Roma 10:8-17

10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” ¹  (that is, the word of faith that we preach), 10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ²  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness ³  and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. ⁴  10:11 For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ⁵  10:12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ⁶ 

10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them ⁷ ? 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely ⁸  is the arrival ⁹  of those who proclaim the good news.” ¹⁰  10:16 But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹¹  10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word ¹²  of Christ. ¹³ 

[10:8]  ¹ sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.

[10:9]  ² tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

[10:10]  ³ tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”

[10:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”

[10:11]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.

[10:13]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.

[10:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.

[10:15]  ⁸ tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”

[10:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.

[10:15]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.

[10:16]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.

[10:17]  ¹² tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.

[10:17]  ¹³ tc Most mss (א¹ A D¹ Ψ 33 1881 Ï sy) have θεοῦ (qeou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Cristou; found in Ì^46vid א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 pc lat co). External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rJhma Cristou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression.

[10:17]  tn The genitive could be understood as either subjective (“Christ does the speaking”) or objective (“Christ is spoken about”), but the latter is more likely here.