Romans 9:30-10:21 People's Choice

“…Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. …Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone”.” Rom 9:30-32

In Romans 9 Paul discusses how any person, Jew or Gentile, has a right standing with God. It is the result of God’s purposeful and independent choice. Independent in the sense that it is not based on the actions or desires of the person being chosen. This is part of Paul’s explanation of why Gentiles in large numbers were embracing a Jewish Messiah and why most of the Jews were rejecting Him.

In Romans 10 Paul continues the same discussion but rather than emphasizing the divine perspective of God’s choice, he emphasizes the human perspective of choice in terms of “faith” in contrast to “works”. The nice thing in this chapter is that Paul presents a thorough narrative of how to be justified by faith. The sad thing in this chapter is that Paul shows that the Jews rejected this message of justification by faith and chose to try to establish a righteousness of their own. And perceiving the murmurings of the Jewish skeptics to his narrative, Paul goes to the Old Testament once again to reinforce his point.

So how does one become justified by faith? First of all a person must plan on using 2 parts of their body…their mouth and their heart. With your mouth you must confess that “Jesus is Lord” and with your heart you must believe “that God raised him from the dead. It is “with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (10:9-10)

What does it mean to confess that “Jesus is Lord”? Here I’ll borrow from the notes of the NIV Study Bible for 10:9. “Jesus is Lord. The earliest Christian confession of faith probably used at baptisms. In view of the fact that “Lord” (Greek kyrios) is used over 6,000 times in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT) to translate the name of Israel’s God (Yahweh), it is clear that Paul, when using this word of Jesus, is ascribing deity to him.”

Have you been justified (i.e. made right with God)? I encourage you to confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord”. One of the ideas for using your mouth is so that someone else can hear you. Make this confession in the presence of another person. Believe in your heart God raised Jesus from the dead. There is plenty of evidence supporting this historical event. Do this and know that you will be saved!