Romans

10:4-13

Arguments in support of the proposition, 1:18-11:36

4. God's true Israel consists of the children of promise, not the children of law, 9:1-11:36

iii] Israel's condemnation is its own doing, 9:30-10:21

b) It is only those who trust in the Lord who will not be put to shame

In the second stage of his argument that the true children of God do not align with historic Israel, children of the law, but spiritual Israel, children of promise, 9:30-10:21, Paul establishes that God's promises to Abraham always rested on faith and it was Israel's inclination to maintain covenant standing by obedience to the law of Moses, rather than faith, that has led to the bulk of Jews being excluded from the blessings of the covenant. In 10:4 Paul establishes that Christ is the "end of the law", and then goes on to contrast two types of righteousness: the righteousness of law which must be done, v5, and the righteousness of faith which is easily available to all who will believe in Jesus, v6-13.

For an overview of the main interpretive approaches to chapters 9-11 see notes for 9: 1-5.

teloV (oV) "[Christ is] the end [of the law]" - end, goal, completion, termination, consummation, fulfilment, result, decision, etc. Scholars are divided as to the sense of this statement. See Moo. Selwyn, in his commentary on first Peter, argues that the word never means "fulfilment", "consumption", but only ever "end", therefore "termination." Those who accept this view tend toward the traditional interpretation that the "end of the law" means that Christ has put to bed, once and for all, the false idea that law-obedience can "establish" right-standing before God. Yet, it is hard to believe that even a faithful Jew thought law-obedience could "establish" right-standing. It is certainly likely that they thought that law-obedience could maintain their standing before God (ie. their problem was nomism rather than legalism). See the new perspective on Paul. Christ has certainly "terminated" the nomist option with his idealized teaching on the law, eg., The Sermon on the Mount. Any sensible reading of the sermon is bound to accept that Christ's words are beyond doing. Other ways of understanding this idea are: i] Christ "completes the law" in the sense of giving us a complete understanding of God's perfect expectations; ii] Christ "fulfills the law" in the sense of doing it perfectly; iii] Christ "is the goal of the law", "meeting its entire intention by his obedience of faith", Dumbrell. Commentators often hold a combination of i and ii and sometimes link it to the meaning "termination." "Christ fulfils the underlying intention of the law and supersedes it", Leenhardt. Sandly and Headlam argue for termination. Cranfield argues that Paul's intention in the passage is to display Christ as the embodiment of the law, but he happily includes fulfilment and termination. The trend seems to be that "end" "implies the cessation of the validity of the old Law", Black. These notes take the view that the word is best understood as a "goal / purpose / climax", Jewett. The Mosaic law certainly functioned to guide the life of faith, but primarily it functioned to expose sin and thus point the sinner to God's saving mercy, ultimately realized in Christ, thus "Christ is the goal of the law."

nomou (oV) "law" - Certainly Paul has in mind the Law of Moses, but a wider sense is possible: "the will of God as a rule of duty, no matter how revealed", Hodge.

eiV "so that there may be" - to, for. Morris notes the following possibilities: "with reference to", result (so that), or purpose ("as a means to righteousness", so NIV). That the preposition introduces a result clause best fits the logic of Paul's argument. Christ has put to bed the crazy notion that law-obedience progresses the life of a child of God, and as a result, has provided an uncluttered pathway to maintain their standing before God out of faith and not works of the law. "So that everyone who believes is put right with God", TH.

gar "for" - Links the verse closely to v4.

thn dikaiosunhn thn ek nomou "the righteousness that is by the law" - the righteousness out of [the] law. Note how "rightousness out of faith", 9:30, takes the same form. Again, "righteousness" is best understood in a judicial sense, of "right before God", of "covenant compliant", Dumbrell. This right-standing "of the law" is possibly an instrumental genitive, "by means of the law", but with the preposition possibly expressing origin/source, "derived from", Fitzmyer, "comes from the law", Jewett. That is, referring to a covenant status that finds its source / its being (even "based on", RSV) in submission to the Law of Moses. New perspective commentators view this as, if not a positive statement, at least neutral, since the law properly expressed covenant status prior to the coming of Christ. Yet, a negative sense seems best. There is no right-standing before God based on the law, because to gain this standing, a person has to do it. So, Paul is contrasting the "right-standing that rests on the law" with the "right-standing that rests on faith." One works and one doesn't. Law never worked to maintain, nor even progress covenant standing, rather it served to both lead to faith and actualize faith, pointing beyond itself to the realization of God's mercy in Christ.

oJ poihsaV (poiew) aor. part. "does" - the doing [man]. The person who tries to establish their standing before God by obeying the law, by doing what the law requires; "those who keep the law", JB. As noted above, we often see the law-obedience heresy in terms of obeying the law as the means of gaining right-standing before God. This was not a Jewish concept. A person was a Jew by grace, it was through the gracious act of a sovereign God that they were born into a divinely blessed family, into the covenant. Law-obedience was adopted as the means of maintaining that privileged position, but of course, it doesn't work that way, in fact, it works to make sin more sinful and thus drive the sinner to rest (with Abraham) on the faithfulness of God. Our standing before God rests totally on God's faithfulness in Christ. Paul's focus on this issue is driven by the fact that the same heresy (sanctification by obedience) was infecting the early church.

zhsetai (zaw) fut. "live" - This is always a tricky word as it can mean: i] "to exist"; ii] "to conduct oneself" and iii] "to come alive and exist in a resurrected body in eternity." The natural drift is toward the third option, "shall have life by it", REB, but the second option is best here.

en "by" - in, by, with, to.. The preposition is obviously taking an instrumental sense. A person who obeys the law ("does") as a means to maintain right-standing in the presence of God, will obviously be a person who conducts themselves ("will live") by means of those laws; "he who performs the righteousness required by the law shall live by that righteousness", Weymouth. Obviously, no such person exists; "an impossible task", adds Barrett.

ek + gen. "[but the righteousness] that is by [faith]" - of, out of, from. Again possibly an instrumental sense applies, "through faith", TEV; "by faith", NEB, but origin is probably be intended, eg. "righteousness based on faith", RSV. "The righteousness ... which is grounded in faith", Cassirer.

pistews (iV ewV) "faith" - As already noted in previous studies, "faith" for Paul is not just our "belief", but primarily the "faith of Christ", his faithfulness to the cross. So, the "righteousness", right-standing before God / covenant compliance, that is "out of faith", is a standing which rests on the faithfulness of Christ and our faith/belief in his faithfulness.

legei mh eiphV (legw) "do not say" - says no say. See above. Paul uses a typical literary device of his time by having a virtue (here "righteousness" (right-standing before God) speak. The important observation to make is that it speaks in the words of the Old Testament. Paul alludes to Deuteronomy 30:11-14 where Moses makes the point that the keeping of the law is not beyond the people, ie. so remote that keeping it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven, or descending into the deep. Of course, sin made the law impossible to keep, but divine mercy makes its legal keeping possible. Paul has justification (being set right before God) say the same thing, namely, what she demands is not difficult; her demand is faith.

katagagein (katagw) aor. inf. "to bring [Christ] down" - To say that a right-standing before God that rests on faith is beyond human capability is to demand the Christ descend to earth again and deal again with sin.

abusson (oV) "the deep" - deep. Here, the abyss, Sheol, the place of the dead. Paul reworks the actual quote from Deuteronomy ("who will cross over the sea to get it?") and makes it fit with Jesus' descent into Sheol (the place of the dead, the tomb, but certainly not our concept of hell). The point is the same as above. Right-standing before God is an easy ask, it is simply a matter of resting on what Christ has done for us. To strive for right-standing is to undermine the consequences of Christ's resurrection. It is like working to repeat what Christ has already done - descending into the abyss to raise him up again.

to rJhma (a atoV) "the word" - The way is the way of faith and it definitely is an easy way forward. We need only respond to a "message that calls for faith" TH.

pistewV (iV ewV) "faith" - here the "word of faith" is obviously the gospel. The gospel proclaims that God's saving mercy in now ours to claim as a gift of grace. It's not too high or too deep as though it is beyond us.

khrussomen (khrussw) pres. "we are proclaiming" - we preach. Present tense indicates the continued action of evangelizing, proclaiming the gospel.

oJti "that" - that, because, since. The NIV has "that" in the sense that the verse supplies the content of the message/gospel, Morris etc., but a causal "because" is a possibility, ie. the message is proclaimed because it has Christ as its content, eg. Cranfield, a content that is simple to grasp, eg. Moo. Possibly introducing a statement in its own right, eg. Barclay, CEV. The context fits Moo's suggestion.

ean + subj. "if" - Forming a conditional sentence, 3rd. class.

oJmologhshV (oJomologew) aor. subj. "you confess" - you confess, agree, proclaim. Here most likely it means "acknowledge", Goodspeed, although not necessarily public acknowledgement. This verse does seem to be a confessional formula for a new believer. Note, Paul follows the order of Deut.30:14 with "acknowledge" before "believe". He restates his point in v10 with the more natural order of "believe" followed by "acknowledge".

kurion (oV) "Lord" - The confessional formula affirms Jesus as sharing authority with Jehovah, given that "Lord" is constantly ascribed to Jehovah in the Greek Old Testament (LXX). The term "Lord", when applied to Jesus, initially meant "master", but came to convey the very incarnate nature of Christ - God with us.

pisteushV (pisteuw) en th/ kardia/ "believe in your heart" - you believe in the heart. The center of your reasoning, mind, given that "heart" in Greek thought is not the center of our emotions, but the center of reason.

hgeiren (egeirw) aor. "raised" - raise. Here again the substance of the gospel, the decisive and distinctive belief of Christians. It is the primary article of our faith on which we either stand or fall. If Christ lives then we live also. Paul again identifies the resurrection as the distinctive focus of Christian belief, rather than the crucifixion. A point often forgotten in modern gospel presentations.

swqhsh/ (swzw) fut. pas. "saved" - Here referring to the eschatological end of all things, thus eternal life.

pisteuetai (pisteuw) pas. "you believe" - one believes. An impersonal passive, as with "confess" = one confesses. "For it is the heart's belief in Christ which brings a person into a right relationship with God, and it is the open assertion of that belief with the lips which brings a person to salvation", Barrett. It is not wise to differentiate between believing and acknowledging. Both are but outward and inward expressions of a single act.

gar "for" - A reason for the value of belief, indicating that a person's believing in Christ is the issue for Paul, not so much the outward "acknowledgement" of that belief.

kataiscunqhsetai (kataiscunomai) fut. pas. "put to shame" - be shamed. Here in the sense of abandoned by God, Isaiah 28:16.

ou diastolh (h) "no difference" - no distinction. The way of salvation that rests on faith (Christ's faithfulness and our belief/faith) is the only way for both Jew and Gentile; "this includes everyone", TEV.

oJ autoV kurioV pantwn "the same Lord is Lord of all" - the same Lord of all. An example of an ellipsis where "is Lord" is understood and so left out. Which "Lord" is intended, God or Christ? Given v9, most likely Jesus is intended.

epikaloumenouV (epikalew) pres. mid. part. "call on" - calling on. In the middle voice the word means call upon, appeal, address. Our word "ask" will probably do and so here Paul identifies another element in the process of Christian belief: believe, acknowledge, ask...... Mind you, there is no mechanical expectation that we must use these elements in some particular order, or even that we must use each one of them independently. In reality, asking is another way of believing, as is acknowledging.

paV "everyone" - Quoting Joel 2:32, Paul again underlines the supremacy of faith and the simplicity of its operation.

Romans Introduction.

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