Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

An overview of chapter 10 before we go into the verse by verse study.

What does Romans chapter 10 mean?

The prior passage concluded with Paul’s declaration that his people, Israel, had tried to become righteous before God in the wrong way: by relying on their attempts to keep the law. They had refused to come to God by faith in Christ. Paul quoted Isaiah to show that Christ was the “stumbling stone” for Israel, but that all who believe in Him will not be put to shame.

Romans 10 begins with Paul’s heartfelt confession that he prays for Israel to be saved. He is eager for each of his Jewish brothers and sisters to believe in Christ. He praises them for their enthusiasm for God, though they are ignorant of how to reach God’s righteousness through faith in Christ (Romans 10:1–4).

Instead, the Israelites continue to try to be declared righteous by God for their religious law-keeping, despite how they continue to break that law. They continue to wait for the truth they already know to come down from heaven or up from the abyss when Jesus Christ has already done both of those things. Paul repeatedly references the Old Testament Scriptures both directly and as an analogy to make his bottom-line case about what is required to be saved (Romans 10:5–8).

Verses 9 and 10 are likely the most quoted verses from this chapter: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Paul spells out that this opportunity to be saved by faith in Jesus is available to everyone, with no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. The Lord is the Lord of all people, and He gives good gifts to all who call on Him. Everyone who calls on Him will be saved. (Romans 10:9–13).

Next, Paul shows how necessary it is for him to continue preaching this gospel, regardless of the objections of those who oppose him. If people must call on the name of Jesus to be saved, they must first believe in Him. Before they can believe, they must hear about Him. In order to hear, someone must preach to them. And before a representative of Christ can preach, he must be sent. Still, not all have obeyed the gospel. That is, many people—especially the Jewish people—have not believed in Christ though they have heard the word of Christ. Why is this? Is it because they haven’t really heard? Paul rejects that idea with a quote from Psalm 19. He insists that the gospel of Jesus is reaching the ends of the world (Romans 10:14–17).

If they have heard, then did they not understand? Did the Jewish people truly never comprehend that God intended to welcome all who come to Him by faith? Paul quotes from Moses to show that they should have heard God’s own words that He would one day make Israel jealous of those who are not nations. Then Paul references God’s words in Isaiah 65 that He would be found by those who did not look for Him, describing what was happening with the Gentile believers in Jesus. Still, God waits patiently for Israel with His hands held out to receive them should they turn back to Him (Romans 10:18–21).

Verse by Verse

Verse 1: Brothers, my heart ‘s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

Paul strikes a new tone as chapter 10 begins. He directly addresses his brothers and sisters: the Christians in Rome to whom he is writing this letter. He calls them siblings because they are all Christians. Paul is speaking of the Israelites. In addition to a Christian and a Roman citizen, Paul is also Jewish. He writes that his heart’s desire and his prayer is that the Jewish people may be saved.

Some Jews have come to faith in Christ through the preaching of Paul and the other apostles. Yet the nation as a whole has rejected the Messiah, including the Jewish religious leadership. Sadly, this is still the case in the modern era. Further, the Jewish people of Paul’s day not only rejected Christ, they tried to silence Paul and others who preached about Him. That doesn’t change Paul’s desire to see those same people come to Christ, however.

Verse 2: For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

In the previous verse, Paul revealed his desire and prayer that the Jewish people would be saved by coming to faith in Christ. He has expressed great compassion and sadness for them in this and the previous chapter.

Now Paul writes of his respect for their zeal or enthusiasm. They love God and seek to honor Him and obey Him. The Jewish people of Paul’s day were especially passionate in their worship of God. Paul himself demonstrated that kind of fervor—in a tragic way—before his conversion to Christianity, as a persecutor of the church (Philippians 3:4–7).

Paul is saddened, though, that Israel’s zeal is not driven by a true understanding of who God is or what He wants from them. Paul knows from experience the traditions the Jewish religious leaders have and their exhaustive knowledge of the Scriptures. To know all of that, however, and to not know Christ is to know far too little.

Verse 3: For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God ‘s righteousness.

Paul has expressed his desire and prayer that the Jewish people would be saved. He admires their spiritual passion, but he knows that their enthusiasm is not driven by accurate knowledge about what is most important to God: faith in Christ.

Paul calls them ignorant of the righteousness of God. He may mean that they do not understand that God requires absolutely perfect righteousness in order for anyone to be received by Him on their own merits. They do not understand that no human being is able to achieve that level of righteousness (Romans 3:23). Or, it may be that Paul means they are ignorant that God offers His righteousness to all who come to Him through faith in Christ. In either case, the Israelites were missing the key to being accepted by God and saved from His wrath.

Their lack of understanding of how God’s righteousness worked caused them to try to set up their own standard of what it means to be righteous in God’s eyes. Paul describes this as a prideful attempt to decide what God should be satisfied with instead of submitting to His declaration of what it means to be righteous before Him.

Verse 4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul has shown throughout Romans that the law cannot save anyone. Nobody can keep the law. He wrote in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, even those who try to follow the law.

Now Paul shows that the law was not meant to stand on its own forever. It always pointed forward to Jesus Christ. As Paul puts it, Christ was always intended to be “the end of the law.” He kept it perfectly and fulfilled its righteous requirements once and for all.

Now Christ’s righteousness is available to everyone who believes in Him. This is an idea explored in greater detail in the book of Hebrews. There, the writer—possibly Paul himself—explains exactly how God had always intended to bring a new covenant. That covenant was established by Christ, and in Christ, and was meant to end man’s dependence on rituals and animal sacrifices (Hebrews 8).

Verse 5: For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

Paul has just written that Jesus Christ, by becoming the “end of the law”—keeping the law perfectly and fulfilling it— provides righteousness to everyone who believes in Him. This is the only way to become righteous in God’s eyes.

Now Paul refers to a teaching from Moses, found in Leviticus 18:1–5. This describes a path to righteousness for those who keep the law, who live by the commandments of the law. In the context of the old covenant, this was a means for Israel to honor their relationship with God, and to obtain His earthly blessings (Deuteronomy 30:15–18).

However, this teaching was also meant to demonstrate that when it came to sin, salvation, and God’s eternal standards, nobody can possibly maintain this obedience (Galatians 3:24). Not perfectly, and not nearly well enough to earn eternal salvation (Romans 3:10). That’s why nobody can be made righteous by keeping the law. Everybody breaks the law. Everybody sins (Romans 3:23).

James put it very simply, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). Those who seek to be justified before God based on their actions are doomed to failure (Romans 3:20). This is why God promised, even before Christ, to establish a new covenant to resolve those flaws (Jeremiah 31:31–34).

Verse 6: But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)

Moses wrote about a righteousness based on keeping the law (Leviticus 18:1–5). That’s what Paul wrote in the previous verse. The problem with trying to achieve that righteousness is that nobody can keep the law. As fallible people, we’re bound to sin and fall short of God’s standard of perfection (Romans 3:10; 3:23). Those who try to earn salvation based on good deeds or following the law, are doomed (Romans 3:20).

Now Paul describes a righteousness that is based on faith. Specifically, those with faith in Christ can achieve, through Christ’s life and death on their behalf, a state of permanent righteousness before God. Now Paul explains this righteousness as if it were speaking in some way. It is offering a warning to Israel, and Paul quotes from Israel’s own Scriptures to make the point.

First, Paul quotes the opening words of Deuteronomy 9:4–6: “Do not say in your heart.” Though he doesn’t quote the rest of the passage, Paul’s Jewish readers would likely have understood the context. God was repeatedly telling Israel not to deceive themselves: they were not taking possession of the promised land because of their own righteousness. God called them a stubborn people. Instead, they would succeed in taking the land because it served God’s purpose of judging the wicked nations of the region.

Paul’s message to the Israel of his day is clear. They were seeking to achieve a righteousness of their own, which is a futile attempt for sinful human beings. That’s the wrong attitude, and the wrong way to approach our relationship to God.

Next, Paul begins to quote from Deuteronomy 30:12. He applies what God says to Israel, about receiving and obeying His commands, to their need now to put their faith in Christ. In Deuteronomy 30:11–14, God said the command He had given to Israel was not—is not—too hard for them. They should not ask “who will ascend into heaven” to find out this information. They already have the command in their mouths and hearts (Deuteronomy 30:14).

Now Paul applies this idea to Christ. Israel should not think that faith in Christ is too hard for them. They ought not expect some new person to go to heaven to find the Messiah. Paul writes in his context that this would be a futile attempt to bring Christ down when He has already come down and walked among them (Romans 10:8).

Verse 7: “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

Paul has written in the previous verse that Israel should not attempt to bring the Messiah down from heaven when that has already happened. Christ has already come down! Paul is applying what God said to Israel about obeying His commands (Deuteronomy 30:11–14) to the idea of having faith in Christ.

Israel, in Paul’s context, should not look for someone to ascend into heaven to bring the Messiah down or, now, to descend into the abyss to bring the Messiah up, as if from the dead. Christ has already come to them in the form of Jesus and walked among them. He descended to the earth, died on the cross, descended into the abyss, and then ascended back to earth before ascending to heaven.

In other words, Christ has already been near to Paul’s Jewish readers. They should not continue looking for the Messiah to come down or come up. Instead, they should understand that He has been near them and that the Word of God, and faith, is right in front of them ready to be believed. This “word of faith” is a reference to the gospel: the message of God’s intended plan for our salvation.

Verse 8:But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

Paul concludes his quote of Deuteronomy 30:11–14 with this verse. That passage describes God saying to Israel that they should not deceive themselves into believing that God’s commands are hard to understand or obey. They shouldn’t ask who will go up to heaven or down to the abyss to get the command for them. They already have God’s command in their mouths and hearts. It is near them.

Paul has applied that idea to faith in Christ. The Israel of his day should also not keep looking for the Messiah or expecting knowledge of Christ to suddenly come down or come up to them. The Messiah has already come in the person and body of Jesus. He has already been near to them. Faith in Christ is still right next to the people of Israel, ready to be believed in their hearts and spoken with their mouths. They don’t have to wait. They can believe right now and be declared righteous by God, given credit for Jesus’ righteous life and forgiven for their sin by the payment of Jesus’ death on the cross.

Verse 9:because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9–10 are two of the great salvation-related verses in the entire Bible. It’s important to understand their context in this chapter.

Paul has just concluded quoting from Deuteronomy 30:11–14. There, God says to Israel that His command for them is not hidden or far away; it is already in their mouths and hearts. Paul has written that this is true, as well, for the “word of faith” in Christ. This “word of faith” is a reference to the gospel: the message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This message is near Israel’s mouths and hearts.

Now Paul clarifies what this word of faith is; he explicitly describes what the Jewish people of his day should welcome into their mouths and hearts. He writes that instead of seeking to become righteous by following the law, they should confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord. He is the Messiah. Also, they should believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead. If they do those things, they will be saved, Paul writes.

We should not necessarily take these two conditions as Paul’s final statement on the plan of salvation or how to become a Christian. He has been clear that faith in Christ, including Christ’s place on the cross as our substitute in the payment of our sin, is the key to being declared righteous by God. These two conditions—belief in Christ’s resurrection from the dead and a verbal confession of His place as Lord of all—appear to serve as evidence that our faith is in Christ. Anyone who trusts in Christ for his or her salvation is sure to agree that Christ is Lord and that He was raised from the dead. That person will be saved, Paul writes.

Verse 10: For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Paul continues his comparison of God’s words to Israel in Deuteronomy 30:11–14. That passage was about obeying the commandments, which Paul aligns with believing in the gospel for the Israelites of his day. God told Israel that the command was already in their mouths and hearts. Paul wrote in the previous verse that both the mouth and heart are also involved in salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.

Now Paul restates the concept he taught in the previous verse. With the heart a person believes and is justified—they are declared righteous by God, cleared of all the charges against them. Paul’s statement is clear: The faith in Christ that leads to salvation is personal and internal (Jeremiah 31:31–34). The mouth, then, becomes the means by which someone expresses their faith in Christ. Only saved believers can truthfully say with their mouths what has happened in their hearts: they have placed their faith in Jesus.

Verse 11: For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

As he has done in the previous chapter (Romans 9:33), Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:16. Once again, he translates the verse to read that whomever believes in “Him” will not be put to shame. By Him, Paul means that Christ is the precious cornerstone God has laid in Zion. All who trust in this cornerstone, this sure foundation, will be vindicated. The foundation will hold. They will find themselves standing on the Rock.

In quoting this verse once more, Paul is supporting a crucial idea from verse four which began this train of thought: “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Belief, not keeping the law, is the necessary ingredient to be declared righteous by God and welcomed into His family. In fact, as Paul will spell out in the following verses, there is no other criteria besides belief, including whether a person has been born physically into Israel or not.

Verse 12: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

Paul has made clear throughout Romans that the only way to be declared righteous by God is through belief—through faith in Christ. He has written so again in the previous verse, quoting Isaiah 28:16 to show that everyone who believes in Christ will not be put to shame. That is, all believers in Jesus will be vindicated in the end. Paul noted that the Scriptures clearly stated that everyone who believed would be so protected.

Now Paul clarifies that by “everyone,” he truly does mean everyone. For Israelites, the world was ever and always divided into two categories: Jews and Gentiles. Those on the “inside” with God, and those on the “outside.” Paul has expressed his profound grief that so many Israelites still cling to this false idea (Romans 9:1), applying it in ways which God never intended. Paul has declared his ongoing prayer that his own people the Jews will be saved (Romans 10:1).

Now he writes forcefully once more that there remains absolutely no distinction between Jews and Gentiles—using the term “Greeks” here—when it comes to being declared righteous by God through faith in Christ. After all, the same Lord is Lord of all people. By Lord, Paul is referring to Jesus, the Christ. He rules over all people, both Jews and Gentiles. In fact, the Lord gives His riches to all who call on Him. Paul wrote something similar in Romans 3:29–30.

Implied in Paul’s statement is the idea that Christ is listening, that He will receive anyone who calls on Him in faith, no matter their nation or the circumstances of their birth. He is not reserving salvation only for those who are part of a certain heritage.

Verse 13: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Paul quotes from the prophet Joel in this verse, declaring that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32). In doing so, Paul accomplishes two things. First, he connects this truth to His statement in the previous verse that Christ, the Lord of all, gives His riches to all who call on Him, both Jews and Gentiles.

The idea of “calling on the name of the Lord,” in this context, means those who turn to Christ in faith seeking salvation. While not literally a description of a “sinner’s prayer,” Paul is referring to those who express the sentiment that a “sinner’s prayer” contains. This is the act of placing one’s faith in Christ. This is crucially different from those Jesus described in Matthew 7:21–23, as those who use His name, but have no actual faith in Him.

Paul makes a second connection, as well, showing that Christ the Lord is in fact Israel’s Yahweh from the Old Testament. They are one in the same. All who call on Him in faith, both Jew and Gentile, will be saved from God’s wrath against sin and will share in God’s glory forever.

Verse 14: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Paul has just quoted the prophet Joel in saying that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32). In doing so, Paul is showing that Jesus Christ is the Lord that all must call on to be saved from sin and to become God’s children and inherit the riches of His glory. In this context, to “call on” Jesus means to express faith, not merely to invoke His name (Matthew 7:21–23).

Now, though, Paul begins a series of questions aimed at what is required to bring someone to the point of calling on Jesus’ name to be saved. He seems to have the people of his own nation, Israel, in mind.

First, Paul asks how anyone can call on Christ if they don’t believe in Him. Again, Paul insists that it is belief in Christ that initiates salvation and leads someone to call on Him. But how can anyone come to belief in Christ if they have never heard of Him, if they don’t know who He is? This leads to Paul’s next question: How will anyone hear about Christ unless someone preaches about Christ to them?

In asking this series of questions, Paul is showing, in part, how necessary his work in preaching about Jesus really is.

Verse 15: And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Beginning with his statement in verse 13, that all who call on the name of Jesus will be saved, Paul has been asking a series of leading questions. How will anyone call on Jesus—express saving faith in Him—unless they first believe in Him? And how will they believe in Him if they never hear about Him? And how will they hear about Him if nobody preaches the gospel to them?

Now Paul continues with the next logical question: How will anyone preach the gospel of Jesus unless they are sent by someone to do so? Paul’s question shows that preaching is not the first step in the chain that leads to faith in Christ and calling on His name. Instead, sending is that first step.

Who does the sending? In the case of Paul and the other apostles who had been preaching the gospel around the world, it was Christ Himself who had sent them out. They had been commissioned by Jesus to preach the good news to the world (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 9:15).

Paul next quotes from Isaiah 52:7 to make the case that this sending of the preachers with this specific good news about Jesus was prophesied long ago: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Verse 16:But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Paul, writing in the previous verse, quoted Isaiah 52:7 and seemingly applied it to himself and the other apostles commissioned by Jesus to preach the gospel of faith in Christ to the world. That verse says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Now Paul seems to say that everything needed has been given to Israel to bring them to salvation. Each required step from the previous two verses has been fulfilled. Christ sent preachers. The apostles preached. The Jewish people heard. The problem, Paul now insists, is that the Jewish people did not believe. More specifically, Paul writes that they did not “obey” the gospel.

For Paul, failure to believe in Christ amounts to more than just an inability to accept the truth of the gospel. Paul calls it disobedience, a stubborn refusal to receive the Messiah and believe in Jesus. This is consistent with the Bible’s general teaching, which is that a person’s willingness to believe—or not—is always more influential than knowledge or arguments (John 5:39–40; 7:17).

This time, Paul quotes from Isaiah 53:1 to support his case to his Jewish readers. In that verse, the prophet asks the Lord, “Who has believed what he has heard from us?” Paul is showing that Israel’s tendency to disobey, specifically by refusing to believe, goes all the way back to the days of the prophets.

Verse 17: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

This famous verse builds on Paul’s quote of Isaiah in the previous verse. There Isaiah asks the Lord “who has believed what he has heard from us?” (Isaiah 53:1). Paul was showing that a refusal to believe what God says amounts to disobedience. That, according to Scripture, is the root problem when people hear the gospel and do not accept it (John 5:39–40; 7:17). Those who disbelieve do so because, on some level, they do not want to believe.

Now, though, Paul writes that when believing happens, it is through hearing what the Lord says “through the word of Christ.” Paul seems to be referring to his prior chain of steps which must occur to bring a person to the point of calling on the Lord. Christ sends out His representatives to preach the gospel. Those who hear it have the opportunity to believe. Those who believe call on Christ. And all who call on the name of Christ will be saved (Romans 10:13).

Verse 18: But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth,and their words to the ends of the world.”

Paul wrote in verse 16 that “they” have not obeyed the gospel. He is likely referring to the Jewish people. Since the gospel calls us to believe in Jesus, a refusal to believe amounts to disobedience (John 5:39–40). In the following verse, Paul asserted that faith comes by hearing the word of Christ.

Now Paul asks if the reason they did not believe is because they did not hear about Jesus. Did they not hear the gospel? Paul says no, that’s not it. The Jewish people, people in general, have indeed heard the good news about Jesus. Paul borrows language of Psalm 19:4 to assert that the voice, the words, of the teachers of the gospel has gone out to all the earth, to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19 is describing not the revelation of the gospel of Christ, but the revelation of God’s glory and creative power in nature. Paul began this letter by echoing Psalm 19 in declaring that God has made Himself knowable to humanity by what He has made (Romans 1:19–20). Here, though, Paul insists that God is making Christ Himself known to the world through the preaching of the gospel.

Does Paul mean that, by this point in history, literally every person on earth has heard the good news of Jesus? That’s clearly not his intent. He seems to mean, more generally, that the gospel is in the act of being communicated to the known world. This is not an obscure message, so there is no reason Israel can claim to be ignorant of it. Paul likely also means that the people of Israel, specifically, have heard the gospel of Jesus from Christ Himself. Also, His followers had been preaching the message in Jerusalem and around Israel for more than 20 years by time this letter was written.

Verse 19: But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

Paul has boldly declared that faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). So why didn’t Paul’s people, Israel, believe in Christ? Paul asked in the previous verse if it was because they did not hear the truth about Jesus. He rejects that idea. By the time Paul wrote this letter, the gospel had traveled all over the lands of Israel, and was traveling to the ends of the world.

Now Paul asks if maybe Israel heard the gospel but did not understand it. Maybe they misunderstood the truth that God is accepting all who come to Him by faith in Jesus. Paul rejects this idea, as well. He quotes from the second half of Deuteronomy 32:21. The first half of that verse describes God’s words about Israel way back in the days of Moses: “They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols.” In other words, God says symbolically that Israel’s worship of non-existent gods caused Him to become angry and jealous.

He declares what His response will be in the second half of the verse, quoted by Paul here: God will make Israel jealous and angry through her relationships with non-existent, foolish nations. Paul points to this passage from Deuteronomy as evidence that Israel has understood since her earliest days that God would eventually welcome the non-Jewish nations. In fact, Paul insists, that’s exactly what God has done in saving the Gentiles who trust in Christ.

Verse 20: Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me;I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

Israel should have understood that God would eventually welcome non-Jews into relationship with Him. That’s the case Paul is making about their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. In the previous verse, he pointed to God’s words in Deuteronomy that he would make Israel jealous of those who are not a nation, just as they had symbolically made Him “jealous” with their worship of non-gods.

Now Paul quotes Isaiah, again by name. Isaiah’s bold statement also quotes God’s own words. Paul claims them out of the context of Isaiah 65:1 and applies them as an analogy of how God has rescued the Gentiles. He has been found by those who didn’t look for Him. He has shown Himself to those who didn’t ask.

This circles back to Paul’s question at the end of the previous chapter: “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness failed in reaching that law” (Romans 9:30–31).

God had declared believing Gentiles righteous based only on their faith in Christ. He did this even though they had never tried to become righteous through their own good deeds or by following the law. At the same time, God had rejected Israel’s attempt to become righteous on their own without faith in Christ. (Romans 3:20).

Verse 21: But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Romans 10 concludes with this poignant verse. Paul’s quotation of Isaiah 65:2 here follows his reference to Isaiah 65:1 in the previous verse. God describes Himself as patiently holding out His hands to welcome His people Israel once they turn around and come back to Him. God describes Israel as a disobedient and contrary people.

Their disobedience at this moment in history was not like the disobedience described in Isaiah 65. That disobedience included directly breaking God’s commands in the law. The disobedience Paul describes now, though, is a refusal to obey the gospel of Jesus (Romans 10:16).

Faith in Christ is more than an opportunity to be declared righteous by God. It is His command. Israel said no. This, in fact, is the root cause of all unbelief: a deliberate choice to disobey, reject, or ignore what God has told us (Romans 1:18–20; John 5:39–40; John 7:17).

Still, as this verse says, God is waiting. Paul’s prayer for Israel was that her people would turn, repent, and believe (Romans 10:1).