Bible Discussion Thread

Romans 10 was written for those Jews who were still struggling "under the law". For there was a righteousness obtained thru the law but that law ended with Christ (vs. 4) Then the writer distinguishes our righteousness(which is as filthy rags Is. 64:6) and the righteousness that Christ gives you if you believe on him and that righteousness is faith(vs 6). Vs. 7-8 he asking do you(Jews first) believe in the authority of Jesus Christ to be able to rise from the grave. Vs. 9 is a continuation of the prior verses on believing the power of Christ it ends with:..."thou shalt be saved." it is a confession of the prior scriptures, not you ARE saved. Verses 10-13 are a reiteration of all the prior scriptures, ending with "made UNTO salvation, shall not be ashamed,(of who he is) all that call upon him, shall be saved yes that is true but that isn't all we need to do. Lets look at the REST of the chapter. Verses 14-16 talks about how can one call on Jesus unless they first believe,(TRUE) how can the believe unless they hear?(TRUE), how can they hear unless they are preached to?... and this is where it gets STICKY. What do I need to hear? and why would we need a preacher if all I need to do is Believe? Well the next few verses answers those questions(15-18) and right in the middle there(vs.16) he says an interesting thing: "but they have not all OBEYED the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath BELIEVED our report. Now he puts obedience and believing in the same verse....why? he answers that in vs.17 "so then faith cometh(keeps on coming) by hearing"....see we don't stop at just believing(I can believe all my life that I can cross the Grand Canyon standing in front of a bridge that will take me to the other side but if I don't take that first step UPON that bridge I will never get there) you see BELIEVING is the BEGINING, FAITH is EVERY step after that. "Faith without works is dead" James 2:20. I'm out of space PLEASE READ REST OF Chapter. God Bless.