Our Privilege in Salvation
Lesson 18 Notes: Romans 10:14-21
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
How did you end up with these BSF Notes? Someone told you about BSF and maybe even invited you to join a group. What prepared you to accept that invitation? Perhaps you declined previous invitations before finally accepting. Whether you came seeking or skeptical, spiritual curiosity and desire had grown in your heart and mind. But before curiosity about BSF grabbed you, someone—perhaps a family member, loved one, or trusted friend— planted seeds of curiosity about Jesus. Once planted, seeds of spiritual curiosity require God’s protection and the gospel’s nourishing truth. Whom do you have to thank for introducing you to Jesus? Who is helping you know Him better today?
Paul learned from experience that God saves people through a process that involves their minds, hearts, and wills. Since the beginning, God’s saving truth has intersected with individual lives, one at a time. Through exposure to truth, God births faith in human hearts, and people respond in faith by calling on the Lord Jesus for saving righteousness. Salvation’s process begins when people hear the Bible’s truth about Jesus from someone like you and me. God faithfully sends His messengers to proclaim Christ to the world. God’s children, saved by His grace, enjoy the privilege of sharing life-transforming truth about Jesus.
With Israel on his mind, Paul spent Romans 9–11 examining God’s sovereignty in salvation and human responsibility in faith and unbelief.
Our Feet – Romans 10:14-15
After declaring, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,”1 Paul asked questions working backward from calling on Christ to faith’s inception. People cannot call on Jesus Christ for salvation unless someone shares the gospel. God gives every believer the privilege of sharing the good news about His Son.
Believe In and Call on Christ? (10:14a) – Paul distinguished between believing in and calling on Christ. He asked, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?” Paul spent the first portion of his letter to the believers in Rome explaining profound salvation truths. We have spent the first portion of our Romans study deeply pondering those same truths. Belief in the gospel’s facts—specific truths revealed by God—anchors saving faith. People must engage their minds to know who Jesus is and what He has done. However, merely learning truths and studying the Bible cannot save anyone from slavery to sin and the judgment their sin deserves.
Saving faith involves more than agreeing intellectually with certain truths about Jesus or acquiring biblical knowledge. Saving faith moves people forward to call on Jesus.2 Before people call on Jesus, they need to believe He can and will save all who come to Him. Calling on Christ results when faith bursts into action and people personally commit to Jesus alone as Lord and Savior. God imparts saving righteousness to those prompted by truth to sincerely cry out, “Lord Jesus Christ, I am a sinner. I cannot save myself. You have done everything I need for my salvation. I trust you to save me from sin.”
Hear About Christ? (10:14b) – Paul asked a second question: “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” As he opened his letter, Paul declared that he was not ashamed of the gospel, the good news about Christ.3 No one can believe or receive good news they have not heard. To believe in Christ, people must first hear the good news about Him. Facts rather than speculation or emotion undergird faith in Jesus. A believer’s witness includes a life that reflects Christ’s transformative power and personal testimony about God’s grace. However, people’s understanding of the gospel remains incomplete until they hear the Bible’s truths about Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and coming return.
Preach Christ? (10:14c) – Paul followed his first two questions with yet another: “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” For people to hear about Christ, someone must tell them about Christ. Living in the first century, Paul emphasized hearing because the spoken word dominated communication. Limited resources hindered access to written documents, and few people could read. Today, hearing does not exclude modern communication methods such as print or digital media. Still, speaking from the heart about life’s most important truth remains valuable and necessary. The truth about Christ and our responsibility to respond to Him must be communicated.
Through their preaching and teaching, the apostles made Christ’s message, heart, and voice known everywhere they went. The same can be said about people who preach, teach, and share the gospel today. God chooses to work and speak through the words His people proclaim. The results depend not on the preacher’s eloquence but the Holy Spirit’s power. Where believers proclaim truth and exalt Jesus, God’s Spirit convicts people of their need for a Savior and turns them to Him.4
People must believe in Christ before they can call on Him for salvation. Before they can believe, they must hear about Christ. To hear about Christ, someone must preach and teach the gospel. But before these things happen, preachers must be sent to those who have not yet believed and called on Christ. Paul’s cascading logic climaxed with a quote from the prophet Isaiah: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”5 In this verse, the prophet foretold God’s comfort and Israel’s deliverance from the coming Babylonian captivity. Isaiah was describing a runner racing to announce freedom, peace, God’s victory over Israel’s enemies, and the Israelites’ return home.
Isaiah went on to describe the Suffering Servant’s triumphant victory.6 Paul knew Isaiah’s Suffering Servant was Jesus Christ, so he used Isaiah’s picture to describe runners eagerly proclaiming the gospel of King Jesus. Jesus defeated every enemy while bringing freedom from sin, peace with God, and unhindered access to His kingdom. What form did His triumph take? According to Isaiah, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”7
If God’s deliverance from earthly enemies brought good news in Isaiah’s day, how much better is the good news of eternal deliverance from sin and death through Jesus Christ? God appointed Paul as an apostle—a messenger sent to tell the best news ever heard. As Paul concluded his letter to the church in Rome, he asked them to support his missionary work in Spain.8 Today, believers share Paul’s mission to tell others about Jesus and support Christ’s messengers as they preach the gospel throughout the world.9
Christ’s Voice – Romans 10:16-17
Paul’s missionary work followed the pattern he described in the previous verses: Paul preached where God sent him. As Paul preached the gospel—“the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”10—many heard, believed, and called on Christ.11 But Paul also experienced many who did not believe or commit their lives to Jesus Christ.12
Paul explained, “But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.” Because Paul was addressing Jewish unbelief in Romans 9–11, the Greek text says, “But not all accepted the good news.” The NIV includes “the Israelites” for clarity. Jesus promised to receive all who come to Him—principled or openly sinful, young or old, rich or poor, Jew or non-Jew. Despite a gospel messenger’s Spirit-given power, persistence, or love, not everyone will accept the good news of Jesus Christ. Just as people rejected Jesus, people will reject His followers and their message.13
Many who rejected Paul’s message also rejected not only Christ but Paul himself. They persecuted, beat, and imprisoned Paul,14 yet he did not become bitter or hopeless.15 Instead, Paul’s grief over Jewish unbelief fueled passionate prayer for his people to turn to Christ as he continued to share God’s message with them.16 Paul joined Isaiah in enduring hardship and rejection. Again, Paul quoted Isaiah, saying, “Lord, who has believed our message?”17 Believers reflect God’s gracious character when they grieve, pray, and persist in witnessing with humility and courage.
Isaiah’s rhetorical question introduced Isaiah 53, often considered the Old Testament’s most important chapter on the Messiah’s suffering. Paul used Isaiah’s question to link unbelief with the gospel’s content: The crucified Savior, Jesus, suffered and died in our place for sin. Isaiah foretold that many would reject the Messiah, the salvation He gives, and His messengers. Perhaps Isaiah bolstered Paul’s hope, “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.”18 God would save a chosen remnant of His people. Paul’s call to share the gospel did not depend on people accepting his message. Some would believe and others would reject God’s offer of salvation in Christ.
Jesus Himself beckons those who hear about His life and death for sinners. Faith comes through hearing and responding to “the word about Christ.” When Jesus called Himself the good shepherd, He explained that His sheep know and respond to His voice. He calls His own sheep by name and leads them. They follow because they know His voice. They will not follow a stranger because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice. He said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”19
“The word about Christ” refers to the truth God declares as revealed in the Bible, not whatever truth people choose. Jesus promised His presence when people preach the word about Him. Jesus sent 72 disciples as His representatives to preach in His name and prepare people for His coming. He encouraged them, saying, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me.”20 Though Paul’s writing displays obvious intellect, he intentionally set aside persuasively eloquent arguments. The power of Paul’s message depended not on clever words but the Spirit’s power through the message Paul had received from God. Paul simply proclaimed Christ’s death on the cross for sin, leading to new life.21 When people faithfully teach the Bible, listeners encounter God’s power in His Word and hear Christ’s voice in their hearts.
Responding to the Gospel
Paul taught that God intends His rich kindness and patience to lead people to repentance—a change of mind, heart, and life direction.1 True repentance comes from the heart. Repentant people choose a restored relationship with God and freedom from sin’s mastery instead of their old life apart from Christ.2 Unbelieving Israel rejected the revealed truth about God’s righteousness through Christ alone, refusing to repent. They rejected Christ’s lordship over them.
We cannot separate saving faith and repentance. All who by faith believe and agree with the triumphant facts regarding Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection must respond. Repentance—turning from sin to Jesus as Savior—results from hearing the powerful good news about God’s saving righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. As people hear the gospel, God’s Spirit works in their hearts, convincing them of the gospel’s truth. The Spirit also reveals their sin and separation from God.3 Genuine sorrow over personal sin before God, not mere sadness or regret about sin’s consequences, leads people to turn to Jesus for the righteousness and reconciliation He alone can provide.4
Refusal to respond to the gospel through repentance brings tragic results—eternal separation from God. Moved by the truth of God’s wrath against sin, Paul grieved for, prayed for, and preached about Jesus to unbelievers, especially his fellow Israelites.5 Have you changed your direction and called on Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, God longs for you to repent and turn to Him today.6
People who repent turn from trying to rule their own lives and declare Christ as their Lord and risen Savior.7 Repentant sinners receive Christ’s righteousness by grace through faith and enjoy eternal reconciliation with their heavenly Father. Repentance strengthens believers through a restful, quiet trust in the Lord instead of self.8 The delights of repentance and salvation are not secrets to keep but truths to proclaim to everyone who will believe the message.
1. Leading to repentance: Romans 2:4
2. Alive to God: Romans 6:11-14
3. Holy Spirit’s conviction: John 16:8-11
4. Godly sorrow: 2 Corinthians 7:10
5. Paul’s grief: Romans 9:1-3; 10:1
6. God’s desire for repentance: 2 Peter 3:9-13
7. Confessing Christ: Romans 10:9-13
8. Repentance and rest: Isaiah 30:15
God’s Open Arms – Romans 10:18-21
Throughout Romans 9–10, Paul maintained that people cannot blame God for Israel’s failure to believe in Jesus as Messiah and Savior. Instead, the responsibility for their unbelief rests in their own hearts. As chapter 10 closed, Paul addressed the question, “Is there any valid excuse for Jewish unbelief?”
Had the Jews of Paul’s day not heard the message about Christ’s cross and resurrection? To establish that they had indeed heard, Paul quoted Psalm 19:4, “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Why would Paul quote a verse that praises God for revealing His existence and power through nature? In Romans 1, Paul established that God’s general revelation through nature brings guilt on all who refuse to seek and worship God—they are without excuse.22
For salvation, people also need special revelation from God’s Word. The Bible details God’s redemption plan through Jesus Christ. By quoting from a familiar psalm, Paul reinforced the worshipful submission that God’s general and special revelation deserve. Psalm 19 begins by describing God’s revelation in nature. The heavens declare God’s universal existence to the ends of the world. Creation continuously pours forth speech day and night, abundantly proclaiming God’s glory.23 The psalm then exalts the wonders of God’s special revelation through His Word: His perfect law, trustworthy statues, and right precepts.24 Finally, the psalm concludes with a repentant request for forgiveness and protection from sin.25
Paul’s quote from Psalm 19 may have also pictured the gospel’s rapid spread throughout the Roman world. Paul confidently believed the message of salvation in Christ had reached Jews everywhere. Today, God’s special revelation continues to reach into the whole world. Like Paul, many believers earnestly preach, teach, and share the Bible’s true message wherever God sends them.
Through missionary efforts and faithful witnesses, many people have heard that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and the world’s Savior. Among those who have heard, some affirm the Bible’s truth. However, like the informed Jews Paul described, until people accept the good news and call on Jesus in personal trust and repentance, they are not truly Christians.26 The faith Paul described has three parts. Faith begins with intellectual knowledge of gospel facts, is followed by personal agreement with the facts, and culminates in commitment to trust Jesus and His saving work. The Bible insists that knowledge without personal commitment is not true faith.27
What if the Jews of Paul’s day heard the gospel but did not understand its content? Certainly their confusion or misunderstanding would then excuse unbelief. However, Paul quoted Moses and Isaiah to prove the Jews understood that God’s salvation plan included Gentiles.28 Because Paul’s countrymen understood the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, God’s Son and Messiah, they were accountable for choosing unbelief. If they had not understood, the Jews could have dismissed Gentile faith in Jesus as foolishness. Instead, grace given to sinful Gentiles apart from keeping the law made many Jews jealous and angry. As the gospel goes out today, people continue to reject God’s grace in Jesus even when they hear and understand.
Our finite minds struggle to resolve the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. If God is sovereign in salvation, how can He hold people responsible for their response to Him? And if people are responsible for turning to God, how can we claim salvation comes by grace, not works? But God’s sovereignty and human responsibility do not contradict one another. We cannot and should not try to dispel this divine mystery; we must recognize that the Bible teaches that God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are both true and go together. People must respond and repent, but apart from God’s grace, they will never choose God or His ways. Therefore, God receives all the glory for salvation!
In Romans, Paul quoted from the Old Testament to conclude his logical explanations and support his teaching.29 He included six Old Testament quotes in Romans 10:13-21:
Verse 20 reflects God’s grace to Gentiles, who found God without seeking Him. From the same passage in Isaiah, verse 21 describes God’s continuous offer of salvation to Israel. Israel had every reason to love and obey God, but they refused to repent and turn to Him in faith. As Paul’s sobering words hang in the air, hope remains. God faithfully sends His messengers to proclaim Christ to the world.
Take to Heart
Paul meticulously demonstrated that the first step toward saving faith involves hearing the good news preached. People desperately need to hear truth about Jesus. While God does not call everyone to a formal preaching role, He gives every Christian the beautiful privilege of telling others about His Son. Hearing the gospel opens the door to belief, repentance, and calling on the name of the Lord.
Paul’s fellow Israelites stood accountable for their failure to believe in Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly stretched out His saving hands to Israel. Through Israel’s prophets, God foretold His plan to save all people through the Messiah’s righteousness, not through human effort. God sent His perfect Son to suffer and die for sin. He also sent messengers such as Paul to preach the gospel of Christ and His victory over sin and death to everyone. God’s gracious promises to Israel have not failed, even as He makes Israel jealous by the faith of Gentiles.
Do you worry or complain about the response of the world around you to God’s truth? Do not underestimate your prayers and the powerful good news of Jesus Christ. Ask God to send His messengers into the world.30 When God sends messengers, He blesses and speaks through their message about Christ. Will you also ask God to show you how to support those He sends? How willing are you to speak about Christ where God sends you? Ask God to give unbelievers ears to hear, minds that understand, and hearts that call on Christ to save them. Ask God to bring healing to this sin-sick world as people surrender their hearts and lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. As James wrote, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”31
God moves His people to take the good news of Jesus across the street and around the world. Through books, podcasts, radio, TV, and social media, believers implore people to abandon what destroys them and turn to Christ. If Jesus Christ has saved you, your feet are beautiful to those who receive your message about God’s saving grace. Perhaps you feel hesitant to say Jesus’s name and instead speak generally about your faith. How could the specific truth about your victorious Savior’s life, death, and resurrection impact the people around you? When Christians quickly condemn unbelieving people without prayerfully and lovingly sharing the gospel, they withhold hope from a dying world. Where is God sending you to tell people about Jesus? Paul’s words to Timothy are true for us today: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”32
No one can convince others to believe the gospel. God alone makes His message effective. However, Jesus commissioned every believer to take His salvation message to others. Perhaps you feel unprepared to share about Jesus. If you know enough to believe in and call on Christ, you know enough to share Him with others. Practice explaining the gospel clearly and simply. Ground your message in the Bible and reflect it in how you live. Share the forgiveness and new life you enjoy in Christ. Trust Jesus, who goes with you when you go for Him. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”33
If you have not yet trusted Christ, do you have doubts about the gospel? You do not have to remain in your unbelief, no matter your sin or situation. Turn from your sin and self-effort and call on Jesus Christ now. Trust Him with your doubts. Thank Him for what He has made clear to you. Do not refuse to accept and respond to what you have heard. Ask God to help you, and He will. Joyfully receive forgiveness through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You cannot save yourself. Will you look and see the hands of Jesus stretched out to welcome you as He died on the cross for your sin? God loves you and sent His Son to save you. Call on Jesus as your Lord today. Paul wrote, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”34 Whether the gospel comes to you as new good news or good news that grows sweeter with each passing year, we can never underestimate the wonder of what God has done for sinners by sending His Son to save us.
1. Will be saved: Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13
2. Calling on Jesus: Romans 10:9-10
3. Not ashamed: Romans 1:16-17
4. Spirit at work: John 15:26; 16:8, 13-14; Acts 1:8
5. Beautiful feet: Isaiah 52:7
6. Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53
7. Pierced for us: Isaiah 53:5; Romans 5:1-11
8. Paul’s missionary work: Acts 13:45-47; Romans 15:20, 23-29; 2 Corinthians 10:15-16
9. Sharing Christ: Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 2:14-15; 5:20
10. Gospel’s power: Romans 1:16-17
11. Acceptance of the gospel: Acts 13:48; 16:14; 17:34; 19:18
12. Rejection of the gospel: Acts 17:32-33; 28:24
13. Persistent unbelief: John 6:35-37
14. Paul persecuted: Acts 14:5, 19; 16:19-24; 22:22; 23:10; 2 Corinthians 4:9; 11:16-33
15. Paul’s hope: Romans 11:13-14, 25-32
16. Paul’s grief: Romans 9:1-4a; 10:1
17. God’s message rejected: Isaiah 53:1
18. Remnant: Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27
19. Good shepherd: John 10:2-5, 14-16
20. Listen or reject: Luke 10:16
21. Proclaim Christ: 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5
22. General revelation: Romans 1:18-20
23. Nature’s declaration: Psalm 19:1-6
24. God’s Word: Psalm 19:7-11
25. Forgiveness requested: Psalm 19:12-14
26. Declare and believe: Romans 10:9-13
27. True faith: James 2:19
28. God’s plan includes Gentiles: Deuteronomy 32:21; Isaiah 65:1-2
29. Old Testament conclusions: Romans 3:10-18; 9:25-29
30. Pray for messengers: Matthew 9:37-38
31. Powerful prayer: James 5:16b
32. Preach the word: 2 Timothy 4:2
33. Jesus is with messengers: Matthew 28:18-20
34. Believe today: 2 Corinthians 6:2b
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