Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Romans 10:1-21, How beautiful are the feet
Paul prays for Israel, whose zeal for God lacks knowledge, and argues from Scripture that the word of faith is near, that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved, and that heralds must be sent.
Romans 10:1-21, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul prays for Israel's salvation and grants their zeal for God, though he says it is not guided by true understanding. Drawing on Deuteronomy, he argues that God's word is close at hand, needing only confession and trust, and that rescue is open to anyone, Jew or Gentile, who calls on the Lord. He then traces a chain: people cannot call without believing or believe without hearing, and they cannot hear unless messengers are sent.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/zeal\/","n":"Zeal for God and the law","s":"Zeal meant burning loyalty to God and his law, and its heroes, Phinehas, Elijah and the Maccabees, had used force against those who betrayed it. Saul the persecutor saw himself in that line.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sent-agent\/","n":"The one who is sent","s":"Jewish law held that a man's agent was as the man himself, backed by his authority as long as he represented him faithfully. How people treated the agent showed how they treated the one who sent him.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/kingdom-of-god\/","n":"God's kingdom","s":"Kingdom meant God's reign, God becoming king in fact. It was the good news Isaiah promised, and in Jesus' day it was also a slogan.","r":""}
Jewish literature of the period often praised zeal for the law, even to the point of violent resistance against those who tried to suppress it (Keener). Paul reads Deuteronomy 30:12-14 in good Jewish fashion: no one needs to climb Sinai again to bring down the law or go down into the sea again to be redeemed (Keener). The verb for sent is the verb behind the word apostle, and Isaiah 52:7 announced good news that still needed heralds to carry it (Keener). Wright's glossary traces the word gospel to Isaiah's herald and also to the announcements of the emperor's birthday and accession. Psalm 19:4, which Paul quotes about the message going out to the ends of the world, speaks in context of creation's witness, and word about Christ had already begun to reach most Jewish centers (Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Romans 10:1-2, 10:6-7, 10:15 and 10:18
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part One, Glossary, entry good news, gospel
