QUESTIONS TO PONDER

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”

Romans 10:14-15a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Study the Bible enough and you will find answers to questions you may have about life and your place in it. The scriptures are full of guidance and direction for anyone who invests in reading them.

The Word of God also is famous for breeding questions in its readers and that’s a good thing. Questions show an eagerness and willingness to learn, and the Lord stands ready to bring understanding to those who seek it.

Finally on the matter of questions, the Bible asks its fair share of questions to anyone who reads it. It always offers things to ponder.

As we continue to look at Romans 10, we find four of these questions in just a verse and a half. Let’s look at each of them and what they are asking the reader to consider.

1. “How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in?”

To better understand this question, we need to move back to verse 13 where Paul writes this statement of absolute truth:

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Every single person who calls on the Lord will be saved but how can this happen if the person doesn’t know the Lord?

One has to first believe in the Lord and place their trust in Him before they can call on His name, the only name by which they can be saved.

2. And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard?

This is a second question that speaks to the importance of knowing the Lord so one can believe in Him and be saved. One has to first hear about the Lord to know who He is and then after knowing about Him, they can choose to either believe or not. The Lord doesn’t force or coerce anyone to place their trust in Him. Rather, a person comes through their own free will.

But first, they have to hear of the Lord and this leads to the third of our four questions to ponder:

3. “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” 

A hearer needs a messenger and from a Christian standpoint, a potential believer needs to hear the Gospel preached. Jesus reinforced this when he gave this order before His ascension:

“...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

If disciples (aka Jesus followers) were to be made, they had to hear the good news about Jesus, the good news of salvation and everlasting life given by God through His Son. Someone had to share the Gospel with others so they could first hear about Jesus and then believe in Him as Savior.

4. “And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”

An impetus was needed to drive people to share the Gospel with others. They needed tasked to do so and this is what made Jesus’ Great Commission from Matthew 28 so critically important. A spark is needed to start a fire and that spark was Jesus calling His followers to be committed to making disciples, introducing Him to them. Jesus was sending those who believed in Him already to spark a fire that would lead more and more people to place their faith and hope in Him for salvation.

From these four questions to ponder, we see how the Gospel progresses in its spreading to those who need to receive it.

Jesus commissions and sends His followers to preach the good news found in Him.

Those preachers help unsaved people hear the Gospel with the hope that they will choose to believe.

Finally, those who have heard about Jesus through preaching, placing their belief in Him, know who to call for their salvation. For it’s only Christ who can bring them to eternal life with God, their Father and His (John 14:6).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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