Paraphrase of the Book of Romans
by E.H. “Jack” Sequeira
Chapter 10The Jews Refuse Righteousness by Faith
1 So you see, brethren, my heartfelt desire and prayer
to God is to see my own Jewish people saved. 2 I know for
a fact they earnestly worship and serve God, just as I did before my conversion, but
unfortunately they have failed to grasp the wonderful truth of the gospel.
3 Consequently, ignoring the free gift of righteousness
God offers them in Christ, they are dcsperately trying to produce their own
righteousness, and as a result have rejected the perfcct rightcousness of God made
available to them through faith in His Son.
4 This righteousness, produced in Christ’s doing
and dying, fully met the positive demands as well as the justice of God’s holy law,
so that every believer stands perfect in Christ. Thus, Christ brought to an end
our futile attempts to produce our own righteousness through legalism,
5 because the righteousness man produces through his own
efforts is never perfect. And Moses, through whom God gave His law, made it very clear:
“Only the person who perfectly obeys God’s law in every detail has a right
to live” [Lev. 18:5; see also Gal. 3:10].
The Way of Righteousness by Faith
6 In complete contrast, the righteousness that comes
through faith is not based on human effort, so that we have to hunt for Christ,
7 either by trying to reach up to heaven, or searching for
Him in some hiding place on earth, as if He is extremely hard to find.
8 But how does the Bible put it? God is the one who takes
the initiative and sends His Spirit right into our conscience, convicting us of the
truth of the gospel as Christ is proclaimed [John 16:8-11].
9 And all that God requires from us is to submit to
that conviction, confessing that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, the Saviour of
the World, and, from the heart, believe that God did raise Him from the dead as evidence
and proof of His perfect redemption, and we will be saved. 10
For righteousness by faith is a heart appreciation and response to God’s supreme
gift, Jesus Christ, and such faith openly acknowledges that man’s only hope of
salvation is in Christ.11 For this is how Scripture
puts it: “Whosoever believes wholeheartedly in God’s Son is guaranteed
salvation and, if this faith endures unto the end, will not stand condemned on judgment
day” [Isa. 28:16; John 5:24; Matt. 10:22].
12 And incidentally, it makes no difference whether you
are a Jew or a Gentile, since God’s gift of salvation in Christ is for all
humanity and the only way this salvation is made effective is by faith alone.
13 For God has guaranteed that everyone who will honestly
believe in His Son is assured of salvation [John 6:40].
Faith Comes by Knowing the Gospel
14 Now it is true, nobody can turn to Christ for salvation
if one does not believe in Him. And naturally, you cannot believe in Him if you have never
heard of Christ and His salvation history [the gospel]. And the only way you can
know about the gospel is when someone witnesses to you about llim or you read about the
gospel in a book or hear the good news on radio or television.
15 That is why Christ commissioned ihe church to preach the
good news of salvation to all mankind (IvIarkl6:159; and this is what Scripture says
about those who do: “How beautiful are the feet of those who witness Christ to those
who are still without hope and bring them the good news of salvation”
[Isa. 52:7].
16 But the trouble with my Jewish people is that not all
of them have submitted to the truth as it is in Chrlst. This, unfortunately, is exactly
what the Old Testament prophet Isaiah complaincd about the Jews of his day. He said:
“Lord, nobody seems to believe the truth I have proclaimed” [Isa. 53:1].17 So faith may be defined as a heart response to the gospel
we have heard preached, and the gospel is the truth as it is in Christ—His incarnation,
life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.
Israel’s Willful Rejection of Christ
18 Now, in case you are wondering if all the Jews have
heard the gospel, may I assure you that they certainly have; for Christ has been preached
in every corner of the Roman Empire so that there is not a single Jewish community that
has not heard about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 19 So, a
lack of gospel knowledge is not their problem; neither can they give the excuse that they
have not clearly understood the good news of salvation. The real truth of the matter is
that they have deliberately and persistently rejected Christ as the Messiah. God, knowing
this would happen, declared this through Moses: “I will pass the keys of the kingdom
to the Gentiles [Christian Church] and make you Jews very jealous. This will provoke
you to anger since you will feel left out” [Deut. 32:21].
20 The prophet Isaiah boldly made a similar statement:
“Those who were not looking for the Messiah found Him and God recognizes them as
His people even though they were not considered as God’s covenant people”
[Isa. 65:1].21 And concerning the Jews, the same
Isaiah said this: “All day long I have held out My hand to a people who obstinately
refuse Me” (Isa. 65:2). In other words, the only ones who must take the blame for
being lost are the Jews themselves, those who have deliberately and persistently refused
to accept Christ as God’s promised Messiah.