Romans 10:6-8

Romans 10:6-8. The language from ‘Say not in thy heart' (Romans 10:6) to ‘in thy heart' (Romans 10:8), is that of Moses in Deuteronomy 30:12-14, according to the LXX., with variations and interpolated explanations. The question then arises: How are we to understand Paul's use of the passage? The answers have been: (1.) as an interpretation of the deeper sense of the original passage; (2.) as an employment of it, but in a new sense; (3.) as an application of the general principle underlying the words of Moses. Of these views we decidedly prefer the first, urging in favor of it the following considerations: (a.) Paul is proving that ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,' etc. If that means, as we hold, the aim, or object, of the law, then it is natural that the Apostle would use the law itself to prove it. (b.) The contrast is not between ‘the righteousness of faith' and ‘Moses,' but between the former and ‘the righteousness which is of the law' (Romans 10:5), and the correct reading only makes this contrast the sharper. Hence we may expect to find here what Moses writes respecting the righteousness by faith over against what he has written of the righteousness of the law. But if this is an adaptation or application, the words derive no enforcement from Moses. (c.) As Romans 10:5 stands in the received text, it appears to be a direct verbal citation. But the correct reading shows that the words of Moses are used in the same free manner both in that verse and in Romans 10:6-8. Hence it cannot be argued that Paul cites in the one case, and adapts, or applies, in the other. (d.) It is unlikely that Paul would argue respecting the case of the Jews, from their own Scriptures, and give the language a meaning that was not, at least, typically involved in the primary sense. (e.) This interpretation is neither far-fetched nor forced. The words of Moses referred to the law, that very law the end of which was Christ. When viewed as a thing to be done (Romans 10:5), it did not lead to Christ; viewed as a revelation, intelligible and accessible, leading to trust in God then (comp. Deuteronomy 30), and more fully to faith in the Christ when He had come, the words of Moses respecting it had as their deepest meaning a reference to Christ: ‘if spoken of the law as a manifestation of God in man's heart and mouth, much more were they spoken of Him, who is God manifest in the flesh, the end of the law and the prophets' (Alford). (f). This view preserves both the connection and the contrast between the law and the gospel, and thus accords with chap. Romans 9:31 (‘did not come unto that law'), and with the whole sweep of Paul's argument. Accepting this view, we extend the application of ‘Moses writeth' (Romans 10:5) to the whole passage. ‘The righteousness which comes from faith is personified (comp. Hebrews 12:5), so that the following words of Moses, in which Paul recognizes an allegorically and typically prophetic description of this righteousness, appear as its self-description' (Meyer). On this mode of interpretation, see Excursus on Galatians 4:21-31. The objections to the other views will be readily inferred from what has been said. Both of them grow out of a failure to recognize the true validity of the law (and of the Mosaic economy) as leading to Christ, and make too sharp a contrast between law and gospel (rather than between ‘doing' and ‘believing'). Moreover, whatever emphasis is laid on the position that Paul bases his argument upon the principle which underlies the words of Moses, is in reality a concession to the view we have advocated. To deny any such agreement in principle seems to deny honesty to the Apostle's argument.

For convenience we append a literal rendering of the entire passage (Deuteronomy 30:11-14) from the LXX.

11. Because this commandment, which I command thee this day, is not exalted (out of reach), nor is it far from thee. 12. It is not in the heaven above, saying. Who shall ascend for us into the heaven, and bring it to us, and hearing it we will do it? 13. Nor is it beyond the sea, saying, Who shall pass through to beyond the sea, and may bring it for us, and may make it heard, and we will do it? 14. Very nigh thee is the word, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, and thy hands to do it