Romans 9–11: The Place of Israel in Salvation History (Part 4): Israel Rejects the Gospel

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:14-17, ESV).

The Requisite of Gospel Obedience

The evangelistic pattern leading to salvation involves sending out proclaimers who proclaim the good news, hearers receiving and believing the message, then calling on the Lord’s name, a pattern consistently documented and described with more detail in the book of Acts <see previous post>.¹ Paul then employs the words of the prophet Isaiah (52:7; 53:1), noting that “feet,” representing a person in motion (BAGD 696), are “beautiful” when used to carry and “preach the good news” (cf. 1:15; 15:20). But what a tragedy when the saving message is rejected by unreceptive hearers: “they have not all obeyed the gospel.” 

The phrase “obey the gospel” occurs only three times in the NT, all in reference to those who do not obey.² In the positive sense, comparable expressions include “obedience of faith” (1:5; 16:26), “obedience unto righteousness” (6:16), “you have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted” (6:17), “to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed” (15:18), and “obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). 

Note the interplay of words in this section of Romans: the verbal πιστεύω (“believe,” vv. 4, 9, 10, 11, 14[x2], 16) and noun πίστις (“faith,” vv. 6, 8, 17); the verbal ἀκούω (“hear,” vv. 14[x2], 16, 18) and noun ἀκοή (“hearing,” vv. 16b,³ 17[x2]), and the noun ὑπακούω (“obey,” v. 16a). Just as “believing” involves more than a mere intellectual assent, “hearing” involves more than just receiving audible sounds.⁴ The initial response to the gospel is described in Galatians 6:2 as “hearing of faith,” while the comparable expression in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 is “obedience of faith.” Both ἀκοή and the compound ὑπακοή (ὑπό [“by”] + ἀκοή[“hearing”] = to give ear, hearken, obey) reflect the Hebrew sense of shema.⁵ It is receptive “hearing”⁶ that engenders responsive “hearing.”⁷

In a predominantly oral and aural culture (cf. 2:13), to have and maintain saving “faith” the receptive and responsive hearing must be initiated and sustained through the “word of Christ” [ῥήματος Χριστοῦ] (NA²⁸/UBS⁵) or the “word of God” [ῥήματος θεοῦ] (BMT). In the book of Romans, only in this chapter does ῤῆμα (“word”) occur, previously qualified as “the word of faith” (v. 8) and later unqualified (v. 18). While the majority of extant Greek manuscripts contain the “of God” reading, older manuscripts have the “of Christ” reading. In 9:6 Paul speaks of “the word [λόγος] of God,” which is his customary phraseology.⁸ But since this is the only NT text where “word [ῥήματος] of Christ” is found,⁹ most text critics regard it as more likely to have been subject to scribal emendation.¹⁰ In view of Paul’s high Christology (cf. 9:5), the mainstream opinion of modern text critics is plausible, although both readings convey the same truth. 

Israel’s Defiance

“But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people’” (Rom. 10:18-21).

The people of Israel cannot make the excuse that they have not heard or understood (cf. v. 8), a fallacy preempted by successive scripture citations that reaffirm the first three chapters of this letter. Paul quotes Psalm 19:4, a poetic description of the global dissemination of natural revelation (vv. 1-6), while also extoling God’s special revelation (vv. 7-11). Next is Deuteronomy 32:21 and Isaiah 65:1 prophetically confirming the Lord’s intention all along to include Gentiles in his overall plan. Finally, Isaiah 65:2 is a reminder of Israel’s sordid history of defiance as a “disobedient and contrary people.” Such a sad state of affairs is “not because of God's unfaithfulness or injustice, not because of want of opportunity, but because they are a rebellious people—a people who refuse to be taught, who choose their own way, who cleave to that way in spite of every warning and of every message.”¹¹

Conclusion

Paul’s sincere desire is for Israel’s salvation (9:1-5), but for the most part they have stubbornly rejected God’s plan through Christ (9:6-32). Like all others in need of divine grace, Paul’s ethnic kinsmen must believe and confess Jesus as Lord in obedience to the gospel (10:1-17). They have been afforded sufficient opportunity and are without excuse (10:18-21). But such a regrettable situation does not have to be final, as explained in the next chapter.

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ See K. L. Moore, “What Must I Do To Be Saved?” Moore Perspective (30 Jan. 2015), <Link>.

     ² Rom. 10:16; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:17; cp. Heb. 4:2, 6.

     ³ Rendered “report” (ASV, NASB, N/KJV) or “message” (CSB, NIV), ἀκοή in this passage refers to “the announcement heard.” Cf. John 12:38.

     ⁴ Cf. Matt. 13:13-17; 1 Thess. 2:13; Jas. 1:22-25.

     ⁵ Cf. Ex. 24:7; Deut. 6:4; 31:11-13. See W. Wilson, OT Word Studies 211-12.

     ⁶ Cf. Mark 4:23-24; Acts 2:22, 37; 3:22.

     ⁷ Cf. Eph. 4:21, 29; Phil. 4:9; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29.

     ⁸ Only one other time employing ῥῆμα (Eph. 6:17); most often λόγος (1 Cor. 14:36; 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2; Col. 1:25; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 4:5; 2 Tim. 2:9; Tit. 2:5). 

     ⁹ Elsewhere Paul speaks of “the word of Christ” [ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ] (Col. 3:16) and “the word of the Lord” [ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου] (1 Thess. 1:8).

     ¹⁰ See B. M. Metzger, Textual Commentary 525. 

     ¹¹ W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans 293.

Related Posts: Rom 10:12-13, Rom 11:1-15

“Hearing of Faith”

“This only I want to learn from you: did you receive the spirit out of works of law or out of hearing of faith? Are you so senseless? Having begun [in] spirit, are you now being perfected [in] flesh?” (Galatians 3:2-3).¹

     The readers had apparently discounted much of what they had originally learned from Paul, so now he (sarcastically) wants to “learn” from them. The questions asked (in view of what is said later in the epistle) indicate they had been led to believe that in order to be spiritually “perfected,” one must submit to the Jewish rite of circumcision (cf. Acts 15:1, 5, 24; Phil. 3:2-3), along with other ritualistic “works of law,” like food restrictions (2:12) and special days (4:9-11). Paul considers such an idea absurd. 

     He wants them to remember the beginning of their Christian experience (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 1:19; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2:13). What did circumcision (or any other “works of law”) have to do with it? Their initial reaction to the gospel is described here as akoē pisteōs (“hearing of faith”). Unfortunately, the significance of this expression is all but lost in English translation. Surely more than merely receiving audible sounds is in view (cf. Matt. 13:13-17; 1 Thess. 2:13; Jas. 1:22-25).

     The sense is much clearer in light of the parallel idiom in Romans 1:5 and 16:26, hupakoē pisteōs (“obedience of faith”). Both akoē and hupakoē (hupō [‘by’] + akouō [‘hear’] = to give ear, hearken, obey) reflect the Hebrew sense of שָׁמַע (shema), i.e. “responsive hearing” (cf. Ex. 24:7; Deut. 31:11-13; Rom. 10:16-17).² The idiomatic phrase “hearing of faith” is clearly an allusion to receptive and responsive hearing, i.e. obedient faith.

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ Author’s own translation. In the absence of qualifying prepositions, an important question here is how to understand the use of the dative nouns pneumati (“spirit”) and sarki (“flesh”). Often the dative of means is inferred and translated as “by the Spirit” and “by the flesh” (ESV, NASB), assuming pneuma is in reference to God’s Spirit. However, other uses of the dative are just as plausible, e.g., the dative of reference (“with respect to spirit/flesh”), or the dative of sphere (“in the realm of spirit/flesh”), or the dative of rule (“according to spirit/flesh”). In view of the repeated contrast in Galatians between the spiritual and the physical (3:2-5, 14; 4:6-7, 23-31; 5:5, 13, 16-25; 6:1, 8, 12-15), these datives are taken here as representing the dative of manner, conveying the way in which the verbal action is performed and answering the questions: how have you begun and how are you being perfected? (See D. B. Wallace, Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics 153-71; R. A. Young, Intermediate NT Greek 49-51).

     ² See W. Wilson, Old Testament Word Studies 211-12; J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Galatians 360-61 n. 107.

Related Posts:

Image credit: http://18674-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Hearingloss.jpg