Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Romans 10:5 - 10:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The universality of the righteousness of faith proved by the Old Testament:
v. 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
v. 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;)
v. 7. or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
v. 8. But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy he art, that is, the Word of faith, which we preach;
v. 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.
v. 10. For with the he art man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
The apostle had clearly shown that faith in the righteousness provided by God was at all times a condition of salvation. And he now brings proof from the Old Testament which clearly indicates that Moses taught the distinction between the two forms of righteousness. For Moses writes concerning the righteousness of the Law, Lev_18:5, that the man who doeth it will live in it. Every person that keeps all the commandments and precepts of the Law perfectly will by that token obtain life, the true, eternal life, Deu_27:26; Gal_3:10; Jam_2:10; Luk_10:28. That is the prerequisite, the one condition upon which salvation depends: perfect obedience to the Law. Not, indeed, as though any person had ever been saved by the keeping of the Law, for the simple reason that no one, since the fall of Adam, ever did fulfill its precepts. The righteousness of the Law does not exist in reality, but is a demand of God upon all men, a condition of salvation, just as Moses writes of it in the passage quoted. Moses describes the righteousness of the Law, but he does not assert that it exists in any human being. If a person thus understands the situation, he will despair of the righteousness of the Law and turn to the righteousness of faith as the one possibility of being saved.
This contrast is brought out in the next verses, where the content of Deu_30:11-14 is brought in a free rendering. But the righteousness which is of faith has this to say, the righteousness which God imputes by faith describes its own character in words taken from the writings of Moses, but applied to the situation as created by the work of Christ. The advice which this righteousness gives, is this: Do not say in thine heart: Who will ascend up into heaven? or: Who will descend into the abyss? That the righteousness of the Law, by means of works, is unattainable, the words of Moses had implied. But how about the righteousness of faith? No one should have the idea or propose to himself: Who will go up into heaven, in order to get Christ down from heaven? Who will go down into the deep, into the place of the dead, to fetch Christ from the dead? Such desponding and anxious inquiries are altogether foolish. It is not necessary to go to all that trouble, it is not required to fetch Christ from a great distance, for He is not so unattainable. On the contrary, the Redeemer is present; Christ has come down from heaven, He has arisen from the dead for the salvation of all men; He has done His work on earth and fulfilled the righteousness of the Law. In and with Christ perfect righteousness has been gained for all men. And therefore the righteousness of faith has a bold and joyful admonition: Near to thee is the Word, in thy mouth and in thy heart: this is the Word of the faith which we proclaim. For Christ, of whom he has spoken in the first part of his admonition, Paul substitutes the Word of the Gospel, the Word which had been entrusted to him to proclaim, the Word of faith, which should simply be believed, whose content, Jesus Christ, should be accepted by faith. Christ and His full salvation is always present with us, in the Gospel message which is proclaimed, in the Scriptures which are read, in the texts from the Bible which are memorized. And nothing more is needed than faith in this Word, assent to its content, and confidence in its promises.
The apostle further explains this statement and applies it to the average believer in his life: Because, if thou with thy mouth confess Jesus Christ, and believest in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. Faith and confession are here mentioned as the two requisites for salvation. So near is the redemption of Jesus to every person in the world, in the Word of the Gospel-message, that it is necessary only to believe with the heart and to confess with the mouth in order to become a partaker of all its blessings. If any person believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth that Jesus is the Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead, then he has the faith which will give him salvation. Note that Paul here represents Jesus the Lord as the summary and content of the Gospel, of faith and salvation. The thought is so important for every person in the wide world that Paul repeats it in a parallel sentence, placing a heart believing unto righteousness and a mouth making confession unto salvation side by side. The faith of the heart is sufficient for the attainment of righteousness, and the confession of the mouth is sufficient for the attainment of salvation. The faith of the heart, as expressed in the confession of the mouth, brings righteousness and salvation to the believer, and no work and merit will have this result. Just as the heart and the mouth are mentioned together, so faith and confession cannot be separated: faith must find its expression in the confession of the mouth. "The faith of the heart, followed by the confession of the mouth, results in righteousness and salvation. " Paul is speaking of a true and living faith, not of a hypocritical makeshift and substitute. In Christ, in the Word of salvation, God has brought salvation to all men, and He recognizes only that confidence of the heart which, by His working, actually appropriates the redemption and makes an open confession of that fact before all men.