Rom 10:5-8 – A Paraphrase

I’ve been working through various Ph.D theses by David Lincicum, Guy Waters, J. Ross Wagner, Preston Sprinkle, and Matthew Bates on Rom 10:5-8. And whoa, let me say that it is one doozey of a text and it is a brave soul who tries to cover these verses in an academic monograph. That said, I’ve got my own spin on the passage which I give below in a very loose paraphrase:

Moses certainly provided the premise for Israel’s pursuit of righteousness by observing the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” That sounds kosher I know, but it’s not the whole story. The righteousness of faith (that’s viewing things from our vantage point) replies by pointing out that Israel exile was caused by Israel’s disobedience to the law and that exile ends, not by Israel striving in law observance, but a different way, through the Messiah. If you deny this, then (a) You’ll end up trying to manufacture the conditions for covenantal renewal on your own steam, but before you try that option does anyone remember what the words “Do not say in your heart” introduce? Or (b) You’ll simply be denying what God has done for us in the Messiah and end up complaining that God hasn’t brought his saving word to us yet. You’ll be all melodramatic like: “Who will ascend into heaven?” as if to bemoan that no one can launch himself into the sky to bring us some salvation from above (that would be to deny that Christ came down from heaven to redeem his people) or complain “Who will descend into the deep?” as if to bemoan that no one can go on an underworldly journey to bring us back some salvation from below (that would be to deny that Christ died and rose for us). But what does Moses say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.” My point is that the striving in the law and waiting for someone to traverse heaven or hell to bring salvation is over because that word about the end of exile and covenantal renewal is here in the message of faith that we proclaim in the gospel of Jesus the Messiah.