Section 10:5–15
Salvation for everyone is by faith not works
In this section Paul spoke about righteousness based on the Law of Moses and righteousness based on faith. The righteousness which comes from the Law is based on doing what the Law says. The righteousness which comes from faith is not based on what a person does but is instead a matter of the heart.
God rescues the person who believes in Jesus and announces that Jesus is his Lord. Paul said that this is true for both Jews and people who are not Jews. Jesus is Lord of all of them. and blesses them very much.
Paul then asked several questions for the believers in Rome to think about. He implied that someone must be sent and preach, and people must hear, believe, and call on Jesus. Paul ended the section with a quote from the Old Testament about how it is good to preach the good news.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
God saves anyone, ⌊Jew or Gentile,⌋ who believes in Jesus
-or-
Salvation by faith and the need for preaching near and far
Paragraph 10:5–7
10:5a
For: Here this word introduces an explanation or an elaboration on what Paul said about righteousness, works, and faith earlier.
the righteousness that is by the law: This phrase refers to being right with God based upon the Law of Moses. The life of the Jews was governed by the Law which God had given them through Moses. Their obedience to it provided their understanding of being in right standing with God. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
the righteousness that comes from the law (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
the righteousness that is from the Laws ⌊of Moses⌋
Moses writes: The verb is present tense, but Moses wrote the words of 10:5b over 1,500 years before Paul lived. Greek scholars call it the historical present. In many languages the normal way of referring to a past event must be used. For example:
Moses wrote (Good News Translation)
In some languages a quote from the Old Testament is always clearly introduced as one. For example:
Moses wrote ⌊in Scripture⌋
10:5b
These words are from Leviticus 18:5.
“The man who does these things will live by them”: The Greek of 10:5b begins with a word that is often translated as “that” (English Standard Version). There are two ways to interpret this Greek word:
(1) It introduces a direct quote here. For example:
“The man who does these things will live by them.” (Berean Standard Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)
(2) It introduces an indirect quote here. For example:
that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by it (Revised Standard Version)
(Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004))
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the words of 10:5a are very similar to that part of Leviticus 18:5.
The man who does these things: The Greek is literally “the man doing those things.” It refers to anyone, man or woman, who does as the commands in the laws of Moses say. It implies Jews who want to obey God. The words these things do not refer only to the Ten Commandments. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
Whoever obeys the commands of the Law (Good News Translation)
-or-
the one who does all the Laws ⌊of Moses⌋
will live by them: This phrase probably refers to having their whole life governed by the Laws of Moses. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
requires obedience to all of its commands (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
must do all that the Law commands (Contemporary English Version)
by them: The word them refers to all of the commandments in the Law, as above.
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