10:16,17
Some might argue that since most of the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah then He could not have actually been the Messiah. However, Paul quotes from the Old Testament, Isaiah 53:1, to remind them that rejection of God’s messenger was normal for Israel. They had a well established history of rejecting God’s prophets!
“Faith comes through hearing the message”. If we look at the Old Testament the “good” parts are when people hear the word of God and believe it. Noah heard God, believed Him and acted upon it. Abraham heard the word of God and acted, as did Moses, Joshua, David, Gideon and all the other heroes of the Old Testament. We do well to remember this today. It has been said “preach the gospel always, use words if necessary” (often attributed to St Francis of Assisi, but this is not proven). This sounds good but is actually nonsense. Words are always necessary. The actions must match, but the words are essential.
And God’s word to the world is Jesus Christ. The whole world needs to hear the message of Jesus Christ.
10:18
Paul is now starting the final phase of the argument that will be completed in chapter. How will Israel be saved? Here he is still dealing with the unbelief phase. The problem is not that the Jews did not hear the message. The Messiah Himself lived among them! And now the message has gone out to all the world. Paul is quoting from Psalm 19:4. There David speaking of the whole of nature declaring the glory of God. The whole world, Jew and Gentile, can see the glory of God declared in nature. Yet not all believe. In the same way, the gospel goes out to all the world. God is the Lord of All and declares His word to all the world.
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