Romans 10:8

Having learned that the works of the law cannot justify a person, learn how effortlessly and easily we are justified in Christ: for this requires faith from the heart and confession from the lips. But it is necessary to explain more fully what was said: …

Then when he says, but says the Scripture, he shows the fruit of faith on the same authority. First, he quotes the authority; second, he explains, at this is the word of faith; third, he proves that the explanation is fitting, at believe in your …

The word is nigh thee - Within thy reach; easy to be understood, remembered, practiced. This is eminently true of the word of faith - The gospel. Which we preach - The sum of which is, If thy heart believe in Christ, and thy life confess him, thou shalt be saved.

But what saith it,....

That there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles; but, in point of justification and acceptance with God, the gospel sets them both upon the same level,

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee - There is no occasion to seek high or low for the saving power; the word of reconciliation is nigh. The way of salvation is now both plain and easy. The law is magnified and made honorable by the death of Christ; and the doctrine of faith in his death and resurrection is fully proclaimed, and amply proved to be effectual to the purpose for which it was revealed.

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man that doeth--"hath done" those things--which it commands. shall live in them-- (Le 18:5). This is the one way of justification and life--by "the righteousness which is of (or, by our own obedience to) the law."

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:80%@v3-8

It saith--continuing the quotation from De 30:14. The word is nigh thee--easily accessible. in thy mouth--when thou confessest Him. and in thine heart--when thou believest on Him.

YOU see by this mourning that our church has been bereaved. I have lost a friend tender and true to me, and my heart is too full for utterance.William Higgs, Esq., for many years a beloved deacon of the church in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, fell on asleep January 3rd, 1883, in his fifty-ninth year. I scarcely knew what to preach from this morning; but at last I settled in my mind that I would raise a memorial to my departed friend by preaching a sermon which should be connected with himself.

YOU see by this mourning that our church has been bereaved. I have lost a friend tender and true to me, and my heart is too full for utterance.William Higgs, Esq., for many years a beloved deacon of the church in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, fell on asleep January 3rd, 1883, in his fifty-ninth year. I scarcely knew what to preach from this morning; but at last I settled in my mind that I would raise a memorial to my departed friend by preaching a sermon which should be connected with himself. Therefore I cast about me, and I considered what subject he would wish me to preach from if he were sitting behind me this morning as he was last Lord's-day. I had no difficulty in answering that question. His life and death pointed in one direction. He was a man of rare common sense, straightforward and downright in his aims, and most pithy in his speech, with such a mixture of mother-wit that he might have been taken for John Ploughman's brother, as indeed he was. He cared nothing for oratory, which I have heard him call "a flash in the pan"; he delighted in the plain, solid gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he would have said to me,—Give them Christ crucified, and salvation by grace through faith, as plainly as ever you can; for when he was sore sick and in the very agony of death, he repeated as his dying creed— and in his own quaint way he added, "They may talk as much as ever they like, but the whole of it lies in Jack the Huckster's verse You will find that story in the first volume of my sermons.See No. 47. "Christ's Prayer for his People." In Park-street early in my ministry I told the story, and it did my friend good, and helped to rest his soul all those years ago, so that he remembered it and repeated it at the last. For his sake let me tell it again.

But what saith it? - That is, what is the language of the doctrine of justification by faith? Or what is to be done according to that doctrine? The word is nigh thee - This is still a use of the language of Moses. Deu 30:14. The meaning is, the doctrine is not difficult to be understood and embraced. What is nigh us may be easily obtained. What is remote, with difficulty. The doctrine of Moses and of the gospel was nigh; that is, it was easily obtained, embraced, and understood. In thy mouth - This is taken from the Septuagint. Deu 30:14. The meaning is, that the doctrine was already so familiar, and so well understood, that it was actually in their mouth, that is, their language, their common conversation. Moses had so often inculcated it, that it was understood and talked about by the people, so that there was no need to search in distant climes to obtain it. The same was true of the gospel. The facts were so well known by the preaching of the apostles, that they might be said to be “in every man’s mouth.” In thy heart - The word “heart” is very variously used in the sacred Scriptures. As used by Moses in this place, it evidently means that his doctrines were in their mind, or were a subject of meditation and reflection. They already possessed them, and talked and thought about them: so that there was no need of going to distant places to learn them. The same was true of the doctrine requiring faith in Christ. It was already among them by the preaching of the apostles, and was a subject of conversation and of thought. That is - This is the use which the apostle makes of it; not that Moses referred to the gospel. His language conveys the main idea which Paul wished to do, that the doctrine was plain and intelligible. The word of faith - The doctrine which requires faith, that is, the gospel; compare 1Ti 4:6. […]