Proper 14: Epistle, Romans 10:5-17

Romans 10:5-17

Paul is dealing in this larger section with the plight, and it is a plight, of the Israelites and the gospel of Jesus. It is a plight because they are living under a darkness or spiritual blindness brought upon them by God Himself due to their rejection of the Messiah He has faithfully provided them. They do not see the salvation of the Lord, thus they are looking for God’s love in all the wrong places. Sounds like a song doesn’t it?

The Law is their “refuge.” They are trusting in their own performance from first to last and in their blindness they do not “see” that they are unable to obtain that for which they long. Paul brings into their search that God has provided all they need in the person of Jesus. He is near them. From Moses' own word, He is in your mouth and in your hearts. Now not in the way we sometimes hear it spoken about “Jesus being in your heart,” but in the sense that God has been leading and following His people since the beginning and has not left them helpless. No, God is with them. The One for whom they search is near them. And the certainty of that knowledge culminates in their confession of that truth.

10:10 reads, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Whoa, wait a minute! Do we justify ourselves and save ourselves with all this believing and confessing. No … and yes! It is not cause and effect in the classical sense but it IS cause and confirmation. In other words our believing and confessing is the result of God’s work in bringing the Messiah to us and opening our hearts with His gifts of repentance and faith. Remember, “The word is near you …” God is all the time moving toward Jew and Gentile calling, beckoning and yearning for the sinner of any stripe to receive the Gift He is so ready to give.

The confession is clear and the result? “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (10:13). We get the joy of declaring in our confession all He has done. The Word is in your mouth. Confess it!