ONE GREAT COMMITMENT
The one great commitment requires a decision. We make decisions constantly. Our quarterly (not sure it is in your copy) gives the results of a Columbia researcher’s survey that estimates we make about 70 decisions every day. That is around 25,500 decisions per year and about 1,788,500 in a 70 year lifetime. Many of these decisions require little thought and most decisions require little long-term commitment. Some of our decisions are life changing- even eternal. The greatest decision we will ever make centers on what we will do with Jesus Christ. Knowledge about Jesus is not enough. The need for salvation is answered in Jesus, but each person must decide whether we will commit to that truth and trust Jesus. As we move to Romans chapter 10, Paul continues to speak of his love of Jews, a continuation of chapter 9, even though Paul is particularly known for his writings to support the Gentiles.
Read Romans 10:1-3
Paul opens chapter 10 expressing his concern about the situation of unbelieving Jews (v.1). Paul is also emphasizing the need to make a decision about Jesus as personal Lord and Savior for his readers. As in Romans 9:1-5, Paul expressed again his concern for the salvation of his people. He bore witness to the Jews’ zeal for God but lamented that it was not enlightened (v.2). Ignorant of the right standing with God made possible through faith, they sought to establish their own right standing with God by keeping the law (v.3). They failed to recognize that Christ put an end to the law as a way of achieving righteousness for everyone who believes (v. 4; 3:21; Gal. 3:19 to 4:7).
So what happens to the Jewish people who believe in God but not in Christ? Since they believe in the same God won’t they be saved? If that were true, Paul would not have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to teach them about Christ. Because Jesus is the most complete revelation of God, we cannot fully know God apart from Christ. Because God appointed Jesus to bring God and people together, we cannot come to God by another way. The Jews, like everyone else, must find salvation through Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Like Paul, we should pray that all Jews might be saved and lovingly share the Good News with them.
Rather than living by faith in God, Jews established customs and traditions (in addition to God’s laws) to try to make themselves acceptable in God’s sight. But human effort, no matter how sincere, can never substitute for the righteousness God offers us by faith. The only way to earn salvation is to be perfect- and that is impossible. We can only hold our empty hands and receive salvation as a gift.
How do people today try to establish their own righteousness?
Read Romans 8b-10
Paul did not deny that Old Testament law had its rightful place in God’s relationship to the Jews in the past. He even called the law “holy and just and good” (7:12). But God never intended for fulfilling the law to be the path of salvation and eternal life.
An alternate view of Romans 10:4 claim that Christ is the “end” of the law in the sense of its “aim” rather than its “termination”. Thus the law has its meaning and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. There is a strange reference to bringing Christ down from heaven and up from the dead in verses 6-7. The background for this passage is Deuteronomy 30:11-14, where Moses was speaking to the people about keeping God’s commandments. Yet Paul’s words in verse 7 differ from all known forms of Deuteronomy 30:13. Probably Paul meant to assert that Christ already had achieved all that was necessary for our salvation. Nothing remained now but to confess Him as Lord and to receive salvation through Him by faith (vv.8-9). Some scholars believe that verses 8-9 contain and early confession of faith.
However, Paul adapts Moses’ farewell challenge from Deuteronomy 30:11-14 to apply to Christ. Christ has provided our salvation through His incarnation (God in human form) and resurrection. God’s salvation is right in front of us. He will come to us wherever we are. All we need to do is to respond and accept His gift of salvation. Have you ever asked, “How do I become a Christian? These verses give us the beautiful answer: Salvation is as close as our own lips and heart. People think it must be a complicated process, but it is not. Many don’t understand how simple it is and believe they will never qualify or maybe they just don’t understand. If we believe in our heart and say with our mouth that Christ is the risen Lord, we will be saved. This is the One Great Commitment.
Confessing and believing are not a form of “easy believism”- far from it. “Easy believism” teaches grace without repentance, salvation without repentance, salvation without commitment. Many want Jesus to save them from hell, but don’t want to live for Him. But we cannot accept Jesus as our Savior without embracing Him as Lord. Submitting to Christ’s lordship is essential for salvation. When we confess Christ as Lord, we are essentially saying, “Jesus, you alone are sovereign. You alone have all the power. You alone are my Master. Therefore my life is not mine- it’s yours.”
Read Romans 10:11-13
In verse 11, Paul quoted Isaiah 28:16. Isaiah had said “the one who believes will be unshakable”, but Paul, perhaps using the Greek translation of Isaiah, said the believer “will not be put to shame”.
As there is not distinction between Jew and Gentile in sinfulness (3:22-23), so there is none between them in salvation (v. 12; 3:29-30). The paragraph end with the quotation of Joel 2:32, declaring the good news that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (v.13). Simon Peter had quoted the same verse on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had empowered the disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 2:21). In the context of Joel’s prophecy the Lord would have referred to God the Father. Paul, however, meant a sinner should call on the name of Jesus as “Lord” (Rom. 10:9). Bible scholars note that Paul clearly was thinking of Jesus as divine here.
To call on the name of Jesus means to make a total commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Accepting Jesus is not, to use an old phrase, fire insurance. Jesus wants committed disciples, not mere admirers or “fans” in the popular sense. In the first century some people apparently thought of the name of Jesus as the key to magical power. Many never understood the miracles of Jesus as from God –and not magic. When some exorcists tried to use the name Jesus without a sincere commitment to Him, the evil spirit mocked them (Acts 19:13-16).
In telling others about Christ, an effective witness must include more than being a good example. Eventually, we will have to explain the content, the “what” and “how” of the gospel. Modeling the Christian life is important, but we will need to connect the mind of the unbeliever and the message of the gospel. There should never be a debate between those who favor life-style evangelism (one’ living proclaims the gospel) and confrontational evangelism (declaring the message). Both should be used together in promoting the gospel.
Paul’s emphasis on “confess with your mouth” (Rom. 10:9) might refer to such verbal sharing with those who need to know the gospel, so they can make that great commitment.