Paul begins chapter 10 with: Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. Here is the whole theme of
Romans 10. The burden in Paul’s heart, is that his own kinsmen… the chosen people of God… have stumbled at the Rock. His whole argument here, is Jewish in nature. His kinsmen just can’t grasp the calendar-splitting events of late. Their time honored law-for-righteousness era had ended. Did Israel still love God? Oh yes, their famous zeal was still intact. But Paul now proposes that their zeal is: not according to knowledge. So, in the 10th chapter of Romans, the wise apostle takes them to task, by placing the argument in their own backyard. He quotes
Leviticus 18:5 and
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 from their revered Pentateuch, as the basis for his case. Failing to understand these two scriptures, you’ll never get Paul’s argument here. He’s not discussing the nuts and bolts of New Testament salvation…especially one differing from his own experience. His is a much larger agenda. He’s trying to illustrate…by contrast and comparison…the monumental change in covenant, in dispensation, and in salvation that has recently occurred.
In
Romans 10:5, Paul quotes the very heart of the 2,000 year old law-for-righteousness doctrine: Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord. During the law, your salvation depended on daily keeping all of God’s statutes and judgments. No wiggle room here. No appeals. It was a faithless salvation… available only to Israel…and depended entirely on each man’s performance. Yet it was their law, given to them by their God…and believe it or don‘t, the rest of the world was lost without God. That‘s a tough one, I know. But it‘s the truth. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith; but, the man that doeth them shall live in them.
If there is one thing Israel proved to the world, it is this: God never issued His law, in the hope that man could keep it. His law is an elaborate revelation of his holiness, his righteousness, and his justice. Its purpose was to show us just how far we’d fallen, and how desperately we needed His help. Jesus didn’t throw a grace blanket over the law, and make things easier. Quite the opposite…He actually raised the bar. Before Pentecost, if you had sex outside of marriage, you were guilty of adultery. Now, the guilt is the same, for only looking at a woman with lust in your heart. An eye for an eye is replaced with turning the other cheek. Thou shalt not kill is upgraded to guarding against anger. The Lord wanted to make something perfectly clear: attaining God’s righteousness without help is humanly impossible. Having cornered the harlot in an alley, we all must drop our stones.
The Christ-for-righteousness doctrine is far superior to the law-for-righteousness. In this new and living way, salvation comes not from lawful obedience, but from utter dependence: not from strength, but from weakness; not from works of the law, but from faith in a satisfied law…in a finished work. Paul is brilliant in contrasting these two covenants, to drive home his point. He reasons that the Law of Moses wasn’t hidden in a wooden box, and stashed in a remote corner of heaven. Nobody needed to scale Jacob’s ladder, find it, and bring it back to the Israelites. No, it was written by God, and read aloud for all to hear. Strangely, it also agreed with the inner voice of conscience. The only thing required by Israel, was to do it … to keep the law. So it is with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Man played no part in His appearing, in His resurrection, in His glorification, in His securing of the new covenant, or in it’s availability to all flesh. All that it requires of man, is to believe in its veracity. But it is precisely here, that the Roman Road travelers get crossed up. Believing the Gospel, does not excuse us from obeying the Gospel mandates. Obeying the Gospel is believing the Gospel. Of course we must believe to be saved. If we don’t believe, then obedience is not even an issue. Billions of demons…and the devil himself, believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world. But for them, obeying the gospel is not an option.
The Philippian jailer is a good example. God had busted up his prison, and all the inmates were free to run. Poor guy was ready to kill himself…but Paul stops him. He and Silas assure him nobody’s running. So the trembling jailer falls at their feet, and asks: … sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Pull this verse out of context, and now we have license to preach the Roman Road. Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you’re instantly saved. Forget that we left out repentance. Never mind that we just qualified all the devils in and out of hell for salvation. See, here’s the thing. This poor jailer didn’t have a clue who this Jesus fella was…or what He’d accomplished. He was a Roman soldier, and CNN news hadn’t reached Philippi yet. There was no 6 o’clock report, on Jesus the Christ. So, how could he possibly believe in Him of whom he had not heard? Jesus who? That’s why, in the very next verse, we find Paul and Silas preaching the gospel to him. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in His house. Of course you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved…so sit down, and let me tell you who He is, what He did, and what He said you must do. What was Paul’s message? We may never know. But what we do know is pretty telling. Apparently, his message…the word of the Lord…had mandates. Even though it’s midnight, this jailer herds his whole family into the night, to obey Paul’s gospel message.
The Roman Road doctrine has spawned its own litany of fads and sayings in these last days. “believe on Jesus as your personal savior”…the WWJD bracelets…“accept Jesus into your heart”…reciting the sinner’s prayer while every head is bowed, every eye closed…“make a decision for Christ”…the “real men still seek Him” bumper sticker…“acknowledge Jesus as Lord of your life”…“Jesus is just alright with me”…ad nauseum. We’ve turned the bloodied and beaten Savior into a cash cow…the merchandizing of the Master.
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