Romans 10:14-21

10:14-15 | Before people can call, they must believe. Before they can believe, they must hear. Before they can hear, someone must preach the message. Before they can preach, they must be sent. Isaiah 52:7 speaks of those who take the message of God’s good news and deliver it so that it can be believed.

10:16-18 | The Jews failed to respond in Paul’s day, Jesus’ day (John 12:37-41), and Isaiah’s day (Isa. 3:1). Not all who hear will respond. Hearing and believing produces new life; hearing and refusing produces death. The problem is not with the message or the messenger but with the hearer.

10:19-21 | Paul refers to Deuteronomy 32:21 and Isaiah 65:1-2 as evidence of the Gentiles’ eagerness to turn to God. God is pictured as stretching out His hands, open and welcoming, but to a disobedient and contrary people who have rejected His offer. Now His crucified, resurrected Son holds out His nail-scarred hands for all who will reach out and grasp them.