Romans 10

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel (those who claimed to be believers in the One true God) is, that they might be saved.

Paul is speaking of those (“Israel” = the believers, as opposed to the “nations” – the unbelievers) who had been given the most extensive revelations on the ways and requirements of God. Yet through centuries, not only had they wandered away from God numerous times, but they had murdered Jesus Christ, God Incarnate.

Now Paul is saying that Israelites arrogantly believe that salvation is inherently theirs. They were self-righteous, and Paul does not hesitate to point that out.

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

3 For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

“Intense zeal, religious fervor, coupled with self-righteousness, does not lead to salvation. God demands subjection to His righteousness. The law should establish their unrighteousness and thus reveal God’s righteousness, which is manifested in Christ.” Concordant Commentary, p 240

4 For Christ is the consummation of the law (NOT the “end” of the law, as the King James Version - KJV - has mistranslated it) for righteousness (right-doing) to every one that believeth.

The mistranslation of this text leads to one of the many false doctrines in the Christian Church today, namely that Christ “did away with the law.” The truth is that the “Law” – the Ten Commandments – have been the basis of God’s government forever in the past, and will be the basis of God’s government forever in the future.

The only way heaven will be heaven is when everyone is living by God’s Ten Commandments – ALL Ten of them. Anything less than that will eventually lead to the same chaos that we now have on earth.

Christ is the consummation of the law, NOT the “end” of the law. In other words, the entire law – the Ten Commandments - were exhibited in the character of Christ when He was on earth. He was the walking, talking Ten Commandments. His life on earth exhibited how we will live and behave when we have Christ living in us.

5 For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law, that a man who does the same shall be living in it.

6 Yet the righteousness of faith is saying thus: You may not be saying in your heart, Who will be ascending into heaven? That is, to be leading Christ down - -

We cannot “bring Christ down to our level” by making Him over in our image.

7 or Who will be descending into the submerged chaos (deep)? – that is to be leading Christ up from among the dead.

The “submerged chaos” (“bottomless pit” of Revelation) always refers to where Satan resides.

8 But what is it saying? Near you is the declaration, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the declaration of faith that we are heralding that,

9 If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

Repeat the verse and you’re “saved”?

Here is another text (verse 9) that is being misused by the “Christian Church.” Members believe that if one who is coming to Christ just repeats this verse – and Voila! – they’re SAVED! But that is “sense-knowledge” Christianity, demonstrating no “revelation-knowledge” from God whatsoever.

A person is NOT “saved” by repeating this text. A heart-change must take place. If “we confess with our mouth” – if ALL our actions that follow coincide with what our mouth says, if we “believe in our heart” meaning that ALL our actions will demonstrate that “belief” – THEN we will be saved!

But what does it mean to “Believe”?

It means that we “Believe”, and demonstrate by our actions, all the promises that God gives us in the Bible, the most spectacular one being that Jesus Christ arose from the dead.

If we really Believe God’s promises, we will:

A. depend on God’s natural way for healing, rather than “man’s” way – drugs and surgery by doctors. We will go to God, rather than going to doctors
B. depend on God for our food, drink, and clothing in the coming tribulation, rather than accepting the “Mark of the Beast” which will place us squarely on the side of “man” – the New World Order (Satan’s kingdom).
C. depend on God, rather than the Organized Church, for our salvation. Jesus Christ promises to be our Teacher – directly.
D. depend on God when we are anxious, depressed, lose a loved one, face a financial crisis, rather than depending on “man’s” ways to console us and bail us out.
E. recognize that trials and tribulations build character. When we have them, we go directly to God – not to “man” (pastors, psychologists, psychiatrists, Church “mentors”, support groups, etc.)
F. submit our life to God and let Him lead us, rather than deciding what WE would like to do for God and asking Him to bless OUR plans
G. giving up our right to ourselves and giving it over to God.
H. recognize that our body and our life are not our own. We don’t have the right to eat and live as we please. God owns us. He created us in the beginning, and he re-created us by redeeming us from sin. We must eat and live HIS way, NOT our way!

Sozo – Healed AND Saved!

The word sozo in the Greek is used by Jesus for both physical healing and spiritual salvation. The Lord is sending us a very clear message: When the heart is right - - THEN healing will occur. Disease begins in the heart – in the attitudes and in the disposition. Since that’s where disease begins, that is where it must first be addressed. God does not look on the outward appearance. He looks at the heart. Doctors cannot look there, they cannot heal the spiritual nature, and that is why they cannot heal disease!

HEALED:

Mark 5:23: And besought Him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray Thee, come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed (sozo), and she shall live.

Luke 8:26: They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed (sozo).

Acts 14:9: The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly behold him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed (sozo).

SAVE
36 entries)

Matt. 1:21: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save (sozo) His people from their sins.

Matt 18:11: For the Son of man is come to save (sozo) that which was lost.

Luke 9:56: For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save (sozo) them.

Luke 19:10: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save (sozo) that which was lost.

John 12:47: And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save (sozo) the world.

Romans 10:9 (The text at hand.) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (sozo).

1 Tim 1:15: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save (sozo) sinners, of whom I am chief.

Heb 7:25: Wherefore He is able also to save (sozo) them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.

James 2:14: What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and has not works? Can faith save (sozo) him?

James 4:12: There is one lawgiver, who is able to save (sozo) and to destroy; who art thou that judgest another?

James 5:15: And the prayer of faith shall save (sozo) the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

SAVED
(57 entries, all but 4 of them are “SOZO”)

Matt 10:22: And you shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved (sozo).

John 3:17: For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved (sozo).

Acts 2:21: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (sozo).

Acts 4:12: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (sozo).

Romans 10:13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (sozo).

Eph 2:5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved (sozo).

Eph 2:8: For by grace are ye saved (sozo) through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

1 Timothy 2:4: Who will have all man to be saved (sozo), and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

1 Peter 4:17,18: For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved (sozo), where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Revelation 21:24: And the nations of them that are saved (sozo) shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

WHOLE
(In the New Testament, 90 entries: 11 + #4982 – sozo)

Matt 9:21,22; Mark 5:28, 34; Luke 8:48,50 the woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, and merely touched the hem of Christ’s garment was told her faith had made her whole (sozo).

Mark 6:56: And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole (sozo).

Mark 10:46-52 In Jericho, Jesus healed the Blind man Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, and said, “Go your way; your faith has made you whole (sozo). And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Luke 17:12-19: Ten lepers came to Jesus, asking for healing. Jesus healed them all, but only one returned to thank Him. Jesus said to him, Arise, go your way; your faith has made you whole (sozo).

THE OLD TESTAMENT

In the Old Testament, HEAL (in all 21 entries), HEALED and HEALETH are #7495 – the Hebrew equivalent of sozo in the Greek?

HEAL

Hosea 14;4: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

Jer 30:17: For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

HEALED

2 Kings 2:21,22: And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

HEALETH

Psalm 103:3: Who forgives all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.

10 For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture says, “Whosoever believes on Him shall not be put to shame.”

12 For there is no difference between the Judean (the one who Believes in God) and the Greek (the one who believes in “Reason” – not God), for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.

God eventually will save ALL. No one is more special to God than any other. Whether you now believe in God or not, God has planned your life in such a way that eventually (whether in this eon or the last eon) you will recognize your need for Him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon (be invoking) the name of the Lord shall be saved.

“There is here an allusion to the ancient custom, still in vogue in eastern lands, of the right of sanctuary. One who is in danger of death by the hands of the blood avenger, if he cannot reach a safe place in time, may invoke the name of some great and powerful person, and thus find salvation through his name.

“If the avengers of blood refuse to listen to his appeal, and take his life, it devolves upon the person on whose name he has called to take swift and summary vengeance. He gathers together all his friends and allies to assist him in punishing the outrage and in defending the honor of his name. For three and one-third days he executes vengeance on all who were concerned in killing the one who had invoked his name. ‘Whoever should be invoking the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

“When vengeance visits the earth, the only shelter will be the name of Jehovah. Therefore it will require not only heart belief, but the avowal of the mouth.” Ibid p 240

14 How then shall they be invoking the name of One in whom they do not believe? Yet how shall they be believing in One they do not hear? And how shall they be hearing without a heralding (NOT – “without a preacher” as the KJV has it)?

The person in trouble would hardly call on one in whom he had not faith. He could not invoke the name of one of whom he had not even heard. Thus, it is very important to get to know, personally, the God who can comfort you in the time of tribulation.

15 And how should they be heralding if ever they should not be sent? “How beautiful are the feet of those bringing the evangel of good!”

16 But not all obey the evangel, for Isaiah is saying, “Lord, who has Believed our tidings?”

There will be very few, indeed, - a “little flock” – who will truly Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns. That’s why Jesus said,

“When the Son of man cometh, will He find faith (belief – trust) on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing (understanding) by the Word of God

The ONLY way one develops faith is by hearing (studying) the Word of God, and understanding it (by praying that God will open one’s mind to understanding).

18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, “Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”

By the time Jesus returns, NO ONE will have an excuse for not accepting Him as his Saviour. The “sound” and “words” will have gone out to the ends of the world. `

We are told in Psalm 19:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork (the work of His hands).

2 Day unto day they utter speech, and night unto night they reveal knowledge

3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

4 Their measuring line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Back to Romans 10:

19 But I say, Did not Israel know? (Did not the true believers in God of that day – and of the present day – know? According to Psalm 19, everyone WILL have known!) First Moses said, “I will provoke you to jealousy over those who are not a nation; over an unintelligent nation (unbelievers) shall I anger you.

20 But Isaiah is very bold, and said, “I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that inquired not after Me.”

The true Spirit of Christ will be found in those who hear – and understand – the
Word of God, wherever they may be. They will not be members of the “Organized Church” anymore than the “nations” were members of the Israel of old.

Jesus Christ is our Teacher and He can teach anyone – anywhere.

21 But to Israel He says, “All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and contrary people.”

This is God’s description of the “Organized Church” of today, just as it was a picture of the Israel of old.

Romans 10

Faith vs Works

SOZO
Strong’s Concordance, #4982

**1 Timothy 2:4: Who will have all man to be saved (sozo), and to come unto the knowledge of the truth**.

HEALED

Romans 10

Faith vs Works

SOZO Strong’s Concordance, #4982

1 Timothy 2:4: Who will have all man to be saved (sozo), and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

HEALED

SOZO
Strong’s Concordance, #4982

**1 Timothy 2:4: Who will have all man to be saved (sozo), and to come unto the knowledge of the truth**.