romans 10 – The Core of the Bible

Encouraging trust in God through the good news of the Kingdom

Our objective is to overcome the stereotypes of Christianity to share the message of righteousness in the Kingdom of God.

It has been said that in order to trust someone, you have to know them. If this is true, then the same standard holds true for Yahweh and his Messiah. How can anyone trust God if they don’t know about him and what he has done throughout history? How can anyone trust in Messiah Yeshua if they don’t know who he is or what a Messiah is?

Romans 10:14-15 – But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how will they preach, if they may not be sent? According as it has been written: “How beautiful the feet of those proclaiming good tidings of peace, of those proclaiming good tidings of the good things!”

As the apostle Paul suggests here with the Roman congregation, the preaching of good news is a beautiful thing.

Isaiah 52:6-7 – Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

While Paul’s argument is to substantiate how God had revealed himself and his Messiah to his people, the Jews, he mourns how not all of them in his day had received it. Those of the nations were accepting the message of the Kingdom while Israel would not.

Romans 10:20-21 – Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Based on this type of scriptural logic, I am of the mind that most people today who have rejected the Bible, God, and Yeshua, is because they haven’t actually heard the true message. Like the Jews of old, I believe most people are rejecting the Bible and its message of God’s Kingdom because of their own understanding of a caricaturized version of the good news.

In my view, the mainstream Christian message in America today is one of contradiction and conservative politics. On the one hand, Christians say God loves everyone. On the other, they say that God is about to destroy the world because of everyone’s sinfulness. Political rallies are promoted with the same zeal, if not more, than that for the message of the Kingdom itself. There are tens of thousands of denominations due to differences many times over minor points of emphasis, and sometimes outright error. It’s no wonder younger people are leaving denominations in droves because they are seeing the hypocrisy, confusion, and hopelessness of it all.

But, put in its proper context and perspective, the Bible message is one of good news! God, as the Creator of all, provided an eternal object lesson through a people he chose to represent him in the ancient Hebrew kingdom of Israel. They were the seed-bed for the Messiah, the anointed one through whom God established his eternal spiritual Kingdom on the earth two thousand years ago. God invited all people to be at peace with him through faith in his Messiah. God had installed Yeshua as the reigning monarch of his Kingdom in heaven until Yeshua turned everything over to the Father at the culmination of that age.

Since that time, God’s Kingdom has been expanding amidst every new generation as hearts are turned to him. Righteousness and truth live among these people of Zion, the spiritual Kingdom of God. God does want all people to know him, and to come to him in faith through his anointed one, his Messiah. Through the principles of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, he has provided a guide for righteous and holy living that honors him and respects others. As prophesied by Daniel and Yeshua, at some point this Kingdom will grow to fill the earth. People will truly know the God of the Bible, not a caricaturized, politicized, and divided version of him.

In the meantime, it remains our objective to be the bearers of this news to those who have not heard, or who have only heard the corrupted version of the story. It is time for the light of God to shine out from the ruined shambles of tradition and orthodoxy. As we seek to deepen our own understanding and faithfulness, we should likewise pray for the ability to make him known to others, that we may become like the messenger of Isaiah proclaiming to all who are willing to hear, “Your God reigns.”

If you enjoy these daily articles, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com

Faith is being receptive to the abundance of God’s Instruction

For anyone to trust in Yahweh, there must be a trust in his Word.

Psalm 19:7-11 – The Instruction of Yahweh is perfect and complete, refreshing and bringing back the soul [to him]; the decree of Yahweh is trustworthy, wisdom for the simple. The precepts of Yahweh are upright, joy for the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is clear, light for the eyes. The fear of Yahweh is pure, lasting for ever; the judgments of Yahweh are true, righteous, every one, more desirable than gold, even than the finest gold; his words are sweeter than honey, even than honey that drips from the comb. Thus your servant is warned by them [as by a shining light], observance brings great reward.

All of the ancient writings of the biblical texts speak with a unified voice on the reward of keeping the Torah, the Law or Instruction, of God, just as it is mentioned here in the nineteenth psalm. Wisdom is crowned as the ultimate prize, and it is depicted as residing within God’s Instruction.

Psalm 111:10 – The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever.
Proverbs 2:6 – For Yahweh gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 3:13 – Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,
Proverbs 4:7 – Wisdom is supreme – so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding.

As the apostle Paul is crafting his argument to the congregation in Rome, he quotes from this very psalm as he isolates the source of faith in Yahweh:

Romans 10:17-18 – so then the faith is by hearing a report, and the report is through the Word of God, but I say, Did they not hear? yes, indeed — ‘to all the earth their voice went forth, and to the ends of the habitable world their sayings.’

Paul is here quoting Psalm 19 where it speaks about the witness of God in his creation, specifically the wonder of the heavens:

Psalm 19:1-4 – The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. [Yet] their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world…

This corroborates what he has previously mentioned in his opening statements to the Roman believers:

Romans 1:19-20 – …what can be known about God is evident among them [those who don’t know him], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

When one is drawn to the God of the universe through his Creation and begins to look for further insight, his Word, his Instruction is found to contain his wisdom and understanding.

Psalm 19:7 – The Instruction of Yahweh is perfect and complete, refreshing and bringing back the soul [to him]; the decree of Yahweh is trustworthy, wisdom for the simple.

Living in this world one is placed in a paradigm of God’s crafting: a world and universe that is a living illustration of his power and majesty, and a book of Instruction that can guide one into a living relationship with him. Faith in the God of the Bible would be inevitable if it were not for the stubbornness of our own hearts in wanting to be independent and self-sufficient, drawing our own conclusions about our worldview rather than obeying the wisdom of his abundant Instruction.

The Psalmist encourages us that “observance [of God’s Instruction] brings great reward.” The reward is self-contained within the keeping of it and is available to all! According to this passage, it brings joy, clear perception of truth, and warning from dangerous error. If these are only some of the primary benefits of faith in God, why would we instead persist in choosing our own way?

If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

The righteousness that originates in the heart

Living by faith in Messiah produces the obedience that God desires.

In writing to the Roman congregation, the apostle Paul conveys his frustration over the refusal of the majority of his own people, the Jews, to believe in Yeshua as the promised Messiah. They were instead clinging desperately to rules and regulations, not to the law of God exclusively, but to a law they invented around the the law of God. The rules and regulations they came up with had to be followed exactingly or the individual was not considered to be righteous.

Romans 10:2-3 – I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.

Paul brings his argument to its pinnacle by stating the centrality of faith in Yeshua is the ultimate goal of the true law of God, and if they were truly attempting to be obedient to God, they would have accepted the life and example of the Messiah.

Romans 10:4 – For Messiah is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

The Helps word study of the Discovery Bible clarifies the meaning of this Greek word translated as “end” in this verse.

“télos (a neuter noun) – properly, consummation (the end-goal, purpose), such as closure with all its results. [This root (tel-) means “reaching the end (aim).” It is well-illustrated with the old pirate’s telescope, unfolding (extending out) one stage at a time to function at full-strength (capacity effectiveness).]”

The perspective that Paul appears to be arguing for is that Messiah is not the end (or abolishing) of the law, for then he would be contradicting Yeshua directly.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

No, Paul seems to be conveying that Messiah is the end-goal or consummating purpose of the law; Yeshua’s life, his teaching, and his self-sacrificial example are showing us what the fulfillment of the law is all about.

Romans 10:10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

And when we believe the message of the Messiah with our hearts, we then are also living in fulfillment of the law and attain righteousness that God desires: a righteousness that is by faith because it is truly in our hearts and not just a list of rote commands that we follow because that is what we think we are supposed to do.

The law of God, summarized in the Ten Commandments, doesn’t need endless lists of human commands around them to help us keep them. No, when the heart desires to truly keep God’s commands, it causes us to be obedient regardless if we are told to by humans or not.

The Jewish practice of creating hundreds of laws around the law of God, while intended to create more obedience, actually only served to obfuscate the righteous commands of God, and ended up creating a greater burden for the people and they could never get out from underneath it, even to this day.

The clarity that Yeshua brought is that the true place of faith resides in the heart obedience to the truth of God’s revelation, not the outward show of following the endless rules of men. Paul built on this by saying that believing in the life, teaching, and sacrificial example of Messiah as Lord (the guiding principle in our lives) should lead us also to a life of heart-obedience to the plain law of God. This is where righteousness, the concept of acceptable conduct before God, originates: in the heart, not in showy actions that one is only following because they think they are supposed to. When Yeshua is Lord of our lives, we can truly live according to God’s Word from the heart. This is the end-goal and the consummation of the law of God.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

Choose your bias carefully

Your worldview determines your purpose in life.

Psalm 24:1-2 – The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to Yahweh; for he laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.

At the culmination of the book of Job, after he has maintained his innocence and sought to stand blameless in the presence of Yahweh, Job is silenced while Yahweh justifies his position as the Creator of all.

Job 38:4-7 – Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

God then goes on for the bulk of four chapters explaining the various aspects of his Creation that illustrate how powerful, just, and righteous he, as the Creator of all that exists, is.

This revelation of God’s own perspective should provide us pause for our own consideration of God’s kingdom on the earth. We typically focus on the spiritual aspect of the Kingdom of God, but how often do we consider that the very earthly world we live in is his by right of creation?

We live in a culture that, in general, believes the universe and the earth are the result of spontaneous and self-directed processes. If that is the case, then in essence, the idea of a God becomes irrelevant, and this is evidenced in the corrupted world system we see today. However, if we believe the Bible to be the legitimate revelation of the Creator of the universe, then he has provided us a window into his majestic design and establishment of all that exists. Everything we can see and touch has sprung from the very mind of God.

These two unavoidable biases, spontaneous or intentional existence, are at the root of all rational thought in regard to our own consciousness and awareness as a species of living creatures on this planet. If one chooses spontaneous self directed processes, that will form the foundation of a particular worldview in regard to human behavior. If one chooses the purposeful creation bias, then that will provide a distinct and wildly divergent worldview in regard to human behavior.

To accept that God created the universe and this world is to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over his Creation. Doing so is a recognition that we as human participants in his Creation are merely guests whom he has granted the privilege of dwelling here. This entire world and cosmos is his kingdom, his realm of operation, and our function as created beings in his image is to faithfully represent him while we are here. His kingdom “coming” to this earth references the spiritual nature of his kingdom that results from our conformity to the moral principles he has placed within this universe; principles which are just as real and real and consequential as the “laws of nature.”

To acknowledge God’s authority as the Creator of all is to assent to his rightful ownership and dominion of all things as he has revealed to us in his Word. To reject the revelation of himself is to reject the acknowledgement of the presence of his kingdom, and to bear the natural and spiritual consequences of that position. This is why the kingdoms of men are in the current condition they are in. This is nothing new, even being represented within the pages of Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 4:1 – Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.
Psalm 2:1-3 – Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against Yahweh and his Anointed One: “Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.”

A kingdom, by its very nature and purpose, is ruled by its king. Those not accepting the authority of the rightful king will suffer the consequences of doing so. However, we can have hope that many will come to understand the truth, but they must hear the truth of the revelation of God to gain his perspective:

Romans 10:14-15 – How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

As believers, our “beautiful feet” bringing the news of the Creator to this world opens the doors of hearts who are willing to let go of the spontaneous universe worldview and to live, not with the personal objectives of the wicked, but instead with purpose and meaning for the One who created them.

This is how God has chosen to oversee and grow his moral and spiritual kingdom within the framework of his larger dominion of all Creation. It is up to us to learn and live by the principles he has laid out for us in his Word and thereby become active participants in his eternal and ever-growing dominion.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.