Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., Senior Columnist
Romans10:15: NRSV
And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news,” that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!
Our text emphasizes the importance of divine authority and commission for proclaiming the gospel. It highlights that preaching the gospel is not a free-for-all, but a task entrusted by God to those he sends. Our text also emphasizes the importance of being called by God to preach the gospel message. And it uses the imagery of beautiful feet to describe those who bring good news. The phrase how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news emphasizes the positive and life-changing impact of sharing the gospel. It is a poetic way of saying that the messengers of the gospel are valuable and bring a message of hope and salvation.
Paul argues that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and that faith is received by hearing the gospel.
Paul is also addressing the issue of why some people, including his fellow Jews, have not embraced Christ, and he emphasizes the importance of preaching the gospel to all people. A more detailed explanation, there is not one God to the Jews, but a kinder one and another to the Gentiles, who is less kind. The Lord is a father to all men. The promise is the same to all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God.
All believers thus call upon the Lord Jesus, and no one else will do. But how should any call on the Lord Jesus, the Divine Savior, who had not heard of him? And what is the life of a Christian but a life of prayer? It shows that we feel our dependence on him and are ready to give up ourselves to him and have a believing expectation of our all from him. It was necessary that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles. Somebody must show them what they are to believe. How welcome the gospel ought to be to those to whom it was preached. The gospel is given not only to be known and believed, but to be obeyed. In other words, it is not a notion but a rule of practice.
The beginning progress and strength of faith are by hearing. But it is only hearing the word as the word of God that will strengthen faith. And how shall they preach? In what way shall there be preachers unless God commissions them? The word how, in this instance, does not refer to the manner of preaching, but to the fact that there would be no preachers at all unless they were sent forth. Except they be sent, that is, unless they are divinely commissioned and sent forth by God. This was an admitted doctrine among the Jews that a proclamation of a divine message must be made by one whom God commissioned for that purpose. Note that the phrase ‘sending’ in our text does not refer to preachers going to shepherd existing congregations, as important as that pastoral ministry is. Rather, it refers to being commissioned to proclaim the gospel to those who have not yet heard it. After proclaiming salvation by grace, the Apostle Paul brings up those who have no one to preach the good news to them.
Our text gives a clear picture of how the gospel spreads to all the people of the world. Jesus sends people who proclaim the gospel. People hear the gospel proclaimed. People believe the Gospel when they hear it. They call on the name of the Lord, and they are saved.
Paul is arguing that people cannot call on the Lord without first believing in him. They cannot believe in him unless they hear about him. And they cannot hear without someone preaching the gospel to them. Our text reminds us of the need to preach the gospel. Paul begins to make it clear that salvation is for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. That is a wonderful, reassuring truth. It means there is no elite social, economic, or spiritual class for whom the good news is reserved. It is intended for everyone. What a mighty God we serve.
The Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., is an Itinerant Elder (Retired), Summerville, South Carolina.
