Studies in Romans

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 22, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 30.

Studies in Romans

The Medium of Salvation.

GOD has a definite plan for the salvation of men. This plan is set forth in many portions of His word, and among the scriptures that tell the story clearly is the following:

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!

"But they did not all harken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily,

Their sound went out into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.

"But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses saith,

I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding will I anger you.

"And Isaiah is very bold, and saith,

I was found of them that sought Me not; I became manifest unto them that asked not of Me.

"But as to Israel He saith, All the day long did I spread out My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." Rom. 10: 13-21.

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." This is the plain and comforting promise. There is no respect of persons with God. We do not need to have some influential friends to present us to Him, but whosoever will may come to Him.

But the apostle immediately raises the question, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" There must be belief in Him before they can call on Him. This fact is perfectly apparent. It would not be possible for an individual to call on, or make request to, a person that he believed did not exist.

Then the next questions to be asked are, "How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?" And from all these questions the apostle draws the conclusion, "So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

Belief must come of hearing the word of Christ. It is the word that imparts the intelligence that enables the individual to lay hold on salvation. Securing salvation is not a blind leap in the dark. It is a definite thing, to be secured in a definite way. The individual is to hear the word of God, and hearing that word he is to believe it and act upon it. This will bring salvation to every one who follows the divine plan.

The individual who has taken the word of God as his guide, and who is intelligently following it, knows that he is secure of salvation if he continues faithful. He has found something that gives him perfect satisfaction and complete rest. He is no longer filled with an awful dread of death or of the future; he looks into the future with perfect joy because he has made the acquaintance of Jesus the Saviour of men, and he knows that His Lord will save every one who reposes trust and confidence in Him.

But do not lose sight of the fact that this desirable prize is not gained in a haphazard, come-by-chance way. "Belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." We can not get this belief—we can not hear the things that bring it—except by the word of Christ. We must read that word. We must reverently listen to that word. We must pray to God to impress that word upon mind and heart, if we are to have salvation.

There are thousands of people who know about the word of God. There are thousands of people who know that there is such a book as the Bible. But there are very few comparatively who have read that Book till they know its wealth of promises and instruction. And it is only those who reverently read and study the Book that can receive its benefits. We may hear about the delights of a goodly land, but that does not give us a personal knowledge of it. We must actually enter that land and taste of its rich fruits, and breathe its blossom-perfumed breezes, in order to really know anything about it. It is thus with the word of God. We must have an experience that comes from reading and studying it ourselves if we would really know the solid foundations that our God has placed beneath His plan of salvation.

The apostle quotes from the nineteenth psalm to show that God has given evidence to every one. There is the great universe that the Father in heaven has created, and it tells of His existence. There is no excuse for any one. God brings His existence before us thru the things that He has created, and in this way He sets us to inquiring after Him. Then He brings us in contact with His written word so that we are left without excuse. Every one may find Him if he will, and may rest securely in the deep and abiding joys of an assured salvation. This salvation depends upon the Mighty One who controls the universe, and He can not fail.