The author begins chapter ten with a fervent desire for the physical Israel, namely, that they may be saved. He acknowledges that the Jews are zealous toward God – just not according to knowledge. In this, we must judge the way they think and the beliefs they form. The author boldly states that the Jews are ignorant of the righteousness of God. Instead of knowing and submitting themselves to the righteousness of God, the Jews have tried to establish their own righteousness. The point he wants us to understand about the old testament law is that Jesus Christ is the goal that the law strives to apprehend. For every believer, Jesus Christ is the end result. If you want to be righteous, be Jesus.
The author speaks of attitude, of perception. He speaks of the difference between two kinds of righteousness. In his explanation for new testament believers, the author turns to old testament writers. Moses, for example, describes the kind of righteousness that is obtained through the keeping of the law only – that a man who does such things shall live in them. In other words, what you practice today is what you will obtain tomorrow. The author counters by describing the mindset of faith. The mind of the believer should not lift itself up in the vain attempt to bring Christ down from heaven to the level of the common man. Neither should the mind of faith seek in any way to bring Jesus back up from the grave. That is a situation that is not ours to control.
The mindset of faith, rather, takes this attitude: The Word (Jesus Christ) is alive and well in the very words we speak among ourselves – in our daily conversation. He lives in the way we think, in the way we act out our faith toward our fellow man. Lastly, he lives in the propagation of the gospel. How near is the living Christ? He is right here and right now. He and the believer are one.
Faith in Jesus Christ (that God raised him from the dead) and public open confession with the mouth, that is to say, belief and salvation, are two sides of the coin that is oneness with him. The author explains this through a scriptural quote which may be Isaiah forty-five verse seventeen. Go ahead, take a moment to look it up.
He goes on to assert that believers are found equally among the Jews and the gentiles. He asserts that one and the same God will give salvation to any believer that calls on the name of the Lord.
Based on Isaiah fifty-two verse seven, the author asked a series of four interconnected questions in verses fourteen and fifteen. First, the verse from Isaiah. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”
So, even the gentiles will be saved if they call upon the name of the Lord. But, how will they ever call on him if they have never believed? How will they ever believe since they have never even heard of him? Moreover, the opportunity of them hearing depends on someone preaching to them. Lastly, there will be no preacher unless he is sent.
Working this chain of logic in reverse, we see that preachers are chosen and sent. Those who preach to the gentiles are chosen expressly for that purpose. Preaching to the gentiles is as much the will of God as is preaching to the Jews. The preachers go out and the gentiles learn of God's will, of salvation and grace. Believing on God, believing in Christ, is prerequisite to calling on his name for salvation.
In verses sixteen and seventeen, the author returns to Isaiah, quoting the prophet thus, “Lord, who hath believed our report?” He claims that even among those who are chosen, who have been raised up in the law and prophets, there was a percentage who had chosen not to believe. They were disobedient, having deliberately chosen not to hear the report. They had turned a cold shoulder, a blind eye, and a deaf ear to the word. In contrast, all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. This is accomplished by a singular process – faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God.
The author claims that Israel should have known, in fact, there was no way they could have been ignorant of the truth. The original author of the laws they had sworn to uphold, Moses himself, said in Deuteronomy thirty-two verse twenty-one, “They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;” (this is God speaking of God as a concept) “they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”
And again, the author quotes from Isaiah sixty-five verse one, “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.” This was said about the gentiles who hear and believe.
As for Israel, the author quotes Isaiah sixty-five verse two, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good,” (here, 'not good' is equivalent to 'not God') “after their own thoughts.”
In all, the author makes a good case for anyone who is in the category of 'whosoever will.' See Revelation twenty-two verse seventeen. See Mark eight verse thirty-four. The author expands on his argument in chapter eleven.
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