Bible Commentaries

I bear them record; I freely and openly testify.

A zeal of God; zeal for God; great zeal in religion.

Not according to knowledge; not enlightened, wise, or according to truth. Men may have great zeal in religion, and yet be blinded and hardened in sin. Right zeal will be in accordance with truth and duty; holy in character, kind in spirit, and useful in tendency.

God’s righteousness; that which he has provided in Jesus Christ. See note to chap Romans 1:17.

Their own righteousness; by their outward obedience to the law.

Have not submitted themselves; not given their hearts to God, or accepted his salvation through Christ.

The end of the law for righteousness; the true end of the law is to give eternal life; but to fallen sinful men it becomes the occasion of death. Chap Romans 7:10. Christ, by delivering those who believe on him from both the condemnation of the law and the reigning power of sin, brings them into a state of eternal life, and thus accomplishes the end of the law. That righteousness which men vainly seek by their own works, they may freely attain by believing in Christ. They may also in this way be led from the heart to yield an obedience to the law, which they otherwise never would have rendered; and to perform works which will receive a gracious and abundant reward.

Moses describeth; Leviticus 18:5.

The righteousness-of the law; that which can be obtained by obeying the law.

Doeth those things; all the things which the law requires.

Shall live by them; and thus be saved by his works.

The righteousness-of faith; that which men attain by believing in Christ.

Speaketh on this wise; is described in this way. Deuteronomy 30:11-14.

Say not in thy heart; do not think that this way of becoming righteous requires of you impossibilities, or things which, if disposed, you cannot do. It does not require you to go up to heaven, or down into the deep. All that it required is, to receive Christ as your Saviour and guide.

The word; the message of salvation through Christ.

Nigh thee; close at hand, so that it requires no toilsome labor to find it or to do it.

In thy mouth, and in thy heart; ready at hand to be received by thy heart, and confessed by thy lips. Verses Romans 10:9-11.

Confess with thy mouth-believe in thy heart; he mentions these two things, because both are necessary to salvation-the inward faith in Christ, and the outward confession of him.

That God hath raised him from the dead; for belief in this includes every thing else. By raising Christ from the dead, God set his seal to him as the promised Messiah.

The scripture saith; Isaiah 28:16.

Shall not be ashamed; his confidence in the Saviour shall not be disappointed. That faith which is represented in the Old Testament and the New as essential to salvation, is one which influences and controls the heart and life.

Whosoever shall call; Joel 2:32. The apostle quotes from a prophecy relating to the times of the gospel. See the context, Joel 2:28-31.

How then shall they call; the quotation from Joel gives the apostle occasion to magnify the office of the gospel preacher, and show the propriety, the wisdom, and goodness of preaching the gospel to the heathen, as had been done by Paul and others, and as had been foretold by the prophets.

As it is written; Isaiah 52:7. Another prophecy that has its highest fulfilment under the gospel dispensation.

They have not all obeyed; though the gospel had been preached extensively among Jews and Gentiles, yet only a few comparatively had embraced it, especially among the Jews. This also had been foretold in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53:1. Yet some, as foretold, when they heard the gospel, believed and were saved.

Faith cometh by hearing; the hearing of the word of God. His communication in the gospel is the means appointed and blessed to lead men to exercise faith; hence it should be preached to all, that they may hear, believe, and be saved. The hearing of Christ as revealed in the gospel, is the means which God has appointed, and which he blesses to the production of faith in him; he should therefore, as soon as practicable, be preached to all people: and those who aid in doing this, are exerting an important instrumentality for the salvation of men.

But I say, Have they not heard? this is said in reference to the general unbelief of men, verse Romans 10:16; as much as to say, True, few have obeyed; but is this from want of hearing? no; for their sound went into all the earth; in other words, what the Psalmist says of the instruction given by the heavens, Psalms 19:1-4, is true of the preaching of the gospel. It has been extensively proclaimed among many nations. Of course, if the people do not believe, it must be their own fault.

Did not Israel know? have in their own scriptures the means of knowing; namely, that the Gentiles as well as the Jews were to hear the gospel, and that multitudes of them would embrace it, while the unbelieving and disobedient Jews were to be rejected? This had been foretold.

First Moses saith; as much as to say, To begin with Moses, the first of all the sacred writers. The passage quoted is in Deuteronomy 32:21. It teaches that for their disobedience God will provoke the covenant people to anger by exalting the heathen nations above them. This has been fulfilled, first, in a temporal way, by their repeated subjection-as at this very day-to the dominion of gentile nations; secondly, in a spiritual way, by God’s casting off the unbelieving Jews, and calling into the church the believing Gentiles. It is to this latter fulfilment that the apostle here refers.

No people; as idolaters, not worth to be called a people in contrast with the people of God.

Foolish nation; stupidly worshipping idols.

Esaias is very bold; speaks openly and plainly. Isaiah 65:1-2.

Them that sought me not; those who had not before sought him, the heathen. He revealed himself to them in the gospel, and they believed on him.

Stretched forth my hands; in kind invitations of mercy.

A disobedient and gainsaying people; who continued to oppose his messengers and reject their message. As they continued to reject him, he would reject them, and gather to himself a people from the Gentiles. This had been foretold in the Old Testament, and they might have known it. No outward connection with any visible church, and no external privileges merely, can secure for men the favor of God. He will treat them as they treat his Son. If they receive and obey him as their Saviour, he will be made of God unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. If they do not, he will cast them off. John 14:15; John 14:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 16:22.