Living by Faith - Romans

Faith and Law

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Living by Faith

Lesson: 43-64

Genre: Talk

Track: 043

Dictation Name: RR311W43

Location/Venue:

Year: ?

Let us worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit, and in truth.

Let us pray. Oh Lord our God we give thanks unto Thee for all Thy blessing and the certainty of thy grace and Thy government to us. We thank Thee that in Jesus Christ we have an eternal security, that we are made Thine by Thy grace, and blessed eternally by Thy grace. Make us strong therefore, and give us a holy boldness as we face this world, that in all things we may be more than conquerors. In His name we pray, amen.

Our scripture this morning is Romans 10:5-13, our subject: Faith and Law. Romans 10:5-13.

“5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

These verses are a great joy to the antinomians, who see them as a contrast between Moses and Christ, between faith righteousness and law righteousness. But as we saw last week, how we translate and how we read certain words makes all the difference in the world. For example, we saw last week that to speak of Christ as the end of the law can mean the termination, but it can also mean and more commonly means the goal, the purpose; so that instead of being a termination it is the unleashing of its fullness.

Similarly, we shall see in this particular passage how mistranslation of one word, and the refusal to recognize the context of a quotation makes all the difference in the world. A text without a context is a pretext, is the old saying, and it is certainly true in the interpretation of this passage.

When Paul or anyone else quotes the Old Testament, we don’t appreciate what they are saying unless we know what they are quoting and the context of what they are quoting. There is a famous incident involving a circuit rider of the 1820’s, 30’s and 40’s, Lorenzo Dow, who hated very much a woman’s hairstyle which involved braiding the hair and putting it in a big knot on the top of the head. He detested it and he preached against it. He said: Jesus Christ was against this hairdo, and had declared: “Topknot come down.” And women were upset throughout the huge camp meeting of several thousand, and were busy pulling out the pins and letting the hair fall, but a few bold women confronted him after and said: “Where in the Bible does our Lord say that?” He said: “You’ll find it in Matthew 24.” Not giving the verse, and hurried off. Well, they found it: “Let him that is on the housetop not come down.”

Now, I like that illustration, and I have used it several times, because there is so much of that kind of thing going on, and in this passage we see it especially. In verse 5, Moses is quoted: “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.”

Well, Moses is quoting God, he is repeating God’s words in Leviticus 18:5. Can we quote God against God? When they are opposing Moses to Christ here, they are really opposing God to Christ. Can you do that?

God is thus the source of the declaration with regard to the righteousness which is of the law. Now, notice that the word is not: “salvation which is of the law” this is the way they interpret it. It is the righteousness which is of the law.

Let us go on for a moment, and then we will come back to the meaning of this. In verse 6 we have Paul saying: “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;”

Whom is he quoting now? First he has quoted Moses; well, he is still quoting Moses. He is citing Moses in Deuteronomy 30:12-13, and verse 14; and then in verse 11, later on in this passage he quotes Isaiah as well as Jeremiah.

Well, now, supposedly according to the antinomians, in verse 5 we have justification by the law, and in verse 6 justification by faith. Moses versus Christ. But both quotations are from Moses, and it doesn’t say salvation or justification, but righteousness.

Now, if there is a difference plan of salvation in the two testaments, why is Paul using the Old Testament, Moses especially, to substantiate faith righteousness? In those days there was only one Bible used in the church, it was the Old Testament. The New Testament was just being written. Paul was using the book that everyone knew, they knew he was quoting Moses even when he didn’t name Moses. Did Moses have two plans of salvation in mind? The law is never given in separation from grace, it is covenant law, and God makes it clear that He gives His covenant and the law as a grace to people. It is an act of grace, it is given to enable men to live.

Whatever Phariseeism did with the law, the Bible makes clear that the law was a privilege, a grace, a means of sanctification. Ezekiel 20:11 and many other verses stress this fact.

Again in verses 6-7, Paul refers to Christ and faith righteousness. He says that faith righteousness will not lack faith in Christ’s ascension, nor His resurrection. If Paul is contrasting law righteousness and faith righteousness in any antinomian sense, why this reference? Why does he use Moses to confirm what is of Christ?

Let us read these verses as faith-justice or law-justice, because the word righteous is justice. Christ in His atonement effects remission of our sins; we are now a new creation in Jesus Christ. Paul does not oppose faith and law righteousness, Moses is his source for both, and he says concerning salvation: “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Now, what is Paul saying here? He is saying there is one plan of salvation for the Jew and for the Greek, in the Old Testament and the new, and it is the same Lord over all, and whoever they are in the Old or the New Testaments, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Let us look again at Leviticus 18:5 which Paul quotes in Romans 10:5. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.”

Now it is very obvious, this is covenant law to a covenant people, who are reminded in verses 1-4 that God has saved them. So Moses is talking to a saved people, a people who have been redeemed by God. This is a word to the saved, the unsaved would not listen to it and they perished. This law-justice was not separated from faith-justice, but follows God’s electing grace. It is not a saving word, but a word to the saved. What is law-righteousness? Law-justice? It is the word of God to the saved to say: “This is the way of sanctification, this is the way, walk ye in it.” It is a covenant word. It has nothing to do with works salvation, but with sanctification.

Now let us consider the implications. If the Antinomians are right, and Moses in Leviticus 18:5 and Romans 10:5, Paul, is describing salvation by works, what does it mean? Well, you would have to go back to Leviticus 18 to see, and it is a catalog of sexual sins. It tells us that God does not permit incest, relations with a woman during menstruation, adultery, Moloch worship and human sacrifice, homosexuality, or bestiality. If we say that Moses is cited by Paul in Romans 10:5 as setting forth salvation by law, then he thereby declares the Jewish plan of salvation was by avoiding these specific sexual sins. Then you would have to say, if any man has not committed incest, had relations with his wife or any woman during menstruation, or committed adultery, or been involved in Moloch worship and human sacrifice, in homosexuality or bestiality, he is saved.

Now that is ridiculous, it would mean that a good deal of the population of this country that makes no profession of Christ, but has never committed any of these sins, would be saved. Neither Moses nor Paul said any such thing. Neither did the Rabbis ever say such a thing, the idea is nonsense. Do you see what happens if you read a text without the context? You have to understand the context not only in terms of Paul’s letter, but in terms of what Moses said.

Now, in verse 6 we have a real problem. It is the first word: ‘But.’ As you read it with ‘but’ it sounds as though Paul is contrasting two kinds of righteousness. ‘But’ does ‘but’ mean ‘but’ here? Well, it is a possible translation of the Greek word, but Robert Young, Young’s Concordance did a literal translation of the Holy Bible, and in his translation he renders it as ‘and.’

But even more, the word could be translated as ‘truly,’ ‘in truth,’ ‘verily,’ in other words, to strengthen or confirm something already said.

In Romans 3:31 Paul says that he does not make void the law through faith, but rather we establish the law. Here he links law and faith using Moses to verify both. So, we can read it thus: “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them” and then: ‘and’ or ‘truly’ “the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise.”

What is Paul doing? He is tying the righteousness of law and the righteousness of faith; he is saying faith without works is dead, something he said earlier, something which the whole of scripture teaches. So that it is not a contrast, but a development. He establishes the law.

Now there are serious consequences if the antinomians are right. If they say, and are correct in saying that Moses teaches salvation by works, as against Paul who teaches salvation by faith. We see the consequences all over the country; for example, here and everywhere, you will find people who profess to be Bible believing Christians who believe the Bible from cover to cover, who will tell you they believe that good people in Mohammaden and Buddhist countries and in darkest Africa will go to heaven if they are good, if they do the right things as they know them. And they will insist that a good God would not send such people to hell. Well, they are worshipping a God of their imagination, moreover they are denying what Paul teaches when he says: “There are none righteous, no not one.” What is the reason for them saying this? The more knowledgeable of these nuke-breed of fundamentalists, hold, and it actually goes back to (Mahan?), one of the leaders of the Arminian Pietistic movement of a century ago, and it is this: “Salvation is possible for all non-Christians in terms of law righteousness, and for Christians only by faith righteousness.”

This is what follows from holding two plans of salvation. This is why it leads to including another plan of salvation for all people, not only for the Old Testament supposedly, and it leads us to a radical perversion of the Bible.

Paul then continues in verses 7-10 to deal with true faith righteousness. It cannot be limited to belief in our hearts, but it must begin there. It involves not only believing in our heart, but confessing with Thy mouth the Lord Jesus. In other words, Paul is talking about faith and works. Well now, talk is cheap we can say. What is the matter with Paul here, why doesn’t he see that it takes more than that? Well, remember, Paul is writing in the Roman empire. Let’s transpose it to the Soviet Union today, what happens if you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ? You are in trouble. You are in trouble immediately, and you can lose your life or wind up in a slave labor camp.

So, when Paul says: “You are going to believe in your heart, and you are going to confess with your mouth” He is saying: “You are going to live your faith, and men are going to see it and hear it.” He is requiring faith and works. He is requiring faith righteousness and justice, and works righteousness and justice.

As a result, he is making clear that faith must have works. In verses 11 and twelve he makes clear as we have seen, that all men are saved by faith righteousness: ‘whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed, they will not be confounded, they shall be saved. They shall be delivered.’ There is no difference in the plan of salvation, no difference, verse 12, between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. He is gracious to all, so that all are saved by the grace of God, Jew and Gentile. There has never been any other plan of salvation.

In verse 13, Paul continues: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” He is here quoting Joel 2:32. Part of Joel’s prophecy concerning the gospel era, concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and concerning judgement, the judgement of God on the nation. But there is another thing that Joel is talking about. First, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. Salvation is in terms of the Lord, not a relationship to Israel. Then second, Joel was saying salvation is still of redemption, which comes from or out of Israel. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. The community through whom the faith from Moses to the apostles was made known to the nations was Israel. Israel in its glory was a missionary people; read Psalm 87, look at Jonah, and much more. And third, as Israel fell by the wayside, Joel said: “The remnant whom the Lord shall call shall make the Lord’s work known to all nations.”

There is no hint in all of this of two plans of salvation. Salvation is always by the grace of God through faith, and sanctification is always by the law. Faith without works is dead, we are told. Law and faith are not opposed one to another, but are a unity. Paul is emphatic on this point. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, Thy word is truth, and Thou hast called us to faith and to works, to believe and to obey, to believe in our heart, and to confess with our mouth and our lives that Jesus Christ is Lord. Bless us to this purpose we beseech Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now on our lesson? Yes?

[Audience Member] How prevalent is the antinomian spirit in the church today, (faith?) given as opposed to maybe ten years ago; is it growing in numbers, is it staying about the same, or…?

[Rushdoony] I would say very definitely that the Antinomian spirit is waning, very definitely. The Antinomian spirit began to develop in the late 1700’s, and especially after 1800 throughout Western Europe, and in this country a little later. However, its real strength came in this century, in particular with the rise of the Scofieldism, the Scofield Bible notes.

I believe in the past decade there has been a marked decrease in adherence to Antinomianism. There are still millions who hold to it, I would say the majority of Bible believers do; but there is an increasing softness in their position, it is no longer held as dogmatically as it was 20-30 years ago. It is moreover, beginning to wane precisely because the more knowledgeable clergy and laity are aware of what is happening in the world, and how the faith must be related to it. Antinomianism had no word for the world, we are being compelled to turn more and more to the law as the word for the nations.

One of the things, for example, that has helped has been the rise of great evils; abortion and homosexuality to name but two. And how are you going to say they are evil unless you believe in the law? Ten years ago, the champions of homosexuality were confounding antinomians in public debate by saying: “How can you be against homosexuality when you say the law is dead? You don’t eat according to the dietary laws of Moses now, why pay attention to laws with regard to homosexuality?” Well, they had no answer for that, and they were confounded in public debate on television again and again. All this is beginning to disappear. They know they are helpless without the law. Yes?

[Audience Member] If the Old Testament law is not binding in itself as the New Testament is a higher law isn’t it; In other words I mean, if it is not legalistic in the sense of doing this and doing that, it is when it says murder: “Even if you hate a person you are murdering” so the law is valid, however it goes beyond the Old Testament doesn’t, the New Testament law? My friend says that it is just not for instance, tenths or tithes of this, everything you have belongs to the Lord in the New Testament.

[Rushdoony] Yes, well, that is true of the Old Testament too, you see, our Lord, what our Lord said in the Sermon on the Mount was: “You have restricted the law, you have narrowed it down, you have made it mean as little as possible, and when the Old Testament says: “Thou shalt not kill” it also means thou shalt not have murderous feeling in your heart towards your neighbor or your brother.” So, it didn’t expand it, it just said: “This is what I meant from the beginning.” Because our Lord speaks as the one who gave the word, He gave it then, and He is saying: “this is what it meant, you falsified its meaning.”

So, we should when we read the Old Testament, see it as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, speaking to us, the same word. So, the Sermon on the Mount isn’t expanding, it is saying: “This is what I meant all along, and you have narrowed it.” Just as people today have narrowed the meaning of the New Testament, and this passage is a good example of it.

[Audience Member] …Before Christ and after Christ, a lot of the laws that were given in the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, therefore we don’t have to do the things that He commanded us to do in the Old Testament because Christ already performed that for us?

[Rushdoony] Well, the sacrificial laws now have been terminated, because Christ is the once and for all sacrifice, but even there, in Armenia for example, and this was done elsewhere, but in Armenia it is still done under the Communists. When a farmer is going to kill a calf or any farm animal, he takes it to a stone block by the church, near the steps, and he kills it there, first laying his hands on it, and saying: “Lord I know that it is not the blood of bulls or goats that makes atonement for sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ, and I do this commemorating the blood of Jesus Christ.” and then after he has killed the animal, he leaves a portion for the priest. This was done in portions of the south at least within the past ten years, in some of the out of the way places, in the hill country, because I had some pastors tell me that it was still being done.

So, you see…

[Audience Member] …because they are doing it…

[Rushdoony] What they are saying is that God wants us to remember the sacrifice for sin, every time we shed blood. Now, this is not mandatory, but apart from the sacrificial laws, the laws of God are still binding upon us, yes. They tell us what kind of life we should lead, they tell us that ‘this is the way, walk ye in it.’ Because apart from that we have to have a do-it-yourself mentality. But God says: “These are the things that I forbid, these are the things that constitute sin.” John tells us that sin is the transgression of the law, God’s law. So, if we didn’t have it we wouldn’t know what sin was.

[Audience Member] I’m thinking about, where, the Lord says “I have cleansed, don’t say it is unclean” the dietary, what he told to Peter: “What I have cleansed, don’t say it is unclean?”

[Rushdoony] Alright. Now, the word that God uses with regard to the unclean foods is: “Abomination,” filth. It is a word that indicates that this is as repulsive as can be in the sight of God for you to eat this. Now, in that vision in Acts, Paul, or Peter rather, sees these unclean animals. When he understand the vision what does he say? Does he say: “Aha, now I can go and eat cats and dogs, and all these other unclean animals that were lowered!” No, he says, “Now I know that I can no longer call unclean whom God has called clean. I can no longer treat the gentiles as though there were unclean peoples.” So, Peter says “it is not diet, but God was giving me a lesson about people. I was regarding the Gentiles as unclean, untouchable, polluting, and God has told me no.” So he went to a gentile, he spoke with gentiles, he worked with them. So that is the meaning of that vision. It doesn’t tell us those things are clean.

Any other questions or comments? Well, if not let us bow our heads in prayer.

All glory be to Thee oh God our Father, who has given us Jesus Christ to be our savior, our friend, our ever-present help in time of need. We thank Thee our God that Thou hast in Jesus Christ given us the peace that passeth understanding. Thou hast given us power in the Holy Spirit, Thou hast made us forever a new creation. Our God we thank Thee.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.