But what says it? The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart that is, the word of faith, which we preach
The words Paul quotes here are not his own. He takes a line Moses spoke to a ruined Israel and uses it for the gospel: God's word comes so near that a heart can believe it and a mouth can speak it.
Paul takes the verse from the last chapters of Deuteronomy. There Moses looks past Israel's failure to what grace would do for a scattered people.
In Deuteronomy the lawgiver finishes all the rules and rites of the law. He has shown Israel rebellious and ruined under that order of things. Even so, he still hints at the resources of grace. He pictures the Jew driven out of the land for being unfaithful to the legal covenant, and of course to God Himself. Yet though he could not draw near in that way, the word was near him, in his mouth and in his heart. This is the word, says the apostle, which we preach.
A word out of reach would leave a person with an excuse. This one leaves none.
According to the truth opened up here, it makes no difference at all where a soul is — here, there, or anywhere. "The word is near you." It could not be nearer. What could be nearer than "in your mouth and in your heart"? We need not, as we say, move a muscle to get it. If it were above us or beyond us, it would make sense for us to complain that we cannot reach it. But no; there is no need of either hands or feet in this most blessed and all-important matter. The heart and the mouth are here called into exercise.
The phrase "the word of faith" is Paul's own explanation of the quotation. It marks the difference between something asked of you and something announced to you.
So verse 8, in quoting from Deuteronomy — "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" — explains it as "the word of faith that we proclaim." Nor is it credulity, or blind faith as people speak of it, but faith founded on clearly established facts. It is therefore not a matter of a work to be done, but a word to believe concerning a completed work.
Two things follow from the phrase "that we proclaim." The word travels one way only, from God outward. And since it is faith's word, not law's, it has no borders.
So then, "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" — not the word that man prepares for God, but the word God sends out to be preached.
Since it is the word of faith, not law, it is for Gentiles as much as Jews, and it calls for preachers.
The gospel is God's word before it is ever yours. Faith is the point where it changes hands.
God sends the word of the gospel to us. When we receive it in faith, it becomes the word of faith to us, entering our hearts and coming out of our mouths.
The nearness Israel knew was not the end of the story.
Long ago God brought His commandment very near to Israel so that they might do it. He has brought His word even nearer to us in Christ.
The word asks little of us, and what it asks reaches both heart and mouth.
On our part the word only demands that we believe with the heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and that we confess Him as Lord with our mouths. When heart and mouth go together like this there is of course reality. Real subjection to Jesus as Lord carries salvation with it.
Not every belief is the faith this word calls for.
There is no true saving faith without repentance. So-called faith without self-judgment is nothing more than the agreement of the natural mind. It is not a faith formed in the heart by the Spirit. When the heat of trouble rises like a burning sun, this kind of human belief withers away.
- Ruin — Moses spoke these words to an Israel already failed and scattered. The verse begins where human performance ends.
- Nearness — nothing here is above us or beyond us. The word could not be nearer than your mouth and your heart, so no muscle needs moving.
- Word — "the word of faith" is a word to believe about a finished work, not a work to do. God sends it; man does not prepare it.
- Faith — take God's gospel into your heart and it becomes your word of faith. But faith without self-judgment is only the mind's assent, and it withers under trial.
- Confession — heart and mouth agreeing is the mark of something real. And since this is faith's word, not law's, preachers carry it to Gentile and Jew alike.
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among [the] dead, thou shalt be saved.
Paul has just said that the message of faith is not far away. It is near — in the mouth and in the heart. Verse 9 says what that nearness asks of a person. It asks for a confession with the mouth and faith in the heart, and it promises salvation to both.
God gave Israel commands to carry out. What He asks here is different.
Long ago God brought His commandment very near to Israel so that they might do it. He has brought His word even nearer to us in Christ. It is no longer a word about what we ought to do. It is a word about what Christ has done, and what God Himself has done in raising Christ from the dead. On our part it asks only two things. We must believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. We must confess Him as Lord with our mouths.
The title is not a polite one. It settles the question of who owns you.
It means His authority, His absolute rights over us; He is sovereign Lord... "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." To confess Him is to put yourself openly under His will, and to take your stand with Him. Saul of Tarsus did this when he cried, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" And who would refuse to obey Him? His love for us is greater than we can know, and His will for us is our greatest blessing.
The verse asks for faith in a raised Christ. Kelly points out what the verse leaves out, and what the resurrection proves about God.
Notice that there is no mention here of death, but of resurrection. Death by itself does not imply resurrection, but resurrection always involves death. So you confess Jesus as Lord. Why fear, why be anxious, if the One who has undertaken to save you is above all?... Love came down to meet you and suffer for you. But power has also entered the place where Jesus died in weakness. God entered the grave of Jesus in power and woke Him... He is for you. He has proved it in raising up Jesus from among the dead. "You will be saved" — not forgiven only, but saved.
The two things named are settled events, not hopes or efforts.
So the soul's salvation does not rest on what a person does, such as keeping the law. It does not even rest on a promise God gave without conditions, as He gave one to Abraham. It rests on settled facts: the Son of God has come; He has died and risen again. Honest faith takes hold of this sound, settled truth and understands it.
Verse 9 puts the mouth before the heart, though in real life the heart comes first. One writer sees a safeguard in that order.
The verse names confession first. That is what marks the clear difference between the living Christian and the dead world... Confession seems to be placed first for a reason. Satan's lie deceives the whole world. He would use a verse like this to persuade people that simply believing the resurrection as a fact, or as proof of divine power, is enough to save the soul.
Neither half stands alone. What the mouth says must come from what the heart believes.
It is the mouth and the heart that have the important place here — not the hands and the feet. The mouth shows what is in the heart. No one will confess Jesus as Lord for himself unless he believes in his heart. Something may look like that confession. But without faith there is no plain, honest confession of Him as your own Lord. But the two go together. If I believe, I therefore speak.
Hole warns the quiet believer what that silence costs.
Once you stand on the Word of God and are sure, confess Christ at once. Let nothing make you delay... You will never be happy without it, for you will be a hypocrite. Inside you are a Christian. Outside you are still a man or woman of the world, drifting with the stream and doing as others do. You smile when worldly people joke about sacred things, because you are afraid of standing out. And all the while you hate yourself for it.
The promise at the end is as firm as the two conditions before it.
This gospel verse has three "shalls" that belong together. If you shall confess with your mouth, and shall believe in your heart, you shall be saved. An old lady in England, who had been saved for fifty years and more, said to me the other night, "Thank God for those three shalls."... God has linked them together — a threefold cord which cannot easily be broken.
(This writer quotes an older translation. The ESV reads, "you will be saved.")
- Near — The word is not something to fetch or achieve. It is news of what Christ has done, and what God has done in raising Him.
- Believed — The heart rests on settled facts, not on what we do, and not even on a promise: the Son came, died, and rose.
- Confessed — The mouth shows what is in the heart. Where faith is real, confession follows; delaying it turns a person into a hypocrite.
- Lord — To confess that title is to put yourself openly under His authority. Saul of Tarsus did this when he asked what his Lord wanted him to do.
- Saved — Not forgiven only, but saved. The resurrection is God's proof that He is for you, and the verse's three promises hold together like a cord.
For with [the] heart is believed to righteousness; and with [the] mouth confession made to salvation.
Paul has just said that the word of faith is near — in the mouth and in the heart. So why is righteousness tied to what a person believes inside, and salvation to what he says out loud?
In verse 9 Paul names the mouth before the heart, following the wording of Moses. Verse 10 turns the order around.
He had used the order of mouth and heart as in the original words of Moses. And so in fact it is that the gospel goes out and appeals to people. We hear the confession of the mouth and trust the belief of the heart accordingly. But it is plain that the inner taking in of the word must come before and go along with the outward speaking of it. Only then is the work in a person true and full… Without believing there can be no righteousness. We are justified by faith and in no other way. But if there is no confession of Christ the Lord with the mouth, we cannot speak of salvation.
The believing here is not the mind agreeing that something is true.
This is heart belief. It is a real inward conviction of the heart, not just agreement in the mind. It is faith in God's testimony about His beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit produces it. This is the faith that justifies (Romans 5:1). This is the faith by which a person believes so as to have a share in righteousness — God's righteousness.
Another writer describes what a person sees when he believes.
To believe in the heart is to believe as having a personal interest in what is believed. I see that I need Christ and His work for my salvation, and that without Christ I am lost for ever. As one has said, "The faith of the heart produces the confession of the mouth; so the confession of the mouth becomes the proof of the sincerity of the faith."
Believing and confessing are not the same act. Each puts the person in a different place.
Faith of the heart brings him into the position where he is reckoned righteous before God; confession of the mouth brings him into the position of a saved man (v. 10). Whether the confession is made to God or to man is not the point: no doubt it covers both. The idea is not merely of someone undergoing a secret operation. Because of the heart-work within, he boldly takes up the confession of Jesus as Lord.
Why is confession with the mouth tied to salvation, rather than to righteousness?
Because salvation is a term of such wide meaning, and includes deliverance from the world, among other things. We believe on Christ as risen from the dead with our hearts, and that means our justification before God. Both of these, however — the faith and the justification — stay hidden from other people. Our salvation shows, for it is not so much a judicial fact as a practical fact — we are really saved from the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The very first step towards a salvation of that sort must be the confession of Christ as Lord, made with the mouth so that people may hear it. A silent confession of Christ in the mind — just thinking it — obviously would not do.
Confession also draws a line the believer has to stand on.
Inwardly there is faith counted for righteousness: outwardly the confession of Christ, which is salvation indeed from a world-system that opposes Him — a system with which we were all once identified. The confession of Christ is the clear break from that "untoward generation."
So what about someone who believes but stays silent?
But we must not forget that "with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." God makes much of confession of His Son, and we cannot safely acknowledge salvation without it.
When the heart is touched, the silence ends.
Note that it is first the heart, then the tongue. It is not head-work… You get right with God first in your heart, and then put yourself right with men by your mouth. Your tongue exalts Christ. The one who is saved tells others about it.
- Heart first. The heart must take the word in before the mouth speaks it out, or the work is not full.
- Real faith. Heart belief is conviction the Holy Spirit produces, not mere agreement in the mind — believing as one with a personal stake in what Christ has done.
- Righteousness. God reckons that believer righteous on faith, and on no other ground.
- Open mouth. Confession with the mouth is the first step of a salvation others can see. A silent confession, only thought, will not do.
- Salvation. That salvation is real deliverance from the power of the world, the flesh and the devil, and it reaches on to the resurrection of the body and the glory to come. God makes much of confession of His Son.
For the scripture says, No one believing on him shall be ashamed.
Paul has just linked faith in the heart with confession from the mouth, and now he backs that up from the prophet Isaiah. The promise he picks names no nation, only "everyone who believes," and it guarantees one thing: God will never shame such a person.
Paul does not argue from his own authority here. He says, in effect, look at the text. One writer lines this habit up across the letter to show how the apostles treated Scripture as the final word:
Scripture is, in all cases, the final appeal by the apostles, and — highest of all — by the Lord Jesus Himself. "As it is written" is Paul's appeal (Rom. 3:10), "What does the Scripture say" (Rom. 4:3), "He (that is, God) says also in Hosea" (Rom. 9:25), "For the Scripture says" (Rom. 10:11). Here are four examples from one letter, showing what Scripture was to an apostle.
The quotation comes from Isaiah 28:16. There the prophet says, "Whoever believes will not be in haste." The New Testament writers put it another way, and that change is the point. (Older translations read "ashamed" in Romans and "confounded" in Peter; the ESV has "put to shame" in both.)
Verse 11 of our chapter makes this point very clear. The believer is not ashamed. This comes from Isaiah 28:16. The same verse appears at the end of the previous chapter, and in 1 Peter 2:6 as well. The "make haste" of Isaiah becomes "ashamed" in Romans, and "confounded" in Peter. This is a good illustration of how New Testament quotations enlarge the sense of Old Testament predictions. The one who believed Isaiah's word would never have to flee in panic before the avenging judgment. Neither shall we.
The word is not vague agreement. Writers note the force of the Greek construction Paul uses, which appears only in a handful of places:
There is a footnote by J.N.D. on "believed" — trust in it, that is, the Stone, Christ. On (epi) implies reliance on; confidence in; the mind looking to another with trust. It occurs in this form only in Luke 24:25 and where the New Testament quotes Isaiah 28:16 — Romans 9:33, Romans 10:11 and 1 Peter 2:6.
Paul pulls one word out of the promise: "everyone." It carries his argument straight into the next verse:
It is evident that, if it is "whoever" believes in Jesus, the Gentile comes in as well as the Jew. There is no difference; the same Lord is rich to all that call upon Him. It is beautiful to see the phrase "There is no difference" come back here. The apostle had used it before with the addition "for all have sinned." Sin puts all men on a level in ruin before God. But there is also no difference: "the same Lord over all is rich to all," and everyone who calls on His name shall be saved.
The promise is not that believers will feel confident, but that God will never leave them in a position where shame would be fitting:
"For the Scripture says, No one believing on Him shall be ashamed." (Ver. 11.) Certainly the one whom God justifies can have no reason to be ashamed, but rather to be always confident and to rejoice in the Lord always. And here the apostle glories in the favour of the gospel, which leaves no one out.
That confidence has an object. Another writer points to the One the believer confesses:
But we also have One presented to us as Lord. He fills us with confidence, and in Him we glory. Who that really knows Him would be ashamed to confess Him?
Confessing Christ today can look like backing the losing side. The verse speaks to that fear:
You confess Him during the day of His rejection, when all the world is against Him. And you wait for the day when He will come in power and glory. Perhaps you fear you may be put to shame in that day. Fear not. Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed; that is, he shall not be put to shame. One day all that is reported about Him will prove true. We may need patience, but we know that He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
- Written. Paul settles the matter with "the Scripture says." He makes that appeal four times in this one letter, and the Lord Himself makes it too.
- Widened. Isaiah's "will not be in haste" becomes "not put to shame" in Romans and "not confounded" in Peter. The New Testament enlarges the prophet's promise.
- Resting. To believe on Him is reliance — the mind looking to Another with trust.
- Everyone. That one word brings the Gentile in beside the Jew. All are alike in ruin; the same Lord is rich to all who call on Him.
- Unashamed. The one God justifies has no ground for shame now, and nothing to fear on the day Christ comes. All that is reported about Him will prove true.
For there is no difference of Jew and Greek; for the same Lord of all [is] rich towards all that call upon him.
Paul has just promised salvation to whoever believes. That word "whoever" raises a question: does it include the Greek — anyone outside Israel — as well as the Jew? Verse 12 answers by erasing the sharpest line the law ever drew, and by showing how rich God is toward all who call on Him.
Paul had used the phrase "no difference" earlier in the letter. The repeat is deliberate, and the two uses run in opposite directions.
It is clear that if it is "whoever" believes in Jesus, the Gentile comes in as well as the Jew. It is beautiful to see this form of expression, "There is no difference," repeated here. The apostle had used it before with the addition "for all have sinned." Sin puts all men on a level in ruin before God. But there is also no difference now, "for the same Lord over all is rich toward all." Everyone who calls on His name will be saved.
Both statements are true at once, but they are not about the same thing.
Already the apostle has shown that there is "no difference" on our side — all are under sin before God. Now he shows there is "no difference" on God's side. God is acting in grace toward all, is rich to all who call upon Him.
The line being erased was real. The law itself had drawn it, which makes its removal striking.
There was the greatest possible difference under the law. There could not be a broader or clearer dividing line than the one the lawgiver had drawn between the Jew and the Greek. But that line is wiped out, for two reasons. First, because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Second, because "the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him."
The title "Lord over all" carries weight. So does the Old Testament text Paul quotes next, which speaks of Jehovah — the covenant name of God.
Notice in passing one of the many incidental proofs of the Deity of Christ. This verse is quoted from Joel 2:32, where the reference is plainly to Jehovah; in Romans 10 it is applied to the Lord Jesus. Then He is Jehovah! If He were not, He would not have the competence to be the Saviour of men. He is moreover "Lord over all." So everyone must bow to Him, either now or in the great hereafter.
His lordship and His riches, though, reach people differently.
Jesus is "Lord over all" whether they call upon Him or whether they do not. But the richness of His saving power is only at the disposal of those who call upon Him.
How far do these riches reach? One writer measures them against the worst in us.
The riches of the grace of God are such that they reach down to the very deepest depths of human ruin, guilt and misery. The light of divine glory reveals man's utter ruin as nothing else could. But the riches of divine grace, shown in the person and work of Christ, have fully met that ruin.
The condition attached to these riches is the one thing a helpless person can still do.
What must a person do to be saved? Simply "call" upon the name of the Lord. This was all Israel could do while they suffered in Egypt. To shake off Pharaoh was impossible; to get rid of the slave-drivers was out of the question; but they could cry to God. In the same way today, the one who calls upon the name of the Lord, acknowledging Him as his only hope, will be saved.
Yet not every cry counts as this cry.
The calling spoken of here is not the vague cry of an uneasy conscience. It is the cry of faith… Faith takes hold of the person of Christ with the firm grip of conscious dependence on Him alone. It knows there is no help or safety anywhere, inside or outside, except in Him.
This truth can be denied by behaviour as well as by argument. That is what happened at Antioch.
The basic teaching of Christianity is that there is no difference in man's guilt. There is also no difference in God's mercy to all who call upon the Lord. Those who still made a difference between Jews and Gentiles were setting this aside at Antioch.
- No difference in ruin. Sin puts every person on one level before God, whatever their background.
- No difference in grace. The same phrase returns on God's side: He acts in grace toward all alike.
- One Lord over all. Paul applies to Jesus the words Joel spoke of Jehovah. He is Lord whether people call on Him or not.
- Riches for the caller. His saving power reaches the deepest human ruin, but only those who call receive it.
- Calling is faith. Not an uneasy conscience but dependence on Christ alone — and a truth that must show in how we treat others.
For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without one who preaches?
Paul has just said that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Here he traces that call back to its source: calling rests on believing, believing on hearing, hearing on a preacher, and the preacher on being sent by God.
Read the chain backwards, and you find where every conversion starts.
How important then is the Gospel, in which He is presented as Lord for the submission of faith. Verses 14 and 15 emphasise this. If men are to be saved they must hear the Gospel and God must send it. With Him it all begins. God sends the preacher. The preacher delivers the message. Men hear of Christ and they believe in Him. Then they call upon the Lord and are saved.
Read the same links forward, from the hearer's side, and they become an invitation. The last link is the one the listener supplies.
This is a beautiful circle. First God sends out the preacher. As the evangelist preaches, the sinner hears. As he hears, he believes. The gospel of peace first goes into his heart, and then comes out of his mouth, and he says, "Lord, I believe." It is like pressing the button of an electric bell: the circle is completed.
The first question assumes something about prayer: you cannot appeal to someone you do not trust. That is why the word must come first.
A person must believe before he prays. "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" No one can believe without the Word of God. But when someone has received the Word of God — even if it only breaks up the conscience and draws the heart — that person prays.
The sailors on Jonah's ship show what happens when no one has heard. In the storm they prayed hard, but not to the true God.
These sailors did not know the Lord, and could not call on Him. Scripture rightly asks, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?… And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" These men had not heard, so they could not believe in the true God. Instead of calling on Him, each one called on his own god.
It is tempting to think the messenger matters little. The verse cuts across that comfort.
Some have taken comfort in the thought that the evangelist was not so important, because God would be sure to do the work. But that is not how the apostle puts it. He says, "How are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?" There is nothing like going to the word of God. God can do anything He pleases, I have no doubt; still His ordinary way is by preaching.
Paul is defending a gospel that goes out to nations who never knew Israel's God. Preaching fits that new situation in a way the law never did.
The Gentiles did not call on the name of the Lord, so a new means begins to appear. Its aim is to wake them from the dust of death and to give them a testimony that would draw their hearts toward Him… They must be called by the gospel, so that they may call on the name of the Lord for salvation. Preaching, then, is the great mark of God's ways — not under law, but since redemption.
Read that way, the passage doubles as Paul's defence of his own work among the nations.
Here the apostle, pursuing the thread of the same passage of Joel, justifies his own ministry, and what God was doing thereby among the Gentiles. The word of faith was preached to them. God, by means of preaching, is making them acquainted with the name of the Lord, who must be called on in order that they should be saved.
So who does the sending? Men have often claimed that role for themselves.
It is degrading, and it has no ground, to push man in here as if he must be the sender. The whole aim is to make nothing of man and to glorify God in all things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Nowhere does Scripture say that man sends out the preacher. God keeps that right in His own hands.
That leaves the question of how wide "sent" reaches. One writer answers it in two layers.
But who are sent in this way? First, and in general, every Christian who has tasted that the Lord is gracious has both the freedom and the responsibility of holding out the word of life… Second, evangelists are sent. There are those whom the Spirit of God specially sets apart for this work.
- Sent — everything starts at God's end. He sends; the chain never begins with the sinner's search.
- Preached — God could work any way He pleases. He chose preaching, so the messenger is never optional.
- Heard — no one can believe in someone they have never heard of. Jonah's sailors prayed hard, but to gods who could not save.
- Believed — faith comes before prayer. The word ploughs up the conscience first, and then the person calls.
- Saved — the circle closes when the hearer says, "Lord, I believe." Then the same errand passes to him. Every Christian who has tasted His grace may hold out the word, and some He sets apart for it.
and how shall they preach unless they have been sent? according as it is written, How beautiful the feet of them that announce glad tidings of peace, of them that announce glad tidings of good things!
Paul's questions here run backwards: calling on the Lord needs faith, faith needs hearing, hearing needs a preacher, and a preacher needs a sender. This verse ends the chain at God, then turns to Isaiah for a picture of how God sees His messengers.
Many read the question about sending as proof that preachers need human appointment. One writer tests that against Paul's own case:
Is it then a clergy? Was it man who at that time sent out the apostle and others to preach the gospel? Was the apostle mistaken when he said, Not of man, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ? Was he not then one of those who were sent? What strange self-satisfaction it takes to add "by men" after sent, and so shut God out of this glorious privilege and the rights of His grace!
If not men, then who sends them out?
God's own delight in the gospel has appointed preachers of the gospel. The joy of God, the gospel of God, and the eternal purposes of God have sent them out. Can I doubt that "joy" sends forth the message, since, when it returns full-handed, there is "joy"? (See Luke 15:10.)
Some think God will save people anyway, so the messenger matters little:
Some have taken comfort in the thought that the evangelist was not so important, since God would be sure to do the work. But that is not how the apostle put it. He says, "And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?" There is nothing like going to the word of God. God can do anything He pleases in that way, I have no doubt; still His ordinary way is by preaching.
The verse praises feet — the part of a messenger that moves:
We may say, "The gospel is preached, let them come and hear it"; or, "God can save and bring them in without us." But what does Scripture say? "And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'" (Rom. 10:15.) ... Trace through the Scriptures wherever you like, and you find the settled principle: the evangelist goes to the people with the good news, so his feet are called beautiful.
Earlier in the same letter, human feet appear in a very different light:
In Romans 3, the feet of those who did not know the way of peace were marked by violence. Now, through the precious "gospel of peace," those same feet have such moral worth and dignity that God can use them for the "complete crushing" (the true meaning of the word) of the one who brought violence and murder into this world. The perfection of beauty is seen in Christ, who publishes peace (Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15). The same beauty is seen in measure in believers who delight to preach the gospel of peace, sent by the Lord into a world disturbed by sin.
Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, but stops before the prophet finishes. One writer explains why:
The apostle does not quote the last part of the verse, "who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" In fact, prophecy shows the very opposite from that day to this. The days of vengeance were near for that generation which rejected Christ, not days of salvation for the holy city... But the joyful tidings will surely come, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it... No dust will make their feet anything other than beautiful, because of the good news they carry.
The quotation changes one more thing — the number of messengers:
Romans 10:15 speaks of "the feet of THEM." Isaiah 52:7, the verse Paul is quoting, speaks of "the feet of HIM": "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace... who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'"
Being sent brings no guarantee that people will listen:
And how can they preach, if no one sends them? God sees the feet of those who are sent as they cross the mountains, and how beautiful they are — glad messengers of peace! How beautiful to God! This cheers the preacher's heart, even though he has to learn that not everyone will obey the gospel (vv. 14, 15).
- Sent — the chain of questions ends in God, not in any human authority. Paul himself was sent "not of man, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ."
- Sent by joy — God's own delight in the gospel puts messengers on the road, and joy meets the message when it comes back full-handed.
- Sent to go — the praise falls on feet: the messenger goes to the people instead of waiting for them to come.
- Sent with half a promise — Paul stops before "Your God reigns." That part of Isaiah's word still waits for its day.
- Sent from One — Isaiah's one pair of beautiful feet becomes many in Romans. Every pair is beautiful to God, even when people refuse the message.