Roman's 10

Roman's 10:17

Paul convicts us in Roman's 10:17 when he says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (ESV)

Almost all of chapter 10 in Roman's is Paul talking about salvation and how one receives salvation. Earlier in the chapter he says that once one confesses that he accepts Christ and in his heart believes that God has risen Christ from the dead, that is when one person is saved. Later down now, we see this verse pop up. I feel that this verse is Paul summing up the entire section of what he has just written, and leaves it has a conviction and a calling for all future Christians to take part in. It makes total sense too! He starts by saying "faith comes from hearing". That is true. How is someone supposed to be saved or supposed to accept Jesus if no one comes to them and tells them about the Bible or about the Gospel? Every Christian to this day has been preached to at least once in their life (hopefully more) and probably asked questions for another more informed believer to answer. It's all verbal if you look at it. Preaching is verbally revealing the Gospel and sharing the good news, and answering questions is informing the new believer or nonbeliever about what following Jesus is all about. We all hear about the Gospel, and then later on begin to study it and read it in our Bibles. That's where "and hearing through the word of Christ" comes in. Once we hear about the Gospel verbally from another believer, that should encourage us, or we encourage others, to pick up their Bibles and actually read the Word of God to hear what else He has to say to us! It's a three way process: one hears the Gospel, confesses and believes in our Lord Jesus, and then hears what God has to say through reading His Word.

So what is the calling, or what does this mean for us to do? Evangelize. That's exactly what Paul is saying through this verse. Evangelize. How are we supposed to win more believers if they never hear the Gospel? Or how are we supposed to save people who don't get the chance to read the Bible unless we go out and tell them about it? There's people in third world countries who will never get to hear the Gospel, and that's not their fault; no one is telling them about it, therefore they have no idea it even exists. That's our job! We need to inform the people who don;t have the opportunity to be informed. But it's not just on foreign countries: we can also bring this to our home cities and states. Speak to people you meet! Speak to your friends! Speak to your families! Speak to strangers who you don't know! Speak to the homeless in your neighborhood! Speak! Some of our friends have no clue who or what Jesus is, and that's our job to inform them! Some of our relatives know little to nothing about the Gospel, let us come and pour out His grace to them. Give a homeless man some money or some conversation and there's an opportunity to reveal Jesus to him. There are unsaved and uninformed people everywhere around us, and it is our duty as followers of Christ to come to them with love, grace, mercy, and respect and tell them about what Jesus has done for them.