What does it mean that whoever believes in him will not be put to shame (Romans 9:33)?

You confess Him during the day of His rejection, when all the world is against Him, and you wait for the day when He shall come in power and glory. Perhaps you fear you may be put to shame in that day. Fear not. Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed; that is, he shall not be put to shame. All that is reported about Him will one day be verified. We may need patience, but we are assured that He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. This report brought from heaven by the Holy Spirit has been in circulation for about two thousand years. The verification of this report seems to have been long delayed, but "yet a little while," only a little while, and His glory shall be revealed.

It is instructive to notice Isaiah 28:16, from which verse 33 is quoted. There “the stone” is spoken of as “a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” The chapter has reference to the latter days of Israel, when the rulers will make lies and falsehood their refuge. Christ is presented as the sharp contrast to men's thoughts. But Romans 9 gives the added thought that such a stone must be “a stumbling-stone and rock of offense.” It is Christ come so low in humiliation that those inclined to their own honor and self-righteousness are offended — but it works only their own ruin. They will be brought to a humiliating shame in the end. But “whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.”

"For the scripture saith, No one believing on him shall be ashamed." (Ver. 11.) Assuredly he 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 triumphs in the indiscriminate favour of the gospel. As before in Romans 3:23 he had insisted that there is no difference, for all sinned and do come short of the glory of God; so now there is none, "for the same Lord of all [is] rich toward all that call upon him." And this he fortifies by a citation from Joel 2:32; "for every one soever who shall call on the name of [the] Lord shall be saved." There he stops. On the great future day all Israel shall be saved; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Jehovah has said, and in the remnant whom Jehovah shall call. Meanwhile the Spirit avails Himself of His own comprehensive promises preceding the clause which specifies that localized blessing and gives all possible breadth to the "whosoever" so dear to the large heart of the apostle of the Gentiles; He had indeed foreseen and provided for all. And it is as beautiful to hear the apostle using the part which falls in with his broad argument as it is to know what comfort the special promise in the entire verse will bring to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the day that is coming.

It is not supposed for one instant, of course, that we are going to believe in Jesus and not confess Him as Lord with our mouths. That would be impossible if our faith be the faith of the heart, since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Verse 11 of our chapter makes this point very clear. The believer is not ashamed. This is quoted from Isaiah 28:16. The same verse is quoted in the last verse of the previous chapter, and it is also quoted in 1 Peter 2:6. The, "make haste," of Isaiah becomes, "ashamed," in Romans, and "confounded," in Peter. A good illustration this 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-stricken haste before the avenging judgment. Neither shall we. But we have also One introduced as Lord, who fills us with confidence and in whom we glory. Who, really knowing Him, would be ashamed to confess Him?

Unbelief of grace, self-righteousness, is far more inexcusable now than of old. For Christ the Son of God is come and has accomplished redemption; and the glad tidings God sends forth on the express ground of universal ruin in man that he may thankfully receive another, even Jesus, and rest on His work before God with peace and joy in believing. But men, baptized men, stumble still, as Israel stumbled, at the stone of stumbling, the Lord Jesus. If they felt their own real state, how would they not bless God for such a Saviour! But they were proud, and blind withal. They were satisfied with their own obedience, at any rate with their own efforts. They stumbled at the stumbling-stone; but the same Christ delivers the believer from hurt, from shame, from confusion. He was set, as Simeon said to Mary, for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed: no otherwise said Isaiah. (Isa. 28:16.)

You believe in Him with your heart, and with your mouth confession is made to salvation, for the Scripture says, "Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed." God does not suppose that the man who believes in His dear Son is going to be ashamed of Him, and if any of you have found the Lord as your Saviour, and have learned that His death has washed your sins away, and delivered you from judgment to come, do not be ashamed to confess Him. Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed is a fine word. I do not think he need be ashamed. The man who has believed will never be put to shame; but for the man who has not Christ, there is nothing before him but dreadful shame. He will be ashamed of himself; ashamed that he missed the light; ashamed that when he had the chance to take Christ, he did not take Him. It is far better to be His now, and each of you may be, "for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (vers. 12, 13).

Now it is because Jesus is a victorious Saviour that we are not ashamed of Him. If he had failed to accomplish salvation's work, if Satan had triumphed, then we would never have mentioned His name; but He has conquered, He has broken the power of Satan and lives for evermore; and those that believe in Him shall never be ashamed. Oh! believe in Him. He is worthy to be trusted, worthy to be confessed; and all who do this are saved by God's great salvation.

But, spite of sin and all its forms and all its consequences, spite of Satan's power and malice, God has spoken. He has caused His voice to be heard in this dark and sinful world. And what has He said? "Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation." This is something entirely new. It is as though our blessed, loving, and ever gracious God had said to us, "Here, I have begun on the new. I have laid a foundation, on the ground of redemption, which nothing can ever touch, neither sin, or Satan, or aught else. I lay the foundation, and pledge My word that whosoever believes — whosoever commits himself, in childlike, unquestioning confidence, to My foundation — whosoever rests in My Christ — whosoever is satisfied with My precious, tried, chief corner stone, shall never — no, never — no, never be confounded — never be put to shame — never be disappointed — shall never perish, world without end."

"In Isaiah the scornful rulers of Jerusalem with their self-chosen and self-confident policy are confronted with a stone laid by Jehovah in Zion. Their building is swept away by the coming storm but the stone will abide. It is called an 'ebhen bochan, which is rendered a "tried stone" (AV, RV and J.N.D. Trans.). But Delitzsch points out that bochan is active and means testing. Brown, Driver and Biggs agree in their lexicon, but in spite of this give it a passive meaning. The fact is that it is a testing stone. Isaiah never speaks of its being built on. It is a pledge of safety to those who believe in the day that "the shelter of lies" will be swept away.

1 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 in the passages where Isaiah 28: 6 is quoted in the New Testament-Romans 9: 33; Romans 10: 11 and here.

(V. 6). The Apostle quotes the prophet Isaiah to show that it was ever God's purpose that Christ should be the sure foundation for all blessing for His people. He is the chief corner Stone that carries the whole weight of the superstructure. As He is chosen of God and precious, we may be sure that none that believe in Him will be confounded.

(Vv. 7, 8). This leads the Apostle to draw a contrast between believers and rejectors of the living Stone. Unto those who believe is the preciousness; all the preciousness of Christ, all the blessing He secures, is made good to the believer. Alas! there are those who are disobedient, and, being such, they cast away as worthless the One who has been exalted by God as the Head of the corner. To such He becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. Men stumbled at His word. They would not believe the truth, and therefore to this end they were appointed. They were not appointed to sin or to disobey, but being rebellious and disobedient they were destined by their unbelief to stumble at the humiliation of Christ.