Israel's Ignorance of Righteousness by Faith in Christ - Romans 10:4-10
INTRODUCTION:
Last week we got into chapter 10, just barely looking at the first three verses. Paul began by voicing his heart’s desire and prayer for his kinsmen according to the flesh, for his fellow Jews and his heart’s desire and prayer for them was for their salvation. Paul then explained how they were zealous for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. They were ignorant about God’s holiness and righteousness and about their own unrighteousness. They thought because they were descendants of Abraham they were acceptable to God, they tried to keep the law by their own effort, they had lowered the standard of righteous that is clearly set by God in the Old Testament so that they could attain a measure of self-righteousness that they thought was acceptable to God, not realizing that the only righteousness that will make you right and acceptable to God is perfect righteousness like His own perfect righteousness, a righteousness that cannot be attained by anyone apart from faith in Jesus Christ. The Jews did not understand this perfect standard of righteousness and did not submit to this righteousness of God by faith.
This morning we will learn that not only were they ignorant of God’s perfect holiness and righteousness and their own unrighteousness, but they also were ignorant of the provision of righteousness available to them through faith in Jesus Christ, their Messiah, Lord and Savior. This morning we will first look at Christ as the end of the law for righteousness and then the righteousness that comes through faith in the perfect Son of God who died for us and rose from the dead on the third day. Let’s pray and then get into our Scripture passage for this morning.
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 10:4-10. If you are able please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 10:4-10,
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down), or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).’ But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:4–10, NASB95)[1]
JESUS CHRIST THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Romans 10:4a)
As we learned last week the Jews believed that their works righteousness made them acceptable to God, they did not know the wonderful truth of the New Covenant, they still believed that they had to fulfill the Old Covenant by their own effort. They did not understand the truth that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness…” (Romans 10:4a, NASB95)[2] As Paul had declared in the end of chapter nine, they did not see Jesus Christ as the end of the law for righteousness, but in their self-righteousness and arrogance He instead was a stumbling stone which they tripped over. During Christ’s earthly ministry He had told the crowds listening to Him in Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20, NASB95)[3] Jesus was declaring that the righteousness of those who were considered to be the standard of righteousness in Jesus’ day, those to whom you sought to attain to their righteousness did not have the righteousness necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven, did not have the righteousness necessary to be acceptable to God. Just as Isaiah declared centuries before Jesus Christ in Isaiah 64:6, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6, NASB95)[4] Anything that we try to do by our own effort in an attempt to be righteous is tainted by sin and as Isaiah says is like a filthy garment.
As long as a person is self-righteous and arrogant, he will not see a need for a Savior, he will not see a need for righteousness by faith. It is not until he sees his own unrighteousness in light of the perfect righteousness of God that he will see his need for a Savior to free him from sin and clothe him in God’s own perfect righteousness. This is why it is imperative that when we witness, when we share the gospel it must first begin with the bad news of sin so that our hearers understand that they are sinners, and in their unrighteousness they are condemned to an eternity in the lake of fire separated from God, only when they understand this can we share the good news of the provision of salvation made by God through His grace and the righteousness obtained by faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul in declaring that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness was declaring that the righteousness needed to be acceptable to God and to escape divine judgment was only available in Christ. Many teach that Paul here is teaching that the Law was perfectly fulfilled by Christ or that He fulfilled the Old Covenant through the New Covenant. This is not, however, what Paul is saying here, even as important as this truth is, Christ did perfectly fulfill the law and not just the law but the entire Old Covenant by His perfectly sinless life, but no one attains righteousness through Christ’s fulfillment of the law but as we will see in the rest of this passage that belief or faith in Christ will result in righteousness, Christ’s righteousness made available for us through Christ’s death and resurrection, and this will bring to an end man’s useless attempt to attain righteousness through his own efforts to fulfill the law. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we receive His own righteousness as our own. Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law that He might be the perfect sinless substitute for us and suffer God’s wrath against sin and die in our place, paying in full the penalty for our sin. It is only through His death and resurrection that in faith we can receive the righteousness necessary to make us acceptable to God. Like I quoted in the end of my message last Sunday from 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He [God] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus Christ].” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)[5]
The law and any effort to keep it will never result in righteousness, Paul had already declared this in this letter to the Romans. In Romans 3:19-22 he had written, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified [declared righteous] in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;” (Romans 3:19–22, NASB95)[6] The Jews in their unbelief and because of their ignorance of Christ and His righteousness cut themselves off from redemption, even though as Paul said in the verses that I just quoted that this righteousness of God through faith was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. If they had read their own Scriptures, they would have recognized Christ as the end of the law for righteousness.
JESUS CHRIST THE MEANS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH (Romans 4b-10)
Paul ends verse four by declaring how we obtain the righteousness that is available through Jesus Christ, how we can end this futile attempt to keep the law by our own efforts to make ourselves righteous in a righteousness that still falls short of God’s perfect standard of righteousness. Paul declares that the righteousness of Christ is available to everyone who believes, it is available through faith. Israel in her unbelief missed this because they were ignorant of God’s perfect righteousness that they could never attain by human effort, they were ignorant of His provision of salvation through His only Son, Jesus Christ and they were ignorant of the place of faith in God’s plan of salvation, even though it was clearly declared in their Scriptures that the righteous live by faith, that righteousness was credited to Abraham because of His faith. Because they rejected Christ as their Messiah and Savior and Lord, they gave up the perfect righteousness that only He can provide. This perfect righteousness is a gracious gift of God’s grace when we come in faith and believe in Jesus Christ, we come into the New Covenant that was sealed by Christ’s own blood and we are made righteous by His own righteousness.
As we continue moving into verses 5-10, Paul shows to us clearly the place of faith in God’s plan of redemption. He does this by contrasting works righteousness with righteousness by faith. He begins by reminding his readers of the writings of Moses, the law, but he does not quote Moses here, but sums up what Moses wrote. Paul writes in verse 5, “For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.” (Romans 10:5, NASB95)[7] Paul’s point is that the person who relies on his own obedience to the law is held accountable for everything that the law requires. James speaks of this in his epistle and writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:10, NASB95)[8] James point is that even if it were a possibility to keep the whole law perfectly, yet you failed in one point of the law, you would be just as lost as someone who had failed at every point of the law. The point is no one can keep the law perfectly and if you are relying on your obedience to the law for your righteousness, it will at best be an imperfect and unacceptable righteousness because your obedience will be imperfect. This imperfect righteousness in God’s judgment is unrighteousness which cannot remove sin, nor earn favor with God. Paul stated it this way in Galatians 3:11, “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’” (Galatians 3:11, NASB95)[9]
In Paul’s day the standard of God’s perfect righteousness had been so lowered over the years that it was replaced with rabbinical tradition, and because of this many Jews believed that they lived in an obedience to the law that was acceptable to God. John MacArthur writes, “The truths that Paul emphasizes here may be summarized as follows: First, the man who pursues salvation by trying to keep the law will be judged on the basis of that effort. Second, it is impossible to keep all the law. Third, the inevitable failure of works-righteousness results in eternal damnation.”[10] Because of these three truths it is clear that no one can be declared righteous by mere human effort which is why God’s plan of redemption is salvation by faith.
Paul now turns to righteousness by faith and he writes, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down), or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).’” (Romans 10:6–7, NASB95)[11] Even in the Law of Moses it was clear that righteousness could only be obtained by faith. This was how Abraham had been declared righteous, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. When the people of Israel were preparing to go into the land of promise and Moses was repeating the Law to them, he wrote in Deuteronomy 30:9-10, “Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.” (Deuteronomy 30:9–10, NASB95)[12] The Law contained God’s standard for living righteously, but as this verse from Deuteronomy shows God never expected just external obedience but for God to prosper Israel required heart obedience, which speaks of faith as seen in the phrase, “if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.” To seek to observe the law externally without internal faith in the God who gave the law would result in condemnation for sin. Faith in God is required for righteousness. From before the foundation of the world was made when God made His plan of redemption it always begins with God’s grace and is made effective when a sinner comes to God in faith.
Paul’s point in verses 6-7 is that, even if such things were possible no one could come to salvation by ascending to heaven in search of Christ, to bring Him down, or by descending into the abyss to bring Him up from the dead. Christ had already come down in the incarnation and had been raised up in the resurrection. In other words, the righteousness by faith does not require us to go on some impossible journey through the universe or have some supernatural vision or dream or revelation in order to find Christ. Christ does not have to be found by the one who is seeking righteousness by faith, God is the One who calls you. Paul after telling us what righteousness by faith does not say, writes, “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,” (Romans 10:8, NASB95)[13] Paul is stating that we do not have to do something difficult to attain righteousness by faith, we do not have to ascend or descend, the reason is because God’s way of salvation has already been revealed, everything for salvation and righteousness had been done for us, even in the Old Testament it was revealed that righteousness was by faith, the Jews had it in God’s Word, Paul was preaching the word of faith, they were surrounded by it but they chose to ignore it or reject it in favor of their works righteousness. The sad thing is that it is no different today and it is not just the Jews but most of western society even though if they truly desired to know Christ, they could easily get their hands on a Bible or find someone who would share Christ with them. Even in our world today most still choose works-righteousness believing it is something they must do to become righteous before God even though the word is near them which clearly teaches that God’s plan of salvation is His plan and He has already done everything for us to receive His righteousness.
Paul goes on in verses 9-10 to give us the way of salvation and how we can be declared righteous with the righteousness God requires. He writes in our closing verses, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9–10, NASB95)[14] Salvation and the perfect righteousness of God are secured by confession and by faith.
CONCLUSION:
I am going to stop here this morning. I have a lot more to say about these two verses but not this morning or we will go over. I am trying to shorten my messages; I know that I have gone long several times in the past months. So, return next Sunday to learn more about these last two verses.
In this passage Paul again contrasts works righteousness with righteousness by faith and again makes very clear that works righteousness or any external effort made by a person to become righteous and be justified by God will fail, because of sin we cannot meet God’s perfect standard of righteousness. God in His grace made a plan to redeem sinful mankind and bestow upon him His own perfect righteousness so that man would be acceptable to God and could come into relationship with Him. God’s plan of redemption does not require man to do anything but put his faith in Jesus Christ. God did everything by sending His Son to this earth through the incarnation in which God the Son became a man and took on flesh and blood and became like us in every way except for sin, He was sinless and He went to the cross as our substitute and suffered God’s wrath against sin, and His death paid the penalty for sin, He was buried and on the third day He rose from the dead proving that God’s wrath against sin was satisfied, that sin had been paid for in full, and death had been conquered. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ are sin is forgiven and we are declared righteous in the perfect righteousness of Christ, we are saved from the judgment of sin and guaranteed eternal life by Christ’s own resurrection. We will look at this more in detail next week.
Paul’s point in this passage was to show how his kinsmen, the Jews had missed all this being ignorant first of God’s righteousness and their own unrighteousness, but also being ignorant because of their pride in being a descendant of Abraham, and because of their self-righteousness, in their ignorance they did not recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah, Savior and Lord and thus did not see the need of righteousness by faith believing they were already acceptable to God. The idea that even the most zealous and devout Pharisee (like Paul had been) could not keep God’s law and was condemned and worthy of God’s wrath was unimaginable to Jews. Many Jews believed they were acceptable to God just because they were Jewish, descendants of Abraham, members of God’s chosen people. For the Jew, they considered the most degenerate, sinful Jew was more pleasing to God than the most upright Gentile. Paul wrote concerning his fellow Jews, “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” (Romans 10:2–3, NASB95)[15] They did not understand that righteousness, perfect righteousness is not about doing, but about believing, believing in Jesus Christ, whom they had rejected. Paul’s desire in writing this was to open their eyes to the truth because his heart’s desire and prayer for the Jews was their salvation.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 9-16. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 1994
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.