< Romans 10 >

The apostle continued to express his anxiety for his own people, the Jews, especially as they made the common mistake of thinking they could please God in their own way and refused to learn the right way from God himself.

God has plainly stated the means by which people can be counted righteous, and it is by believing him to gain “the righteousness which is by faith”. We cannot believe what God has said unless we hear it, and therefore God has brought it to us in the scriptures, “even the word of faith which the apostles preached”. God sent forth his prophets and the apostles to preach the gospel so that men and women might believe and be saved: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Isaiah 52:7).Waiting for response for Isaiah 52:7

God offers his salvation to everyone, as the apostle proved from the prophecy of Joel: “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32).Waiting for response for Joel 2:32 This statement is often taken out of context and made to mean that anyone who simply calls upon God is automatically saved but God requires more from us than that. The Jews, for example, were rejected by him because they were “a disobedient and gainsaying people”, and he will reject everyone who does not both believe and obey. Paul instructs us plainly in this letter that God requires us to know his promises, to believe them, to be baptized into Christ, and thereafter to serve righteousness.

There is no profit in having a zeal of God which is not according to knowledge. We must first learn the true faith which now comes from the scriptures alone: “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. We can only please God by having this faith and looking for the future reward he has promised Hebrews 11:6Waiting for response for Hebrews 11:6