Romans 10:15

"How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written." Here again he takes from them all excuse. For since he had said, "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," and that "being ignorant of God's righteousness, they submitted not themselves" to it: he next shows, that for this ignorance itself they were punishable before God. This he does not say indeed so, but he makes it good by carrying on his discourse in the way of question, and so convicting them more clearly, by framing the whole passage out of objections and answers. But look further back. The Prophet, saith he, said, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." Now somebody might say perhaps, "But how could they call upon Him Whom they had not believed? Then there is a question from him after the objection; And why did they not believe? Then an objection again. A person certainly may say, And how could they believe, since they had not heard? Yet hear they did, he implies. Then another objection again. "And how could they hear without a preacher?" Then an answer again. Yet preach they did, and there were many sent forth for this very purpose. And whence does it appear that these are those persons sent? Then he brings the prophet in next, who says, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" You see how by the kind of preaching he points out the preachers. For there was nothing else that these men went about telling everywhere, but those unspeakable good things, and the peace made by God with men. […]

"Lord, who hath believed our report?" Isaiah says. For "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," saith the apostle. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those that publish glad tidings of good things!" You see how he brings faith by hearing, and the preaching of the apostles, up to the word of the Lord, and to the Son of God. We do not yet understand the word of the Lord to be demonstration.

The answer follows again: no, there were preachers, many such were sent to them. From what is it evident that these who were sent were preachers? In response to this he cites the words of the prophet: "How beautiful are the feet of those who …

Second, he moves from faith to hearing when he adds: or how shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? For one is said to believe things which are said to him by others and which he does not see: it is no …

(1.) They cannot call on him in whom they have not believed. Except they believe that he is God, they will not call upon him by prayer; to what purpose should they? The grace of faith is absolutely necessary to the duty of prayer; we cannot pray aright, nor pray to acceptation, without it.

The like passage we have, Nah. i. 15 , which, if it point at the glad tidings of the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon in the type, yet looks further to the gospel, the good news of our salvation by Jesus Christ. Observe, (1.) What the gospel is: It is the gospel of peace; it is the word of reconciliation between God and man.

And how shall they preach - In what way shall there be preachers, unless they are commissioned by God? The word “how” does not refer to the manner of preaching, but to the fact that there would be no preachers at all unless they were sent forth. To preach means to proclaim in a public manner, as a crier does. In the Scriptures it means to proclaim the gospel to people. Except they be sent - That is, except they are divinely commissioned, and sent forth by God.

But they have not all obeyed the gospel--that is, the Scripture hath prepared us to expect this sad result. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?--that is,"Where shall one find a believer?" The prophet speaks as if next to none would believe: The apostle softens this into "They have not all believed."

PLEASE notice, dear Friends, that in the 13th verse we have the way of salvation set before us in the plainest terms— "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I remember well when I lived on that verse for many months. I longed for salvation. I could not see that there was any way of hope for me. I thought that I must be left out, that I was too sinful, or too hard, or too something or other, so that others might be saved, but I could not be.

PLEASE notice, dear Friends, that in the 13th verse we have the way of salvation set before us in the plainest terms— "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I remember well when I lived on that verse for many months. I longed for salvation. I could not see that there was any way of hope for me. I thought that I must be left out, that I was too sinful, or too hard, or too something or other, so that others might be saved, but I could not be. But when I read this verse, I did what I ask you to do, I caught at it—it seemed like a life-line thrown to a sinking man! I clung to it and it became a life buoy to me—"Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." "Ah," I thought, "I do call on that blessed name. I will call on that glorious name! If I perish, I will never cease to invoke that sacred name." An invocation of the name of God, a trusting in God and a consequent calling upon God and acknowledgment of God— this it is that saves the soul! But I must get you to notice these words a little more in detail. There is here, first, a wide word, a very wide word— "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. "Whoever.''" I have heard that, when a person is making his will, if he wishes to leave all he has to one person, say to his wife, if he just says so, that is the best thing he can do. But he had better not go into details and begin making a list of what he is leaving because he will probably leave something or other out! Now, in order to make this will of God very distinct, He does not go into any detail, but He just says, "Whoever." That means the black man, the red man, the brown man, the yellow man and the white man. It means the rich man, the poor man and the man who is not a man! It means everybody of every sort and those who are of no sort at all—or of all sorts put together.

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach - Dr. Taylor remarks on this quotation, which is taken from Isa 52:7, that “feet are variously used in Scripture, and sometimes have respect to things internal and spiritual. For as the life of man and the practice of piety are compared to walking, Psa 1:1, so his feet may signify the principles on which he acts, and the dispositions of his mind. Ecc 5:1: Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. Agreeably to this, the feet of the messengers in Isaiah and of the apostles in this verse, may signify the validity of their mission - the authority upon which they acted, and any character or qualifications with which they were invested.”

It came on the world with a wind and rush of running messengers proclaiming that apocalyptic portent; and it is not unduly fanciful to say they are running still. What puzzles the world, and its wise philosophers and fanciful pagan poets, about the priests and …