Romans 10

Christianity started as a branch of the Jewish religion. The first Christians were Jews, like Jesus and his disciples and the apostle Paul. But by some 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, which is about the time Paul wrote his letter to Christians in Rome, most Jews wanted nothing to do with the Jesus Movement. Why do you think Jews—then and now—would struggle over Paul’s main idea: “The Messiah finished the work that the Jewish law started: putting people on good terms with God. Now, God accepts everyone who believes in the Messiah” (Romans 10:4)?

If Christianity was such a hard sell to Jews during Paul’s ministry—which it was, since they beat him up, stoned him, and ran him out of town time and again—why do you think Christianity was so popular when it first started as a religious movement inside the Jewish religion?

Paul might seem to be saying there are two ways to get on good terms with God: “The law” (Romans 10:5) and “Faith” (Romans 10:6). If you had to argue that Paul couldn’t possibly be saying something like that, how would you defend yourself?

Bible experts debate what Paul was trying to say in Romans 10:6-7. “There’s no need to talk about who will go up to heaven and bring the Messiah to us. And there’s no need to ask who will go down to where the dead stay and bring the Messiah back to us.” Which of the following guesses would make most sense to you?

• We don’t have to call the Messiah down from heaven or raise him from the dead because God already did that for us.
• We don’t have to go looking high and low, from heaven to hell, to find salvation. It came to us.
• Salvation isn’t far away. We can find it in God’s word “right there with you. You feel it in your heart and you speak it from your lips” (Romans 10:8).

There’s a debate among Bible experts regarding what Paul says in Romans about predestination. In some places, Paul seems to say that God picked the people who would be saved: “God knew who would become his children. That’s why he chose them to take on the characteristics of his Son and to become the first among many of God’s children” (Romans 8:29). But here he says, “Everyone who asks for God’s help will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Which is it?

LIFE APPLICATION. “Say out loud that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. If you can do that, you’re going to be saved” (Romans 10:9). Do you think it’s that simple? Can we simply say that Jesus is Lord and believe that he rose from the dead and then go on living a selfish and sinful life?

LIFE APPLICATION. What do you think a Christian looks like? In the short course, Paul says a Christian is someone who acknowledges that Jesus is the leader of their life and that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). If that’s Christianity 101, what would a graduate course in Christianity say a Christian looks like?

LIFE APPLICATION. Do you think the call to ministry is unique—different than a desire someone has for any other kind of job? Paul starts this letter to the Romans by saying he “serves Christ Jesus as an official messenger” (1:1). And he may be referring to himself as someone sent to “spread the word . . . on this mission” (Romans 10:15).