Romans 10:12 - Meaning and Application

The apostle’s point in these verses is clear: there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles in the way God accepts people. In Christ, “there is neither Greek nor Jew” (Colossians 3:11). God does not save some because they are Jews or reject others because they are Greeks. He accepts both on the same gospel terms.

Paul gives two reasons for this. First, God is the same to all. “The same Lord over all is rich to all” who call on him. There is not one God who is kinder to Jews and another who is less kind to Gentiles. He is the same God for all people, a common Father to all mankind.

When God revealed his name as “the Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful,” he was showing what he is to all who seek him. He is not just good, but rich in goodness. He has enough to supply everyone, and he is ready to give. He is both able and willing. He is rich toward all who call on him, generous in giving his favor to them.

Still, we must do something if we want to enjoy this bounty, and that is very little: we must call on him. He has said he will be asked for these things (Ezekiel 36:37). If something is not worth asking for, it is not worth having. Prayer is simply drawing from his fullness as needs arise.

Second, the promise is the same for all: “Whoever shall call” on the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). One person as much as another, without exception. Paul says this wide promise to Jews and Gentiles should not surprise us, because the prophet had already said it (Joel 2:32). Here, calling on the name of the Lord means all of practical religion. A Christian life is a life of prayer. It means knowing our dependence on God, giving ourselves fully to him, and expecting everything from him by faith. Whoever calls on him in this way will be saved. It is simply ask and receive.

Paul then shows why the gospel had to be preached to the Gentiles, which made the Jews angry with him because he was their apostle and preached to them. He shows that the Gentiles had to hear the message before they could share in this promise.

People cannot call on someone they have not believed in. If they do not believe that he is God, they will not pray to him. What purpose would that serve? Faith is absolutely necessary for prayer. We cannot pray rightly, or in a way God accepts, without faith. “Whoever comes to God must believe” (Hebrews 11:6). Before the Gentiles believed the true God, they were calling on idols, saying, “O Baal, hear us.”

They also cannot believe in someone they have not heard about. Some form of God’s revelation must reach us before we can receive it and agree with it. We are not born with it. Hearing includes reading as well, since reading can have the same result, and many come to faith that way (John 20:31). “These things are written so that you may believe.” Still, hearing is named because it is the more common and natural way people learn.

They cannot hear without a preacher. Someone must tell them what they are to believe. Preachers and hearers belong together. It is a happy thing when both rejoice in each other, the hearers in the preacher’s skill and faithfulness, and the preacher in the hearers’ readiness and obedience.

And no one can preach unless sent, unless he has both the authority and the fitting gifts for the work. How can a man act as an ambassador unless he has the king’s commission and instructions? This shows that the regular ministry needs a regular sending and ordination. God has the right to send ministers. He is the Lord of the harvest, so we must pray that he would send out workers (Matthew 9:38). He alone can fit men for the ministry and give them a true willingness for it.

But whether a man is fit and truly willing should not be left to his own judgment alone. The nature of the work does not allow that. For the good order of the church, this must be examined and approved by a suitable number of men already in that office, with proven wisdom and experience. They are the best judges, as in other callings, and they are empowered to set apart those they find qualified and willing for this work. In this way the line of ministry is preserved, so the name of Christ may endure forever and his throne remain as long as the heavens.

Those who are set apart in this way not only may preach, they must preach, since they are sent.

Paul also shows how welcome the gospel should be to those who hear it, because it opens the way to salvation (Romans 10:15). He quotes Isaiah 52:7. A similar passage appears in Nahum 1:15, and if it points first to the good news of Israel’s rescue from Babylon, it looks beyond that to the gospel, the good news of our salvation through Jesus Christ.

The gospel is the gospel of peace. It is the message of peace between God and man. “On earth peace” (Luke 2:14). Or, more simply, peace stands for every kind of good. That is how Paul explains it here: it is “good news of good things.” The things the gospel offers are truly good, the best things. News about them is the most joyful news ever brought from heaven to earth.

The work of ministers is to preach this gospel and bring these glad tidings. The word means to bring good news, to announce peace and good things. Every good preacher is an evangelist in this sense. He is not only a messenger carrying news, but also an ambassador speaking for the king. Even the first gospel preachers were angels (Luke 2:13 and following).

Because of this, ministers should be dear to people for the sake of their work. “How beautiful are the feet” means, how welcome they are. Mary Magdalene showed her love for Christ by kissing his feet, and later by holding him by the feet (Matthew 28:9). When Christ sent out his disciples, he washed their feet. Those who preach the gospel of peace should make sure their own feet, meaning their life and conduct, are beautiful. A holy life is the beauty of a minister’s feet. “How beautiful” they are in the eyes of those who hear them. Those who welcome the message cannot help loving the messengers (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).

Paul then answers an objection that might arise from the fact that the gospel had little success in many places: “But they have not all obeyed the gospel” (Romans 10:16).

Not all the Jews have believed, and not all the Gentiles have believed. In fact, the larger part of both still live in unbelief and disobedience. This reminds us that the gospel is given to be obeyed as well as believed. It is not just a set of ideas, but a rule for life.

This small response to the word was foretold by the prophet: “Who has believed our message?” (Isaiah 53:1). Very few have believed, and that is especially sad when the message is so faithful and worthy of full acceptance. For Christ’s ministers, it is a painful thing to bring the gospel report and not be believed. When we face that sorrow, it is good to bring our complaint to God: Lord, who has believed?

Paul then shows that the preached word is the ordinary way faith is produced, “Faith comes from hearing” (Romans 10:17). Even if many who hear do not believe, those who do believe first heard the message. This is the summary of what he has already said in Romans 10:14. Faith begins, grows, and becomes strong through hearing. That is why the word of God is called the word of faith, because it both creates faith and feeds it.

This hearing is not the hearing of human cleverness or persuasive speech, but hearing the word of God as God’s word. See (1 Thessalonians 2:13). God gives faith, but he gives it through the word as the instrument. So those who will not believe the gospel, after hearing it, are left without excuse and must blame themselves for their ruin (Romans 10:18). The Gentiles have heard it, at least in some measure. “Their voice has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Romans 10:18).

Christ’s command to the apostles was to go into all the world, preach to every creature, and make disciples of all nations. They carried out that command with tireless effort and remarkable success. Paul’s own work reached far and wide, as seen in (Romans 15:19). Even to Britain, one of the farthest parts of the world, the gospel came within a few years after Christ’s ascension. That is why the gift of tongues was first given so richly to the apostles (Acts 2). Paul is plainly drawing on (Psalm 19:4), where creation’s witness goes out to all the earth. As the sun, moon, and stars once published the work of creation, so gospel preachers now publish the work of redemption to all the world.

The Jews also heard the message, and Paul proves this from the Old Testament (Romans 10:19-21). He shows that they should have known the Gentiles would be called in, from both Moses and Isaiah. First, he quotes (Deuteronomy 32:21): “I will make you jealous.” The Jews not only heard the offer, they saw the Gentiles accepting it and enjoying its blessings, and this stirred their anger. To the Jews, the Gentiles were like the younger son in the parable, welcomed back after repentance, while they envied that welcome (Luke 15). The Gentiles are called “a no people” and “a foolish nation,” meaning they were not God’s professing people.

No matter how much human cleverness and learning a people may have, if they are not God’s people, they are foolish in the end. That was the state of the Gentile world before, though God made them his people and made Christ their wisdom from God. We can see how deeply this angered the Jews in (Acts 13:45; Acts 17:5, 13; Acts 22:22). Their rage was itself part of the judgment named in Deuteronomy. God often turns people’s own sin into their punishment. A person needs no worse misery than being left to the violent rage of his own desires.

Second, Paul quotes (Isaiah 65:1-2), where Isaiah speaks very boldly, indeed boldly enough to speak plainly about his own people being rejected. Those who want to stay faithful need such courage. Anyone who means to please God must not be afraid of displeasing people. Isaiah speaks clearly about God’s gracious welcome to the Gentiles and Israel’s stubborn resistance to God’s open invitation.

Of God’s goodness to the Gentiles he says, “I was found by those who did not seek me” (Romans 10:20). The normal pattern is, seek and find, but that is a rule for us, not for God. God often lets himself be found by people who were not looking for him. His grace is his own, and he gives it as he chooses. He goes before us with the richest blessings of his goodness. So he revealed himself to the Gentiles by sending them the light of the gospel, while they were still following false gods and serving idols. Was this not our own case as well? Did God not begin in love and show himself to us when we were not asking after him? That was truly a time of love, and it should be remembered with great thankfulness.

Then Isaiah speaks of Israel’s stubbornness despite God’s kind and repeated invitations (Romans 10:21). God’s goodness to them was great: “All day long I have held out my hands.” His offers were sincere and urgent. He offered them life and salvation with all possible earnestness, showing them the blessing he was holding out and pressing the case upon them. Stretching out the hands is the gesture of someone asking to be heard (Acts 26:1) or seeking welcome (Proverbs 1:24). Christ was crucified with his hands stretched out, and God’s open hands here picture reconciliation, as if saying, come, let us be friends. Our duty is to give him our hand too (2 Chronicles 30:8).

His patience in making these offers is also remarkable: “All day long.” God’s patience toward stubborn sinners is amazing. He waits to be gracious. Here, that time of patience is called a day, bright and fit for action, yet limited, with a night at the end. He is slow to anger, but he will not wait forever.

Their great evil toward him was this: they were a people who refused to obey and argued back. In Isaiah, one Hebrew word is here explained by two words. They were not only unwilling to answer God’s call, they also pushed against it and quarreled with it, which is far worse.

Many people will not accept a good offer, but they still admit they have no real objection to it. The unbelieving Jews did not stop there. They opposed God’s message and even spoke against it in blasphemy. God’s patience with them made their disobedience even more sinful, because they sinned against such great mercy. At the same time, their rebellion showed how gracious God’s patience is.

It is a wonder of mercy in God that his goodness is not overcome by human evil. It is also a wonder of wickedness in people that their evil is not overcome by God’s goodness.