14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
This is a passage that many, many, believers misunderstand. I was among them until recently. While studying this passage the Holy Spirit spoke to me (John 16:13) regarding verse 17. Oh, the passage is one that most Christians who read God’s Word regularly are familiar with but unless a word study is done of verse 17, many just read it and assume it means what they think it to mean at first glance - especially if they use one of the many versions which has the translation wrong. These versions are: NLT, NIV, RSV.
Faith comes by hearing,... First, I want to bring to mind is that dead men can’t hear God’s Word. The lost are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, Colossians 2:13) and so they hear nothing spiritual. They understand nothing from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14) because the information must be spiritually discerned. That is why God’s Word is foolishness to them, they don’t have the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself said to the lost that they are unable to hear (understand) what He is telling them (John 8:43). Calling on God is a spiritual act, and a lost man is spiritually dead and can do NO GOOD THING (Romans 3:12). The Arminian will say that God reveals it to them (Galatians 3:23). To that I say there is no place in God’s Word that indicates in any way, shape, matter, form, or implication that God reveals anything regarding salvation to a lost man. In that passage Paul is talking about God revealing His faith to us, His Elect. Every place in the Bible that speaks of God revealing or making known anything about salvation, it is to US, the Elect, the Bride of Christ, those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), the Church. I don’t know of anyplace in the Bible where God revealed or made known anything to a lost man. Might there be? Sure, but I don’t know of it at this point in time and I’m sure it won’t have anything to do with salvation.
Faith comes by hearing,... Second, the word translated “by” is the Greek word ek which is a primary preposition denoting origin - it can mean out of, from, by, away from, etc. It means something totally different than the word “by” in the next phrase.
...and hearing BY the Word of God. First, the “by” in this phrase is translated from the Greek word dia which is a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act. As my former pastor said many times - “through the instrumentality of.” Paul did not write “faith comes by audibly hearing the Word of God” - as in preaching - as so many Christians understand the verse. The KJV, the NASB, the Greek, all say the same thing. Faith cometh by [spiritually] hearing, and hearing BY the Word of God... not “hearing the Word of God,” as in the sound produced by a preacher speaking words from a pulpit.
...and hearing by the WORD of God. Second, in the phrase “Word of God,” WORD literally means “voice” as in “voice of God” or that which is spoken by God. Please follow this link to see the Greek definition. It means, “command of God.” It does not mean the written Word, as in the Bible. The Greek word rhema means utterance, voice, speech.
In other words, hearing, i.e. the ability to hear spiritually, comes BY the Word of God, or BY God saying so. Just as “by God’s Word” the world came into existence, so to “by God’s Word” we were given the ability to spiritually hear. UNTIL God gives us humans this ability (by quickening our dead spirits thereby SAVING us), the lost will NEVER hear (understand) and will NEVER get faith. Some Bible versions get that completely wrong, including the NIV. That is why when I study, I use several versions of the Bible AND especially the Greek if there are any differences between versions.
Until God commands the lost person to be quickened (think of Jesus commanding Lazarus to come out of the grave), he will remain dead and unable to hear. And according to Romans 10:17, as long as he is unable to hear, faith will NEVER come to him.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the command of God.
Faith comes by hearing, and the ability to hear comes when God commands it to occur.
Faith comes by Spiritually hearing God’s Word, and the ability to Spiritually hear comes only when God quickens the dead spirit in a lost man and gives him ears to hear.
What is hard to believe is that verse 17 turns the preceding verses on their head. It seems verses 14-16 make it clear that the context is physically hearing but it simply is not accurate. Just as the Pharisees asked Jesus what they must do to do the works of God, Jesus in John 6:29 turned the question on its head by saying the work of God, not the work of man but the work of God is that they believe. So even though these men asked Jesus what THEY must do, Jesus answered them by saying what GOD does.
Go back to Bible Truth #154 - (Ezekiel 37:1-14) Ezekiel prophesying to the bones. Did those bones hear him? Of course not. Did they put flesh on their own bones? Of course not. But it was certainly God using Ezekiel’s prophesying to do it. The bones had NOTHING at all to do with their coming to life. THAT is the context of God using the preachers’ preaching from the pulpit to the lost in the passage from Romans above.
So, back to the passage in Romans 10:14-17... Even though it appears that Paul was writing about audible hearing in the previous verses, verse 17 is clear - the ability to [spiritually] hear is granted by God to specific people, nowhere does it imply or directly say that everyone can hear. The question is, to whom does God grant this ability to hear? Answer - Those He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4)
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