Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday May 14, 2009

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 10:6-The Righteousness Originating From And Based On Faith Does Not Reject The Incarnation

Lesson # 335

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.

This evening we will study Romans 10:6 and in this passage Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 9:4 and 30:12 to teach that the righteousness that originates from and is based on faith in Christ does not reject the incarnation.

Let’s read Romans 10:1-15 and then concentrate on verse 6.

Romans 10:1-15, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

But what does it say?

‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart’ -- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

And how will they hear without a preacher?

How will they preach unless they are sent?

Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!’”

Let’s now concentrate on verse 6.

Romans 10:6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down).”

This passage presents a contrast with Paul’s statement in Romans 10:5 concerning the righteousness that is based on obedience to the Law that the Jew who obeys the commandments of the Law perfectly will live by them or in other words, obtain eternal life, which is impossible because of the sin nature.

“Righteousness” refers to the righteousness of God that is offered in the gospel as a gift from the Father and is received by the sinner and is imputed to the sinner the moment the sinner exercises faith in His Son Jesus Christ, which in turn results in justification.

In Romans 10:6, the word is being personified as indicated by Paul’s use of lego, “speaks” rather than graphe, “writes.”

The latter would emphasize that the righteousness originating from and based on faith in Christ is based on the authority of Old Testament Scripture whereas the former personifies this type of righteousness.

Paul is ascribing the human actions of speaking to the righteousness that originates from and is based on faith in Christ.

“Based on faith” indicates that the righteousness “originating from and based on faith (in Jesus Christ)” does not involve human effort, is attainable and is easy in contrast to obeying the Law perfectly, which is impossible.

The prohibition “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART” is taken from Deuteronomy 9:4.

Paul wants his readers to associate these words with the context from which they are drawn.

In this passage, Moses reminds Israel that when they have taken possession of the land of Canaan that they did not earn or merit it and was not based on their own righteousness.

Therefore, Paul adds implicit support from the Old Testament to his criticism of the nation of Israel in his day for their self-righteousness.

He is also teaching that the righteousness originating from and based on faith is “non-meritorious.”

Deuteronomy 9:1-6, “Hear, O Israel!

You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire.

He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.

Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you.

It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.’”

The rhetorical question “WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?” is taken from Deuteronomy 30:12 and to which Paul adds the explanatory phrase “that is, to bring Christ down,” which implies a denial of the incarnation of the Son of God.

To ask this question is by implication a denial that Christ has come in the flesh.

In the context of Christian theology, the fact that the eternal Son of God became a man two thousand years ago in Bethlehem is called the “incarnation” which is a transliteration of a Latin term meaning, “flesh.”

In Deuteronomy 30:12, Moses is teaching Israel they do not have to ascend to heaven to know the will of God since through Moses God has graciously revealed His will to them.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14, “For this commandment (love the Lord: See Deuteronomy 30:16) which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.

It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’

Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’

But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”

In the Old Testament, the expression of “ascending into heaven” is used to denote a task that is impossible for human beings to perform (See Amos 9:2; Psalm 139:8; Proverbs 30:4).

In Deuteronomy 30, this impossible task is obeying God’s commandment to love Him by being obedient to His commands.

Now, in Romans 10:6, Paul removes any reference to the commandment and applies the language to Christ since He is the incarnate Word of God (John 1:1, 14).

An Israelite did not need to “ascend to heaven” in Moses’ day to find God’s commandment, so in a similar fashion, there is no need for any Israelite in Paul’s day to ascend into heaven to “bring Christ down” since through the incarnation, Israel’s Messiah, the Savior of the world has already been brought down to earth.

In Romans 10:6, Paul makes an application of this principle that Moses was conveying to Israel by using this question to illustrate to his readers that the righteousness originated from and based on faith in Jesus Christ is not an impossibility unlike obeying the Law perfectly.

Just as God condescended and through Moses revealed His will to Israel so He did once again by sending His Son who revealed His will to Israel.

Therefore, just as no one in Israel could render an excuse in Moses’ day of being ignorant of God’s will so in Paul’s day no one in Israel could give an excuse for not knowing the will of God as it relates to receiving God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.

In Romans 10:6, Paul makes an application of the principles taught by Moses in Deuteronomy 9:4 and 30:12 to teach his readers that the righteousness originating from and based on faith in Jesus Christ unlike obeying the Law perfectly is non-meritorious and not an impossibility.

Therefore, Paul adds implicit support from the Old Testament to his criticism of the nation of Israel in his day for their self-righteousness.

Paul is also teaching that it is impossible for someone to ascend into heaven since that would imply that Christ did not come in the flesh.

The righteousness that originates from and is based on faith in Christ never denies the incarnation of the Son of God.

The apostle John makes the same sort of statement.

1 John 4:2-3, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

2 John 8, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.

This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”