God's Righteousness Is Revealed in the Way He Treats Both Jew and Gentile (9:1-11:36)

Paul begins to discuss the impact Israel's rejection of Christ had on the rest of the world. Actually, the subject began in Romans 9:33 and will continue into chapter 11. In this chapter, Paul is specifically answering questions concerning the righteousness of God as opposed to the righteousness of Moses.

Israel Nationally Rejected Jesus (1-4)

In plain language, Paul defines the offense Israel had with Jesus being the Messiah, resulting in their not being able to submit to God's righteousness in Christ. Israel wanted a stronger Messiah (3). Paul's prayer for Israel (1) was that Israel's zeal for God (2) was not beneficial to them; they were yet ignorant of the reality that the end of the Law was Christ (4).  

How the Law of Faith Works (5-8)

Paul contrasts righteousness based on the Law of Moses (5) with righteousness based on faith (6). He quotes Deuteronomy 30:11-14 and reminds the Roman Jews what Moses had said about obeying the heart and intent of the Law, making it clear that it was not some impossible feat. Moses confirmed one did not need to ascend to Heaven to bring Someone down, nor descend into the deep (across oceans) to bring Someone up. The word of God settles in a believing heart; even Moses confirmed such a reality. Paul agrees with Moses and states the law of faith (Romans 2:27): a heart that meditates on Christ and His word will end up obeying the full intent of the law by faith (6-8).

What Faith Is (9-13)

Paul then defines the kind of faith that fulfills all the Law. Confessing Jesus as Lord from a heart that believes God raised Him from the dead is the essence of the faith God is looking for (9). Paul takes his stand: righteousness results when a heart believes so completely that it causes the body to act and behave with Christ Jesus as Lord (10). So Paul is clear: those who believe, who trust Jesus as their Lord and believe the Lord rose from the dead, and because He rose from the dead they will one day rise, will never be embarrassed for having believed (11). Jew, Greek, everyone who calls on (confesses) the name of the Lord from a believing heart is heard and saved (12-13).  

How Faith Comes (14-17)

Paul didn't just want the Romans to know how righteousness by faith worked; Paul wanted the Romans to know how this faith came and was planted in the heart. Because the ultimate result of faith is calling upon the Lord, Paul takes the Romans down a line of logic:

• How will they call unless they believe?

• How will they believe if they have never heard?

• How will they hear unless someone preaches? (14)

• How will they preach unless they are sent?

If someone is going to believe, there must be preachers who bear witness to the reality of what God has said and done—witnesses who are then sent by God to go, bear, and tell what they have seen and experienced so people may hear the evidence and believe. Paul agrees with Isaiah 52:7: the feet of those who travel from God to give the Good News are beautiful (15).  

Paul then pauses for a moment and reflects on Isaiah's words a bit further down in the prophecy, “who has believed our message …” (Isaiah 53:1). Part of the Good News Isaiah was preaching, and part of the Good News Paul was presenting was that of the suffering and sacrificial servant. It was the “weak” part of Christ that the Jews ultimately rejected—the suffering, non-military, non-political power, non-religious power the Jews didn't like—so some rejected the report, not based on its lacking credibility, but based on the fact they didn't like the type of Messiah God sent (16).

Paul then makes his great declaration, “Faith is the result of hearing and specifically hearing through the word which reveals Christ” (17). This is how faith comes to every heart—not by hearing what your heart wants Christ to be, but by hearing the genuine truth of who Christ is. 

Have the Jews Been Given a Full Witness? (18-21)

Paul quotes Psalm 19:4 when the Psalmist was speaking of the heavens proclaiming the glory of God along with the rest of nature, and Paul asserts that, in the same way, the voice of the Good News has gone to the ends of the world (empire). Just like the Gentiles are without excuse due to seeing God's nature clearly visible in the physical universe (Romans 1:20), so God has made sure the Good News about Christ has reached every Jew in the whole empire, so all Jewish people have heard the Good News (18).

The Pharisees had witnessed the miracles and Resurrection; those Jews who were living at “the ends of the earth” had heard about the miracles and especially about the Resurrection. Just as the physical universe reveals God, so was Christ revealed to the Jews who heard the report but ended up ignoring it and rejecting Christ. Paul is making a point that the Jews are without excuse for having not heard, for the witness concerning Christ was complete, compelling, and had been shared throughout the empire in the synagogues. 

Paul now quotes three more Old Testament passages to prove Israel cannot claim before God, “Yeah, we heard but we just didn't understand.” 

• Deuteronomy 32:21: Paul points out that Moses himself made reference to people who were foolish (void of spiritual understanding) but were able to discern the truth concerning Christ. How much more the Jewish people should have been able to hear (19).

• Isaiah 65:1: Paul then goes to Isaiah and quotes a prophecy concerning a time when Israel was not seeking God and was in rebellion to God. Isaiah declared a time would come when God would reveal Himself to those who did not seek Him and were even in rebellion to Him, but they would hear God and find God. Again, how much more should all Jews be receptive to the true witness concerning the Christ (20).

• Isaiah 65:2: Paul then quotes the second verse of Isaiah 65 and simply states that God held out His hands, but Israel rejected Him. Israel did not reject from want of evidence but from want of a different Messiah. The people of Isaiah's day preferred their own political schemes, their idols, their pleasure, and their freedom to reject those they did not like (Isaiah 65:3-5). In Jesus' and Paul's day, the Jews just did not want a king who would, at long last, let the riff-raff in and exclude the included (21). Paul is seeking to make a definitive point: the Jews were not rejecting Jesus on the merits of the evidence but on the truth of who Jesus ended up being.