for his grasp of The Plan.
- C. In 3:22 Paul claimed a "no distinction" reality between Jew and Gentile that he followed up on in 10:12 and that sets, again, the stage for him to justify his outreach to Gentiles with this series of questions.
- II. Paul's Questions.
- A. The order works from "salvation" backwards to "origins".
- 1. The initial question (How then shall they call...?) assumes 10:13's promise that anyone (without distinction) who should (subjunctive: it might happen and it might not) "call" upon the name of the Lord shall (no doubt about it's eventuality) be saved. Thus, the real issue of interest is in "being saved", and the corollary issue is the legitimacy of offering such salvation to non-Jews. This "How, therefore, shall they call...?" question is deliberately "Gentilish" since the very next verses clearly establish that "Israel" did not need another "herald" since they had both "heard" and "refused" the "glad tidings".
- 2. From this assumption, Paul works backwards in terms of what has to happen in order to bring it to pass.
- B. The questions themselves.
- 1. According to Paul's "logic", because "salvation" cannot occur without the "calling" by the sinner upon the name of the Lord (Paul's repeated "confess with the mouth" concept in 10:9 and again in 10:10), one must first "believe". This follows the "logic" of 10:10 where the "heart" must "believe unto righteousness" before the "mouth" "confesses unto salvation". Then, in 10:11 we have the "confession" omitted as Paul goes to the "bottom line" (what the heart believes).
- 2. Then, again, according to Paul's "logic", one cannot "believe" what he/she has not "heard". This puts "salvation" into the realm of the impossible where the Gospel is not "heard". Since Paul has already made "salvation" contingent upon both "believing" that God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead and "confessing" to God that it is Jesus of Nazareth that is His anointed "Lord" Whom He raised, it only stands to reason that there is no salvation apart from both these "facts" and "faith in" and "confession of" them. Thus, there is no longer any reality to John's message that God will forgive the "repentant". Before Jesus of Nazareth became the issue, "forgiveness" was on the basis of "repentance" (properly defined). After Jesus of Nazareth become the issue, the message Paul preached, in his own words, was "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21); words spoken to the Ephesian elders who met with Paul as he was en route to Jerusalem. There is some room for an assumption of some effectiveness of "repentance" (properly defined), but it is no longer a sole solution to the "lostness" of man. There is here a declaration that "revelation" is progressively detailed and that, once established, men are accountable before God for it.
- 3. Then there comes the question of whether "hearing" can occur without a "herald" who proclaims the details regarding Jesus of Nazareth and His resurrection from the dead.
- 4. And after that there is the question of whether a "herald" can come upon the scene without being "sent".
- 5. This process, Paul argues, has been in place from the earliest of times. The specific content has been, to some degree, altered by both the times and the degree of "revelation" given, but there has always been a "Sender", a "herald", a "message" that is "heard", a response of "belief", and a "calling upon" that results in "salvation".
- a. The men of Nineveh "heard" Jonah's declaration of "forty days until destruction" and "repented". According to Jesus, those men who "repented" will arise to condemn the people who "heard" Jesus of Nazareth and did not "repent". The implication is that "repentance" has to do with what is specifically "heard" and there is nothing about Jesus of Nazareth in Jonah's proclamation (Matthew 12:41).
- b. Jesus declared that if Tyre and Sidon had been granted the opportunity to see the works He did in Chorazin and Bethsaida, those cities would have "repented" (Matthew 11:21). Then, in Matthew 11:32 Jesus tied "repentance" to "belief" as "prelude" is tied to "accomplishment".
- c. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 7:10, says that "repentance" leads to "salvation".
- d. Genesis 15:6 says that Abraham, the father of those who "believe", was justified when he "believed" the promise of God that his "seed" would be like unto the stars of heaven and Paul said in Galatians 3:8 that "the gospel was "preached" before unto Abraham in the words, "In thee shall all nations be blessed".
- B. The rationale.
- 1. Paul's rationale is "Just as it stands written...".
- 2. The words having been written are from Isaiah 52:7.