They Must Hear
If you’ve spent any significant amount of time listening to sermons, you’ve doubtlessly heard the following verses preached.
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!”
Romans 10:14-15
Paul clearly has a passion for the people of Israel to believe in Jesus. Many preachers use these same verses in an effort to stir up a similar passion for evangelism in their listeners. However, this is not actually a passage on encouragement to evangelize.
A Disobedient People
Instead, the context of this passage is a lamentation. Even the very next verse makes this apparent.
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
Romans 10:16
Instead of this being a call to tell the people of Israel about their Christ, it is him discussing the reality that even after the message has reached a people, some will still reject it.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
Romans 10:17-18
and their words to the ends of the world.”
He then reflects upon the possible objection that they just lack understanding. Perhaps it was a problem of presentation and they just don’t get it yet.
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;
Romans 10:19-20
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
However, God had already proclaimed that he would make Israel jealous with a “foolish nation”. How? This nation without understanding would comprehend enough to accept God. The gospel is so accessible God would be found by those who did not even seek him! He would be revealed to those not even asking.
Therefore, it is not that Israel is just slow to understand. Those not even trying to understand would yet accept the gospel (here he is talking about the gentle nations).
It’s Arrogence
Paul then states the conclusion of this matter.
But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Romans 10:21
It’s not that God’s offer of salvation has not reached them. He’s held out his hands all day long! It’s that they are disobedient and contrary. They don’t want to submit themselves to the gospel of Christ. They instead wish to oppose and resist it.
God’s Remnant
However, that’s not to say all of Israel was unrepentant.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Romans 11:1-5
The foundation of the church were the believing of Israel. Not just the apostles, but also many thousands of disciples.
In another post, I covered a larger theme within which we find this section. It is all about the concept of “remnant” which is how God operates in so many cases in the past it should really be the understanding the church has for how he redeems a people.
We tend to think of the redemption of a people or nation as a matter of applying constant conversion pressure until every last individual comes to agree. However, throughout Biblical history, the way God has operated is to ensure that the people, as a whole, are exposed to his commands and promises. Then, when those who have rejected him reach a tipping point of wickedness, he brings judgement and refines the people by removing those who do not believe in him.
This understanding should fundamentally alter how the church views its roll in our current moment. The church has stretched herself so thin throwing herself at those who have already heard, thinking perhaps this time we can make them understand. However, judgement is coming (as it always has in all of history) and God will preserve for himself a people.
A mission for believers is certainly to make sure the message spreads to every tribe and nation. However, it is not to convince every last person. Instead, once a people have been exposed to the gospel, it is our job to encourage and exhort those who believe to maturity because they are what the people will be after refinement.
