Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
14Therefore, how can they call into one they not believed, and how can they believe of whom they have not heard, and how can they hear without one preaching, 15and how can they preach except they be sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful [are] the feet of ones bringing good news [of] peace!” 16But not everyone listened to/obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who believed our message?” 17Therefore, the faith [is] out of a message and the message [is] through [the] word (message) of Christ (the Messiah).” 18But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Certainly, their voice went into all the earth; their words into the ends of the world.” 19But, I ask, “Did Israel not know?” Moses first says, “I will provoke you to jealousy by a not people; I will provoke you to anger by senseless people.” 20And Isaiah says, “I was found by ones not seeking Me; I revealed Myself to ones not asking for Me.” 21And he says regarding Israel, “All the day long, I have held out My hands toward a disobeying and contradicting people.
This chapter has been particularly difficult to study. Practically every verse is a jewel in and of itself, but it has been hard to understand how they all fit together. I’m not alone in that observation. Many, especially of the older commentators, note how it seems difficult to follow the logic.
I suspect that is true here for at least two possible reasons. First, it is simply a fact that the ancient peoples did not think like us. What I mean is that their logic often flowed along a very different path than ours. I have remarked before how today and in our Western culture, we want the facts. We want to arrange the facts in order and that is how we present our case. The ancient world instead painted pictures with their words. In the passage before us, Paul might be throwing colors on a canvas, each one seemingly unrelated to the others – yet, when you step back and think about it, it presents the picture of what he wants us to know. If, in fact, that is what he is doing, then no wonder we struggle to follow his logic. You could overlay a grid on a Rembrandt and study the colors in each square, but the picture only makes sense when you step away and look at it all together. If I’m right, that would explain why we struggle to “follow his logic” – he simply doesn’t think like us. He’s not somehow wrong, nor is what he's saying impossible for us to understand – we just need to let him say it his way, then step back and try to get his picture.
The second reason I would suggest why we struggle to follow his logic could be that we need to get mentally back into their situation. What I mean is, today, I think we have all pretty well settled into the whole situation with the Jewish people and us Gentiles. We have no problem seeing in the Bible the prophecies that the Gospel would go out and encompass the non-Jewish world. We also understand that is temporary, that the Lord still fully intends to fulfill all His promises to Abraham and his descendants. We’ve settled comfortably into this world where there are Jews who don’t accept Jesus as their Messiah, then there are Jews who do – along with us Gentiles from all over the world.
In Paul’s time, this was all new and, in fact, that is the whole reason why Romans 9-11 had to be written to begin with. The world had always been one where there were Jews and their religion and then there was everyone else, and that was pretty much it. All of a sudden everything changes. Paul has to say in 9:6, “It is not as if the Word of God has failed.” It would have to be curious to Gentiles, because this Gospel was basically a Jewish thing, yet the Jews in general rejected it. Then suddenly there is this thing called the Church and it was sweeping across the civilized world, seemingly leaving the Jewish people behind.
Had God rejected the Jews, as it appeared? If so, what about all His promises to them? Paul just finished chapter 8 and the wonderful security of the believer, but if it didn’t “work” for the Jewish people, will it work for us? It would have made sense to ask the question, “Has the Word of God failed?” We find ourselves right in the middle of this 3-chapter long explanation so that we Gentiles would understand what on earth was going on.
I’m suggesting, if we try to get back in their curious mindset, if we keep remembering that they did not understand “what’s going on,” perhaps the flow of logic will make more sense? So whether Paul is speaking in pictures or if we’re just need to read it in its own context, the fact is it made perfect sense when it was written.
So what’s the big picture here? First of all, Gentile believers need to understand that although the Jewish people seem to be quite zealous about their religion, it is a sadly misdirected zeal: “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not according to knowledge” (v.2). In fact, what they have totally missed is that their “religion” has always been about Christ – their Messiah. They made it about law-keeping, but missed that it was about Christ: “Christ is the end of law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (v.4).
God’s standard for anyone (“For there is no difference” – v.12), is and always has been what we do with the Christ, with Jesus: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (v.9). In fact that is so basic, that we can simply write it down, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved” (v.13).
We then come to what might be an excursus, where Paul breaks into “How then can they call on the one they have not believed in?...And how can they preach unless they are sent?... (vv.14-15). I wonder if Paul here isn’t justifying his ministry to the Gentiles, while also alluding to the fact that the people of Israel have had many, many prophets (beginning with Moses and quoting Isaiah). Given that is true, the problem clearly is not that they haven’t heard or even that they didn’t understand: “Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of (message of) Christ…Did they not hear? Of course they did…did Israel not understand?” (vv.17-19). Of course they could have understood (“the Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart” – v.8). In fact, they’d been warned ever since Moses himself (v.19) that if they refused to hear, the Lord would turn to the Gentiles: “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation.”
Not only Moses but even the great
prophet Isaiah had warned them their refusal to hear and believe would cause the
Lord to say, “I was found by those who did not seek Me” (v.20) – which all
leads down to even that great prophet’s declaration that God’s conclusion regarding
the Jewish people is this: “All day long, I have held out My hands to a disobedient
and contradicting people” (v.21).
So, the Lord Himself would have us Gentiles understand that salvation has always been about a relationship with Christ, that that is and was, in fact, the Jews’ “religion,” but that they refused to hear it. The Word of God has not failed. If the Jewish people missed it, it is absolutely 100% their fault. We Gentiles can be assured that those who put their faith in the Messiah will be saved. If Romans 8:39 – “nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ” (v.39) doesn’t seem to “work” for Israel, it’s not because the Word of God isn’t true. In fact, the problem is precisely that it doesn’t apply to them because it only applies to those who believe.
So, if people living in that ancient world wanted to understand “what’s going on,” there it all is in a nutshell.
Eventually, in ch. 11, Paul will get around to turning that truth on us. Just like for the Jews, the question will always be, “Do you believe?”
Simple question. Simple answer, but it’s up to you and me to make sure we get it right!
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