Romans 10:18

“ But I say, Have they not heard? Yea, much more, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. ”

It is not God who has failed in His part. No; they who have not believed (the majority of Israel) cannot excuse themselves by saying that the mission, which is an essential condition of faith, was not carried out in their case. As (according to Psa 19:1 et seq.) the heavens and their hosts proclaim God's existence and perfections to the whole universe, and, mute as they are, make their voice re-echo in the hearts of all men; so, says St. Paul, with a sort of enthusiasm at the memory of his own ministry, the voice of the preachers of the gospel has sounded in all countries and in all the cities of the known world. There is not a synagogue which has not been filled with it; not a Jew in the world who can justly plead ignorance on the subject. Μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν : “It is not, however, the case that they have not heard, is it? Evidently the apostle is speaking of those who have not believed, consequently of the Jews. How can Origen and Calvin think here of the Gentiles? It is the case of the Jews which is being pleaded. The pronoun αὐτῶν, their (voice), refers not to the subject of the previous sentence, but to that of the sentence of the Psalm quoted by Paul: the heavens.

No one certainly will think that Paul meant here to give the explanation of this passage; it is an application of the Psalmist's words, which is still freer than that made of the passage from Deut. in Romans 10:6-8.

The apostle has just advanced, and then refuted, a first excuse which might be alleged in favor of the Jews; he proposes a second, the insufficiency of which he will also demonstrate.