This chapter is really a continuation of Romans chapter 9 and reiterates the error of Israel in not coming into the new God ordained purpose for humanity, now that their purpose has been fulfilled in bringing Jesus (biologically) into the earth. Paul restates his grief over Israel for this error and then goes on to outline the true purpose for mankind and the simplicity of responding to it by faith. His outline of the process of response is simple – Hearing it, believing in it, saying it, and living it. He adds his concern for the need for this message to be proclaimed. He finishes the chapter by bringing another indictment upon Israel for hearing the message but not believing it – and this is actually a universal indictment upon everyone, not just Jews.

ROMANS CHAPTER 10 - CONTEMPORARY ALIGNED VERSION (SPIRITCODE)

My friends, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be put right with God.

2 Because I fully acknowledge that they are enthusiastic about God but they don’t know what God wants for them or from them.

3 And because they don’t know about God’s idea of right living, and going about to establish their own idea of what right living means, they have not submitted themselves to what God says about being right with him.

4 For when Christ came he put an end to being right with God through obeying the Law and the Commandments. Now being right with God is a matter of faith in what Christ has done.

5 And Moses described the state of being right with God that comes through being under the Law, which is that if you are committed to the law you must live totally by the Law’s demands.

6 But the state of being right with God through faith puts things this way; Don’t say in your heart ‘Who is going to go to heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ back to earth all over again, undoing the work he has done),

7 Or ‘who will go down to hell’ (which would mean we are not risen with him and need Christ to have another resurrection).

8 So how does it put things? The Word has been joined to you. It is inside your mouth and in your heart, the Word of faith which we proclaim,

9 that if you acknowledge verbally that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be made right with God.

10 Because in our hearts we have faith that we are made right with God, and with our mouth we affirm outwardly that we are made right with God.

11 And the Scripture says whoever believes totally who he is and what he has done will not feel worthless or useless.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the non Jew for the same Lord is Rich and bountiful to everyone who calls upon him.

13 For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be made right with God.

14 But how can people call upon him if they have not believed in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard of him? And how are they going to hear about him unless someone preaches about him?

15 And how is someone going to preach about him unless they are sent? It has been written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of oneness with God, and bring this message of such absolute goodness.’

16 But not everybody who has heard this has heeded it. For Isaiah even said, ‘Lord, who has believed what we have told them?’

17 So then faith comes by hearing and heeding the Word of God.

18 But I ask, Haven’t they heard what was said? Yes, indeed they have. The message has gone out clearly for the whole world to hear.

19 Then I say ‘Did not Israel know what was being said? First of all Moses said ‘I will provoke you to jealousy by people that are not special in any way, and by ordinary mundane people will I infuriate you’.

20 Isaiah very bluntly said, ‘I was found by people who weren’t even looking for me, and I was revealed to people that weren’t asking for me.’

21 But to Israel he says ‘All day long I stretch out my hands to a disobedient and antagonistic people’.