SEV Biblia, Chapter 10:14
¿Cmo, pues invocarn a aquel en el cual no han creído? ¿Y cmo creern a aquel de quien no han oído? ¿Y cmo oirn si no hay quin les predique?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Romans 10:14
Verse 14. How then shall they call on him] As the apostle had laid so much stress on believing in order to salvation, and as this doctrine, without farther explanation, might be misunderstood, it was necessary to show how this faith was produced; and therefore he lays the whole doctrine down in a beautifully graduated order. 1. There can be no salvation without the Gospel: a dispensation of mercy and grace from God alone, here called, ver. 15, the Gospel of peace; glad tidings of good things.
2. This must be preached, proclaimed in the world for the obedience of faith.
3. None can effectually preach this unless he have a Divine mission; for how shall they preach except they be SENT, Romans x. 15. The matter must come from God; and the person mho proclaims it must have both authority and unction from on high.
4. This Divinely-commissioned person must be heard: it is the duty of all, to whom this message of salvation is sent, to hear it with the deepest reverence and attention.
5. What is heard must be credited; for they who do not believe the Gospel as the record which God has given of his Son cannot be saved, ver. 14.
6. Those who believe must invoke God by Christ, which they cannot do unless they believe in him; and in this way alone they are to expect salvation. Professing to believe in Christ, without earnest, importunate prayer for salvation, can save no man. All these things the apostle lays down as essentially necessary; and they all follow from his grand proposition, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But, says the apostle, How shall they CALL upon 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? And how shall they PREACH except they be sent? And with what message which can bring salvation can they be sent, but with the GOSPEL OF PEACE, the GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS. When, therefore, there is: 1st, a proper MESSAGE; 2ndly, a proper MESSENGER; 3rdly, the message PREACHED, proclaimed, or properly delivered by him; 4thly, the proclamation properly HEARD and attentively considered by the people; 5thly, the message which they have heard, conscientiously BELIEVED; 6thly, the name of the Lord Jesus, by whom alone this salvation is provided, most fervently INVOKED; then, 7thly, salvation, or redemption from sin and misery, and the enjoyment of peace and happiness, will be the result of such calling, believing, hearing, preaching, sending, and message sent:-and thus the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is guarded from abuse.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they, have not believed ? etc..] The apostle having observed, that whoever, Jew or Gentile, believe in the Lord and call upon his name, shall be saved; and that the same Lord was ready and willing to dispense his grace, without any difference to them; suggests, that it was therefore absolutely necessary, that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews; that it was the will of God it should be; that what he and others did, was by a divine commission; that they were sent by the Lord to preach the Gospel to them; that hearing they might believe, and so call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved; and therefore the Jews ought not to blame them for so doing, for there was a real necessity for it, since there can be no true calling upon God without faith, no faith without hearing, no hearing without preaching, and no preaching without a divine mission. The first of these is signified by this interrogation. Every man calls upon the God he believes in, and him only; this has been the practice of all men, in all nations; such as have not believed in God and Christ, do not call upon them; it is true indeed, there may be an external invocation of them, where there is no true faith; but then this is not calling upon them in truth and sincerity; as is their faith, so is their calling upon them; as the one is historical, the other is only external; there is no true invocation without faith, or any that is acceptable to God, or of any avail to men; for calling on the name of the Lord, as it ought to be practised in all religious worship, so it includes and every part of worship as done in faith: and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? the meaning is, that there is no faith in Christ without hearing of him; as it is in human, so in divine faith, there may be believing without seeing, but not without hearing; so we believe that there were such men as Alexander and Julius Caesar, and other persons now in being, though we never saw them, having heard of them, or had a report made of them, which we have reason to give credit to; so there may be, and is faith in Christ without seeing him with our bodily eyes, though not without hearing of him; for of an unheard of person, there can be no faith in him, because no exercise of thought about him. This is to be understood of outward hearing of the word, and of adult persons only; for that, infants may have the grace of regeneration, and so faith wrought in them by the Spirit of God, without hearing the word, is not to be denied; since as they are capable of the principles of corruption, why not of grace? and also of such persons as have the right and free exercise of the faculties of hearing and speaking, and not of such who never could hear, and speak; for as the Spirit works where, and how he pleases, so he can work faith in the hearts of such persons who never heard the word, and enable them to exercise it on the proper object, and cause them secretly to call upon the name of the Lord, with groans which cannot be uttered. Moreover, this is to be, understood of the ordinary way and means of believing; for though God can, and sometimes does work by other means, and even without any, yet his usual way and method is, to bring men to faith and repentance by the hearing of the word: and how shall they hear without a preacher ? or there is no hearing without, preaching; there may be reading without it, and this ought to be where there is preaching, to see that what is preached is agreeably to the Scriptures; but there is no hearing the word explained without preaching; explaining the word is preaching. There is no hearing of Christ, and salvation by him, without the preaching of the Gospel; the usual and ordinary way of hearing from God, and of Christ, is by the ministry of the word: this shows not only the necessity and usefulness of the Gospel ministry, but also points out the subject matter of it, which is Christ, and him crucified. They that preach ought to preach concerning the person of Christ, his offices, grace, righteousness, blood, sacrifice and satisfaction, otherwise men may hear the preacher, and not hear Christ.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-17 - There is not one God to the Jews, more kind, and another to the Gentiles, who is less kind; the Lord is a Father to all men. The promise is the same to all, who call on the name of the Lord Jesus a the Son of God, as God manifest in the flesh. All believers thus cal upon the Lord Jesus, and none else will do so humbly or sincerely. But how should any call on the Lord Jesus, the Divine Saviour, who had no heard of him? And what is the life of a Christian but a life of prayer It shows that we feel our dependence on him, and are ready to give u ourselves to him, and have a believing expectation of our all from him It was necessary that the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles Somebody must show them what they are to believe. How welcome the gospel ought to be to those to whom it was preached! The gospel i given, not only to be known and believed, but to be obeyed. It is not system of notions, but a rule of practice. The beginning, progress, an strength of faith is by hearing. But it is only hearing the word, a the word of God that will strengthen faith.
Greek Textus Receptus
πως 4459 ADV-I ουν 3767 CONJ επικαλεσονται 1941 5698 V-FMI-3P εις 1519 PREP ον 3739 R-ASM ουκ 3756 PRT-N επιστευσαν 4100 5656 V-AAI-3P πως 4459 ADV-I δε 1161 CONJ πιστευσουσιν 4100 5692 V-FAI-3P ου 3739 R-GSM ουκ 3756 PRT-N ηκουσαν 191 5656 V-AAI-3P πως 4459 ADV-I δε 1161 CONJ ακουσουσιν 191 5692 V-FAI-3P χωρις 5565 ADV κηρυσσοντος 2784 5723 V-PAP-GSM
Robertson's NT Word Studies
10:14 {How qen shall they call?} (p"s oun epikales"ntai?). Deliberative subjunctive (first aorist middle) of epikaleomai (see verses #12,13). The antecedent of eis hon (in whom) is not expressed. {How shall they believe?} (pos pisteuswsin?). Deliberative subjunctive again (first aorist active of pisteuw just used). Each time Paul picks up the preceding verb and challenges that. Here again the antecedent eis touton before hon is not expressed. {How shall they hear?} (pos akous"Sin?). Deliberative subjunctive (first aorist active of akouw). {Without a preacher?} (cwris krussontos?). Preposition cwris with ablative singular masculine present active participle of kerussw, "without one preaching." {How shall they preach?} (p"s kerux"Sin?). Deliberative subjunctive again (first aorist active kerussw, to preach). {Except they be sent?} (ean me apostal"Sin?). Second aorist passive deliberative subjunctive of apostellw, to send, from which verb apostolos apostle comes. Negative condition of third class. In graphic style Paul has made a powerful plea for missions. It is just as true today as qen.
