Romans chapter 10

vs 1


Now Paul started his discussion of Israel a chapter ago, but got distracted by the salvation of the gentiles, so now we're back to Israel.

vs 2

Which is an interesting statement to make about Israel. The whole point about the Jews is that they were given the Law and thus were blessed. But now they make their decisions about God not based on knowledge.

vs 3

So in the many years that the Jews built up a tradition around their human understanding, they had strayed from simply accepting the word of God and moved to injecting it with all sorts of human tradition. This is surely reminiscent of the Catholic church, which puts its own tradition on par with the Bible.

vs 4

While the law is valuable and from God, Christ is the culmination of that law. The end point. He is the one who is righteous according to the law. The law of God, that is, not the laws that the Jews made up themselves. Jesus had several run-ins with those, if you recall.

vs 5

My gosh, can the wording of such a small verse be so convoluted? I think the NASB translates this verse best - not the Romans verse, but the original Leviticus verse, "So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD."

So to paraphrase the TNIV - "Whoever does these things will live because of/through/by them". "Live by them" is a common English idiomatic phrase, and the translators should have known better.

vs 6-8

I never realised that these were actual quotes from Deuteronomy! I find that quite interesting. The idea of the Law being on your hearts is there from the beginning. The original Deuteronomy text is talking about finding the law - you don't have to ascend into the sky to find it, nor across the sea (so Paul changed that one a bit) so someone has to go and get it.

Rather, Paul allegorises this passage to make it fit with Jesus - he is the Law culminated, after all, so anything said about the Law can be said about him.

vs 9

This is one of Paul's classic one line wrapups of the gospel. This is the faith that comes from Paul, and that comes from the Law of Christ apparently. It is a dual message of belief and proclamation.

vs 10

A profession of faith does not mean that you are working for your salvation, or adding to it somehow by your profession. I would say baptism is just as strong a profession. The point being that faith is only faith if it is both believed and professed. Neither of those things necessarily come from us. It is the strength of God that allows us to profess openly, and the faith God gives us that allows us to believe.