| Romans! |
 |
| |
 |
| Chapter 10 |
In this chapter, Paul continues his concern for his people, the
Jews.
Brothers, my heart's deepest desire and my prayer to God for
Israel is for their salvation.
Paul expresses his innermost and deepest desire for Israel. His
concern is that they might become a part of the salvation
process, by seeking reconciliation through the blood of the
Messiah. The word <Israel> is being put for the Jews, not for
all twelve tribes of Israel. We can make that deduction because
of the next verse.
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
might be saved.
For I can testify to their zeal for God, but it is not based on
correct understanding.
Paul knew that the Jews were zealous for God, for he had
studied at the feet of Gamaliel and was in the middle of all that
zeal. But he also understood that there was a lack in their
knowledge and understanding. They thought that the temple
rituals would reconcile their sins to God. If the blood of bulls
and goats could justify their past sins, they would have been
right. But, after the Reality, the Messiah had come – the rituals
had no further use. They had not yet come to that
understanding because they rejected the Messiah.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge.
For as they are ignorant of God's righteousness, and as they are
going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not
submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
Paul says that the Jews were ignorant of God's righteousness.
What was God's righteousness? It was perfection! The Jews
did not understand that what God, not only expected – but also
demanded, was perfection to the laws that He had given them.
They did not realize how far they were from the standard that
God had set.
But, they went about establishing their own righteousness
through the rituals of the temple worship. If they did something
that offended their conscience so far as their understanding of
the law was concerned, they would do what the temple laws
required to bring themselves back into justification with the
laws based on the Ten Commandments. However, as we see in
the book of Hebrews, the blood of bulls and goats is not
acceptable with God. God's requirement, to justify or close the
gap of sin in man, was and is the blood of the Messiah.
But, because of this flaw in their understanding, they had not
submitted themselves to God's standard of righteousness. God
demands perfection. Anything less will not suffice. When He
set the laws of the standard of righteousness into motion, He
had no concept of accepting lame sacrifices for reconciliation
back to Him when someone broke those laws. The Messiah was
slain from the foundation of the world. From the beginning it
was determined that only the sacrifice of the Messiah would
suffice to justify a deviation from the law. The law was the
standard. The sacrifices of the tabernacle and later the temple
were only a type of the real sacrifice who was to come, the
Messiah. The Jews could not get past the type in order to
accept the reality.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God.
For the Messiah is the end of the law for righteousness, to every
one that believes in Him.
Paul shows here that if we would be righteous, we must have
faith in the Messiah. The phrase <end of the law> has much too
long been isolated to itself by those who would try to prove that
the law is done away. Once we understand that the Messiah is
only needed if the law is still in force, then we can get beyond
such theory.
The phrase also includes <for righteousness>. When we put the
whole phrase together and with the surrounding verses, we see
that in order to be righteous we must rely on the justification
that is made possible through the Messiah. The Messiah is the
end or goal of the law for righteousness. We saw in the
previous verse that God's righteousness demands perfection.
He will accept nothing less. Perfection is the end of the law.
And only the Messiah lived a perfect life and became the
perfect sacrifice for the demand of perfection by God. We are
not perfect, but we must be justified to a perfect state. If the
sacrifice of the Messiah were the end of the law, as many
understand, there would be no need for justification.
Justification is only needed if the law still remains. There would
have been no need for the Messiah to die in order to take away
the law! All that God would have needed to do is to determine
to remove the law. The very fact that a sacrifice was required
<for justification> shows that the law remains.
But the effect of the sacrifice of the Messiah (justification) is
only available to those who believe in Him. Believers are those
in whom the holy spirit dwells. We become a part of the
salvation process <in the Messiah>, when we are given the holy
spirit. An unbeliever is one who does not have the holy spirit.
This was where the Jews lacked in understanding. They were
still clinging to the animal sacrifices, which could <never> take
away sins. Although these sacrifices were offered for the sins
of the people, it was impossible for them to take away their
sins. These animal sacrifices were a type of the Messiah who
would come and be the sacrifice that God would recognize.
The law so far as the Ten Commandments was concerned, was
never a representation of the Messiah. The Messiah did not
come to do away with the standard. The Messiah came to be
the reality for justification back to the standard. The animal
sacrifices were the type; the Messiah was the reality. To
confuse the purpose for the death of the Messiah with the Ten
Commandments is to show an amateur understanding of the
Scriptures.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
The Jews understood that the Ten Commandments were not
sufficient for justification. These commandments were never
intended for that purpose. The Jews understood that the
temple laws were to justify them when they strayed from the
Ten Commandments. They understood that circumcision was
necessary to become a covenant man.
It is important to keep the Ten Commandments distinct from
the other laws because God spoke these Ten Words from the
Mount and the other words were passed along to Moses and he
to the people. The context of any given Scripture usually is
sufficient to show which part of the law is being addressed.
The following Scriptures show that the word <end>, as used in
Ro 10:4 can easily be rendered as <goal>. And when all of
Paul's thoughts on this matter are taken into consideration it is
clear for those who have the holy spirit to see that Paul in no
way was suggesting the destruction of the law.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end <5056> of the commandment is charity out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end <5056> of the Lord; that the
Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end <5056> of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls.
It is most interesting that after at least one generation of “the
law is done away” preaching, the religionists are now
reassessing their past dogmatic stance. They will never accept
the Ten Commandments in their entirety because they would
have to embrace the Sabbath. However, the reason they must
make a change is because they see that the offspring of such
teaching is producing a negative result. The nation is filling with
criminals and those who don't like what they see are trying to
find a perspective that will bring the nation back to some sort of
sanity.
The doctrine of no law being required for salvation has been
sown. The wind has been sown and now the whirlwind is upon us
and they are alarmed. Can the conservatives remedy the
damage that has been done in time to keep this nation from
falling under the weight of its sins?
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth.
For Moses describes the righteousness of the law in this way,
The man who does these things will live!
The Scripture that Paul takes this statement from is Le 18:5. In
that Scripture, written by Moses, the words of God tells the
people of Israel that if they would keep the statutes and
judgments of God they would <live in> them.
Le 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if
a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
The understanding of the Scripture in Leviticus and in Romans
is that in order to live a man must keep the law, the standard
that God has set down. The implication is that if you do not
keep these laws then you will die!
It is unfortunate that the KJV translators chose the word <by>
in this verse. The primary translation of the Greek word is <in>
just as it was translated in Leviticus. The standard of God, the
Ten Commandments are no less in the New Testament than
they are in the Old Testament. The fault was not with the
standard, but with man. That is made clear in the book of
Hebrews.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah:
The Messiah came to remedy the fault that was with man, not
to do away with the standard! As the blood of bulls and goats
could not take away sin, and as sin was the transgression of the
Ten Commandments, the Messiah came to be the perfect
sacrifice that would reconcile man back to God when he broke
the Ten Commandments. To die in order to eliminate the
standard would be ludicrous. All one has to do to eliminate the
standard is to make a declaration. The difficulty was in bringing
man to the righteousness of God. There was no problem with
the law. It was perfect. It was the standard of God. The whole
plan was to bring man into the perfection of God. In order to do
that, there had to be a perfect sacrifice. That sacrifice is the
Messiah.
If a way could be made so that man could live by the laws of
God perfectly than man would live. Otherwise, as the wages of
sin is death, man would die. Through the justification made
possible by the Messiah, we could continue to practice living the
correct way and have a means of justification when we went
wrong. If God was going to do away with the standard, there
was no reason to have the standard to begin with. The Messiah
was slain from the foundation of the world, not after the plan
went wrong! In order for man to live, there must be a means of
justification or reconciliation back to the standard once man has
sinned. The Messiah's sacrifice makes that possible. Now when
man sins he can be justified back to the righteousness of God,
the standard of God, the Ten Commandments in their
perfection. That is the gift of God so that we can have eternal
life. Now we can live by the Ten commandments, now our life is
assured. The whole idea is to provide a means that will make it
possible for one to practice living God's way - without the
penalty of death hanging over him, without guilt for his past
sins. Of course, the holy spirit was given as well to give us a
desire to live godly, and to strengthen us when we need such
help.
The Jews understood that the Ten Commandments were not
sufficient. They understood that the temple laws and laws such
as circumcision were to justify them when they strayed from the
Ten Commandments and in the case of circumcision a means of
coming under the covenant to begin with.
I feel that it is important in this subject to keep the Ten
Commandments distinct from the other laws because these Ten
Words were spoken from the mount by God and the other
words were passed along to Moses and he to the people. The
context of any given Scripture usually is sufficient to show
which part of the law is being addressed, as we have seen in our
study of Romans so far.
The following Scriptures show that the word <end>, as used in
Ro 10:4 can easily be rendered as <goal>. And when all of
Paul's thoughts on this matter are taken into consideration it is
clear for those who have the holy spirit to see that Paul in no
way was suggesting the destruction of the law.
Ro 10:4 For Christ is the end <5056> of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end <5056> of the commandment is charity out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end <5056> of the Lord; that the
Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end <5056> of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls.
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the
man which doeth those things shall live by them.
So, the righteousness, which is based on faith, teaches us in this
manner: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend to
heaven?’” (That is, to bring the Messiah down from above).
Or, “’Who will descend into the abyss?’” (That is, to bring the
Messiah up from the dead). What then, does it say? "The word
is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." That is the lesson
about faith that we proclaim, namely, that if you acknowledge
openly with your mouth that Joshua is Master and have faith in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
delivered from your sins.
I know that the above is quite a chunk to take on at one time.
However, these four verses are about a particular aspect of
Paul's argument and I feel we would lose something by taking
each verse separately.
Paul is describing in these verses the difference in justification
by the temple rituals and justification by faith. In the temple
rituals everything was physical right before the eyes of the
person offering the sacrifice.
Paul begins by saying that the righteousness based on faith, or
the righteousness of God, which is made possible by the
sacrifice of the Messiah, is understood by the following
instructions. Paul continues with the lesson. One who relies on
the sacrifice of the Messiah does not say to himself, Who will go
and fetch the Messiah that He may be offered for a sacrifice.
In other words, the Jews were use to having to go and fetch an
animal and bring it to the priest to be offered for their sins. But
the lesson to be understood with faith is that God is near you
and in your mouth and in your heart.
This was the lesson that the Messiah taught to the Samaritan
woman. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth. We do
not have to go somewhere to worship God. We do not have to
go to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God. We don't have
to see some animal slain before our eyes to worship God. For
God is near us, in our mouth and in our heart. Paul was
teaching them about faith in the Messiah. God was teaching
them through Paul about their justification. The word was in
their ears and if they accepted the Messiah He would be in their
minds, in the very heart and seat of their conscience.
John 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to
worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth.
Here was what Paul taught: If you acknowledge openly with
your mouth that Yahshua (Joshua) is your Master and have
faith in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will
be justified from your sins.
This may at first sound like something that can be accomplished
by going before the preacher and confessing that you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. However, it is not something that can be
accomplished in just a few minutes. This is a life-long
endeavor. If you believe that the Messiah is your Master, that
means that you will do what He bids you do. The Messiah said a
lot of things! There were all sort of things He said. And
further, He said that He was our example that we should follow
Him! That makes this commitment of acknowledging that the
Messiah is our Master very difficult indeed! The Messiah kept
the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. How many would
stumble at that one little deed that we are suppose to follow if
we mean what we say when we confess this statement that
Yahshua (Joshua) is our Master. But, if we will commit
ourselves to a lifetime of allowing the Messiah to tell us in His
word what is required of us, if we are willing to live by <every>
word of God, and have faith in His sacrifice and intercession for
our sins, then we will be justified from our sins.
The acknowledgment that Paul mentions seems to be an open
declaration of one's life that he is living according to the
teaching of the Messiah and has faith in Him for the
reconciliation of his sins. Notice also that Paul specifies that
there must be faith in the resurrection of the Messiah from the
dead. We are not to just believe that He died for our sins, but
that He was raised to life from the dead to be our intercessor,
our High Priest, before God the Father.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not
in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (That is, to bring Christ
down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ
again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
For with the heart man believes unto (toward) righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto (toward) salvation.
Paul continues to explain that with one's mind, heart, or
conscience one believes unto or toward righteousness.
Remember the definition of faith: We hear the word and believe
that it is true and then we have works that manifest our belief in
the word that we have heard. We hear the Bible and believe
the Bible and live by the Bible. That is a manifestation that we
have faith in God. And our faith or belief is toward
righteousness. In other words, it is as we saw earlier from faith
to faith. We cannot believe today and have faith today in the
word of God and tomorrow go back on that faith. We must
continue from day to day and for the remainder of our lives
believe and live by every word of God. We believe from the
heart <toward> righteousness.
And with our mouth we make confession unto or toward
salvation. We cannot say today that we believe in the Messiah
for our sins and be justified and then tomorrow draw back and
not believe in Him. The confession we make must be a firm life-
long commitment to God and the Messiah. This is not some
moment of remorse that we confess, but a confession for life.
Our culture changes from what it has been to that which lines
up with the demands of the word of God. Only when we make a
lifetime commitment will we be following Paul's instructions
here. We confess with our mouth daily <toward> salvation. In
other words, our lives show that we believe that the Messiah is
our Master and that He was raised from the dead for the very
purpose of our reconciliation to God the Father.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the Scripture says, Whosoever believes on Him shall not be
ashamed.
The Scripture Paul was referring to could have been one of the
following verses.
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isa 49:23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy
nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the
earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the
LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Whosoever believes in the Messiah will not be ashamed. But
our modern day understanding of what it means to <believe> on
the Messiah is much too narrow to satisfy the intent of this
verse. To believe on or in the Messiah is to not just accept that
His sacrifice is sufficient to wipe away our sins, but to believe
every word of God. If we believe in or have faith in the
Messiah, as Paul shows above we will say with our way of life
and our daily confession that He is our Master. We will turn our
backs on the world and embrace the knowledge of God's word
in faith. And our faith will be a living faith that expresses our
belief that His word is true. For, faith without works is dead!
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
In this section, Paul again expresses his heart's desire that the
Jews would turn to the Messiah, for he knew that only in Him
could they ever have salvation. He understood that they were
zealous for God, but without proper understanding. They did
not understand the height of righteousness that God required.
As God required perfection, it could not be had in the blood of
bulls and goats. Only in the death and life of the Messiah was
that possible. The Messiah was the end or goal of the law. The
law demanded perfection. The Messiah was perfect and could
make anyone who would have faith in Him perfect by justifying
one back to the standard of the law. In that way the demands of
God according to His standard could be met.
God explained, through Moses, that only if we live according to
the law in all its perfection would we live. Otherwise we will
die. In the Messiah we can live for He meets the demands of
the law and is willing to justify us so that we too meet the
demands of the law. The fact that the effort that demanded the
death of the Messiah was to make possible reconciliation to the
law of God shows that the law was not done away. The
important thing was that we meet the demands of the law. That
is why the Messiah died for us.
Paul continued to show that we must confess that our lives will
be ruled over by the Messiah. In other words, He will be our
Master. We will follow what He said and we will follow His
example as He told us to do. We will live by every word of
God. We will rely on Him for our justification for sins that are
past, and continue to hone our culture until it is just as He would
be pleased to see in our lives. For in this way, we will live and
not die. And in this way, we will never have cause to be
ashamed in Him.
Home
Commentaries
Chapter:
One
Two
Three
Four
Four Continued
Five
Six
Seven
Seven Continued
Eight
Eight Continued
Jews.
Brothers, my heart's deepest desire and my prayer to God for
Israel is for their salvation.
Paul expresses his innermost and deepest desire for Israel. His
concern is that they might become a part of the salvation
process, by seeking reconciliation through the blood of the
Messiah. The word <Israel> is being put for the Jews, not for
all twelve tribes of Israel. We can make that deduction because
of the next verse.
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
might be saved.
For I can testify to their zeal for God, but it is not based on
correct understanding.
Paul knew that the Jews were zealous for God, for he had
studied at the feet of Gamaliel and was in the middle of all that
zeal. But he also understood that there was a lack in their
knowledge and understanding. They thought that the temple
rituals would reconcile their sins to God. If the blood of bulls
and goats could justify their past sins, they would have been
right. But, after the Reality, the Messiah had come – the rituals
had no further use. They had not yet come to that
understanding because they rejected the Messiah.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge.
For as they are ignorant of God's righteousness, and as they are
going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not
submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
Paul says that the Jews were ignorant of God's righteousness.
What was God's righteousness? It was perfection! The Jews
did not understand that what God, not only expected – but also
demanded, was perfection to the laws that He had given them.
They did not realize how far they were from the standard that
God had set.
But, they went about establishing their own righteousness
through the rituals of the temple worship. If they did something
that offended their conscience so far as their understanding of
the law was concerned, they would do what the temple laws
required to bring themselves back into justification with the
laws based on the Ten Commandments. However, as we see in
the book of Hebrews, the blood of bulls and goats is not
acceptable with God. God's requirement, to justify or close the
gap of sin in man, was and is the blood of the Messiah.
But, because of this flaw in their understanding, they had not
submitted themselves to God's standard of righteousness. God
demands perfection. Anything less will not suffice. When He
set the laws of the standard of righteousness into motion, He
had no concept of accepting lame sacrifices for reconciliation
back to Him when someone broke those laws. The Messiah was
slain from the foundation of the world. From the beginning it
was determined that only the sacrifice of the Messiah would
suffice to justify a deviation from the law. The law was the
standard. The sacrifices of the tabernacle and later the temple
were only a type of the real sacrifice who was to come, the
Messiah. The Jews could not get past the type in order to
accept the reality.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God.
For the Messiah is the end of the law for righteousness, to every
one that believes in Him.
Paul shows here that if we would be righteous, we must have
faith in the Messiah. The phrase <end of the law> has much too
long been isolated to itself by those who would try to prove that
the law is done away. Once we understand that the Messiah is
only needed if the law is still in force, then we can get beyond
such theory.
The phrase also includes <for righteousness>. When we put the
whole phrase together and with the surrounding verses, we see
that in order to be righteous we must rely on the justification
that is made possible through the Messiah. The Messiah is the
end or goal of the law for righteousness. We saw in the
previous verse that God's righteousness demands perfection.
He will accept nothing less. Perfection is the end of the law.
And only the Messiah lived a perfect life and became the
perfect sacrifice for the demand of perfection by God. We are
not perfect, but we must be justified to a perfect state. If the
sacrifice of the Messiah were the end of the law, as many
understand, there would be no need for justification.
Justification is only needed if the law still remains. There would
have been no need for the Messiah to die in order to take away
the law! All that God would have needed to do is to determine
to remove the law. The very fact that a sacrifice was required
<for justification> shows that the law remains.
But the effect of the sacrifice of the Messiah (justification) is
only available to those who believe in Him. Believers are those
in whom the holy spirit dwells. We become a part of the
salvation process <in the Messiah>, when we are given the holy
spirit. An unbeliever is one who does not have the holy spirit.
This was where the Jews lacked in understanding. They were
still clinging to the animal sacrifices, which could <never> take
away sins. Although these sacrifices were offered for the sins
of the people, it was impossible for them to take away their
sins. These animal sacrifices were a type of the Messiah who
would come and be the sacrifice that God would recognize.
The law so far as the Ten Commandments was concerned, was
never a representation of the Messiah. The Messiah did not
come to do away with the standard. The Messiah came to be
the reality for justification back to the standard. The animal
sacrifices were the type; the Messiah was the reality. To
confuse the purpose for the death of the Messiah with the Ten
Commandments is to show an amateur understanding of the
Scriptures.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
The Jews understood that the Ten Commandments were not
sufficient for justification. These commandments were never
intended for that purpose. The Jews understood that the
temple laws were to justify them when they strayed from the
Ten Commandments. They understood that circumcision was
necessary to become a covenant man.
It is important to keep the Ten Commandments distinct from
the other laws because God spoke these Ten Words from the
Mount and the other words were passed along to Moses and he
to the people. The context of any given Scripture usually is
sufficient to show which part of the law is being addressed.
The following Scriptures show that the word <end>, as used in
Ro 10:4 can easily be rendered as <goal>. And when all of
Paul's thoughts on this matter are taken into consideration it is
clear for those who have the holy spirit to see that Paul in no
way was suggesting the destruction of the law.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end <5056> of the commandment is charity out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end <5056> of the Lord; that the
Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end <5056> of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls.
It is most interesting that after at least one generation of “the
law is done away” preaching, the religionists are now
reassessing their past dogmatic stance. They will never accept
the Ten Commandments in their entirety because they would
have to embrace the Sabbath. However, the reason they must
make a change is because they see that the offspring of such
teaching is producing a negative result. The nation is filling with
criminals and those who don't like what they see are trying to
find a perspective that will bring the nation back to some sort of
sanity.
The doctrine of no law being required for salvation has been
sown. The wind has been sown and now the whirlwind is upon us
and they are alarmed. Can the conservatives remedy the
damage that has been done in time to keep this nation from
falling under the weight of its sins?
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth.
For Moses describes the righteousness of the law in this way,
The man who does these things will live!
The Scripture that Paul takes this statement from is Le 18:5. In
that Scripture, written by Moses, the words of God tells the
people of Israel that if they would keep the statutes and
judgments of God they would <live in> them.
Le 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if
a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
The understanding of the Scripture in Leviticus and in Romans
is that in order to live a man must keep the law, the standard
that God has set down. The implication is that if you do not
keep these laws then you will die!
It is unfortunate that the KJV translators chose the word <by>
in this verse. The primary translation of the Greek word is <in>
just as it was translated in Leviticus. The standard of God, the
Ten Commandments are no less in the New Testament than
they are in the Old Testament. The fault was not with the
standard, but with man. That is made clear in the book of
Hebrews.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah:
The Messiah came to remedy the fault that was with man, not
to do away with the standard! As the blood of bulls and goats
could not take away sin, and as sin was the transgression of the
Ten Commandments, the Messiah came to be the perfect
sacrifice that would reconcile man back to God when he broke
the Ten Commandments. To die in order to eliminate the
standard would be ludicrous. All one has to do to eliminate the
standard is to make a declaration. The difficulty was in bringing
man to the righteousness of God. There was no problem with
the law. It was perfect. It was the standard of God. The whole
plan was to bring man into the perfection of God. In order to do
that, there had to be a perfect sacrifice. That sacrifice is the
Messiah.
If a way could be made so that man could live by the laws of
God perfectly than man would live. Otherwise, as the wages of
sin is death, man would die. Through the justification made
possible by the Messiah, we could continue to practice living the
correct way and have a means of justification when we went
wrong. If God was going to do away with the standard, there
was no reason to have the standard to begin with. The Messiah
was slain from the foundation of the world, not after the plan
went wrong! In order for man to live, there must be a means of
justification or reconciliation back to the standard once man has
sinned. The Messiah's sacrifice makes that possible. Now when
man sins he can be justified back to the righteousness of God,
the standard of God, the Ten Commandments in their
perfection. That is the gift of God so that we can have eternal
life. Now we can live by the Ten commandments, now our life is
assured. The whole idea is to provide a means that will make it
possible for one to practice living God's way - without the
penalty of death hanging over him, without guilt for his past
sins. Of course, the holy spirit was given as well to give us a
desire to live godly, and to strengthen us when we need such
help.
The Jews understood that the Ten Commandments were not
sufficient. They understood that the temple laws and laws such
as circumcision were to justify them when they strayed from the
Ten Commandments and in the case of circumcision a means of
coming under the covenant to begin with.
I feel that it is important in this subject to keep the Ten
Commandments distinct from the other laws because these Ten
Words were spoken from the mount by God and the other
words were passed along to Moses and he to the people. The
context of any given Scripture usually is sufficient to show
which part of the law is being addressed, as we have seen in our
study of Romans so far.
The following Scriptures show that the word <end>, as used in
Ro 10:4 can easily be rendered as <goal>. And when all of
Paul's thoughts on this matter are taken into consideration it is
clear for those who have the holy spirit to see that Paul in no
way was suggesting the destruction of the law.
Ro 10:4 For Christ is the end <5056> of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end <5056> of the commandment is charity out of a
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end <5056> of the Lord; that the
Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end <5056> of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls.
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the
man which doeth those things shall live by them.
So, the righteousness, which is based on faith, teaches us in this
manner: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend to
heaven?’” (That is, to bring the Messiah down from above).
Or, “’Who will descend into the abyss?’” (That is, to bring the
Messiah up from the dead). What then, does it say? "The word
is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." That is the lesson
about faith that we proclaim, namely, that if you acknowledge
openly with your mouth that Joshua is Master and have faith in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
delivered from your sins.
I know that the above is quite a chunk to take on at one time.
However, these four verses are about a particular aspect of
Paul's argument and I feel we would lose something by taking
each verse separately.
Paul is describing in these verses the difference in justification
by the temple rituals and justification by faith. In the temple
rituals everything was physical right before the eyes of the
person offering the sacrifice.
Paul begins by saying that the righteousness based on faith, or
the righteousness of God, which is made possible by the
sacrifice of the Messiah, is understood by the following
instructions. Paul continues with the lesson. One who relies on
the sacrifice of the Messiah does not say to himself, Who will go
and fetch the Messiah that He may be offered for a sacrifice.
In other words, the Jews were use to having to go and fetch an
animal and bring it to the priest to be offered for their sins. But
the lesson to be understood with faith is that God is near you
and in your mouth and in your heart.
This was the lesson that the Messiah taught to the Samaritan
woman. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth. We do
not have to go somewhere to worship God. We do not have to
go to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God. We don't have
to see some animal slain before our eyes to worship God. For
God is near us, in our mouth and in our heart. Paul was
teaching them about faith in the Messiah. God was teaching
them through Paul about their justification. The word was in
their ears and if they accepted the Messiah He would be in their
minds, in the very heart and seat of their conscience.
John 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to
worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth.
Here was what Paul taught: If you acknowledge openly with
your mouth that Yahshua (Joshua) is your Master and have
faith in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will
be justified from your sins.
This may at first sound like something that can be accomplished
by going before the preacher and confessing that you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. However, it is not something that can be
accomplished in just a few minutes. This is a life-long
endeavor. If you believe that the Messiah is your Master, that
means that you will do what He bids you do. The Messiah said a
lot of things! There were all sort of things He said. And
further, He said that He was our example that we should follow
Him! That makes this commitment of acknowledging that the
Messiah is our Master very difficult indeed! The Messiah kept
the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. How many would
stumble at that one little deed that we are suppose to follow if
we mean what we say when we confess this statement that
Yahshua (Joshua) is our Master. But, if we will commit
ourselves to a lifetime of allowing the Messiah to tell us in His
word what is required of us, if we are willing to live by <every>
word of God, and have faith in His sacrifice and intercession for
our sins, then we will be justified from our sins.
The acknowledgment that Paul mentions seems to be an open
declaration of one's life that he is living according to the
teaching of the Messiah and has faith in Him for the
reconciliation of his sins. Notice also that Paul specifies that
there must be faith in the resurrection of the Messiah from the
dead. We are not to just believe that He died for our sins, but
that He was raised to life from the dead to be our intercessor,
our High Priest, before God the Father.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not
in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (That is, to bring Christ
down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ
again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
For with the heart man believes unto (toward) righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto (toward) salvation.
Paul continues to explain that with one's mind, heart, or
conscience one believes unto or toward righteousness.
Remember the definition of faith: We hear the word and believe
that it is true and then we have works that manifest our belief in
the word that we have heard. We hear the Bible and believe
the Bible and live by the Bible. That is a manifestation that we
have faith in God. And our faith or belief is toward
righteousness. In other words, it is as we saw earlier from faith
to faith. We cannot believe today and have faith today in the
word of God and tomorrow go back on that faith. We must
continue from day to day and for the remainder of our lives
believe and live by every word of God. We believe from the
heart <toward> righteousness.
And with our mouth we make confession unto or toward
salvation. We cannot say today that we believe in the Messiah
for our sins and be justified and then tomorrow draw back and
not believe in Him. The confession we make must be a firm life-
long commitment to God and the Messiah. This is not some
moment of remorse that we confess, but a confession for life.
Our culture changes from what it has been to that which lines
up with the demands of the word of God. Only when we make a
lifetime commitment will we be following Paul's instructions
here. We confess with our mouth daily <toward> salvation. In
other words, our lives show that we believe that the Messiah is
our Master and that He was raised from the dead for the very
purpose of our reconciliation to God the Father.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the Scripture says, Whosoever believes on Him shall not be
ashamed.
The Scripture Paul was referring to could have been one of the
following verses.
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isa 49:23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy
nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the
earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the
LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Whosoever believes in the Messiah will not be ashamed. But
our modern day understanding of what it means to <believe> on
the Messiah is much too narrow to satisfy the intent of this
verse. To believe on or in the Messiah is to not just accept that
His sacrifice is sufficient to wipe away our sins, but to believe
every word of God. If we believe in or have faith in the
Messiah, as Paul shows above we will say with our way of life
and our daily confession that He is our Master. We will turn our
backs on the world and embrace the knowledge of God's word
in faith. And our faith will be a living faith that expresses our
belief that His word is true. For, faith without works is dead!
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
In this section, Paul again expresses his heart's desire that the
Jews would turn to the Messiah, for he knew that only in Him
could they ever have salvation. He understood that they were
zealous for God, but without proper understanding. They did
not understand the height of righteousness that God required.
As God required perfection, it could not be had in the blood of
bulls and goats. Only in the death and life of the Messiah was
that possible. The Messiah was the end or goal of the law. The
law demanded perfection. The Messiah was perfect and could
make anyone who would have faith in Him perfect by justifying
one back to the standard of the law. In that way the demands of
God according to His standard could be met.
God explained, through Moses, that only if we live according to
the law in all its perfection would we live. Otherwise we will
die. In the Messiah we can live for He meets the demands of
the law and is willing to justify us so that we too meet the
demands of the law. The fact that the effort that demanded the
death of the Messiah was to make possible reconciliation to the
law of God shows that the law was not done away. The
important thing was that we meet the demands of the law. That
is why the Messiah died for us.
Paul continued to show that we must confess that our lives will
be ruled over by the Messiah. In other words, He will be our
Master. We will follow what He said and we will follow His
example as He told us to do. We will live by every word of
God. We will rely on Him for our justification for sins that are
past, and continue to hone our culture until it is just as He would
be pleased to see in our lives. For in this way, we will live and
not die. And in this way, we will never have cause to be
ashamed in Him.
Home
Commentaries
Chapter:
One
Two
Three
Four
Four Continued
Five
Six
Seven
Seven Continued
Eight
Eight Continued