But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “LORD, who has believed our message?”
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Romans 10:14-17
Notice Paul is still using his trusted methods. He focuses their attention with a rhetorical question (or a series of them) and then adds the explanation or unpacks the thoughts related to the question. He is still being the Paul we know. So he inserts four related rhetorical questions:
- But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him?
- And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?
- And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?
- And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?
Notice where “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” comes from. (Isa 52:7) In quoting this passage Paul means us to pick up the whole message.
The classic steps to salvation. Send > Go > Tell > Hear > Believe > Saved. So what went wrong for Israel?
Some key elements in the passage:
Wake up, wake up, O Zion! . . . Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion . . . Why are My people enslaved again? . . . But I will reveal My name to My people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the One who speaks to them . . . He has redeemed Jerusalem . . . Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD revealed His powerful arm? . . . He was despised and rejected . . . We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. (Isaiah 53:1 + 3)
Paul is saying in all of this: They need to call on Him, but how can they without believing, and for that they need to hear (really hear) someone needs to tell them, who will go?
Notice all of this is connected to what follows in the form of reference to the first verses of Isaiah 53. The very passage that all Jews know relates to Messiah or the Suffering Servant but they have not associated themselves with Jesus Christ. In choosing that passage, Paul is saying that rather than believing they have rejected and that is the reason for their plight. They themselves are the missing link in the classic chain leading to salvation. These days Jews refuse to read Isaiah 53. It is not included in their daily readings from the synagogue (the Haftorah). Although it is there in the Scroll of the Book they are surprised when it is pointed out to them. When asked who is the One the Scriptures are pointing to they refuse to answer.
Remember Paul still working his way through the underlying question as to why the Jews are not experiencing the truth and freedom of Romans 8:35-39. As he said Who has believed our message? In this case it was told, heard but there was no response. The Jews themselves are to blame. “We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way”.
Be kind to yourself. God thinks you’re worth his kindness. And he’s a good judge of character.
Max Lucado
God knows you better than you know you and has reached his verdict: he loves you still.
Max Lucado