Romans 10:16-18 - Exposition

But not all obeyed (or, hearkened to ) the gospel (or, good tidings ) . This means, apparently, that in the prophet's representation of the proclamation of the good tidings all were said to hear, but not all to hearken, For Esaias saith, Lord, who Believed our report? (The Greek word here is ἀκοῇ , the same as in Romans 10:17 , there rendered "hearing," and corresponding to the verb ἀκούειν in Romans 10:14 , Romans 10:18 .) So then faith cometh of hearing, and hearing by the Word of God ( ῥήματος θεοῦ , God's own Word, committed to, and spoken by, preachers duly sent). But I say, Did they not hear?. The previous aorist, ὑπήκουσαν , in Romans 10:16 having been understood as referring to the prophetic representations rather than to present known facts, the aorist ἤκουσαν here must, for consistency, be similarly understood, though with a view also to the actual universality of the gospel message. The unexpressed nominative to ἤκουσαν appears from the context to be men in general, not the Jews in particular. Israel is not specified till Romans 10:19 . Yea, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world ( Psalms 19:4 ). The "sound" and the "words" in the psalm are those of the heavens and the firmament. But in the second part of the psalm, beginning at Romans 10:7 , the psalmist passes from God's revelation of himself in nature to his revelation of himself in his Word. Still the psalm itself cannot well be understood as intimating the universal proclamation of the gospel. Nor is it necessary to suppose that St. Paul so understood it. Enough for him that the words he quotes express admirably what he desires to say.