Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson XII)

German theologian John Bengel notes that for some in the Church at Rome there is a dilemma. A number of them were looking in the Law for something they couldn’t find, while others who were not seeking anything found everything they needed in the Gospel. Of course, we are speaking of righteousness and salvation which are in Christ and available for all who believe in Him. On top of that, as one searches the Law of Moses for righteousness and salvation, they discover that they need the Gospel after all. I like what Bengel says next: “Faith too has a mouth; for faith speaks, but unbelief generally mutters.”¹ Bengel goes on to say that unbelief fluctuates; is always seeking, but finds nothing. That’s why unbelief looks down into the deep with suspicion and looks to heaven with doubt. One thing, Bengel says, that unbeliever’s need to know is what they are looking for. He goes on to say, poetically: “O unbelief, searching heaven and the deep for an answer, to find refuge in heaven or the deep, cannot be done outside of Christ.²

Adam Clarke also stresses the impossibility of attaining a right standing with God through works. There can be no doubt, as Paul has made clear, justification cannot be achieved through good works since everyone is sinful and can never satisfy the Law’s demands. So if it is God’s desire to grant salvation to all who believe, it must be by faith since it is essential that faith have some object, whether seen or unseen, in which to trust. And seeing, in this case, it cannot be the Law then it must be Jesus Christ.

The reason for that is He is the only one who, through His passion, death, and resurrection has infinite merit before God the Father in heaven. By trying to earn justification through works of the Law, it would require going up into heaven and defending oneself before God. But since it can only be received as a gift, that required Christ to come down from heaven to deliver it to all who will believe. So His coming down, His suffering, His death, and resurrection are absolutely essential for justification and salvation. No amount of self-righteous works can be a substitute for even a minute particle of what Christ did for sinners. If a person refuses to believe in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, then they have to climb up into heaven to find a replacement because they won’t find another one down here. All you have down here is the antichrist who will send you down the path to everlasting punishment.³

Bible scholar Albert Barnes feels that it is important that everyone know that nowhere does the Apostle Paul affirm that Moses describes righteousness by faith. Nor does he credit Moses with confirming justification by faith. Moses had a different goal in mind. To issue the Law and state its demands and rewards. Nevertheless, though he did not formally describe the plan of justification by faith, yet he used wording that could be taken as a similar plan. We find it at the time Moses called all the people together to deliver to them all that God had given him.⁴ Then Moses says to them: “This Law I give you today is not too hard for you, or too far from you. It is not in heaven. You do not need to say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to make us hear it, so we may obey it?’ It is not farther than the sea. You do not need to say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us to make us hear it, so we may obey it?’ But the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.”⁵ If we were to personify justification so that it would be able to describe what it is and what it does, there is little doubt that it would be able to speak for itself.⁶

Charles Hodge sees this from a different angle. By Paul quoting the Torah, it is thereby implied that he is advocating that justification can be attained with perfect obedience to all that Moses delivered to the children of Israel. However, when we look at what Moses went on to say must be also be obeyed, it is instantly clear that it would be impossible for any sinner to achieve. That’s why Paul is declaring that the Gospel requires no such impossible tasks. There is no need for anyone seeking to know the truth to climb to the heavens or sail across the sea to find it. Since these are figures of speech, Hodge sees them as saying that what God requires is unsophisticated enough for even a child to understand, and one does not need a broad or wide spectrum of comprehension. All it takes is an open mind an open heart and an open confession.

Since the knowledge and will of God have been made so easily available, no one is then required to go through an obstacle course to access the truth. Neither is it hidden in a riddle nor so mystical that it requires extrasensory perception. What Paul is talking about here and what Jesus offered to Nicodemus was not some new mantra or magical spell. These expressions had already become proverbial among the Jews. Something described as being too high or far off was another way of saying it was unattainable.⁷ To ascend to heaven or go down to hell, was to do what was impossible.⁸ As the sea was to the ancient mariners impassable, it is easy to understand how the question, “Who can pass over the sea?” was the same thing as saying “Who can ascend up into heaven?”⁹

Swiss Bible scholar Frédéric Godet notices a change of subject from Romans 10:5 to Romans 10:6. Paul is making it clear that Moses goes from advocating that a person’s righteousness and justification be grounded in the Torah, to grounding one’s righteousness and justification in trust or faith. Also, Moses goes from speaking of possessing this blessed assurance in a book to having it in one’s heart. Paul does this by quoting from a passage in Leviticus 18:5-6. In looking at it, we see that at first, it was speaking about the letter of the Law, then it switches to speaking about the spirit of the Law.

So the question is, what message was Moses trying to convey to the children of Israel? More or less he was telling them they need not distress themselves about the difficulty in understanding and practicing this Law. There was no need to imagine that someone would have to go up to heaven or sail beyond the horizon on the seas to bring back an explanation. Don’t trouble yourselves with thinking this would be necessary in order to fulfill the Law’s demands. This Law had been revealed by the Lord in such a way that every Israelite could understand it with their heart and profess it with their mouth. This was to help them put their faith in the nearness of Yahweh and in the promise of His grace and mercy.¹⁰

John Stott sees a clear path to salvation in what Paul says here. It is a case of pointing out what it was then and what would be years from now on. When Paul came preaching the Gospel, it was understood by the Jews that salvation came through obedience to the Law. Paul understood it that way when he told the Galatians: “The Law does not use faith. It says, ‘You must obey all the Law or there is no hope.’”¹¹ But that was during under Moses. Now under Christ no-one is justified before God by the Law. Not because the Law was so bad, but because no-one had succeeded in obeying it. That weakness of the Law became the weakness of everyone who tried to find salvation by obeying it.¹² But there was even more. It wasn’t just a case of not being able to obey the Law, but how often it was disobeyed. So instead of bringing life, it brought its curse – all who disobey the Law must die. But the Good News was that since Christ redeemed us from the Law’s curse by becoming a curse for us so it can no longer threaten us.¹³ It is in this sense that we say, “Christ completed the Law.” Righteousness now is no longer found in the Law, but in Christ.¹⁴

So as far as Stott is concerned, the righteousness Paul came preaching is by faith. He set before those who were listening that salvation is no longer found in the Law but in Christ. And that added another dimension: the assurance of salvation is no longer promised by a powerless Law, but by the risen Savior who has been given all power.¹⁵ Furthermore, you had to work for your salvation under the Law, but now your salvation is a gift from God because Christ has done all the necessary work. So Paul tells them there is no need to think how can I scale the heights or plumb the depths in order to find this salvation if it is no longer in the Law? The Messiah came down from above to earth and then rose up from below out of the earth so that He could ascend back into heaven having accomplished His mission of bringing salvation to all who believe.¹⁶

Verse 8: This is what the Scripture says: “God’s teaching is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”¹⁷ It is the message of faith being brought to people.

The Apostle Paul here so closely associates the tandem of the tongue and heart to the act of conversion in a way that we must consider them inseparable. To believe with the heart yet not confess with the mouth is to do no more than King Agrippa.¹⁸ Furthermore, it is liable within the boundaries of Christ’s own Law of confessing Him before men so He can acknowledge us before His Father in heaven. On the other hand, to confess with the tongue yet not believe in the heart is hypocrisy. Some of Christ’s most scathing rebukes were directed toward hypocrites. Yet even as the ingredients of salt are poisonous individually, together the compound is a preservative and excites flavor in food. Was it not our Lord who called those who believe and confess Him, the “salt” of the earth? Oh, you ask, what about the mute who cannot speak, or the deaf who cannot hear their own words? Since God sees the heart, their contrition and confession reaches His ears as loudly as one who verbalizes their confession. But their handicap cannot be used as an excuse by those who are able to testify to their belief in Christ as the risen Son of God.

In his quote from the Torah, Paul is referring to what Moses said to the children of Israel upon the giving of the Law. He said: “Obeying these commandments is not something beyond your strength and reach; for these Laws are not in the far heavens, so distant that you can’t hear and obey them, and with no one to bring them down to you; nor are they beyond the ocean, so far that no one can bring you their message; but they are very close at hand—in your hearts and on your lips—so obey them.”¹⁹ Paul takes what Moses said here about the Law being something that one does not obey out of habit or just as a practice, but something that abides in the heart and mind to lead and guide those who want to be obedient to God’s will, and applies it to the Gospel. Too often the teachings of Christ are followed as an outward formality and not out of an inward love for God.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson XI)

Verses 6-7: But the salvation that comes through faith says: “You don’t need to go up to heaven to find Christ and bring Him down to help you,” and, “You don’t need to go down among the dead to bring Christ back to life again.”

Here the Apostle Paul gives us a general meaning of what Moses said about the Law: “Obeying these commandments is not something beyond your strength and reach; for these Laws are not in the far heavens, so distant that you can’t hear and obey them, and with no one to bring them down to you; nor are they beyond the ocean, so far that no one can bring you their message; but they are very close at hand—in your hearts and on your lips—so obey them,”¹ and combines it with what is written in Proverbs: “Who else but God goes back and forth to heaven? Who else holds the wind in His fists and wraps up the oceans in His cloak? Who but God has created the world? If there is any other, what is His name—and His Son’s name—if you know it?”² And of course, “we know His name!” says Paul, it is none other than Jesus the Christ.

Paul knew that the Jewish believers in the congregation at Rome would not find it unusual for him to use the hyperbole of ascending to heaven or descending into the place where the dead. He was aware that such expressions were oft used by the Rabbi’s to express the impossible.³ For instance, in the Talmud, the Rabbis were discussing how the requirements of the Law can be fulfilled in different ways. They concluded that even if it proves impossible to fulfill every Law if a person stipulates what else might be done to qualify as having fulfilled the law, what would that be? This question was raised because it had been taught that if someone says, Here is your divorce, on condition that you ascend to Heaven or descend to the deep, on condition that you swallow a hundred cubits of sugar cane or cross the great sea on foot; if those conditions are fulfilled, the divorce is valid, but not otherwise.⁴ So as we can see, this was another way of saying that trying to fulfill the demands of the law any other way than complete obedience is impossible. That’s the same thing Paul was trying to say about seeking justification from God by works.

This was also not something Paul just made up, he has the words of Jesus Himself to Nicodemus: “If you don’t even believe me when I tell you about such things as these that happen here among men, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? For only I, the Messiah, have come to earth and will return to heaven again.”⁵ Jesus repeats this in a different manner after feeding the multitude on the eastern shore of Lake Galilee and mysteriously meeting them again in Capernaum, He used the manna from heaven that God gave Moses to give the children of Israel with the bread from heaven that God gave Him to give to them. Jesus told them: “The true Bread is a Person—the one sent by God from heaven, and He gives life to the world.”⁶

But Jesus wasn’t through explaining this transfer from heaven to earth. He then told them: “I have come here from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to have my own way.”⁷ In other words, Jesus is telling them: You couldn’t get to me through the Law given to Moses, so I, the Word, was sent down to you. That’s how John put it when he said, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”⁸ Jesus then goes on to tell many of those He just fed with bread and fish: “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven… I am the true Bread from heaven; and anyone who eats this Bread shall live forever, and not die as your fathers did—although they ate bread from heaven.”⁹

Here Paul is repeating to the Romans much of what he told the Ephesians: “The psalmist tells about this, for he says that when Christ returned triumphantly to heaven after His resurrection and victory over Satan, He gave generous gifts to men.¹⁰ Notice that it says He returned to heaven. This means that He had first come down from the heights of heaven, far down to the lowest parts of the earth. The same one who came down is the one who went back up, that He might fill all things everywhere with Himself, from the very lowest to the very highest.”¹¹

Since Paul was speaking here primarily to the Jewish contingent in the Roman church, he knew that they were well aware of what they had been taught by the Rabbis. For instance, in the Babylonian Talmud, we find a conversation between Rabbis about understanding the Torah, the Word of God. They said that everyone should fix a certain time every day to study of the Torah. This is in harmony with what another Rabbi said after asking: Why is the text of the Torah so significant? First of all, it is not stored up in heaven so that someone would have to ask: “Who can go up to heaven and bring it down to us?¹² Nor is the Torah in some place beyond the sea than another would have to ask: “Who can go over the sea and bring it back to us?”¹³

They go on to say that we know it’s not up in heaven. If it were then someone should have gone up and gotten it. And if it was beyond the sea someone should have gone over and returned with it. Then a teacher of Rabbis expounded further by saying that not only was the Torah not in heaven, it is also not with someone who thinks so highly of themselves that they believe they know everything. This only means that their pride is as high as the heavens. And for those who think that their knowledge of the Torah is beyond anyone else’s comprehension, only means that their self-esteem is as wide as the ocean.¹⁴

Medieval Jewish scholar Rabbi Moses Maimonides gives us some insight into how the Jews understood these words of Moses. He explains that when someone says, “It is not in the heavens,” that is a reference to being high-minded or having a proud spirit. When they say, “It is not across the sea,” they are indicating that it is not found in people who live far across the sea and must be retrieved.¹⁵ In other words, no matter how intellectual a person may be, and no matter how broad is the expanse of their knowledge, they still will not grasp all that God has to say in His Word. But Paul takes it one step further by saying that heaven is a reference to the infinite wisdom of God and the sea is a reference to His omniscience. So how can we understand God’s Word unless He explains it to us?

Jesus used this same quote from Deuteronomy when He was speaking with Nicodemus. After telling this highly educated member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and revered Pharisee about being born again, his confusion forced Jesus to tell him that we all know what human birth is and how it happens, but take faith to understand what spiritual birth is and how it happens. Nicodemus was still baffled, so Jesus had to explain to him that having faith is like saying the wind is blowing even though you can’t see it. You can tell by looking at the tree branches as they move back and forth, even though you don’t see what’s moving them, it must be the wind.

But what concerned Jesus more than anything was the lack on Nicodemus’ part of not recognizing the One talking to him. So Jesus said this esteemed Jewish Rabbi: “You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, and you don’t know this? Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don’t accept our evidence! If you people don’t believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.”¹⁶

Reformer Martin Luther believes that Paul is pointing out the futility of anyone trying to live in such a way that they do not suffer the death penalty for failing to live righteously under the Law. That is not an excuse and will not suffice to meet God’s requirements of righteousness. The righteousness needed for salvation lies beyond the Law’s ability to provide. The Law can convict, but it cannot convert. Therefore, there must be another source, and that is found in Jesus Christ. And when one believes in Christ they can live the way God wants them to live without being tied to the Law, trying to achieve the level of righteousness demanded of the Law.

That’s because the righteousness of faith needs no works of the Law in order to live a holy life. Just having the Spirit of Christ within and living according to the example He provides is all that’s needed. This way, faith replaces works because Christ has already done the works the Law demanded.¹⁷ Simply put, the need to work on getting salvation is unnecessary because Christ did the work for us. Now we must join Him in doing the works necessary to prove that our salvation is real. One of the most important works is to love God and love each other. Jesus Himself said that the whole world will know that we are His because we love one another.¹⁸

John Calvin attempts to put a frame around the words of Paul so that the picture of righteousness can be better seen. This is done by looking at the blessed assurance of our salvation as having two parallel sides. On the one side, we notice that eternal life has been obtained for us. And on the other side, we see that death has been conquered for us. For Paul, faith through the Word of the Gospel is sustained by both of these: Christ died for us, and by dying the power of everlasting separation from God was forever chained. Christ was also raised from the grave for us, and by coming back to life the power of everlasting life was released. The benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection is now communicated through the preaching of the Gospel. So there is then no reason for anyone to look for salvation in anything else or anywhere from anyone else.¹⁹

Japanese Psychologist Takahisa Kora, MD., made this statement during one of his lectures: “The key is to not resist or rebel against emotions or to try to get around them by devising all sorts of tricks; but to accept them directly, as they are.”¹ Although I studied psychology at the University of North Dakota, in no way, shape or form do I consider myself a qualified psychologist. However, I learned enough that I can safely say: Never let your emotions take control of you, always take control of your emotions.

If you have ever seen or viewed a report on what we call today, “Road Rage,” you will have witnessed a great example of emotions out of control. Almost every local evening news report will include a violent domestic dispute. Those are valuable learning lessons for us to remember what can happen that a person may regret the rest of their lives. Even though I’ve not read this anywhere in the many books on psychology that I have perused, I don’t think it would be out of line for me to suggest the following rule: However you react after being unduly criticized or insulted, keep in mind that whatever you do, that’s what you’ll be remembered for a long, long time.

Whenever you are suddenly confronted with something that makes your blood boil, instead of thinking about how you feel, think about how to react. That may require taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. And instead of looking at the individual who insulted or slandered you, look up and imagine the One who is watching you. It all begins with what Dr. Kora said: Don’t dismiss what you are feeling; don’t deny what you are feeling; don’t try to avoid what you are feeling; just accept it and then take control of it.

The Bible is not silent on this subject. King Solomon has a number of proverbs for us to remember. Once he said that fools are quick to lose their temper, but those who are wise remain relaxed when insulted.² In another place he said that a person who knows what they are doing always keeps their temper under control. They know that to lose control would be an awful mistake.³ Solomon goes on to advise us that to keep control of one’s temper is better than being famous, and being able to control self is better than being able to control an army.⁴ And finally, Solomon tells us that any person who is lacking in self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.⁵

But Jesus gives us one of the most significant examples of taking control of one’s emotions so that the results are not embarrassing or do damage to one’s reputation. Matthew in his Gospel tells us about Jesus and His disciples were ministering in the area known as Caesarea Philippi, which is at the base of Mount Hermon, north of the Sea of Galilee. He was curious to find out what the people in that area were saying about him. Each of the disciples told Him what they had heard, but Peter comes right out and says that he is convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus immediately congratulated Peter on receiving such a revelation from His Father in heaven. He even told Peter that he would be a big part of the assembly of believers that would result from other’s believing that same thing about Him.

You can imagine that this made Peter somewhat proud to be the one God chose to reveal this vital and essential truth. So as Jesus began to speak to His disciples about His plans of going to Jerusalem, and what would happen to Him there. He warned how He would suffer at the hands of the Jewish leaders, that He would be killed, and that three days later He would be raised to life again. When Peter heard this, he just couldn’t believe that the One he just confessed to being the Messiah, the Son of God would allow Himself to be treated like this.

So he walked over and softly whispered in Christ’s ear, “Lord, can we talk for a moment?” Then He led the Master some distance away from the other disciples, and begin to rebuke Jesus for talking this way. Peter more or less said to Him: As long as there’s a God in heaven this will never happen to you. Can you imagine how the King of Heaven, the Son of God felt when this lowly fisherman, the son of Jonah, talked to Him in such a condescending manner?

While we are not told precisely how our Lord felt, His actions say quite a lot about it. Matthew records that Jesus reacted to Peter with words that have become very well-known, “Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle in my path!” The Greek verb strephō that Matthew uses here literally means to “turn around, to turn one’s back to.” One Jewish translation renders it, “Yeshua turned his back on Kefa (Peter”). In other words, Peter and our Lord were talking face to face, but when Peter began to speak to Him so disrespectfully, Jesus turned around and started to walk off. While God had put the revelation that Jesus was His Son in Peter’s mind, it was clear that Satan had put these words in Peter’s mouth. That’s why Jesus told Peter that his admonition was from a human perspective, not from God’s point of view.⁶ So it wasn’t that Jesus turned His back on Peter, it was that He turned His back on Satan.

What a great illustration for us when we are rebuked or spoken to disrespectfully. Don’t consider the source as being your spouse, child, neighbor, fellow worker, boss, or friend. Just as an enemy cannot betray you, an enemy cannot insult you. The real assailant here is Satan using a friend to insult you. So don’t turn your back on your spouse, child, etc., but turn it on Satan. Paul made this very clear to the Ephesians when he told them: If you become angry, don’t let nursing your grudge cause you to make a big mistake. Don’t let it torment you all day without dealing with it. Resolve to take control of the situation right away. For when you let anger continue unabated it will stress you out. By doing so, you are surrendering your rights to the devil.⁷

All of this may sound to you like the total opposite of what you’ve been told or believed to be the way to handle your emotional outburst. Get in their face, let them know exactly how you feel. And don’t be afraid to use any words you can find that will make them feel like the stupid, useless, good-for-nothing bum that they are. That way you’ll get it off your chest and you can go on feeling relieved that you told them off. But clearly, Jesus said, that’s the devil’s way, not God’s way. So which way will you choose? The one that makes you look like a child of the devil, or, the one that makes you look like a child of God? Keep in mind, whichever you choose will be your reputation for a long, long time. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

HAS ANYONE SEEN GOD?

A small boy once approached his slightly older sister with a question about God. “Suzy,” he said, “can anybody ever really see God?” Busy with other things, Suzy smiled as she replied: “No, of course not, silly. God is so far up in heaven that nobody can see Him.”

As the day went one, the boy’s question still lingered in his mind, so he approached his mother: “Mom, can anybody ever really see God?” he inquired. “No, not really,” she gently said. “God is a spirit, and He doesn’t have a body like us, so He dwells in our hearts, and we call that His Holy Spirit, but we can never really see Him.”

Somewhat satisfied, he went on his way but was still wondering if those pictures of God he saw in a book were real. Not long afterward, his grandfather, a retired minister, took the little down to the local lake to do some fishing. They had a great time together, but it was getting late, and his Pop-Pop knew they had to go home. As the sun began to set with unusual splendor, the old gentleman stopped fishing and turned his full attention to the exquisite beauty unfolding before him.

As the little boy looked up, he saw the face of his grandfather reflect a deep sense of peace and contentment. He was gazing into the glow of a magnificent, ever-changing sunset. The little boy thought for a moment and finally spoke hesitatingly: “Grandpa, I, uh, I wasn’t going to ask anybody else, but I wonder if you can tell me something. I’ve been wondering, has anybody ever really see God?”

The old man did not even turn his head. A long moment slipped by before he finally answered. “Son,” he quietly said. “It’s getting so that when I see the sunset, the stars, the beautiful ocean, the snow-covered mountains, I can’t see anything else, but God.” – Author unknown

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
— Psalm 19:1-4

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson X)

Robert Haldane echoes this refrain: That Christ, and Christ alone has fulfilled the demands of the Law and, therefore, anyone who seeks salvation and eternal life on their own by trying to comply with every word of the Law will do so in vain. Anyone wanting to live by what the Law requires, as Moses declared, must obey each rule to perfection. Just the term “fallen man” even makes it impossible to consider going that route. The Law knows no mercy; it considers no extenuating circumstances; it does not close a blind eye to even the smallest breach, or any miniscule deficiency. One guilty thought or lustful desire ends the chase for self-righteousness and the effort must start all over again after the proper sacrifice is made to cover the sin.¹ This same principle holds sway when people call themselves Christian just because they abide by the laws of their church. A church cannot save anyone, even those who are devoted to its rites, rituals, rules, and righteous sacraments and demands.

Albert Barnes also agrees that the promise of life for following the Law was to be enjoyed down here on earth and then continued on in the world-to-come. I’m sure Moses was thrilled to tell everyone that all they needed was to do what the Law said and they would then be entitled to the rewards of the obedient. The happiness of which Moses spoke was, no doubt, the results which followed obedience. Not only would it produce happiness in this life, but also in the next life.

But there was a catch. The principle on which happiness would be conferred on them in the world-to-come was dependent on their obedience to the Law while in this world. Why obedience? Because the tendency and result of obedience would be to promote order, health, purity, and kindness. Those things were given in order to advance the welfare of mankind and to honor God. This is what is meant by the term “contentment,” in the sense that one’s future is secure. As such, it would produce what Jesus called: life without future judgment.² So we must believe that the Jews knew what Paul was talking about, by quoting Moses in this verse, as a reference to more than temporal blessings here on earth.³

Charles Hodge hearkens back to what Paul said in the previous verse about the goal of the Law. That its aim was for the Messiah to come and fulfill it with His offer of being right with God if a person would have faith in Him as their Savior. Therefore, salvation comes by faith, this is the heart of the Gospel. And this offer is for everyone, without distinction. When this belief is confirmed, then justification is secured. That’s why it was so important for Paul to connect his description and contrast of the two methods often used for justification. One of them is by works and the other by faith. The one by works is not even designed for justification. By its nature it is impracticable. The other, by faith, is both reasonable and rational. Furthermore, it has been adapted for use by all classes of people, Jews and Gentiles. And that was Paul’s mission, to bring everyone this Good News.⁴

Hodge also feels that it is important to understand the term “righteousness.” In its legalistic sense, what constitutes a righteous man is meeting all the demands of the Law by satisfying its claims for justification. The individual who possesses God’s righteousness cannot be condemned. The Apostle bases this conclusion on the fact that God is a just God. Therefore, He does not demand that those He justifies must achieve their own righteousness before He forgives. Every person should want this! There are only two possible ways righteousness can be obtained – by works or by faith. To do that, a person must either have their own righteousness or have received righteousness given to them because they have faith and trust in the one justifying them.⁵ In other words, the choice is ours. Either we can try to be right with God based on our own actions in compliance with the Law, or we can accept the work of Christ as our righteousness. The first is impossible, while the latter is instantaneous.

Charles Spurgeon looks at justification this way: “The message of the Law is: ‘Do and live.’ But the message of the Gospel is, ‘Live and do;’” – two very different things. Those who subscribe to the “do and live” doctrine must live by what the Law says, work hard and you’ll obtain it. However, those who abide by the “live and do” doctrine, actively do what the Gospel says, “You have life freely given to you in Christ Jesus; now work for Him because you live by Him.”⁶ No wonder that Jesus said that He had come so that instead of us merely existing down here on earth, that we may be able to enjoy life from above with all its unending abundance.⁷

John Stott sees the natural interpretation of Paul’s words about living right as being different from the way life is fashioned by obedience to the Law. Paul made that clear when he told the Galatians: “This way of faith is very different from the way of Law, which says, ‘It is through obeying the Law that a person has life.’“⁸ Paul is not just making an arbitrary statement in eliminating the Law as a way to salvation, it’s because no one has ever succeeded in obeying it to the letter. So when someone depends on the Law to save, the weakness of the Law also becomes their weakness.⁹ The real folly is, no individual successfully lives up to perfect obedience to the Law; everyone has disobeyed the Law on numerous occasions. And by such disobedience, instead of it bringing us life, it places us under its curse – certain separation from God for eternity. And this would have remained our position if Christ had not come to redeem us from the Law’s curse by becoming a curse for us. It is in this sense that Christ put an end to anyone considering the Law as a way to righteousness.¹⁰

Douglas Moo contends that Paul cites Leviticus 18:5 to describe righteousness defined by the Law. Paul is not suggesting that Moses purposely taught that one could be saved by doing what the Law said. When the First Covenant speaks of “living,” it generally means: Have a joyful existence in line with what the Law teaches. In doing so, we enjoy all the privileges of being part of Abraham’s covenant with God. It certainly does not always mean eternal life. Paul’s whole point here is that any righteousness based on the Law is, by definition, something one tries to get accomplished by “doing.” And “doing,” is what the Law is all about, as Leviticus 18:5 makes clear¹¹.¹² With all these differences pointed out between righteousness by works and righteousness by faith, we can confidently say that righteousness by works is “doing,” while righteousness by faith is, “being.”

Jewish theologian David Stern states that there shouldn’t be any doubt whether or not the righteousness that results from obeying God’s statutes and judgments leads to eternal life. The verse here says they must live according to everything the Law demands. Renown Jewish Rabbi Rashi quoted the Sifra,¹³ a fourth-century collection of midrashim¹⁴ related to the Book of Leviticus,¹⁵ and he made the point that if we say our righteous living only refers to this world and not the world-to-come, doesn’t every righteous person die sooner or later?¹⁶

That’s why Stern prefers the following translation of this verse: “He will attain life through them – eternal life.” The phrase for “to live” or “attain life” is the same as that used in Romans 8:12–13 to describe what will happen to the believer who “by the Spirit” keeps “putting to death the sinful practices of the body.” So Stern concludes that Paul affirms that the Torah and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)¹⁷ offer one and the same eternal life. This may also be derived from the fact that the Holy Spirit came to the first believers on Shavu‘ot (Pentecost), the same day in Jewish history when the Torah was given to Moses.¹⁸

Stern also points out that the two most important of the “statutes and judgments” referred to in Leviticus 18:5 are stated by Yeshua in Mark 12:28–31. The first is to love ADONAI with all ones’ heart, soul, understanding, and strength.¹⁹ And the second is to love one’s neighbor as oneself.²⁰ Both of these are based upon on putting one’s full trust in God. After all, if you can’t love God with your whole heart and believe in Him with your whole mind for who He says He is and what He is, you will have little chance of loving your neighbor if you can’t love God and love yourself. Not as the world might prescribe it, but as the Scriptures define it. So by quoting Leviticus 18:5, Paul, backs up his point that obeying the Torah requires trust, not trial.²¹

The long and short of Stern’s point is that the Word of God is divinely inspired whether it be in the First Covenant or Last Covenant. The difference is that in the First believers were expected to do all the things demanded of them in the Law – which was impossible, whereas in the Last all that is required is to trust God to provide all the blessings promised for obedience – which by faith is possible.²² No one should try to righteousness on their own through works.

Preacher Charles Simeon observed that once we are convinced to give up our attempt be righteous before God by our own works, and are willing to submit ourselves to Christ in order to receive His righteousness, a strange thing happens. The thought of total submission to the power of another is not something that our proud heart accepts easily. We become a lot like Naaman when he was told by the prophet Elisha to go dip in the Jordan River seven times in order to be healed of his leprosy.²³ He thought the prophet’s request was an insult to his dignity. It didn’t seem to be an adequate remedy for the disease that was killing him. People want something more practical. They want to be told what to do, how to do it, and why it will make them feel good about their salvation. Simple faith in Christ just doesn’t seem like enough to get the job done. However, we are commissioned to say that if an angel comes preaching any other method to be saved, reject them.²⁴

Simeon concludes with this prayer: O let your hearts be humbled before God. I’m sure that when Jesus told the ten lepers, “Go and show yourselves to the priests;”²⁵ or, when to the blind man, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam,”²⁶ they were not reluctant to comply. Why then should we? Can we cleanse ourselves from the leprosy if sin? Can we open your own blinded eyes to the truth? Can we bring about our own salvation? No assuredly, we cannot. We should have the same attitude as that of the Apostle Paul who desired to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness of God by faith in Christ.²⁷ So my brothers and sisters, be like-minded with Paul; then you may, like him, be “always triumphing in Christ,” and be assured, that, “when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.²⁸”²⁹

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson IX)

Now we can see why only perfect people would be able to obtain everlasting life by keeping the Law to perfection. Being perfect, according to the Law, became so frustrating and disappointing that the Jews discarded the Law and returned to what they learned while slaves in Egypt. The prophet Nehemiah was so exasperated as he spoke to God about the many times He had mercy on them and tried to bring them back: “You punished them in order to turn them toward your Laws; but even though they should have obeyed them, they were proud and wouldn’t listen, and continued to sin.“¹ That’s why Paul told the Galatians that keeping the Law, under those circumstances, had become a curse.²

But how much different is righteousness that comes by faith in Christ? As Paul told the Philippians: “Everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with Him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s Laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.”³

At this point, let us refresh our understanding of God’s righteousness and the righteousness of God. When the Scripture speaks of God’s righteousness, it is talking about the fact that no matter what God does or action He takes He always does what’s right in His eyes. He is a just and loving God. He seeks to save, not to condemn. When we see the term, the righteousness of God, it is defining how our God, who is right, helps us live the right way according to His guidance and teachings. In other words, this ability is imputed into our hearts and mind through regeneration and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. That means, what we do would be the same thing God would do in a similar situation. So any righteousness a person may claim to have, if it is not in harmony with God’s Word and His will, it is not the righteousness of God.

One Jewish writer who examined the Torah and how it harmonized with the thinking of Paul, wrote that for the Apostle, Yeshua was in a sense the shofar (trumpet) announcing the final year of Jubilee. This was the Gospel; the Good News that God had begun a season like Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles); the in-gathering of the Gentile harvest. God had accomplished this on His own through the obedience of Yeshua, just as He had done with the covenant with Abraham. It was God and not Abraham that walked through the pieces of flesh. Abraham was sleeping.⁴ Here, God’s final, or more accurately, renewed covenant was allowing the Gentiles a way into God’s community by faith in the faithfulness of Yeshua, just as the Jews are righteous because of the faith of Abraham.

This, in Paul’s view, is why the Gentiles, did not have to become Jews. The Gentiles were baptized (mikvot) into the community and would live as authentic members of the community. God had provided a way for people who were not His people to be His people and not be Jews. None of these ideas are foreign to the Jewish mind. The problems between Paul and the Jewish community were over how to treat Gentile believers, not how a person is justified by works or grace. Nowhere in the Torah does it say that a man is justified by works of the Law. He is sanctified by works, not justified.⁵

Early church scholar Origen sees the need to clarify how the Law could promise life in return for obedience. One thing that will help us, is to remember that Moses did not say that those who seek righteousness through obedience to the Law will live forever. The promise is that by living and doing what’s right they will have a full and enjoyable life.⁶ Eternal life could not be promised by the Law because the Messiah was coming to be the end of the Law. Christ then would provide a way to get right with God so that eternal life could be granted. As the Apostle says, without Christ it is impossible to qualify as being righteous by following the Law⁷.⁸

In his writings, early church scholar, Jerome, agrees. It was an error for the Jews to justify life in the world-to-come as a result of obeying the Law. The Law was meant for this world, not up in heaven. That’s why Christ came from up there to down here so He could take those who believed in Him down here back with Him up there.⁹.¹⁰ So it is clear that whenever Moses spoke of life through the Law, it was down here, not up there. However, Jewish Rabbis did extrapolate this and began to define it as life in the world-to-come.

Early church scholar Pelagius also sees the need to distinguish between the two kinds of righteousness: Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness of Works. In this day and age, no one even tries to keep the Law of Moses perfectly. And for those who know the Law’s purpose, they know it is impossible to stand sinless before God without Christ. Believing in Him is also implied in the Law. On account of what Paul says here, some think that the Jews have only earned God’s favor in this present life by the works of the Law. However, what about what Jesus said to the rich young ruler: “If you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”¹¹

It is easy to understand from this that anyone who kept the Law had everlasting life¹².¹³ But that’s where the confusion comes in. What Pelagius does not say here, but was inherent in what Jesus said, it took the complete and perfect keeping of every Law in order to gain eternal life. Of course, what Jesus came to do, with respect to the Law, would be impossible for any other person to do, and that is to obey it to perfection. So His answer to the rich young ruler was not that eternal life was available to him by keeping the commandments but to show how impossible it was.

So righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ became necessary in order for eternal life to be given. Another early church scholar repeats what we have heard so far when contrasting righteousness by works and righteousness by faith. So for those who accept that Moses said the righteousness of the Law would grant eternal life to those who practiced and live by it, must take into consideration something else Moses said. No one should try getting up to heaven and look for the answer, nor should anyone go down to the center of the earth in search of it. What they are looking for it is already in their hearts. In other words, the true source of righteousness was already taught in the Torah which they memorized, and it pointed to the Messiah. So no one should doubt but believe the command which the Messiah will announce in the future when He will come to give you righteousness by faith.¹⁴

John Calvin sees the same forces at work. In this case, Paul compares self-righteousness by works with God’s righteousness by faith just to show how at odds they are with one another. When two competing ideologies or doctrines are placed side by side, it is easier to see where they differ. So he begins with the testimony of Moses, and for a reason. He hoped the Jews would understand that the Law was not delivered by Moses in order to discourage dependence on works as a source for earning God’s righteousness but to lead them to look to the Messiah. This was the same point Paul made to the Galatians.¹⁵ He certainly could have referred to the Prophets as witnesses, but it still would not have answered the question of why the Law prescribed two rules for earning righteousness? But it was not needed since there was only one and that was God’s Righteousness.¹⁶

Calvin goes on to say that the reason why Paul harmonizes the Law with faith and yet allows for the Law to set the path of righteousness in one direction and faith in the opposite direction. To understand this, we must realize that the word “Law” has a twofold meaning. On the one hand, it refers to the Ten Commandments, and on the other to all the precepts, statutes, sacrifices, Holy Days, rewards, and punishments that Moses outlined in Leviticus. So the Ten Commandments sets the principles of the Law, and these other things explain how they should be carried out. Through these, Moses was instructing the people on the doctrine of repentance and what manner of life was acceptable to God. But now that Messiah has come, the truth of what the Law was trying to teach is now out in the open. So what they once accepted by works they now must accept by faith.

Adam Clarke considers attempting to find righteousness through the Law is like an important riddle. Even though Moses received this Word for the LORD: “You must obey only my Laws, and you must carry them out in detail, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey them, you shall live. I am the Lord,”¹⁷ God was not talking about eternal life, but protection from death under the Law. Yet for those who say that it was a promise of salvation are right in one sense. That promise was to anyone who could perform its precepts to the letter. The only ones interested in such a gamble are those who reject Christ’s putting an end to the Law’s reign. No one ever did, nor will anyone ever constantly fulfill each of the Law’s demands to perfection. That’s what it would require to merit salvation by the Law.

Furthermore, Paul already said that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.¹⁸ That already puts them all under the curse of the Law.¹⁹ It is said: “A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.”²⁰ So it goes without saying that those who try to earn righteousness and justification by way of the Law are already at a great disadvantage. They have broken the Law so many times it would be impossible to catch up. So here’s the reality: If it were not for the saving grace of God provided by the death of Christ, no soul could ever be saved.²¹

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson VIII)

American Bible scholar Charles Hodge also addresses the meaning and context of the word “Law” used in this passage by Paul. As he sees it, the Jews erred greatly in restricting their search for justification to the Law alone. That’s not what the Law was designed for. Its ultimate goal was to lead those who read it, understood it, and practiced it to the Messiah. He would be the one to offer a just cause for them to be declared right with God. The Messiah was sent in order to complete all of the things given to God’s children for guidance. Not only the law, but the feasts, fasts, and festivals. These things were done to find refuge and solace in the love and favor of God.

But they all pointed toward the Messiah. He would become their sole refuge, and the only one they would ever need. So when it says Jesus came to put an end to the law, that’s what it meant. Christ is the One in whom the Law ends and Grace begins because He fulfilled all its requisitions, all its types, and ceremonies, and satisfied its directives and demands for punishment.¹ John Bengel writes that Christ confers the righteousness and life which the law points out but cannot issue. That’s why the Law was given to burden a person with all the weight of their sins until they fled to Christ for safety. Then the will Law say, “You have found your refuge.²”³

Charles Spurgeon had some thoughts on how Christ fulfilled the Law for our sake. One of those is that once you believe in Christ’s righteousness as your own, it is a righteousness the Law could never have given you even if you lived a perfect life.⁴ That means, since the end purpose of the Law is to have a right standing with God, it is fulfilled to the fullest by having Christ stand there as your Savior. This is important because we are not under the first covenant now and so we can no longer attempt to be right with God by following its dictates. Therefore, whoever believes in Christ is as righteous as obeying the Law could have made them, but only if they kept it perfectly. If we receive Christ as our Savior by believing, we have the righteousness of the Law and more. All that could ever come to us by the highest and most perfect obedience to the law, we get by simple faith in Christ Jesus and what He did to save us.

In reading F. F. Bruce’s clear exegesis on both the words used and the meaning of Paul’s statement in context, it is clear that the Greek word telos (“end”) has a double meaning. It can either denote “reaching a goal” or “ending in termination.” When used as goal, Christ is the goal at which the law aimed, in that He was to embody the perfect righteousness which it prescribes. This is implied in Matthew 5:17, “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” So when a person begins to live their new life in Christ, the Law’s requirements are fulfilled in Christ Jesus, and as a consequence is fulfilled in the believer.⁵ On the other hand, not only is Christ the Law’s goal, and since in Him the law has found its perfect fulfillment, which is a right standing before God, that implies the termination of the Law’s function as a means of acquiring such a righteous status. So in Christ, the Messiah, the old way of doing things to gain righteousness through obedience to the Law’s requirements is now obsolete. It has been replaced by a new way of getting it done by the Holy Spirit⁶.⁷

Karl Barth does not hold back his convictions. For him, nothing could be clearer. There is but ONE truth, ONE relationship with God, whether by election or in rejection. That means there is only ONE way to stand righteous before God. This ONE righteousness of God is encountered whether we qualify for such a righteous status which proceeds from the faithfulness of God, and which we can only lay hold of and receive by faith.⁸ Whether we are unable to qualify by meeting all the requirements of the law, that is, by measuring up to all the standards of perfect human behavior or not. In the first case, God’s righteousness is invisible. In the second case, the righteousness of God is visible. But it is, nevertheless, the same righteousness. But the biggest factor is this, no one in history has ever met the standards of invisible and visible righteousness except Jesus Christ. Therefore, in the visible case, all of God’s invisible righteousness is to be seen only in and received through Him.⁹

John Stott also deals with the meaning of the Greek word Telos. As said before, it can be used to mean either, “end” in the sense of “having a goal” or “completion.” In Paul’s mind, this indicates the Law pointing to Christ as the one in whom the end would come, the goal would be met, and the completion would be made. But it could also be used to mean “termination” or “conclusion.” In this sense, it implies that Christ came into this world to terminate the Law as the resource for salvation, and brought it to a conclusion on the cross and by rising from the dead. Stott takes the position that this is what Paul has been trying to say.

In other words, because Christ came into the world to bring the task of the law to its completion, therefore, once that it was completed, then and only then was He able to end its rule and authority over those who believed in Him. This would do two things. First, it would neutralize those who claim that since the law no longer has any authority over them, they can live as they please.¹⁰ And secondly, those who see the end of the law in Christ as a way of setting them free so that all they have to do is love God and not worry about trying to get free on their own by obeying the Law.¹¹ Both groups seem to forget that the law was originally given as a means by which people could get right with God. And the reason that is no longer is true is because now Christ is the only way to get right with God.

So by canceling the law, Christ was simply getting rid of the idea that works can qualify someone to stand justified before God. Now it is done through Christ by grace. Grace eliminates good works in the sense that because of what Christ did on the cross, God graciously uses it to offer justification when the work Christ did is accepted. Since justification then leads to salvation, that is where Law and Grace are incompatible. Seeking righteousness by the Law is doomed because the Law cannot forgive sin. Christ is the only one who is now qualified to do that. And since Christ does not offer salvation based on a person’s self-righteousness, then they must accept it completely by faith.¹²

Jewish scholar David Stern gives a lot of attention to this section, especially on the controversy of “ending of the Law.” For him, the fact that Jews have not turned away from their old methods of gaining a righteous status before God, only proves that their enthusiasm for God is still based on a false understanding of the Law. Once they find out and accept the fact that trust in God for salvation is far superior to trust in themselves, they will understand their own Torah much better. This route to the righteousness which the Torah itself not only requires but offers leads through the Messiah. He is the only one who can offer them the righteousness they are seeking. That’s because all they have done, or try to do, still leaves them short of the mark of a right standing before God. Not only does Christ bring the righteousness that will get them there, but He Himself stands at the right hand of the Father to welcome them. Not only that, but they would also see this offer is made to everyone who believes, and that includes the Gentiles.¹³ And this last point may be the largest obstacle in their taking such a leap of faith to depend on Christ instead of the Law.

With this being the understanding, Stern asks if Paul is guilty of stereotypical thinking and prejudice. He does not think so. Rather, Paul is simply reporting the prevailing establishment viewpoint in the non-believing Jewish community of his day. Stern goes on to say a lot of confusion has come about by the way Paul’s words have been translated to more or less mean that the Law came to an end, it was terminated when Christ arrived. Stern rejects this idea. If you are going to accept the Law as having in it the need for the Messiah, then how can you eliminate it without eliminating the Messiah?

In the end, Stern takes what Paul says here as meaning that when a person puts their trust in God to save through Christ, which the Torah itself requires, will have a better understanding – precisely because they have no such trust – that the Gospel is their only way to God. Their faith and trust then will be placed in God’s Messiah, Yeshua. Finally, they will have found the Way, and the only Way, that a person can be justified as righteous in the sight of the God. That’s because they want to serve Him and obey all that He revealed in the Torah. But they will believe the Torah as it is understood in the teaching of Yeshua. However, by refusing to believe in Yeshua they will be disobeying their own Torah.¹⁴

Verse 5: Moses wrote that the person who wants to live right must live according to everything the Law says.

To show the futility of trying to obtain eternal life by following the law, Paul points to the giver of the law, Moses, who carried God’s exact words down the mountain and announced them loudly to the people. They weren’t suggestions or guidelines, they were required actions. This was still the understanding when Jesus came.¹⁵ But the problem was, no one was capable of keeping each and every law to perfection.

The rendering of this quote by Paul from Leviticus 18:5, reads as follows in the Jewish Bible: “For Moses writes about the righteousness grounded in the Torah that the person who does these things will attain life through them.”¹⁶ When we look at the Targum (Paraphrase) of Onkelos, he renders the same passage in Leviticus this way: “The man who does these things shall live in them to eternal life.” And the Arabic version has, “The retribution [payback] of him who works these things is that he shall live an eternal life.” So in Paul’s next verse, that talks about salvation, it seems to be based on what its understanding from the beginning. Paul was not disagreeing with it, but rather is pointing out the fallacy in how the Jews interpreted it.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson VII)

The Bishop of Laodicea, Apollinaris, also writes about Christ versus the Law. As he sees it, Christ is the only source of holy righteousness because He put an end to needing the law by fulfilling everything the law demanded for salvation.¹ To put it another way, the Law was incomplete because it only identified what sin was but provided no forgiveness and no deliverance from its slavery. But when Jesus came, He completed that circle in Himself so that obeying the Law was no longer necessary for those seeking forgiveness and salvation. This is why Chrysostom preached that Christ is the only one to fulfill the requirements needed to be righteous. So it turned things around. Before, no matter how hard anyone tried to be righteous by perfect obedience to the law, they failed. But now, even though someone fails to keep the law perfectly, they are still free of condemnation by their faith in the righteousness of Christ.²

Reformer John Calvin prefers to think of this as Christ completing, not just fulfilling the law. By so doing, He made an incomplete law complete. Now, instead of obeying the law through works, they obey the law by having faith in Christ’s work. So we can see why Paul was no friend of the Jews who abused the law by making-up absurd requirements and establishing impossible obstacles to keep as many as possible from succeeding in their quest. They went from 10 Commandments³ to 613 Commandments,⁴ none of which guaranteed salvation or eternal life. They rejected the spirit of the law and chose the letter of the law. It’s the same as selecting a mummy to communicate with instead of a living person. So what we have here in this remarkable passage is that the law in all its parts already had a reference to Christ because He was the only one who could and would complete it.⁵

Jonathan Edwards believes that the Gospel should be preached often. And although he is not against the moral law being made part of a sermon, it should only be preached as a way of shedding light on the Gospel. Furthermore, in order for the Gospel to be preached effectively, it should be seen as the fulfillment or completion of the law. The same can be said of righteousness. By all means, righteous living should be preached but only to show that Christ is the fulfillment of such righteousness. What good will it do to preach the condemnation of disobeying the law if they neglect to preach the saving grace of the Gospel? Yes, sermons on living right are absolutely necessary but they are preached in vain without including the saving power of the Gospel.⁶

As far as Adam Clarke is concerned, where the law ends, Christ begins. By that, he means that the law ends with multiple temporary, symbolic sacrifices, but Christ begins with an eternal, genuine, onetime offering. The law served as a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ because it cannot save. So it can only leave us at His door. And this is the only door that leads to salvation. Every atoning sacrifice listed in the sacrificial code of Moses was a foreshadowing of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. That’s why Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin was the grand fulfillment of the whole sacrificial code of Moses. The sheep, goats, birds, bulls, etc., certainly could die as a substitute for the sinner, but they could not duplicate Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. When they died, one sin was forgiven once, but a new sacrifice had to be made each time sin was repeated. When Jesus died, it was for all sin for all time. NO wonder He cried out on the cross, “It is finished!”⁷

As Clarke saw it, when we separate the prophesied sacrificial death of Christ from the context of the Law, then the law has no meaning. The blood of bulls, goats, and lambs were only imitations of the blood of the Messiah because they were insufficient. This is made clear when the Psalmist David said: “Sacrifices and grain offerings you don’t want; burnt offerings and sin offerings you don’t demand.”⁸ The writer of Hebrews also points to this by adding: “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats really to take away sins. That is why Christ said as he came into the world, ‘O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so you have made ready this body of mine for me to lay as a sacrifice upon your altar.’”⁹

So from Clarke’s perspective, God never designed the sacrifices under the law to be considered the actual atonement for sin, but rather, a type or representative of that atonement. It was pointing to the ultimate atonement made by Christ’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God. That’s why He is considered the fulfillment, or end, of the law when it came to sacrifices. Even though sacrifices were offered to procure pardon for sin, grant righteousness, and secure justification, they had to be offered over and over again. Christ ended this practice by providing all three in one sacrifice that never had to be repeated again. Therefore, every Jew who rejected Christ as their Sacrifice rejected their Savior.¹⁰

As unfortunate and unreasonable as it may sound, in many churches today, what the Jews did to the Law, Christians have done to the Gospel. They have made many of their rites, rituals, and ceremonies the end result instead of them pointing to or being representative of the end result in Christ. Water baptism no longer represents one’s “self” being buried and dying in Christ and then rising again in the newness of life with Christ living in them. Now it is an end in itself. No one testifies of being a new creation in Christ Jesus, they only talk of having been baptized. In most churches, they are given Certificates of Baptism. There is nothing wrong with receiving such a meaningful certificate, but it will not get anyone into heaven.

Robert Haldane was moved by Paul’s deep concern for his fellow Jews and the condemnation that removed them from God’s favor. But the real problem was that although a way had been prepared for them to again get right with God, they refused His offer. Their object came from the fact that Christ was being acclaimed as the one who put an end to the law. They were sure that “end of the law,” meant they no longer had any means by which to earn righteousness through their good works. After all, who dare stand before God and tell Him that everything is alright, it has been taken care of, but unable to point to anything they did to make it happen? That would require humbling themselves before God, regretting that they were a failure in trying to make it on their own and throw themselves on the grace and mercy of God for forgiveness and restitution.

These Jews failed or were unwilling, to accept the fact that in their present state the law was unable to justify their existences as God’s children because the law was unfinished, incomplete. That’s why no matter how hard they tried, none of them were able to do all that the law commanded in order to live a righteous life acceptable to God. God knew that too, that’s why He sent His Son, not as an apparition, or in the form of an angel, but in the flesh, in the form of human likeness. This was so necessary because, in order to fulfill and complete the law, it must be done in the flesh. That’s how our Lord was able to win the victory because he fought the war and won the victory over sin in the flesh. The is what Paul told them back in chapter 8, verse 4: “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,” who are in Him. And once Christ fulfilled the law’s demands and completed its mission, He then became the One in whom righteousness is found and received by everyone who believes in Him and the work He did on the cross. The law was given to serve a purpose, Christ fulfilled that purpose.

But there was still more. Everyone living according to the law was under a curse. That curse would keep them from all the blessings of life that God desired to give them. That curse was that all those who were unable to fulfill the complete law would suffer eternal separation from God after their death. So not only did they fall short of doing all the law demanded, but the law also failed in bringing them into a right relationship with God. But all those who now accept Christ as their source of righteousness will receive “everlasting righteousness.” This is what Daniel called it.¹¹ And with that everlasting righteousness comes eternal life. That’s because the believer’s life is not only comprised of what they do but what Christ does in them. This is what Paul told the Colossians: “When Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with Him and share in all His glories.”¹² Accordingly, Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’¹³”¹⁴

Albert Barnes makes note of the fact that the Greek word telos, which is variously translated into English by the KJV as “end, custom, continual, uttermost, and finally.” James Strong defines this word to mean: “to set out for a definite point or goal; the point aimed at as a limit, the conclusion of an act or state.” Thayer in his Lexicon puts the use of telos, here in Romans, in the category of “things that cease to be the way they were,” or, “an act or state of being that comes to an end.” So to talk of the “end” of the law, it means that the Law was given to meet a need, to reach a goal. The goal was to be fulfilled in the Messiah. So once the Messiah came, the Law was no longer needed. To live and move and have one’s being in Christ fulfills the Law to the fullest.

Barnes also interprets this to mean that the law was designed to serve a purpose. It no doubt was given so that people, by obeying and following it, could be put in a right relationship with God because they were doing what He commanded them to do. But perfect obedience to the law was impossible. So what the law could not accomplish through man’s efforts was accomplished by having faith in Christ who did exactly that, He met all the laws demands. In other words, what the law was sent to do went down in defeat, God sent His Son to do all that the Law attempted to do and was victorious.

This was the core subject of the discussion between the Apostle Paul and the Jews. There are some who say that the word “law” means “ceremonial law.” Others take it to signify, “moral law.” The truth is, Christ completed both. Sacrifices on the altar and sprinkling blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark in the Holy of Holies is no longer needed. Neither is the daily practice of doing good works to show oneself as being compassionate and kind. Jesus said they were now all wrapped up into one: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then he added, love your neighbors as yourself. But as far as this passage is concerned, it was the law that required justification for salvation that came by perfect obedience. As Pilate exclaimed to the Jews, I find no fault in Him.¹⁵ So if we live and move and have our being in Him,¹⁶ we too are justified so that the condemnation of being eternally separated from God is canceled.¹⁷

In other words, no matter how much you pray, say the Rosary, go to church, take communion, read the Bible, give your tithes and offerings, light candles, volunteer for ministry, or sing in the choir, nothing of what you have done to fulfill the Law is acceptable compensation for the salvation you so badly need. It comes freely as a gift through Jesus Christ because He paid the ultimate price. Many of these things should be done as our way to show our Love for the One who died for us, not to earn our salvation by trying to impress God so that He’ll save us our way.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER TEN (Lesson VI)

Charles Spurgeon does not place the burden of being ignorant of God’s righteousness on the Jews alone. In fact, he says it could also be found among many Gentiles. Such people certainly had a form of righteousness that they understood. In fact, very few, if any, civilized and uncivilized people could be found that did not have a sense of right and wrong. But as far as the Jews were concerned, Paul says that while they have great enthusiasm for being God’s people, it was misdirected zeal since they are not sure how God makes people right with Himself. But instead of learning God’s way, they held on fast to their old way of getting right with God.

They did this by trying to keep every law in the books. How sad it is that they didn’t see that even with such blind zeal they are in fact dishonoring God, and virtually dethroning Him by attempting to set themselves up on the seat of power in their hearts and, thereby, taking God’s rightful place. There was no reason to do that because He had already provided a certain and sure way to get to Him, but they would not accept it.¹ This fits well with what Paul told the Ephesians: “That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”²

As Spurgeon see it, it is sad and distressing that people should be so dedicated to rites, rituals, and ceremonies without realizing that nothing will come of all their efforts that will impress God enough that He will overlook what His Son did on the cross to save them. There’s nothing wrong with zeal and enthusiasm, it’s only that it’s often aimed it in the wrong direction. It’s pointed at those around them and those that lead them instead of being directed to God. They certainly want to be righteous, but they want to do it in a way that they may stand before God dressed in the robe of their own righteousness.

God has His own attire of righteousness.³ These robes are not earned, they are a free gift to everyone who believes in the One who made them righteous, Jesus Christ. What they didn’t realize is that by trying to produce their own righteousness garments, they have started a rivalry with God. This not only dishonors God’s name, but it is an insult to His Son. Spurgeon cried out from the pulpit: “May God grant that any of you here who are very zealous in a wrong direction may receive light and knowledge, and henceforth turn your thoughts in the right way.”⁴

Charles Ellicott approaches this subject of the Jews’ zeal from a historic perspective. Paul was right in calling it a zeal for God but without the proper spiritual knowledge that comes through His Word. They had this enthusiasm for God that they would do anything to impress Him. Based on Ellicott’s own research, he said that Jewish Historian Josephus observed that the Jews knew the Law better than their own names, duly observing all sacred rules. They also frequently attended all the great feasts, by the thousands, going over and above the requirements of the Law. This allowed the strict religious exercises advocated by the teachers of the Law to be the new trend. In fact, the Greek Jews and Egyptian Jews living under the rule of emperor Caligula were crucified and burned at the stake for following their faith so precisely. And Palestinian Jewish prisoners of war died by the claws of African lions in the Roman amphitheater rather than sin against the Law. “So what Gentile,” exclaims Josephus, “would do the same [for their religion?]’”⁵

John Stott sees a duplication of this ignorance of true grace on the part of the Jews in Paul’s day and our current situation. It comes mostly from the tragic adoption of a false way. In fact, such errors are widespread among religious people of all faiths. It’s because all human beings, who know that God is righteous and they are not, start looking around for a righteousness which might make them more fit to stand in God’s presence than the form of righteousness they were taught. To put it another way, they tried to “be more holy” than others. This then presents only two possible options from which to choose. The first is to attempt to fashion a type of righteousness made by man. That includes good works and religious observances. But this is doomed to failure since in God’s sight all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.⁶ One other option is to see the righteousness of God that comes only by receiving Christ as one’s personal Savior, who brings God’s righteousness into the heart by the Holy Spirit⁷.⁸

Verse 4: Christ ended the requirements under the law so that everyone who believes in Him is made right with God.

All of this talk about salvation by works and the law that gave rise to such uncorrectable conduct as that displayed of self-righteousness for personal gain leads Paul to inform the Jewish believers that this was one of the reasons Christ came to end the Jews’ bondage to the Law. In other words, He came to take the place of the Law so that through Him righteousness could be attained without all their religiosity, ritualism, and legalism. This should not have been all that new to the Jewish believers, after all, it was foretold by Isaiah: “It was the Lord’s good plan to bruise Him and fill Him with grief. However, when His soul has been made an offering for sin, then He shall have a multitude of children, many heirs. He shall live again, and God’s program shall prosper in His hands. And when He sees all that is accomplished by the anguish of His soul, He shall be satisfied; and because of what He has experienced, my righteous Servant will make many to be counted righteous before God, for He shall bear all their sins.”⁹

Paul was not talking about some doctrine or theory that he imagined or constructed, he was echoing the words of John the Baptizer who told his critics: “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’” We have all received from his fullness, yes, grace upon grace. For the Torah was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.”¹⁰ Then, the Messiah Himself said: “Don’t misunderstand why I have come—it isn’t to cancel the laws of Moses and the warnings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them and to make them all come true. With all earnestness, I’m telling you: Every law in the Book will continue until its purpose is achieved.”¹¹

So it is no wonder that when Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch, in the province of Pisidia, that he preached to the Jews they found there and said: “Brothers! Listen! Through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for sin! Everyone who trusts in Him is cleared of any guilt and declared righteous—something the Jewish law could never do.”¹² And when Paul learned of certain elements in the church at Corinth that thought they knew better than others what was the true way for Jews to become better Christians, he told them: “For it is from God alone that you have your life through Christ Jesus. He showed us God’s plan of salvation; He was the one who made us acceptable to God; He made us pure and holy and gave Himself to purchase our salvation.”¹³ In other words, there is no place in God’s plan of salvation for the self-righteous.

The churches throughout Galatia had become especially vulnerable to this kind of thinking, so Paul had to write them and remind them of this: “The Jewish laws were our teacher and guide until Christ came to give us right standing with God through our faith. But now that Christ has come, we don’t need those laws any longer to guard us and lead us to Him. For now we are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.”¹⁴ And to the Colossians, Paul explained it this way: “Don’t let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink [that’s not kosher], or for not celebrating Jewish holidays and feasts or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these were only temporary rules that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing—of Christ Himself.”¹⁵ Believe it or not, there are some churches today that are so enamored with Jewish customs and practices that it is now required that they participate in them to make their salvation surer.

One early church scholar, Clement, who wrote his own Epistles to the church in Rome, feels that what Paul was talking about here was the cancellation of the authority that the Jews had placed in the law. This was because the Jews did not understand the intention of the law and, by misunderstanding it, they failed to put to good use. So they made up their own version because they thought they were saying what the law meant to say. They also had no faith in the prophetic power of the law. So they simply did what it said without thinking of the results. In other words, they followed it to the letter but did not grasp the inner meaning which can only be realized by faith.¹⁶

Then we read the view of early church theologian Novatian, who believed the Jews missed the main points of the law by reading into it what wasn’t there while failing to see what was there. They paid so much attention to the literal interpretation that they couldn’t perceive how the metaphors and figures of speech illustrated deeper meanings. Jesus complained about the same thing concerning His parables. They got so caught up in the story that they totally missed its spiritual implication.¹⁷ So when Paul talked about Christ putting an end to the law, they thought He meant that Jesus did what Moses did, broke the tablets of stone and threw them away.¹⁸ What Christ really did was fulfill the Law in every respect so that it wasn’t needed anymore. All that was needed now could be found in Him.¹⁹ In other words, it wasn’t so much that Jesus ended the law, but that He proved to be the end result of the Law.

Let me illustrate in the form of a parable. There was a growing village on low side of a wide river that was constantly being flooded and in danger of being inundated. So the inhabitants made canoes out of trees in order to row to the other side where there was much higher ground and safety. But each time they tried to paddle across the river they failed, some were even swept away by the current. Then one day a wealthy man on the other side of the river sent his son, trained in carpentry as a boy, to build a bridge for them. He too wanted them to join him to live in peace and safety. But because of their pride, they refused to use it. They wanted the notoriety and of being able to reach the other side their own way. Now here some 2,000 years later, they are still trying to row across and having no success. So it is with those who are trying to get to heaven to be saved on their own. They still ignore the bridge built in the form of a cross by the Son of God and keep paddling their own canoes.

Former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, once made this statement: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”¹

That reminded me of what the Lord told the people of Israel about keeping from Him the things they could contribute to the growth and success of His mission here on earth. In particular, to stop cheating Him out of the support His House needed to survive. So God gave them this challenge, “Stop cheating me with your support for My House, test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”²

God challenges us to prove that He means what He says. He is waiting to do business with us, whenever we’re ready. He promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings until we can’t contain it all. The only delay is on our part. As soon as we trust Him by taking the jump, He will show us that there are many more blessings to enjoy than we had ever imagined. God says, “I dare you to obey Me by giving properly.” The question is, are you willing to take God up on His dare?

This has nothing to do with taking a gamble, it is all about exploring your potential. To do that, late Bahamian evangelist Myles Monroe helps us understand some of the ways we can unbind our potential in Christ:

◆ Know your Source and how you are related to each other.

◆ Understand what you are attempting to do and how it works.

◆ Be sure of your reason and purpose in doing it.

◆ Remain confident that your Resource has what you need.

◆ Check your environment to make sure it’s right for your experiment.

◆ Look to see if you are prepared and able to take the challenge.

◆ Get ready to work hard on planting the seed for the harvest you expect to bring in.

◆ Don’t walk off and leave your investment unattended.

◆ Develop plans on how to share the results of your effort.

◆ Always keep in mind the laws of limitation. Trying to overdo something may only result in undoing everything you have done so far.

Neither President Roosevelt nor Evangelist Monroe were advocating that we carelessly climb out on an unsupported limb, nor to start off on a journey minus a map or without knowing where we are going and our reason for getting there. It’s all about looking an opportunity in the eye and believing that with God’s help you can do it for His glory. – Dr. Robert R Seyda