In chapter 9 Paul expressed one of the greatest degrees of love mortal man could express. As he considered the condition of the Jew separate from Christ he said, “I could wish that I myself were separate from Christ for my brethren’s sake …” (Romans 9:3). In our last article we showed such was impossible: God did not allow that for His Son; He would not allow it in Paul’s case either. Both God’s Son and Paul made enormous sacrifices (although Paul’s couldn’t compare with that of our Savior), yet Jesus made the ultimate and greatest sacrifice by providing His blood to remit man’s sins while Paul suffered deprivation, beatings, extreme hardship, imprisonment, and ultimate martyrdom to carry the news of the gospel of Jesus to the Jews and all men. But many of Jews were lost because they rejected the gospel: they would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3).
In Paul’s description of the glorious gospel he said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe … for therein is revealed the righteousness of God from faith unto faith …” (Romans 1:16-17).
The Jews sought righteousness but were ignorant of the righteousness of God. They sought their own righteousness and rejected God’s righteousness. Paul wrote, “For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth …” (Romans 10:4). Some isolate the expression, “Christ is the end of the law” from its context which both preceded and followed it. They see Paul declaring that Christ removed the Law and nailed it to His cross. That is true (Colossians 2:24) but Romans 10:4 does not teach it. The truth the passage teaches is that Christ is the goal of the Law; that believers in the gospel finds righteousness which he never found through the Law because only those who kept it perfectly reached that goal. None did, save Jesus.
One of the Jews’ failure to attain righteousness was because he sought his own righteousness. Paul knew the futility of such an effort. He told the Philippians that he counted all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus that “I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is through the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:7-8).
Paul contrasted the “righteousness which is of the law” with the “righteousness which is by faith,” saying, “Moses writeth that the man who doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby. But the righteousness which is of faith saith thus, say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (That is, to bring Christ down?) or, who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach: because if thou shall confess with thou mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dad, thou shalt be saved: fore with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:5-10).
WARNING: Do not conclude from these words that baptism is excluded from one’s faith (as so many do), but look back earlier in the letter and see that the apostle shows that baptism is an integral part of faith (Romans 6:3-6). Also, see that Luke (Paul’s trusted and true friend) wrote in Acts 16:25-34 that the jailor’s faith included his baptism.
Some unknown person (to me) has rightly observed: “The faith that saves, is the faith that obeys.”
Jim McDonald