Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Have you ever had someone get the wrong impression of you? Maybe they thought you said or did something you didn't, or they misheard you and assumed you meant something you never said. To misjudge another person's intentions or motivations, or to be misunderstood yourself, happens all the time, especially if you carry influence or have some sort of platform. It can be a very frustrating thing when people twist your words or intentionally misconstrue and take what you are saying out of context. One key to accurately sharing your heart is to articulate what you are attempting to communicate with as much clarity as possible and then repeat that clear message over and over to the point of exhaustion.

In today's passage, we see Paul articulating exactly what he wants the recipients of his letter to know. He knows his words have been and will be twisted, misquoted, and taken out of context, which is one reason he puts everything in writing. Paul feels compelled to relate his heart towards his fellow Jews, so they know his heart, how it aligns with God's heart, and also so that Gentile Christians would also know his heart towards the Jew. Paul doesn't want to be the reason why a gentile might look down on a jew or why the two people groups would remain segregated if they are both Christ followers. Paul does not rejoice that unbelieving Jews have stumbled upon that stumbling stone of grace but cares deeply for his people and desperately wants all of them to come into the right relationship with God, just as many Gentiles are doing. Paul readily recognizes Israel has a zeal and passion for God, but he also sees that for most, this zeal is misplaced and not according to accurate knowledge. This is where so many religious people today – even sincere Christians – also go astray. They have plenty of zeal (or enthusiastic passion) for spiritual things but little knowledge or understanding of what their passion is directed at. This is a perfect description of Paul himself before his conversion. Saul of Tarsus was a notorious persecutor of Christians before Jesus confronted him and his spirit of anti-Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul was full of passion and zeal, but it was greatly twisted and misdirected. Jesus radically transformed Saul from the inside out, not only getting his heart right but also starting the process of transforming his mind. Paul himself then became the one who was being persecuted by his former peers. It is remarkable that Paul found something good to say about these same Jewish people who persecuted him so mercilessly. He comes up with something like...“At least they have a zeal for God." Zeal, or intense passion, can be a good thing, or it can be a dangerous thing, depending on what it is based on and directed towards. Islamic terrorists also claim to have a zeal for God. It is this same intense zeal that causes many religious Jews to attempt to establish their own righteousness or right standing before God and earn their own salvation and place in God's holy presence. Paul has already demonstrated in the first several chapters of Romans how futile this belief is and how this pursuit will lead to nothing good. A person cannot come to Jesus without the right information or knowledge about the gospel, but information or knowledge alone is not enough to save anyone. Even Satan himself has the right information and knowledge, but there must also be a radical submission to the righteousness of God, and putting away our own righteousness and our own works.

From reading Romans 9, we might think that salvation and right standing before God is God’s doing alone, and man plays no part or role in it. But this is not true. From Romans 10, we might think that salvation is man’s doing alone and God plays only a minimal part in it. But this is also not true. When we read the chapters together, we begin to see the establishment of sound doctrine through dual perspectives. We see what man's role is in accepting the gift of salvation and also what he cannot do to earn that gift. We also see what God's role is and what He has given man to do. Jesus is the end of the law for those who believe in the sense that our obedience to the law is no longer the basis or foundation for our relationship with God. If you want to continue to live by the law and find salvation in that way, then you must do the law completely and perfectly. Charles Spurgeon said it like this: "Christ did not come to make the law milder, or to render it possible for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted as a sort of compromise. The law is not compelled to lower its terms, as though it had originally asked too much; it is holy and just and good and ought not to be altered in one jot or tittle, nor can it be. Our Lord gives the law all it requires, not a part, for that would be an admission that it might justly have been content with less at first."

Paul explains that for Christ followers, instead of having to go to great lengths to achieve righteousness by the law, we can immediately receive righteousness by confessing and believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In Christ, the entire law has been fulfilled, not thrown away in this confession! Confession is the idea of agreeing with, and when we confess to the Lord Jesus, we agree with what God said about Jesus and with what Jesus said about Himself. This means we recognize that Jesus is God, that He is the Messiah, and that His work on the cross is the only way of salvation for mankind. And this also means that we have left behind the pursuit of the law or works as a means of salvation. Mere intellectual agreement with the facts of the cross and the resurrection is not enough! And they never have been or never will be. You must believe in your heart, and even that belief is not enough without an accompanying action: confess with your mouth. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. These two together (belief and confession) result in righteousness and salvation. We should not ignore just how scandalously simple the idea that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved is and also what an affront this idea is to every attempt of the flesh to be justified or any attempt to find salvation based on a national or ethnic foundation. Paul makes the matter as clear and simple as he can in telling us that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is rich and generous to all who call upon Him.