Romans 10:16

16 But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? ^[a]

Romans 10:16 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 10:16

But they have not all obeyed the Gospel
Who hear it, and to whom it is preached; for though ministers may be regularly sent forth, and rightly preach the Gospel in the purity of it, yet there is no success without the power of God attending it: ministers may preach, and men may hear, and yet not obey the Gospel; that is, cordially embrace the doctrines, and sincerely submit to the ordinances of it:

for Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report;
or "our hearing", agreeably to the Hebrew word in ( Isaiah 53:1 ) , (wntewmv) , and which designs not the "hearing" with which the apostles heard Christ, though what they heard from him, they made known to men; but the hearing, or the word heard, which others had from them, namely, the report they made in their ministry, of the person and grace of Christ, which was disregarded, when the arm and power of the Lord were not, revealed and exerted: this was the case of the Jews in Isaiah's time, and the same in the times of Christ and his apostles, and is always the case, when divine power does not attend the preaching of the Gospel.

Romans 10:16 In-Context

14 But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

16 But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

18 But I ask, "Did they not hear?" Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.

Footnotes

• [a]. Isaiah 53:1