“For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” Romans 10:5-7
The point made here is simple. If any person was righteous, that is, morally perfect, then Jesus Christ would not have been born. The line of reasoning that proves the truthfulness of the gospel, so often missed by Christian defenders of the faith, is that since all men die, Christ is Lord. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).” Find someone who’s conquered death and you find the way to disprove Christianity.
The fact is so obvious and powerful that it is sin’s greatest achievement to suppress both the fact and implications of death. The Bible teaches plainly that death exists because of sin and sin is disobedience to the Creator God. Do you know what this means? It means that the most important thing in life is God and, as a corollary, the moral righteousness proceeding from Him.
All attempts to understand love outside of God and His moral law/word is a continuation of the rebellion (sin) that has caused death in the first place. The fact of death proves that obedience to God is the primary thing about life. All other “life things” – that is, particulars like vocation and so on – are derivative from this primary issue. No fact can be understood unless it’s brought to the throne of God and placed there. As evidence of this extraordinary claim the Bible presents these truths: the universal reality of death, its declared reason, and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.
A man speaking about ultimate things outside of Jesus Christ is like a deaf man teaching music. Only the risen Christ is the Authority. Buddha and Mohammad are dead. Confucius and Aristotle too. Freud and Marx too. All. Dead.
Death is the fact that proves God’s claim that all have sinned, which is to say, disobeyed Him. A critic of the Bible, to be intellectually consistent, must account for this foundational fact of life as Scripture does. This, in part, is why the Bible says that unbelief is foolishness. Men of death have nothing to say about true life. Unsaved men talking about peace and love are like having the coroner perform surgery.
So, this is the context of today’s verse. A man/woman who is righteous – morally perfect – doesn’t need a Savior. To ascend into heaven, to “bring Christ down” is to say that one is morally comparable to Him. To “bring Him up from the dead” is to claim the power over death. Be careful that you don’t miss the impact here. Unbelief is challenge. It’s a challenge to God. It’s to claim the moral purity (“oh, I have a good heart”) of the King. It’s to say that death and judgment are nothing.
See the one who says that God’s commandments have no authority over them? See the one who says that God’s word/law is null and void insofar as it applies to them? The adulterer. The fornicator. The homosexual and all those who champion sexual sin as virtue…don’t they mock God’s commandment? Worse still, they call God hateful and deem themselves as precious and pure beacons of love. If this is true, then why will they die? Why won’t their professed and twisted ethic of love save them? God throws down and says, “prove it!” He says, “If your philosophy of ethics is true then you will not die and, therefore, will prove Me a liar.” To bring Christ down, or to bring Him up…it’s the claim of self-deity. To say that God’s commandment is impure, or morally wrong, is to say that God won’t judge you. Even when sinners admit that they will die – stoically admitting the obvious – they still insist that judgment won’t follow.
But God owns us and this world. Owns it. There’s no escaping that fact. It’s ordained that we will die and then, after that, without fail, without delay, without legal shenanigans, there is our audience with the Almighty One (Hebrews 9:27). Outside of Christ this inevitable event will be utterly catastrophic (Hebrews 10:30-31; Romans 2:4). In Christ, however…oh, how sweet it will be to see the face of the One who died for our sins (Romans 8:1; John 14:1-4).
Thus, God’s commandments are summed up this way: have faith in Jesus Christ. This is the will of God. Righteousness cannot be obtained by human works, efforts, politics, art, or any other endeavor. The book of Romans rests on this simple and true fact: those declared righteous by faith shall live by and in that faith (Romans 1:17). That’s why this follows in Romans 10:8-13
“But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe indoor heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
As we follow the beautiful logic of Scripture we arrive at this glorious point. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But, all who call on Him will be saved – without any distinction or exception. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to all that ails us. All that separates us and causes conflict can’t be fixed unless we’re brought to the cross in repentance. There, at the cross, will be the rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, the respectable (speaking in human terms) and the criminal. Maybe even politicians (okay…maybe not them…it’s just a joke, don’t panic).
Follow the logic. To live, one must be in right standing with God since He’s the standard and giver of life. To disobey Him brings shame and death. But we can’t be in right standing with Him unless we come to Jesus Christ in faith. That’s the path He’s given and the one who rejects it for any reason will die and then face judgment. This is inevitable.
If this sounds “absolutist” and/or harsh, then consider that love – true love – demands a righteous God from whom love flows. Without righteousness there can’t be love. Without righteousness love is merely need and lust combined. Our own fallen and sin-sick hearts can’t be the source of love. On the contrary, in faith, they can be the recipient and reflection of the divine love. Jesus Christ is the source of true love. Left to ourselves, fear will destroy love in the heart that’s ruled by sin. Weeds of shame and regret will choke love’s throat unless Christ is our Rock and Redeemer. All of us are absolutists. All of us put our flag down and declare, “upon this ground I stand.” All of us have a fortress we call our home.
Made by God and for God, the heart and soul that rejects Him is like a flower plucked from the soil from which it grows and has life. How long does the flower retain its glory when it’s removed from its source? How long will our “love” flourish without Him? Indeed, all the common graces of our life are like the fading of the flower (Isaiah 40:8) unless we come home to Him.
So, please know…please consider…that today is the Day of reconciliation. Be reconciled to Him who died for your sin and then spend the rest of your days learning all that that means. All the love. All the logical mystery behind who God is and what great things He will do in your heart. In Him you’ll find the deepest treasures that your heart adores and yearns for. The cup of your heart will overflow as His grace and wisdom and love are poured liberally into it. Why should you neglect so great an offer? Why should you reject His offer of mercy? For the sake of petty pride? Will you die defending the flimsy sand castle of your pretend autonomy?
Look! Stand up high and see the mountains stretch out endlessly before you. Look at the sparkling blue waters. Look at a winter snow, or a new spring day and smell all that freshness and all that wonder around you. See God’s witness (nature) declare His glory – His eternal power and divine nature. And notice how it makes your soul ache. It aches because you were made for eternity and for Him, child. So, look at the beauty and rejoice. You know He made all of that. And it’s meant to show you the sliver of His majesty appointed to you today. Would you reject this and choose instead to die fighting on the trash heap hill that is sin’s ground?
Come and be saved. And those who are saved, come again to Him and sit at His feet where there is shame and fear no more. Death is gone. Judgment is replaced with love that’s pure and unstained and unstoppable because it’s His love, not ours.
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