The 10th chapter of Romans is a continuation of a discussion that boarded this particular train of thought two chapters earlier with the words foreknew and predestined. They continued with the election of Israel to bless the world. The last chapter ended on a somewhat depressing note for God’s Chosen People.
To Paul’s credit, he did not know where later translators would break his letter into chapters.
His hope and prayer is that Israel is saved. They are a people with a zeal for God but they got tripped up in prescribing their own brand of righteousness and gave up submitting to the righteousness of God.
Then Paul makes a statement that as Peter said in his second letter, many have distorted. Paul said, For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Jesus said that he was not doing away with the slightest pen stroke of the law and Paul says Jesus is the end of the law, and many pit Paul against Jesus.
But there is no dichotomy.
Paul is not saying that Jesus annulled the law. He is not saying that he did away with the law. He is not saying that God’s law given as a gift to his own chosen people was flawed.
He is saying that the law was incomplete without Jesus.
He is saying that the law does have a destination and that is Jesus.
He is saying that Jesus would not do away with the very thing by which we would know the grace of God through Jesus.
Christ completes the law.
Christ ends all other means of attempted justification.
Christ is the terminal point for all of human history up to that point.
Christ is the beginning of all that forever more proceeds.
Christ truly is the alpha and the omega, and where do we find him at work?
In the innermost part of the human heart. In the place where our humanness would like to know what must we do to get to heaven or how do we stay out of hell; but Christ alone is the key to our salvation.
The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart, because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
These are salvation scriptures. In other discussions, I have pointed out that some verses that Christians like to sling around as salvation scriptures have been taken way out of context. These two verses are definitely salvation scriptures.
But we have not fully understood them.
This is partially because of how we interpret another set of verses in another one of Paul’s letters.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11
And so many believe and proclaim with satisfaction that one day God will by brute force bend every knee and exact the words Jesus is Lord from every who has ever lived. And our human nature—yes especially among believers—says, and I hope it hurts. You are getting what you deserve. And sometimes we feel good in that self-righteous moment.
Our standard interpretation of these scriptures is that God will do what he has not done in all of history and extract our free will from us. He will use the force that created the universe to bring us to our knees and say the words, Jesus is Lord.
That’s sort of accurate.
The key word here is confess. It is an interesting word. It is a word with which we have attached some undue baggage that probably started accumulating during the crusades and the inquisition of the middle ages.
The Greek word is Homologeo (omologeo) in Romans 10 and Exomologeo (xomologeo) in Philippians 2. The main difference is that as it is used in the latter case, it calls the reader to consider all that has preceded it with the meaning.
And what is the definition of this root word?
To agree
To say the same as another
Not to refuse
To promise
Not to deny
To confess
To declare
To admit what one is accused of
To profess
To praise
To celebrate
Those are hardly words that sound like an almighty being distributing so much pain to the rebellious until they say uncle, or in this case Jesus is Lord.
The newest revisions of the New International Version use the word profess instead of confess. The words are not so far apart, except in the meanings we have attached over the last century or so. When we join the church, we profess our faith. If you join the Cumberland Presbyterian Church we also give you our Confession of Faith. It’s not a confession made at gunpoint.
Consider even our flawed legal system in this country. Don’t get me wrong, for all of our flaws, I will take it above all others in this world. But consider in what has become the most common outcome in criminal cases—the plea bargain—there is still an allocution. The judge in the case must hear enough of the facts from the defendant to satisfy him that the offense occurred and that no defense should be pursued.
Realize that in these cases the defendant sometimes lies. Who’d a thunk it—criminals sometimes don’t tell the truth. Many judges will just accept whatever the defendant has to say just to clear the docket.
Would God accept a false confession? Would it be OK for someone to bear false witness against themselves. The words, Jesus are Lord, are absolutely true but would God accept them as a confession if the one who said them still rejected God?
Would God accept a forced confession? Even our legal system still rejects these. Words elicited by thumbscrews, water boarding, or some time on the rack generally don’t fly as a real confession.
Let’s consider one more aspect of this confession or profession of faith that is articulated in the words, Jesus is Lord. This comes from another one of Paul’s letters. This one is to the church in Corinth.
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:3
Let’s see if we can muster a coherent though from these parallel messages from the same author.
If I confess with my spoken words that Jesus is Lord and truly believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, I will be saved.
Yes!
One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Yes!
No one can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit.
Yes!
Does that mean that one day everyone will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved? Does it mean that one day everyone speaking by the Holy Spirit will confess or profess or proclaim or celebrate with the words, Jesus is Lord?
That sounds really good, but there is a whole bunch of other stuff that sounds like hell, and a lake of fire, and a garbage dump, and just really terrible consequences for those who do not profess or confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. Do I just ignore these parts of the Bible?
I don’t recommend it, but we must not ignore what we read today either.
No one can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. The one who confesses Jesus as Lord believing he is who he said he is—the One that God raised from the dead—will be saved.
I asked earlier if that when we read the words every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, if that meant that God will do what he has not done in all of history and extract our free will from us. He will use the force that created the universe to bring us to our knees and say the words, Jesus is Lord.
And I said, that’s sort of accurate.
For the words that Paul wrote in all three letters to be true and consistent with who we know God to be from what he has revealed to us, the force that created the universe and the same force that will bring us to our knees and give us no choice but to say, Jesus is Lord, must be love.
Could it be that love will shatter every hardened heart on earth, above the earth, and below the earth?
Could love be the most powerful force that ever existed?
Could love be on the same level as God?
I can’t make the difficult passages in the Bible go away and be faithful to God. And there are significant consequences to rejecting God.
But my fidelity to God is no less compromised by ignoring these words that we considered today.
So I must consider all that has been revealed to me, excluding none to make my understanding easier.
And it could be that many, very many must go through hell to get to good news.
For some that hell exists right now.
For others, it may be an age beyond this one.
We are not diving into another word study right now, but consider that the words from which we derive eternal also mean age.
Paul tells us not to try to ascent to heaven or descend to hell but to believe in your heart the words desiring to come out of your lips.
Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But we have believed these words. We are assured of our salvation.
But many have not heard and have no assurance or comfort. They are adrift in a meaningless life.
How are they to call on One in whom they have not believed?
How are they to believe in one whom they have not heard?
How are they to hear without someone to preach to them?
How are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?
Faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
Heaven and hell are difficult to fully understand. Jesus gave us parables and figures of speech to help, and with the mind of Christ we grow closer to understanding them. And we too often consider them faraway places or even ultimate destinations, which surely they are.
But they are also here and now.
Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you, it is breaking out all around you.
And if we would look around us, we would also see people going through hell right now.
I don’t believe that any marriage that maintained Christ in the center has ever failed. I’m not talking just a church wedding, but those cases where Christ is truly Lord of both lives in the marriage.
But so many people have gone through divorce in this country, and some of them lived in hell during that time.
We have a heart for the children in this church, but too many children in this country and even in our community have been physically and sexually abused by a parent or relative or a stranger. Too many have known hurt that no human should ever experience. Have they not lived in hell?
Many over the past few decades have seen a full life atrophy to a miserable existence with an addiction to drugs. This has touched every community in this nation, perhaps every extended family. Is there a better word for this state of existence than hell?
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
We live in a time when people need good news.
They need news so good that it goes beyond the tragedy of their life experience.
They need news that transcends the temporary situation.
They need news that says they are not a slave to their past mistakes.
They need news that says they can be born anew.
They need news that they can be a new creation in this very moment.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
This is wonderful news for the world but as this 10th chapter of Romans concludes—though the discussion does not—we are left with the question, “Did Israel not understand?”
Paul concludes the chapter with God’s displeasure of Israel. “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Once again we conclude with a wonderful promise of salvation for all and a chosen people who have rejected it. And once again, this extended discussion by Paul is not finished.
Let’s not write off Israel just yet. Paul has more to say and its in the next chapter so you don’t have to hunt for it if you can’t wait.
As we break briefly in this discussion, consider this one thought this week.
The strongest force in all of creation is love.
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