Ro 10

If everyone is predestined, why bother to even preach?

Warm-up: How do you decide of any project whether it is worth your effort?

Read Romans 10.

Context: Ro 9 inferred from scriptures that the free will of God predestined everyone for a purpose to either display the mercy of God or his wrath. Ro 10-11 explains how God uses the preaching of the gospel to carry out His plan.

1) vv1-3: How did Paul’s belief in predestination shape his attitude as a missionary?

  • Why did he not become fatalistic? cf v14
  • How did Paul feel about fellow Israelites who persecuted him wherever he traveled to preach the gospel?
    • vv2-3: Did he look down on them? Why not? v2
  • What did he perceive as wrong with them?
    • What did he mean by “ignorance of the righteousness of God“?
    • How could Paul say this without being liable to a charge of being arrogant? =>
  • What hindered the Israelites to understand God’s word in the way Paul did? =>

2) v4 is a key verse to shed light on how the Old and New Testaments relate to each other. In what sense do you think Jesus is “the end (gr. telos) of the law”?

  • How can you be sure that Paul meant not only the ceremonial but moral law?
    • v5 alludes to a passage of Moses about “the commandments” in Lev 18:5. What were those commandments about: Religious ceremonies, or moral conduct?
  • In what sense is Christ the “end” of that law?
  • Why does v4 start with the word: “For….”? => How does v4 “prove” that Israel “did not submit to God’s righteousness” in v3?
    • How can fervor to obey the law be disobedience? cf Jn 5:44-47 [If the chief end of the law of Moses is faith in Christ, rejecting Christ epitomizes disobedience]

3) vv5-9: How does the law of Moses promote faith in Jesus?

  • vv5-6: By preaching good news? Or by preaching bad news?
    • The law of Moses can only justify those who (perfectly) do it (Ja 2:10). Why is that bad news? Gal 3:10-11
  • Read Deut 30:11-14. Did Moses disagree and claim that the law is not too difficult/mysterious or too distant in time or space (v11) for anyone to do it (v14)?
  • In vv6-9 of Romans 10, Paul resolves this paradox by saying that Moses here must have spoken of the command to put our faith in Christ. So how could he do this, equate this Mitsvah of Deut 30:11 with ‘the word of faith that we preach’? =>
  • If Deut 30:11 means that mortal flesh can live up to the demands of the law, this verse alone would suffice to refute Ro 8:7-8 (and with this the need for Jesus and preaching faith in Him, cf Gal 2:21). By quoting from Deut 30, Paul shows that he was not unaware. So how could he see (and prove when asked, cf Deut 29:1; 14-15) that the Mitsvah of the new covenant in Deut 30 must be distinct from the covenant of the Ten Commandments?*

4) vv10-15: If faith is a gift of God granted to those He predestined (Ro 9, cf Eph 2:8), why did Paul even bother to preach the gospel?

  • vv13-15: What does God use as the means by which he carries out his immutable plan?
    • How does this biblical understanding of predestination differ from fatalism?

5) vv16-21: What did Paul address in the last few verses of this chapter?

  • In v16, Paul quoted from Isaiah 53. What is that chapter all about?
    • Why did Israel not accept Isaiah’s testimony that Christ was sent to take our sins upon himself? v3
  • vv17-21: Is the problem that the Israelites did not hear the word, or rather that they could not understand it? cf 1Cor 2:14Were they unable to understand because of a lack of interest? Why not? v20
    • Read Ro 7:11. Accordingly, how were they instead hindered by the law of Moses?? =>
    • Deceived (by sin!) through the law: Deceived to believe what?**
    • v19: In this situation, why/how did God make Israel jealous? Jealous of what? Ro 9:23 Hint: Why was Cain jealous of his younger brother Abel (Gen 4:5)? Why was the prodigal son envied by his older brother (Lk 15:30)?
      • Did the older brother not hear of God‘s mercy, or was he unable to ‘understand’ and believe? Lk 15:31

6) Personal & application

  • The way how the Bible teaches predestination is meant to stir emotions: What are those?
  • How can we be moved by the doctrine of predestination and, like Paul, never become callous that millions do not know or believe in Jesus?
  • What motivates you to follow Paul’s example to pray also for people who do not yet believe?
    • Should we expect our prayers to change the will of God? cf Mt 6:10
    • If not, why then do you pray at all?

* The context of Deut 30:11 is God’s promise for the Israelites that when they (!) will seek Him again, He will end their (!) exile among the nations and return them to their homeland, where he will finally ‘circumcise their (!) hearts’, Deut 30:1-6. For God will ‘graft them back into the olive tree’ once they will not continue anymore in their unbelief, Ro 11:23. This also explains why Paul quotes from Deut 30 specifically here in Ro 10 on the question of when and how his fellow Jews might be saved.

** Deceived to trust this body of “flesh” that it can live up to what is required – a mindset that is death because it severs from the Spirit (cf Ro 8:6)

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