Romans 10:14, commentary and pictures

The verse lays out an unbroken chain in which calling on Christ for salvation depends on believing in Him, believing depends on hearing of Him, and hearing depends on having a preacher to tell of Him. That chain reaches one step further, for there is no hearing unless the preacher is sent to proclaim the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Preaching is God's appointed way for making the gospel known and bringing souls to faith, so that without it light does not reach them and they perish. Those who already know the truth therefore cannot leave the work to others by proxy, but must pray for laborers, go themselves, and supply means through self-denial to sustain those who are sent. The promise is open to all without distinction, yet hearing only saves when the word is received into honest hearts and mixed with faith.

Meaning of the Sequence

The verse lays out an unbroken chain in which calling depends on believing, believing depends on hearing, and hearing depends on a preacher bringing the message. No one can call on Christ without believing in Him, no one can believe in Him without hearing of Him, and no one can hear without someone preaching Christ to him. Hearing through a preacher must come first, then belief in Christ, then calling on the Lord for salvation. Preaching is therefore necessary to make the gospel known, to bring people to faith, and to give them truth and salvation, for souls perish when the light does not reach them. Ministers are to teach about Christ and God's grace, goodness, and mercy, pointing sinners to the Lamb of God, and those who know the truth have the duty to help send its message to those who have not heard.

The chain extends one step further, for there is no hearing unless a preacher comes, and no preaching except by one who is sent to preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Those who preach must be sent, and Paul and Barnabas stand as representatives of what very many should become rather than folding hands and expecting the work done by proxy. Knowing God's Word and receiving the ministry of the Word brings responsibility to respond to its light by opening the heart to Christ and striving to become like Him. Entering new fields as providence opens them means establishing in a new country a working force that will send laborers into still other fields to warn the world and carry testimony to regions beyond, with help from the churches to make that sending possible. The same sending applies to the Black people of the Southern United States and to the colored people of the Southern field, many lacking teaching about Christ as Creator and Redeemer, who need gospel workers sent and supported to teach them.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and hearing comes by the word of God. With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Belief in Christ is the world's only hope. The word brought by God's sent messengers must be received into good and honest hearts with faith, for when hearers criticize the messengers, point out defects, surmise evil, and harden their hearts, the word does not profit them because it is not mixed with faith, and they disobey the gospel and fail to believe the report.

The promise is universal, with no difference between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is rich to all who call upon Him and whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The church must therefore give to the world the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, in which is life eternal, so that God's way is known upon the earth and His saving health among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples unto the ends of the earth. This requires preachers sent in compassion for multitudes fainting as sheep having no shepherd, with Christians united to Christians and church to church, human instrumentality cooperating with the divine, every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit, praying the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the plenteous harvest to give the good tidings of the grace of God.

Need for Preachers Sent

People must hear the message about Christ through a preacher before they can believe in Him, and must believe in Him before they can call on Him for salvation, so preaching is necessary to make the gospel known and bring people to faith. Without a preacher there is no hearing, without hearing there is no believing in Him of whom they have not heard, and without believing there is no calling on Him in whom they have not believed. Preaching is therefore essential to bringing the message of salvation to all people and to those who have not accepted Christ, giving them truth and salvation. Souls perish when the light of truth does not reach them, which is the reason to carry God's word throughout the world.

The ministry fills an important place in God's plan because people cannot believe without hearing and cannot hear without a preacher. Making the truth known is part of God's provision for saving souls, for they can call on the Lord for salvation only if they believe in Him, and they cannot believe unless they have heard of Him through a preacher making the message known. Preaching the gospel is God's appointed way for converting souls, and men must hear in order to be saved. The preacher must be sent, and sending preachers makes it necessary to have funds in the treasury to provide means for reaching destitute fields.

The human preacher in himself is nothing, and all human eloquence and power alone can accomplish nothing in the conversion of a soul. Efficiency comes from divine agency alone, so the work is dependent on the Spirit of God and faith in Christ is essential in every plan and movement. God plans for the human to cooperate with the divine by living faith, placing himself in the divine channel and becoming a laborer together with God. The Holy Spirit acts through and uses the inferior human instrument, with every human agency and every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit.

This cooperation calls for unity of Christians to Christians and church to church in giving the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ to the world, with preachers sent in compassion for multitudes fainting as sheep having no shepherd. It requires the missionary spirit to enter aggressive warfare with a devoted, self-sacrificing spirit, with workers going into the harvest field pleading for the Holy Spirit to go with them to hold forth the words of life to those hastening to death. Heathen in all cities who have not had the truth presented cannot hear the gospel invitation and cannot know that their sins may be forgiven through the mercy of a crucified and risen Saviour unless messengers go to them in the Spirit of Christ.

Responsibility to Share Truth

Those who know the truth and have had the advantage of knowing God's Word are under obligation to share its truth, work for the salvation of others, and help send its message to those who have not heard, because no one can believe in Christ without hearing of Him through a preacher and no one can call on the Lord for salvation without believing. The gospel must therefore be proclaimed so that it is brought to every people and place and all may have opportunity to hear, believe, and call.

Believers are not to fold their hands and expect the work to be done by proxy, but are to cultivate mind, body, and piety to the uttermost and go forth instead of leaving others to act in their stead. Paul and Barnabas stand as representatives of what very many should be, as self-denying, cross-bearing workers sent forth with intelligent effort, including men and women ordained to go as medical missionaries to untried fields. The church must give the world the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ in which is eternal life, with Christians united to Christians and church to church and human instrumentality cooperating with the divine, every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit, praying the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the plenteous harvest to give the good tidings of the grace of God in compassion for multitudes fainting as sheep having no shepherd.

Sending preachers makes it necessary to have means in the treasury to sustain them, provide for them to live, and enable missionaries to reach destitute fields, start school work, and provide places to teach and worship, since those longing to hear the word of life depend on messengers being sent to teach them. Lack of means hinders the proclamation of the truth and leaves people without someone to teach them. Support for giving the message to those who have not heard helps make its proclamation possible, and those who lend and give for this purpose receive a blessing, for time is short and the work must go forward as fast as possible.

Supplying that means requires a living interest that constantly fills the treasury, and believing the chain of hearing, believing, and calling means having a faith that practices it by denying self, lifting the cross and following Jesus, and giving means to send truth and facilities to missionaries in foreign fields instead of spending on bicycles and other needless self-pleasing things. Many souls are kept from hearing the truth by selfish indulgence, because hearing requires a preacher, preaching requires being sent, and being sent requires means to sustain the ministry. To withhold the tithes and offerings God claims as His own is to rob God, to refuse bread to a starving soul, and to deny souls for whom Christ died the privilege of hearing the truth and being saved, and will bring the curse of God on those who withhold.

Knowing God's Word and receiving the ministry of the Word bring responsibility to respond to its light by opening the heart to Christ and striving to become like Him. Once the message has been received through men, those who received it are accountable for how they teach it and cannot leave preaching to the ordained preacher alone. Those looking for the Lord to come must therefore not confine the truth to themselves but seek in every possible way to present to others that He is coming and the end of this earth's history is near, feeling accountable for the souls around them.

Ways the Message Travels

Romans 10:14 means no one can believe in Christ without hearing of Him and no one can call on Him without believing, so preaching is needed to make the gospel known. Ministers are therefore to teach those who do not know Him about Christ and about God's grace, goodness, and mercy, pointing sinners to the Lamb of God. Those who hear of Christ's saving grace still need the truth diligently explained to them line upon line and precept upon precept, for without that they cannot be converted. Reasoning from cause to effect, there is no hearing unless a preacher comes and no light unless a preacher is sent, which calls for earnest ministry in places where camp meetings have been held and for personal house-to-house labor. By such labor many with strong convictions of the truth become established, and small and large companies are raised up in every place.

The work of telling is not limited to ordained ministers, for lay members are under duty to go to those in error and darkness and point them to the right way, laboring for others with the help of ministering angels. Those who are humble in heart are used to speak words revealing the saving grace of Christ, reaching souls that the ordained minister cannot approach, and the prayer from that humble soul reaches the throne of God. Medical missionary workers also carry the message where it might otherwise never be heard, since treating the sick from house to house gives access to hearts and opportunity to share the gospel. Men and women are to be ordained to go forth as medical missionaries to untried fields, with intelligent workers sent out by every effort rather than expecting the work to be done by proxy.

When calls for a minister show the need for a preacher yet there is a great want of laborers, many must for a time be content with the silent preacher until God sends the living messenger. Writing living matter for publication is preaching to thousands, and the lack of men to go from place to place may in great degree be supplied by tracts and papers and by intelligent correspondence. Publications thus carry the message where a living preacher cannot go and bring it to the attention of many who hunger for spiritual truth but cannot hear a preacher. One whose heart is touched is filled with great love for those who never heard, feels personal woe over their condition, and, taking his life in his hand, hurries to them as a God-sent, God-inspired messenger in a work in which angels can cooperate.

People and Places to Reach

People cannot call on Christ without believing in Him, cannot believe without hearing of Him, and cannot hear without a preacher, which makes preaching necessary for receiving truth and being saved and is the reason to carry the word throughout the world, since souls perish when light does not reach them. The saving message must be proclaimed to every people and place so that all may have opportunity to believe and call on the Lord for salvation. The word must therefore be carried to all the world and the light flashed upon pathways in regions beyond.

New fields are to be entered as providence opens them, establishing in a new country a working force that will send laborers into still other fields to warn the world and carry testimony to regions beyond, with help given by the churches to make that sending possible. Laborers must be sent to preach truth in new and unreached fields so people can hear and respond.

The ignorant and destitute people of the Southern United States, both Black people and white people, many lacking teaching about Christ as Creator and Redeemer, must be taught and must not be passed by while missions in foreign fields are supported. Workers must be sent and supported among them to teach them about Christ their Creator and Redeemer. Ministers of the gospel are responsible to set plans in operation and send workers, including school work and places to teach and worship, so these millions in their own country can hear and believe and call on Him and have their souls saved under the new covenant before the Lord soon comes.

Truth must be brought to the cities without delay, because those who die without hearing present truth lose the opportunity to receive it, and workers must be supported and encouraged for this work. Heathen in all cities who have not had truth presented cannot hear the gospel invitation and cannot know their sins may be forgiven through the mercy of a crucified and risen Saviour unless messengers go to them in the Spirit of Christ. The church must receive the missionary spirit to enter aggressive warfare with a devoted, self-sacrificing spirit, with workers going into the harvest field pleading for the Holy Spirit to go with them to hold forth words of life to those hastening to death, including the warning that the Lord is soon coming and the end of all things is at hand.

Preaching is urgent because thousands are perishing while the plagues and judgments of God are already doing their work. Human souls are in danger of becoming either subjects of God's kingdom or slaves of Satan, and preaching gives them opportunity to lay hold of hope and choose the kingdom of God rather than Satan's dominion. Failing to send the living preacher is sad neglect, missionaries should feel the burden to go, and God is displeased when England is passed over and left without preaching.

Response of the Hearers

Hearing the gospel through a sent preacher brings responsibility to respond to its light by opening the heart to Christ and striving to become like Him. The linked order stands that there is no calling on the Lord without believing in Him, no believing without hearing of Him, no hearing without a preacher, and no preaching except by those sent to preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, and whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That word God sends must be received into good and honest hearts with faith, for it must be mixed with faith in those who hear it in order to profit them. When hearers instead criticize the messengers, point out defects, surmise evil, and harden their hearts, the word does not profit them because it is not mixed with faith, and they disobey the gospel and fail to believe the report.

Preaching gives souls the opportunity to lay hold of its hope and to choose the kingdom of God rather than Satan's dominion, since human souls are in danger of becoming either subjects of God's kingdom or slaves of Satan. Those who have never had the truth presented cannot hear the gospel invitation and cannot know that their sins may be forgiven through a crucified and risen Saviour unless messengers go to them, including with the warning that the Lord is soon coming and the end of all things is at hand. As opportunities offer and doors open and the truth is presented as it is in Jesus, opposition from opposers of the truth is started into operation, and the hearers become responsible for its rejection.

Those who have walked in the light they have hunger for more truth and long for greater knowledge of God's ways and works. Even the most irreligious have hours of conviction when their souls cry after God for something they do not have. God meets that need by using those who are humble in heart to speak words that reveal the saving grace of Christ, reaching souls that the ordained minister cannot approach, and the prayer offered from that humble soul reaches the throne of God.