Chapter 10
Chapter 10 1-2. They have a zeal for God He undertakes nothing new, but repeats the earlier statement about the cause of the defection of the Jews and the cause of the persecution of the Gospel. He says they wage war against the Gospel because they are not willing to have the righteousness of the Law belittled, neither do they understand that there is need of another righteousness in the sight of God. Therefore they stubbornly hold fast to the righteousness and worship of the Law.
3. He adds a complaint about the destruction of the race, as above, and ascribes to it a zeal, that is, eagerness for piety, but connected with an error.
The error is the chief one in the articles of faith, namely with respect to the nature of Christ's office and kingdom, whence forgiveness of sins comes, what is true righteousness, and what sin is. A great threat is added against those who defend wicked opinions about the righteousness of the Law, when he says: ""They have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.''
He clearly condemns all who oppose the true doctrine about the righteousness of faith.
4. For Christ is the end of the Law Here he begins a comparison of the righteousness of the Law and of the righteousness of the Gospel, and defines each, and puts forth a statement opposed to the Jewish imaginations about the Law. It is as if he said: **The Jews seek righteousness from the Law; they do not understand that Christ is the end of the Law,' that is, that it has been promised that he would take away sin and death, which the Law only reveals.
The meaning is: ''Christ is the end of the Law,'' that is, its fulfillment or consummation. He gives that which the Law requires. Whoever believes in Christ has that which the Law demands—righteousness by imputation— and is set free from sin and death. But this liberation is only begun in this life, although the believer is truly righteous by imputation.
5. For Moses writes Some have imagined that the point at issue in this antithesis is in the words: ''He shall live in them,'' that is: In the matter of rewards two kinds
Commentary on Romans of works are being compared; the works of reason have temporal rewards, but the good works which have their origin from the Holy Spirit have eternal rewards. This interpretation is foreign to the discussion of Paul, for it is not a comparison of rewards, neither is it about ultimate causes. Rather, the dispute is about the formal cause: what in fact is the righteousness of the Law, and conversely, what is the righteousness of the Gospel.
The point at issue in the comparison lies in the two phrases *'to do"' and '*to believe.'' The righteousness of the Law is to do the Law, that is, to render perfect obedience according to the Law. So, he says, righteousness is described by Moses when he says "'doing them,"' as though he said: **The righteousness of the Law is this very obedience by which the things which the Law prescribes are truly and wholly done: to glorify God, to burn with love of God with all one's heart, to love the neighbor, to be without concupiscence, to be without any vicious affect, to be without sin.'' That is the righteousness which the Law requires, which human nature is so far from fulfilling that it does not even know what that love of God is.
On the other hand, the righteousness of faith is not to be righteous on account of fulfilling the Law on account or of our virtues, but it is to believe that we are righteous, that is, accepted by God, on account of Christ.
From this the distinction between faith and love can be seen, and why one must say ''We are just by faith' and how this is to be understood. One must not imagine ''We are just by faith'' means that on account of our renewal or our new virtues we are righteous, but instead that we are rightous because of Christ, who can be apprehended in no other way than through faith. To say that we are righteous by love is the same as to say that we are righteous through our virtues, or through our fulfillment of the Law. However, it is certain that we do not satisfy the Law. Therefore, it is necessary that this saying be retained in purity: "'We are accounted righteous by faith,'' in order that it may be understood that we are righteous—accepted—not on account of our virtues, but on account of Christ, the mediator, through mercy, gratis.
That is what Paul intends in this definition, which he amplified wonderfully by quoting certain words from Deuteronomy [Cf. Deut. 30:12—14].
6. Do not say in your heart Paul changes the description of faith from the statement of Moses, but does not twist it to a meaning that does not fit. For there Moses also describes and requires faith. But the statement about the Word and about faith is general.
Paul applies it to this word about Christ and to faith in Christ.
Let us first examine the statement of Moses, who pictures the wickedness of the human heart with clear figures. Although the heart knows there is a God, it doubts whether God is concerned about us, denies that the will of
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God toward us can be known, and denies that he hears or saves us. It is apparent enough that these doubts cling to human minds. Therefore, the Law of God rebukes them and requires faith. ''Do not say in your heart: 'Who will ascend into heaven?'
*' that is, do not be an Epicurean, or think that God is nothing, or doubt whether there is a God, or whether he is concerned about human affairs. Do not think that God is so hidden that his will is not expressed in some word. Do not think that his will is unknown just because he is not discerned with bodily eyes. Do not think that he does not hear, that he does not take pity, or does not require this worship which he taught in his Word, etc.
How then can God be found and apprehended? **The Word,"' he says, "is near' [v. 8]. Hence I lead you to the Word. Hear it, if you believe that God is apprehended and his will is seen when you hear the Word. Believe that this is the will of God, that he wants to be worshiped in this way, that He wants to hear, as he has promised. It is quite clear that this is the meaning in Moses. It is also not doubtful that Moses is here speaking about faith, and that he requires faith. Faith believes not only that there is a God, but also that God wants to be known through his Word, and to be invoked that he wants to hear, that he wants to take pity according to his promise, and that he demands these acts of worship.
These things which are spoken in general, although they contain the doctrine about faith, are nevertheless somewhat obscure, and are voices of the Law. Therefore Paul puts forward another Word and mentions the mediator in order that he may set forth gratuitous mercy promised because of Christ.
When we acknowledge this, faith becomes certain that we are heard, saved, etc., gratis on account of Christ, not on account of the Law.
He applies this in this way: ''Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?' for that is to lead Christ down from heaven.'' This means first:
Do not be an Epicurean; then, do not doubt that it is the will of God that Christ should be the mediator, that God wants to save us because of Christ.
If you do not believe that Christ is the mediator, that he saves us, you pull him down from heaven, you deny that he rules and accuse God of lying, as if his promise were void.
7. Do not say, ''Who shall descend into the abyss?"'
This means, do not think after the manner of the Epicureans that there is not another life after death; neither think that men cannot be set free from sin and death. If you doubt, you deny that Christ rose from the dead. You imagine that Christ still lies dead, is yet to be resurrected, that he is not the victor over death and sin. The sum and substance of the statement is: Do not doubt that for his sake God truly takes pity on us, remits our sins, hears and
Commentary on Romans saves us. Thus Paul adds to the statement of Moses the Gospel about the mediator, and includes the exclusive word in order that faith may be certain.
Let us oppose this very weighty speech of Paul to our infirmity and doubting, and in it contemplate how great is the wickedness to doubt whether
God wants to remit sins, whether he wants to hear, help, save, and finally grant us the things which he promised through Christ. Every time we pray, let us think about these words:
''Do not say, 'Who shall ascend into heaven?'
'' For that would be to bring down Christ. Instead, declare that Christ is truly sitting at the right hand of the Father, that he is our intercessor, that we are heard. When we do this, we learn the power and meaning of this saying. For those who do not pray deny that Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that he is our intercessor, etc.
8. The Word is near, in your mouth Earlier he reprehended doubting. Now he adds the affirmative description of faith: ''The Word is near, in your mouth.' He defines the righteousness of faith: it is not doubting, but believing this word about Christ and declaring that Jesus is Lord, the one through whom the blessing has been promised which liberates from death and sin.
There is a clear antithesis: The righteousness of the Law is to do the Law. It is our obedience according to the Law, either perfect, or civil. But the righteousness of faith is to believe that we are accepted because of Christ. not because of our own worthiness, qualities, or virtues. Therefore, he opposes this to the earlier definition, in which he says ''to do."* In the other definition, he says "'the Word is near, in your mouth and heart,'' because we accept
Christ through the Word, and we are righteous and accepted for his sake, not because of our own worthiness.
This is worth observing also about the need for the ministry and for the spoken word, and about the manner in which God deals with us. For one must not imagine that God sends the Holy Spirit without his word. Paul leads us to the ministry and to the spoken word. God is found nowhere outside of his Word, or without his Word; he wants to be known through it. By means of this instrument he wants to work. Therefore let us seek God through the Word in every temptation, and let us resist with the Word. And let us declare that this certainty is the will of God which is set forth in his Word. He is saying this about a very great thing, namely, about salvation: ''The Word is near, in your mouth," and 'The word of faith which we preach." And later he will repeat this mode: **Faith comes from hearing, hearing through the word of God'' [10:17].
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9. If you confess "Tf you confess the Lord Jesus'' is to be explained in this way: If you confess that Jesus is Lord, that is, not an idle lord, but that Lord about whom the promises were made, who liberates the human race from sin and death, who has been made the sacrificial victim for us, who sits at the right hand of the Father in order to save. For here one must learn from all the promises what the honor of the Lord is, and what benefits it embraces, as it says in the Psalm [110:1]: *'The Lord said to my Lord,'' and in others.
10a. For with the heart one believes to righteousness It is a clear testimony that we are justified by grace, but clearly to our adversaries these words are idle and signify nothing. Afterward they imagine many sophistic interpretations for them. Truly, we do not corrupt the saying of Paul, and truly we ascribe to faith what Paul ascribed to it. Neither is what he calls faith obscure, namely, that which the Word expresses.To believe in Christ, as he himself here explains faith, is faith which believes that Jesus is
Lord. As above [10:9], it is that which accepts the promise. And here: '*Everyone who believes in him,"' certainly means *'who has confidence in him,"' that is, who is confident that God is favorable to us on account of him.
10b. With the mouth confession is made to salvation Many people imagine this: Even if good works do not merit remission of sins, nevertheless afterward they merit eternal life. Many have said: Although people do not merit the first grace, nevertheless afterward they merit eternal life. For this they quote many statements: *'With the mouth confession is made to salvation.'' Likewise: "'I was hungry, and you gave me food''
{Mt 25:35]. Likewise: *'If I have all faith, but do not have love, I am nothing"'
EeCorwl S21.
I answer all these statements in one and the same manner. I grant that a beginning of obedience is necessary, but it does not merit eternal life. Neither is it the purchase price of eternal life, nor is it pleasing except because we believe in Christ. Since obedience is pleasing because of faith, it is a contradiction to imagine that works either justify or that they merit eternal life.
By faith we declare that remission of sins and eternal life are given us gratis, because of Christ. Nevertheless, the effect necessarily follows, namely, beginning newness when hearts are made alive by faith.
There is nothing troublesome about this interpretation.
It grants that obedience is necessary. It takes away the opinion about merit. It teaches how one pleases in order that Christ may be accorded his honor, and that faith may remain certain. For it would become uncertain if one had to think that
Commentary on Romans we pleased God when we had sufficient merits. This is profitable to know in general about all statements of this kind.
Now let us return to the text. It is certain that Paul does not approve of confession unless faith is present; he does not grant to confession that it is the purchase price or merit of eternal life. As has been said, that would be a contradiction.
Yet he demands confession because, as has been said, obedience is necessary, and Paul wanted to show that he was speaking not of a hypocritical faith, that is, of idle thinking, but about a true impulse of the heart which lays hold of the mercy promised because of Christ. Therefore, patience and every kind of good work shines forth in confession.
Moreover, he distinguishes righteousness and salvation for the sake of perseverance. For although someone is righteous and is an heir of eternal life, it can happen that a righteous person again loses his righteousness. Therefore, he says: ''If you confess,'' namely, because you have faith, as though he said: If your faith is firm and persevering.' For he does not approve confession except because of faith.
11-13. For all who call upon him First we must observe that he stresses the universal particle, and remind ourselves that the promises are universal. Second, we must consider what the purpose of this new statement is, and whether the statement *'Every one who will call'? agrees with the Gospel.
I answer: This is a new prophecy, distinguishing the Gospel from the Law, because the Law also teaches us to call on God, with the condition of perfect obedience. But this prophecy promises salvation to those who call on God, to those whom the Law formerly could not help, and who are still such that they cannot render the obedience which the Law demands. To those he now promises salvation if they call on the name of God, that is, if they call on him as the Lord who reveals himself in his Word which he gave to the fathers, which he handed down in the coming of his Son.
Here it is necessary that calling on God be understood together with the little word gratis. For it demands that we believe that we are heard and saved gratis, because of the promised Lord. This promise must be opposed to the Law, as if he said: ''Because the Law could not help you, because you are under sin and death, salvation by another way is promised. God will give a teacher, he will pour out his Spirit, and by calling on the Lord, you will be saved from these very evils, from sin and death, from which the Law did not set you free."'
That is the simple and true meaning of this promise. Therefore it squares perfectly with the Gospel, and adds a measure of light to the definition of the righteousness of faith which he handed down above: The righteousness
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of the Law is to do the law [10:5]. But the righteousness of faith is to call on the Lord, and to declare that on account of the Son of God we are set free from sin and death and from wrath, from which the Law could not set us free:
The promise will become sweet when the little word gratis is understood in it. Calling on God is to be practiced in this way, lest our own unworthiness scare us off, so we may know that it is a command of God that we should call on him. Likewise, that it is commanded that we believe that we are heard because of Christ, not because of our own worthiness. Therefore let us obey
God and render him this act of worship. When we call on him, let us remember that we are bringing unworthiness and sins, and let us pray that we may be set free and heard because of Christ. When we do this we are at the same time repenting. Now it is easy to reconcile the dissimilar statements: God does not hear sinners, namely, those who call on him without repentance and without faith.
14a. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
Paul adds the manner in which the benefits of Christ come to us, namely, through the ministry of the Word of God. This foremost passage about the necessity and the dignity of the ministry must be most diligently noted in order that we may know in what way God works in us, and may not seek other illuminations outside of the Word, nor grant entrance to imaginations and opinions about God without a sure word of God. This precept about the Word of God is wide open, for it is difficult for a man to stand fast by the Word of God and to say for certain that what he sets forth in the Word is the will of God, and so he easily slips into other imaginations. Thus Eve, thinking lightly of the Word, adds the imagination: **Perhaps God does not think so harshly."
So it happens in many articles. The Word says clearly: '*We are righteous by faith because of Christ.' Bad teachers, holding this word but weakly and following their own imagination, thought it would be more fittingly said that men are righteous on account of their own virtues and merits. Then they added that one ought to doubt, and completely destroyed the teaching about faith.
So also now the Anabaptists despise the doctrine about faith. They loudly proclaim that people are righteous through the greatness of their afflictions and by certain illuminations of theirs, and so they cast off the Word and teaching about faith. Once upon a time such things were entirely the babblings of the Manichaeans and Enthusiasts. It is not an error of one time only, for people easily slip into such imaginations when they think lightly of the Word of God.
These Enthusiasts are to be avoided and cursed. And we must know that
Commentary on Romans God does not want His will about sin and about grace to be known and apprehended in any other way except in the Word, and that the Holy Spirit works through the Word. Let us hold this rule fast, and for this great reason show all honor to and defend the public ministry of the Word. And let us always keep these statements before our eyes: **Faith comes from hearing, hearing through the Word of God'' [Rom. 10:17]. Likewise: **How shall they hear without a preacher?'' [Rom. 10:14]. Likewise: "'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace'" [Rom. 10:15].
In the second place, this passage teaches that in calling on God faith is required, that is, this very faith, by which we believe that our sins are remitted to us and that we are heard on account of Christ, as Christ says [Mt. 6:23]:
'*Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name,"' that is, not bringing your own worthiness, but believing that you are accepted and heard because of Christ. So also this [10:14] teaches: "'How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?'' If they do not believe that God is favorable toward them and that he hears their prayers, they cannot call on him. Therefore it is certain that faith is required in invocation. And this makes the difference between the invocation of the godly and that of the heathen or hypocrites.
The Gentiles also pray, but with this doubt: they do not believe that God is reconciled to them and that he regards or hears their prayers. All who do not know the doctrine of the Gospel about justification and about faith pray in the same way. Such prayer is useless and condemned.
From this it can be understood how great is the darkness of those who boast that they are teachers of good works and yet reject the teaching about faith. For they destroy the chief and proper works of the godly, namely, calling on God. For this reason, not only the ceremonies and public prayers of the enemies of the Gospel, but also their private prayers are condemned, just like the prayers of the heathen such as are found here and there in poems.
This must be diligently considered in order that we may learn what invocation or prayer should be like, and what is the difference between the prayer of a godly and an ungodly person. Likewise, what kind of faith the godly should have when they call on God. Wherever the teaching of this faith about which we are speaking here is ignored, it is impossible to have true prayer. Doubting and disbelief is strengthened that God does not hear, is not concerned, yes, that he will reject the one who is calling on him.
Let us Christians learn that such unbelief is sin. Let us fight against this sin and raise ourselves up by the true doctrine about faith. Let us know that faith must be brought to our calling on God, namely, that we believe that God is truly favorable toward us and receives our prayers because of our high priest, Christ.
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14b. How shall they believe if they do not hear?
In the third place, this passage teaches that worship instituted without the Word of God is not pleasing to God because there can be no faith without the Word of God. That is why it is said here: *'How shall they believe if they do not hear?' This passage contains rich teaching about how the benefits of Christ come to men through the ministry of the Word; how great is the need and the dignity of the ministry; and what is true calling on God, what acts of worship please God.
15. How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim peace!
He adds a very sweet statement from Isaiah [52:7] which describes the kingdom of Christ. It'reminds us that the kingdom must be administered through the Word, and indeed through the preaching of a new Word, namely, the Gospel, in which there will be proclaimed peace, that is, health and salvation which is divinely given. The contrast is opposed to the Law and sin and the miseries of mankind, as though he said: *'Then will sin be taken away and the other ills which the Law could not take away, and there will be true comfort and the gift of righteousness and eternal life."'
'The feet are lovely' is a figure of speech about the messengers of the Word, as if he said: 'The ministry of the Word which will be preached in that new kingdom will be wonderfully lovely beyond measure because it brings the best things, knowledge of the mercy of God, righteousness, and eternal life. The prophet opposes this praise to the judgment of the world. For there is the greatest bitterness of hatred against the Gospel and the ministers of the Gospel, as Paul indicates that the apostles are considered refuse [1 Cor. 4:13].
Therefore, the world by no means judges these feet, that is, the messengers, to be salutary and lovely. The prophet comforts us against such judgments of the world and teaches us that we should love this ministry, although it 1s spurned and hated by the world, and we should know that it is efficacious and brings salvation to the believers. Thus Paul also says: "'I am not ashamed of the Gospel'' [Rom. 1:16]. Let us strengthen ourselves against the wicked judgments of the world, and let us consider how great a crime it is to practice cruelty against the godly ministers of the Gospel.