Romans 10:18

Rom_10:18-21

But I say, Have they not heard?

Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth.

Observe

I. The original application of these words--voices in nature.

II. The apostolic use of them--the multitude of the preachers.

III. The analogy established between the natural and the spiritual--the universality of Gods revelation in nature is the promise of the universal spread of the gospel. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Apostolic labours an evidence of Christian truth

The general scope of the apostle is sufficiently plain. The Jew is taught his responsibilities in presence of the advancing gospel from the pages of his Hebrew Bible. He learns to contrast the religion of the synagogue with that of the Church, when viewed in its spirit, method, and end. And this, not from the lips of evangelists, but from the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Rom_10:5; Lev_18:5; Rom_10:6; Deu_30:12-14). Prophets like Isaiah and Joel successively announce to him the reward of faith in Christ, and the intimate and beneficent nearness of the Lord of all to all His true worshippers (Rom_10:11; Isa_28:16; Rom_10:13; Joe_2:32), and by consequence, the abolition of the Judaic nationalism, and the Catholicity of the religion which was succeeding it. And when the question is asked how there can be such true worship without faith in its object, or faith without a religious education, or this again without a message from heaven, and an authoritative commission to proclaim it, the reply is given in the words of the evangelical prophet (Isa_52:7), for whose entranced soul the intervening centuries have neither force nor meaning, and the distant and contingent future is a realised and present fact. Along with the messengers who announce to captive Israel the speedy return of peace and freedom, there mingle, in the prophets vision, other forms of apostolic mien and greatness, and their footsteps fall on all the mountains of the world, as they carry forward the message which emancipates mankind, and which proclaims an alliance between earth and heaven. Yet more, this greatest of the prophets foresees the partial acceptance of the gospel as accurately as he foretells its universal promulgation (Rom_10:16; Isa_53:1): and prophecy closes around the Jew, who refuses belief to the report of the apostles, by describing not merely the truth which confronts him, but his own attitude towards it. That there may be no mistake as to the weight and pressure of the Jews responsibility, the apostle asks in the text somewhat abruptly, whether the men of Israel have not heard the gospel-message. And he answers not by pointing to the literal fact, that already the messengers of Christ had penetrated far and wide into either of the great branches of the Dispersion, while Jerusalem itself was the home and focus of Christian doctrine; he quotes a psalmist who is singing of the heavenly bodies, and who tells how they speak for the glorious Creator in terms which all can understand, while from day to day and age to age they hand on their mighty tradition of the truth, which all the languages of man confess, and all the climes and regions of the earth have heard. The apostle reads the history of the Church in the light of his Masters words: Go, teach all nations. The intervening centuries count for nothing; just as when we gaze at the fixed star, we do not ordinarily reflect upon that scintillation of the rays of its light through almost measureless space which science yet reveals to us in all its wonder with minute precision. And the apostle sees all at a single glance: he ignores the alternation of ebb and flow--the constant play of light and shade--which meet us in the actual history of the Church; we forget, as we read his words, that struggle for life, maintained for centuries,--maintained against overwhelming forces. We seem to be watching a process which has all the beauty and ease of a natural movement; we have before us what is less the history of an accomplished and hard-won triumph than it is the spectacle of a beneficent provision or law of the universe, in which there is no struggle, no effort, no resistance, and in which the Heavenly Wisdom already reaches from one end to another mightily, and smoothly and sweetly ordereth all things. Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world. And here are two points that demand our consideration.

I. Our Lords command and the prophecy of His apostle imply first of all that the gospel would stand the test of time. Of all forms of power, as of all forms of thought that are merely human, time is the great enemy. No sooner has a doctrine or a system taken its place in the arena of human thought, than, like the ocean which imperceptibly fritters away the base of a mountain cliff, time forthwith begins its relentless work of progressive demolition. Again, time brings with it what we term in our ignorance chance; it brings combinations of circumstances, and of agencies to bear, upon which no genius can calculate, and against which no prudence can take its measures. Once more, the lapse of time involves the liability to internal decay: those who have reached power, betake themselves to its enjoyment; those who believe that they are securely masters of the world of thought, are not alive to the decomposition which awaits or preys upon their stagnant system. And, lastly, as the years pass over a doctrine or a system, they inevitably subject it to the decisive test of opposition. And this not necessarily because it has faults and failings, but because it exists, and by its existence invites hostile criticism, since it drains away something, however little, of the attention, and labour, and substance, which would but for the fact of its existence be bestowed elsewhere. Need I say that He who came from heaven to redeem and save us knew what was before Him. He foresaw the coolness which would succeed to a first fervour of welcome to His truth; He allowed for the unfavourable conjunctions of circumstance, and for the intimidation and the errors of those who might represent Him, and for the opposition which a gospel such as His (making, as it did, no terms with any human feeling or conviction that was inconsistent with the rights of God), could not but encounter in the passions of man. He predicted a time when the love of many would wax cold, etc. (Mat_24:9; Mat_24:11-12; Mat_24:24). He accepted, He set forth the idea of the intense hatred which His gospel must perforce encounter in the world, so energetically, that He, the Prince of Peace, described Himself as sending not peace, but a sword. Yet foreseeing these elements of destruction gathering around Him, He is calmly certain of the perpetuity of His doctrine (Mar_13:31). Surely the event has not falsified the prediction. Since the Incarnation, all else has changed; new races, new moulds of thought, new languages, new institutions, political and social, supplant others which once seemed destined to exist for ever, and which have passed away. But, reigning amid the ruins of the past, reigning amid the progress of the present towards the future, Jesus Christ is here. You may contend that here and there His work is marred or broken; you may insist on the desolating spread of the great heresies of the first ages, or on the loss of the Churches of the East and of the Church of Cyprian and of Augustine--trampled as these are beneath the feet of the infidel. Now, as of old, He is crucified in weakness, while He reigns in power: He is, by the very pressure and fierceness of His foes, uniting friends who have long been sundered; His vast providences enlist the services even of men who know but fragments of His truth; He has more loyal hearts who trust and worship Him than in any previous age. For observe, that He does not merely hold His ground: He is extending His Empire. He is again laying siege to those citadels of superstitious yet of philosophical idolatry--the oriental religions--which have so long resisted Him; He is bidding the islands of the sea wait on His advancing foot-steps.

II. Observe a second feature of the predicted missionary energy of the Church, which, no less than that already mentioned, would seem to possess an evidential value. For our Lord did not merely insure His religion against the triumph of those causes which, in the case of human institutions or opinions, must ultimately produce decay and dissolution. The stone which you throw loses force and swiftness as it obeys the impulse you gave to it; it buries itself, we will suppose, beneath the waters of a still lake, and again the ripple which radiates from the point of disturbance, becomes, moment by moment, less clear to the eye, as on this side and on that its widening circles approach the shore. So it is with human religions: they spend themselves while they gain the prestige of antiquity; and our Lord, as we have seen, reversed this law of exhaustion, in the case of His gospel. But He did more: He presumed upon, He appealed to, because He knew Himself able to create and command, an ever-youthful and active enthusiasm, which in the last ages of the faith, no less than in the first, would carry forward His doctrine into all the regions of the earth, and, at whatever risk, would press it closely in its perfectness and its power on the consciences of men. Look at the other great religions which have ruled, or which still rule, the thought or the heart of the human race. Where have ancient priesthoods, like the Egyptian, been missionary agencies? Where have philosophical speculations, like these of the Schools of Greece, been more than the luxury and the pride of the selfish few--where and when have they shown any capacity of becoming the inheritance of the heart and thought of the struggling many? Surely it were not unreasonable to surmise that if the Infinite and the Eternal God has spoken in very deed to us His creatures, He can only so have spoken, as at the first He can only have given us being, out of the free and pure love which He bare towards us. And thus along with the gift of truth would come the accompanying gift of love; and we should anticipate what is in fact the case, that He, our Incarnate Lord, whom we worship as the highest and absolute Truth, is also the most tender and indeed boundless Charity. It is by combining in Himself truth and love so perfectly that Jesus, from age to age; commands the most intelligent and the most heroic devotion of which man has ever been capable. Think not that true devotion to Christ our Lord is a luxury of the Primitive Church, which can find no lasting home in the midst of our modern civilisation. It may be true that mutilated creeds cannot provoke, and that coward hearts cannot understand, such devotion. But wherever the truth is taught in its integrity to hearts that are honest and good, the same phenomena of absolute self-devotion will be found to repeat themselves which illustrated so gloriously the first ages and children of the faith. He has indeed made men love Himself; for around Him and His work there mantles such a robe of unfailing and ever-youthful beauty, that in His Divine Person, His human form, His words, His world-redeeming sacrifice, His ceaseless intercession, His gift of the Blessed Spirit, His oneness with His people through the sacraments of His Church, the soul finds that which answers to its highest imaginings no less than to its deepest needs. It finds in Him, as in none else, its rest. (Canon Liddon.)

The spread of the gospel

In the psalm he speaks of works, here of the Word.

1. Some say that Paul argues from the less. If God teach all by the great volume of the heavens, much more will He teach all by the heavenly doctrine of the gospel.

2. I think that there is here hid a prophecy of the preaching of the gospel, because the latter part of the psalm speaks much in the commendation of it; and Paul here so applies it. And, indeed, there is a most sweet analogy between the heavens found and the gospel. The heavens are the work of Gods hand; so is the gospel revealed by God. The heavens show the work of God: so the gospel, that we are justified by the work of God, which is faith, not by the works of man. The doctrine of the gospel is pure and lightsome as are the heavens. The influence of the heavens comforteth and cherisheth inferior things: so doth the gospel the conscience. The diversity of nations and languages is manifold which understand not one another; yet all understand the excellency of the heavens, and the wonderful work of God in them. So God enabled the apostles to teach all nations in their own tongues the wonderful works of God (Mar_16:20; Act_1:8; Col_1:6).

I. That is the true religion which agrees with that which was preached in all the world by the apostles.

II. It was a miracle that the gospel, a doctrine teaching the denial of ourselves and bearing of the Cross, carried by poor and mean persons, oppressed by mighty emperors and kings, should in despite of men and devils, within the space of forty years, be so published in all the world. Let all enemies cease to oppose it by the remembrance hereof.

III. Obey the gospel, lest He which sent it take it away, and remove our candlestick for our unbelief and contempt of it. For this cause Turcism and Papism possess many places, which have been heretofore famous for the gospel. Hath the grace of God shined to thee? Make much of this light, and walk in it. Hast thou heard the sound of it? Why dost thou live in lewd practices, as if thou hadst never heard any inkling of it? Where sin bears rule, there is not the gospel received. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

The voice of truth

I. Is heard--

1. In nature.

2. In the Word of God.

3. In the gospel.

II. Diffuses itself--

1. Like waves of sound.

2. Through time.

3. Through the world.

III. Demands universal attention. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

The world convicted of unbelief

I. To whom do these words apply? To the unbelieving--

1. Jews.

2. Gentiles.

II. What do they imply? The sufficiency of revelation as respects--

1. Its clearness.

2. Its diffusion.

III. What must we infer.

1. The inexcusable guilt of man.

2. The justice of God. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Gods dealings with His ancient people

I. His communications to them.

1. Clear.

2. Repeated.

3. Everywhere heard.

II. His warnings of rejection.

1. By Moses.

2. By Isaiah.

III. His patient forbearance.

1. Kindly entreating them.

2. During the long period of Old Testament history.

3. Spite of disobedience.

IV. The final transfer of His favour to the Gentiles. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

But I say, Did not Israel know?--Observe--

I. How God disciplines a rebellious people. He--

1. Instructs.

2. Warns.

3. Bears patiently.

4. At length transfers His favour to others, whom they despise.

II. How this applies to us. We have been--

1. Equally privileged.

2. Equally rebellious.

3. If Israel could not escape, how shall we? (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Israels

1. Privilege.

2. Warning.

3. Persistent disobedience.

4. Punishment. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Gospel chimes

I tarried two or three days near the tower of Antwerp. Every fifteen minutes the bells of that tower chime--so sweetly that it seems as if the angels of God flying past have alighted in the tower. But when the full hour comes, then the clock, with heavy tongue, strikes the hour, adding impressiveness and solemnity to the chime of bells. So this great gospel tower chimes every fifteen minutes--nay, every moment. Tones of mercy. Tones of love. Tones of compassion. Tones of pardon. And occasion-ally, to let you know that the weights are running down, and that the time is going past, the heavy tongue of this bell comes down with an emphasis, saying, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now is the accepted time--Now is the day of salvation! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

But Esaias is very bold.--

Consider the words

I. In their prophetic import as accomplished--

1. In the calling of the Gentiles.

2. The rejection of the Jews.

II. As descriptive of Gods actual procedure.

1. He receives sinners and outcasts.

2. But the children of the kingdom are cast out.

III. As illustrating the whole economy of the gospel.

1. It is a system of unmerited grace.

2. Those who do not participate in it have themselves wholly to blame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

I was found of them that sought Me not.--

God found unsought

It is a singular thing to find one inspired writer calling another bold. But we are not to understand that the apostle doubted what the prophet said, nor that he feared some would think Isaiah had hazarded a perilous statement. He merely recalled two exceedingly commonplace, but most important considerations concerning the time in which Isaiah lived. Then it was a bold thing to say that God had rejected the Jews and chosen the Gentiles; there being then really no signs of a revolution like that. Moreover, such a statement would anger that entire nation, and thus imperil the popularity of the prophet, as well as his life. But Isaiah did say it, and Paul here repeats it. The text is an announcement of a fact in the government of God; namely, that there is a sovereign love of God which goes out after a human soul before that soul has even so far started out for God as to wish for Him.

I. God has never yet relinquished His hold upon the entire human race. Sin entered the world and ruined the race. But the Almighty has not given it away to destruction, and is going to repossess His own.

II. God even now asserts His full right to a special people of His own in the midst of earthly rebellion and disownment of His Son. His call is, Who is on the Lords side? and asserts authority in a land, without consulting the poor magnates at the head of it. He commissioned Jonah to go to Nineveh, He sent Moses into Egypt with orders to Pharaoh to dismiss a million of his subjects for ever on a nights notice. It made no difference whatever that the king said he did not know who this Jehovah was; the Maker of the universe assumed that it was the business of all His intelligent creatures to understand the authority which belonged to a monarch like Him. He assumes that same pre-eminence now. The only question that can arise is one of individual bearing, who shall rally first around His standard, and serve Him? And this He decides Himself (verses 11-13). Nor does He leave this choice to a mere chance acceptance. Does He need a king? Then the ruddy-checked son of Jesse is anointed. Does He need a priest? He summoned Melchizedek. Does He need a prophet? Then shall the unwilling lips of Balaam be turned from cursing into blessing. Thus does He gather His agents at His own sovereign will, often unexpectedly to themselves, as well as surprisingly to others. Literally, He is found of those who sought Him not, etc.

III. The all-wise God has originated and announced a plan by which He may bring His people to Himself without any failure.

1. God assumes at the start that men are utterly lost? We are condemned already. The wrath of God abideth on every one of us.

2. That God prefers to save the transgressor rather than punish him. God says He takes no pleasure in the infliction of penalty. He has proffered a way of escape (verse 4). And this is the only way

3. That the human will is stubborn, and always refuses free grace. Just here enters the greatest mystery of the gospel. A certain spiritual pressure is exerted by God Himself. The Holy Ghost constrains the surrender of the disobedient heart.

IV. In the carrying out of His plan God sometimes strives directly with impenitent men, without their expecting it, and even without their understanding it. Thus it is that He is often found of those who sought Him not. He has a right to everybody, and when He desires a man He sends for him. No actual force is employed, but certain processes of His are put into operation. The sinner does not always know precisely what all this means, but he feels a surprising impelling power, active in the very centre of his being. He is awakened to see his own needs. He is constrained to reflect upon the issues of another life. Now it is God in person who is making Himself to be found, even when the man is not seeking after Him. And He acts very gently. There are, in every-day life, two ways of waking a man out of dangerous slumber. You may shout in his ear, or rudely shake his person; or bring a lamp into the room, and leave it burning. The latter is the way in which God works. Furthermore, Providence sometimes works in with grace. An adversity or a blessing is used as an instrument in the awakening of the soul. But He aims only to lead men to the beginning of their work; He does not propose to do it for them. He says to those who seek Him not, Seek Me. He calls to the prayerless, Pray--to the thoughtless, Think.

V. This moment, in which the Spirit of God is striving, is the moment above all others in which to yield to His call. For now, if never before, a man has a chance. If God is sincere, He offers personal pardon now. (C. S..Robinson, D.D.)

Sovereign grace and mans responsibility

Doubtless these words primarily refer to the casting away of the Jews, and to the choosing of the Gentiles. Yet this is but a type of a universal fact. The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once. I am taught that what I sow I shall reap: I am also taught that it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. I see in one place, God presiding over all in providence; and yet I see that man acts as he pleases, and two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. Note then--

I. Divine sovereignty. If any man be saved, he is saved by Divine grace alone. Now, in speaking of Gods gracious acts of salvation, notice--

1. That they are entirely unmerited. The people here mentioned certainly did not merit Gods grace. They found Him, but they never sought for Him; He was made manifest to them, but they never asked for Him.

2. Sovereign, i.e., God has an absolute right to give grace where He chooses, and to withhold it when He pleases. It is mercy, indeed, when God saves a seeker; but how much greater mercy when He seeks the lost Himself! Mark the parable of the lost sheep. How was it you came to seek God? Why, because He led you to do it. Nature can never rise above itself. You put water into a reservoir, and it will rise as high as that, but no higher if let alone. So there must be an extraordinary pressure of the Holy Spirit put upon the heart to lead us first to ask for mercy.

II. Mans responsibility (verse 21). Now, these people whom God had cast away had been sought, had been entreated to be saved; but they would not, and inasmuch as they were not saved, it was the effect of their disobedience and their gainsaying. Notice the wooing of God and of what sort it is.

1. Most affectionate. God says He stretched out His hands. You that are not saved to-day are without excuse, for God stretched out His hands to you, and He said, Come, come.

2. Very frequent. All the day long, may be translated daily. From the first dawn of your life He wooed you through your mother. And in your boyhood how your Sunday-school teacher endeavoured to bring you to the Saviour! And you have not yet surely forgotten how many Sabbaths you have spent, and how many times you have been warned. It is probable that God will keep on stretching out His hands to you until your hairs grow grey, still continually inviting you: and perhaps when you are nearing death He will still say, Come unto Me, come unto Me. But if still you reject Christ, let nothing make you imagine that you shall go unpunished. How can you escape, if you neglect so great salvation? No one will be responsible for your damnation but yourself, at the last great day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

God found without seeking

That was an odd voice, surely the oddest I ever heard of, which came a little time ago in an Italian town to one of Gods elect ones there. He was so depraved that he actually fell to worshipping the devil rather than God. It chanced one day that a rumour went through the city that a Protestant was coming there to preach. The priest, alarmed for his religion, told the people from the altar that Protestants worshipped the devil, and he charged them not to go near the meeting-room. The news, as you may judge, excited no horror in the devil-worshippers mind. Ay, thought he, then I shall meet with brethren, and so he went to hear our beloved missionary who is now labouring in Rome. Nothing else would have drawn the poor wretch to hear the good word, but this lie of the priests was overruled to that end. He went and heard, not of the devil, but of the devils Conqueror, and before long he was found at Jesus feet, a sinner saved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

All the day long I have stretched forth My hands.--

Gods conduct and mans

I. Gods conduct towards men.

1. Kind.

2. Earnest.

3. Forbearing.

4. Patient.

II. Mans conduct towards God.

1. Ungrateful.

2. Wicked.

3. Obstinate.

4. Insulting. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Gods entreaties

Nothing can be more wonderful. That man should stretch out his hands to God--the dependent and sinful creature supplicating the supremely righteous and holy Creator--this is as it ought to be. But here--the Creator stretches out His hands to the creature; God entreats man; the offended Sovereign beseeches the offending subject! But is there not something still more wonderful, that He should have to complain of want of success? Yet such was the mournful fact! Gods entreaties were--

I. Condescending. When a father entreats a child, a master a servant, a monarch, a subject, there is condescension. But what is all the condescension of creature to creature?--of creature the most exalted to creature the most insignificant and mean? But what is the difference between any one creature and any other, compared with the difference between the Eternal God and the highest of them all?

II. Forbearing--for there was a principle in the Divine nature, that drew powerfully in the opposite direction--Gods infinite hatred of sin. His whole conduct was but a practical utterance of the pathetic pleading--How shall I give thee up. (Hos_11:8-9).

III. Earnest. The posture or attitude expresses this.

IV. Perseveringly importunate. All day long, etc.

V. Disinterested. When we hear of calling and stretching out the hands to another, we naturally think of some deep-felt want, or some suffered or dreaded evil; of which the supply is earnestly desired, or the endurance deprecated. A starving man stretches out his hand for food; the oppressed for deliverance; the slave for freedom; the criminal for pardon; the victim of assassination for life. But does God need anything from His creatures? They needed Him; not He them. The danger was on their part, not on His; the damage resulting from their refusal to hear Him, all their own. The sum of His entreaties is, Do thyself no harm, and His kind assurance, in beseeching them to obey His voice--I will do you no hurt. Far was it from His heart to do them hurt. Judgment was His strange work. His threatenings and His solicitations were alike in mercy. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Deafness to Gods appeals

God offers not only a truce, but a peace, and has been most active in urging a reconciliation. Can He manifest His willingness in clearer methods than that of sending His Son to reconcile the world to Himself? Can He evidence more sincerity than by His repeated and reiterated pressing of our souls to the acceptance of Him? God knocks at our hearts, and we are deaf to Him; He thunders in our ears, and we regard Him not; He waits upon us for our acceptance of His love, and we grow more mad against Him; He beseecheth us, and we ungratefully and proudly reject Him; He opens His bosom, and we turn our backs; He offers us His pearls, and we tread them under our feet; He would clothe us with pure linen, but we would still wear our foul rags; He would give us angels bread, and we feed on husks with swine. The wisdom of God shines upon us, and we account it foolishness; the infinite kindness of God courts us, and we refuse it, as if it were the greatest cruelty. Christ calls and begs, and we will not hear Him either commanding or entreating. To love God is our privilege, and though it be our indispensable duty, yet it had been a presumption in us to aspire so high as to think the casting our earthly affections upon so transcendent an object, should be dear to Him, had He not authorised it by His command, and encouraged it by His acceptance. But it is strange that God should court us by such varieties of kindness to that, wherein not His happiness, but our affection does consist; and much stranger, that such pieces of earth and clay should turn their backs upon so admirable an object, and be enemies to Him, who displays himself in so many allurements to their souls, and fix their hatred upon that tender God who sues for their affections. (S. Charnock.)

Disregarding God

I know a mother who has an idiot child. For it she gave up all society, almost everything, and devoted her whole life to it. And now, said she, for fourteen years I have tended it, and loved it, and it does not even know me. Oh, it is breaking my heart! Oh, how the Lord might say this of hundreds here. Jesus comes here, and goes from one to another, asking if there is a place for Him. Oh, will not some of you take Him into your hearts? (D. L. Moody.)

Irresponsive to God

A man cannot get these Divine blessings if he does not want them. You take a hermetically sealed bottle and put it into the sea, it may float about in mid-ocean for a century, surrounded by a shoreless ocean, and it will be as dry and empty inside at the end as it was at the beginning. So you and I float, live, move, and have our being in that great ocean of the Divine love in Christ, but you can cork up your hearts and wax them over with an impenetrable cover, through which that grace does not come. And you do do it, some of you. (A. Maclaren.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 10:18-21. But I say, Have they not heard — As if he had said, Their unbelief was not owing to the want of hearing. For they have heard; yes, verily, &c. — So many nations have already heard the preachers of the gospel, that I may, in some sense, say of them as David did of the lights of heaven, Their sound went into all the earth, &c. — To the utmost parts of the known world. But I say, Did not Israel know — Namely, that the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, and many of them thereby made members of the church? They might have known it even from Moses and Isaiah, that many of the Gentiles would be received, and many of the Jews rejected. For first, Moses saith, (Deu 32:21,) I will provoke you to jealousy — To the highest degree of displeasure and exasperation; by them that are no people — By bestowing your privileges on the Gentiles, who at present are not my people, and of no account with me. As the Jews followed gods that were not gods, so he accepted, in their stead, a nation that was not a nation; that is, a nation that was not in covenant with him. This the Jews could not endure to hear of, and were exceedingly enraged when the apostles preached the gospel to the Gentiles. And by a foolish nation — A people who were destitute of the knowledge of the true God, and showed themselves to be fools by their idolatries. See Jer 10:8. But indeed all who know not God, may well be called foolish. But Esaias is very bold — And speaks plainly what Moses only intimated, and by so doing showed he was not afraid of the resentment of the Jews, who he knew would be exceedingly provoked at the prophecy which he was about to utter. I was found of them that sought me not — That is, I will call the Gentiles, and by the preaching of my gospel will bring them to the knowledge of myself, who formerly neither knew nor regarded me. The Gentiles were too much occupied with the worship of their idols ever to think of worshipping, or even inquiring after, the true God. Nevertheless, even to them, while in this state, God, by the preaching of the gospel, made himself known, and offered himself to be the object of their worship, and their God in covenant. But to Israel he saith — Invidious as he knew his words would be to a nation so impatient of rebuke, All the day long have I stretched forth my hands — In the most importunate and affectionate addresses; unto a disobedient and gainsaying people — Who are continually objecting and cavilling; whom no persuasion can induce to regard their own happiness, so as to be willing to admit the evidence of truth, and the counsels of wisdom; and whose character is just opposite to that of those who believe with their hearts, and make confession with their mouths. The prophet’s words are an allusion to the action of an orator, who, in speaking to the multitude, stretches out his arms to express his earnestness and affection. By observing that these words were spoken of Israel, the apostle insinuates that the others were spoken of the Gentiles. See the notes on Isa 65:1-2.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_10:20.—εὑρέθην, I was found; used of God when exciting men by His benefits to seek and worship Him.

Rom_10:21.—Eben Ezra informs us that Moses Hacoben said Rom_10:20 is to be understood of the nations of the world, as if it had been said, I am found of nations which are not called by My name, but to My people have I stretched out My hands; and so the apostle interprets and applies the words here. ἀντιλέγοντα.—The very word used by the Jews at Rome to describe the treatment received by the gospel from themselves—i.e., gainsaying. Moses declares that a despised nation may become beloved.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_10:18-21

Rejected Israel without excuse.—St. Paul, while establishing his own argument, throws blame upon Israel. If the new gospel be so good, and if it have been widely preached, why so little reception? Old questions which are still being asked. St. Paul shows that rejection is in harmony with prophetic utterance. Rejecters disobey to their own damage, and will be left without excuse. The word is preached, the blessed sound goes forth, but Israel rejects. The preacher must do his work, though few be saved. The preacher must hold on his course, though moderns say, Why all this preaching? We know as much as the preacher. If they know, they do not evidence their knowledge by their practice. If they know and do, let them support the preacher who carries the message of life to the not-knowing ones. If they know, let them listen to the preacher who strives to extend their knowledge, to quicken the heart. Perhaps we need more heart work in these days. Emotional preachers may have a special work in these times of increasing knowledge.

I. Divine wooing.—A strange reversion. God woos man, and man should woo God. The prophet represents God as standing with stretched-forth hands. The prophet is here strongly anthropomorphic. The eternal Spirit is likened unto a human father or mother stretching forth hands to a wayward child. Does not the divine Prophet teach somewhat of the same in the parable of the prodigal son? The eternal Father sends out His love to woo back the prodigals from their wretchedness. Love sends forth its messengers. As the heavens and their hosts proclaim God’s existence and perfections to the whole universe, and, mute as they are, make their voices re-echo in the hearts of all men, so, says St. Paul, with a sort of enthusiasm at the memory of his own ministry, the voice of the preachers of the gospel has sounded in all countries and in all the cities of the world.

II. Divine retaliation.—The law of nature is the law of God. Like is returned by like. Reject the good, and the good rejects; reject the Stone of salvation, and it becomes a stone of destruction. “On whomsoever this stone shall fall,” etc. “I will provoke you to jealousy.” Strong expressions from the mouth of infinite Love. A foolish nation will anger an over-wise, a self-righteous, and a confident nation. How often the no-people anger the people of high looks and lofty mien! As the wheel of time turns the nobodies become the somebodies, even in social spheres. Foolish nations become the ruling nations. God’s fools will reign everlastingly. Israel rejects, and Israel is forsaken. The Church leaves its first works, and the candlestick is removed out of its place. Let modern Churches take warning. We sometimes fear that the divine candle is not burning brightly in our modern Christianity. Awful will be the doom if Anglo-Saxon Israel is provoked to jealousy by them that are no-people, and moved to anger by a foolish nation being blessed.

III. Divine satisfaction.—Eternal love must be satisfied. It must find a people on whom to bestow its caresses. Jesus must see of the travail of His soul. If His own people reject, He will find believers among the Gentiles. Israel knew this, and cannot complain. If Israel were blessed with the largeness of divine love, it would not seek to complain. But oh the narrowness of humanity! The missionary spirit is of slow growth, and seldom reaches large size in our selfish human nature. How little gratification we really receive from the news that nations are being born into the spiritual kingdom! The nearer we get to the divine, the gladder we shall be that Christ is found of them who sought Him not, that He is made manifest unto those that asked not after Him. Let us pray for largeness of love. Let us seek to be all-inclusive, world-embracing, in our spiritual desires. Light diffused is light increased. The missionary spirit has reflex blessings. Doing good to others, we do good to ourselves.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_10:18-21

God has not failed in His part.—It is not God who has failed in His part. No; they who have not-believed (the majority of Israel) cannot excuse themselves by saying that the mission, which is an essential condition of faith, was not carried out in their case. There is not a synagogue which has not been filled with it, not a Jew in the world who can justly plead ignorance on the subject. Μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν: “It is not, however, the case that they have not heard, is it?” Evidently the apostle is speaking of those who have not believed, consequently of the Jews. How can Origen and Calvin think here of the Gentiles? It is the case of the Jews which is being pleaded. The pronoun αὐτῶν, their (voice), refers not to the subject of the previous sentence, but to that of the sentence of the psalm quoted by Paul: the heavens. No one certainly will think that Paul meant here to give the explanation of this passage; it is an application of the psalmist’s words, which is still freer than that made of the passage from Deuteronomy in Rom_10:6-8. The apostle has just advanced, and then refuted, a first excuse which might be alleged in favour of the Jews; he proposes a second, the insufficiency of which he will also demonstrate.—Godet.

A foolish nation and an impious nation identical.—“By a foolish nation I will anger you.” This is a repetition of the same sentiment. By a “foolish” nation is to be understood an “impious” or “idolatrous” nation. The worshipping of idols being one of the grossest follies of which rational beings can be guilty, idolaters are called in Jewish Scriptures “a foolish people,” and the meaning of the words is this: “By receiving into the number of any Church and people the Gentiles who have been accustomed to the worship only of idols, I will excite the anger and envy of the Jews.” And that at the commencement of the Christian era this prediction was fulfilled, both by the reception of the Gentiles into the Church of God, and by the jealousy and anger which this extension of the means of salvation produced among the Jews, is amply verified by the history. Thus when Paul preached the word of God to the Gentiles of Antioch, in compliance with their earnest request, the Jews, we are told, “when they saw the multitudes that came together, were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.” And when they found no other means of preventing the apostles from preaching to the Gentiles, they raised a persecution against them, and expelled them out of their coasts.—Ritchie.

The gospel like a light shining in darkness.—When the gospel comes, it is like a light rising upon the darkness, and dispelling it: it is light unanticipated, unsought. Jehovah came to the Gentiles by the gospel, like a person paying an unlooked-for visit—an unknown stranger arriving suddenly. The whole language of God by the prophet evidently conveys the idea of previous ignorance and sudden manifestation; and this manifestation followed by the finding, on the part of those to whom the discovery is made, of Him by whom it is made. The idea of suddenness is strongly expressed by the words, “I am found of them that sought Me not.” The finding is not represented as the result of a long process of previous seeking—of “feeling after” God. The Gentiles, immersed in all the ignorance and stupid sottishness of their idolatries, received the “knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent,” as a prisoner who had been long immured in the gloom of a dungeon, without a ray of light, and to whom darkness had become so familiar that he had given up thinking of anything else, would receive the beams of heaven, on the window being suddenly opened that had been closed and fastened with bars of iron.—Dr. Wardlaw.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:18 Yes, they have: Paul quotes Ps 19:4 to show that the message of Good News was universally available through creation. And by the time Paul wrote Romans, early Christian missionaries had spread the Good News through most of the Roman Empire. Most Jews would have had ample opportunity to hear the message.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 10:18. Μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν, Have they not heard? [μἠ Interrog. implies a negative answer is expected: so Latin num; you cannot say they have not heard, can you?]) You cannot say, can you, that the faculty of hearing was wanting in them, since faith comes only by hearing?—εἰς πᾶσαν—ῥήματα αὐτῶν) So the LXX., Psa 19:5. In that Psalm, there is a comparison drawn, and the protasis is accordingly, Rom 10:2-7, and the apodosis, Rom 10:8, etc. Hence we clearly perceive the same reason for the Proclamation made by the heavens, and the Gospel,[119] which penetrates into all things [So the proclamation of the heavens, “There is no speech,” etc., “where their voice is not heard,” etc.] The Comparison rests mainly on the quotation of the apostle, and offers no violence to the text.—ὁ φθόγγος, the sound, Psa 19:5, קו. Aquila had at a former period translated that word κανών, rule.—Comp. by all means, 2Co 10:13. Every apostle had his own region and province, as it were, defined, to which his voice was to come, but a rule only refers to single individuals, a sound or word extends to the whole earth.

[119] “The heavens declare the glory of God,” etc.:κηρύσσειν to preach, is properly to proclaim as a herald.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_10:18. A perhaps possible exculpation for the Jews is suggested by Paul as a spontaneous objection, and that in the form of a question to be negatived, and is then repelled with words from Scripture. But I ask: Was it then in any way not possible for them to come to faith ἐξ ἀκοῆς? The preaching surely did not remain unheard by them, surely did not fail to come at all to their ears? The correct view is simply and clearly given by Chrysostom. Incorrectly Hofmann: After Paul has introduced the prophet as speaking, he leaps over to the saying something himself, which that prophetic saying suggests to him. Against this may be urged, (1) that not here for the first time, but already in Rom_10:17, it is Paul who speaks; (2) that he, in placing himself in contradistinction to the prophet, must have written not merely ἀλλὰ λέγω, but ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ λέγω; (3) that ἀλλὰ λ. is not to be taken, with Hofmann, Well! then I say, since in that case ἀλλά would have the sense of agreement or concession (see Baeumlein, Partik. p. 16), which is suitable neither here nor in Rom_10:19. The ἀλλά is the quite customary ἀλλά of objection, which is made by oneself or in the name of the opponent; Baeumlein, p. 13.

On the following question: Surely it cannot be that they have not heard? observe that οὐκ is closely joined to ἤκουσαν, expressing the opposite of ἤκουσαν (Baeumlein, p. 277 f.; Winer, p. 476 [E. T. 642]; comp. 1Co_9:4; 1Co_11:22), and that the interrogative μή supposes the negative answer: by no means has it remained unheard by them, which negation of the οὐκ ἢκουσαν implies the assertion of the ἤκουσαν.

ἤκουσαν] sc. τὴν ἀκοήν. The subject is those who remained unbelieving (οὐ πάντες ὑπήκ., Rom_10:16), by whom Paul certainly means the Jews, although without expressing it directly and exclusively. The reference to the Gentiles (Origen, Calvin, Fritzsche, and others, including van Hengel and Krummacher) is quite foreign to the connection; comp. on Rom_10:15.

μενοῦνγε] imo vero. See on Rom_9:20.

εἰς πᾶσαν κ.τ.λ.] from Psa_19:5 (close after the LXX.), where the subject spoken of is the universally diffused natural revelation of God; Paul clothes in these sacred words the expression of the going forth (ἐξῆλθεν, aor.) everywhere of the preaching of the gospel. Comp. Justin, c. Tryph. 42, Apol. 1:40.

ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν] their sound, the sound which the preachers (to these, according to the connection, αὐτῶν refers, which in the psalm refers to heaven, the handiworks of God, day and night) send forth while they preach. In the LXX. it is a translation of קַוָּם, which some have understood, with Luther, as their measuring linc (comp. Hupfeld), some, and rightly so, according to the parallelism, with the LXX., Symm., Syr., Vulg., and most expositors, as their sound.

The answer μενοῦνγε κ.τ.λ. (in which, moreover, Paul does not adduce the passage from the Psalms as a quotation) confutes the ΟὐΚ ἬΚΟΥΣΑΝ very forcibly, because it argues a majori, and even applies to all the Jews of the dispersion. But the conclusion that, according to our present passage, the gospel had at that time actually penetrated everywhere (even to China, America, etc.), is simply an arrant mistake, contrary to the nature of the popularly poetical expression, although, in imitation of the older commentators, renewed by Löhe (v. d. Kirche, p. 34 ff.), and Pistorius in the Luther. Zeitschr. 1846, II. p. 40. The universal extension of the gospel (comp. Col_1:6; Col_1:23; Clem. Cor. Rom_1:5) set on foot by the apostles on a sufficiently large scale, is continually in course of development. Comp. Rom_11:25-26.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 10:18 . The process of convicting the Jews is now under way, and ἀλλὰ λέγω introduces a plea on their behalf. It is Paul who speaks: hence the form of the question μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν suggests his. opinion as to the answer. To hear is necessary in order to believe; you do not mean to say they did not hear? Cf. 1Co 9:4-5 ; 1Co 11:22 . μενοῦνγε is immo vero . The contrary is so clearly the case that there is a touch of derision in the word with which Paul introduces the proof of it. Cf. Rom 9:20 . The Gospel has been preached in all the world: the words of Psa 19:4 (exactly as in LXX) are at once the expression and the proof of this. Of course they refer to the revelation of God in nature, but their use will seem legitimate enough if we remember that Paul knew the extent to which the Gospel had been proclaimed in his day. Cf. Col 1:6 ; Col 1:23 . It was as widely diffused as the Diaspora, and the poetic inspired expression for this had a charm of its own.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_10:18

But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, etc. The concise and abrupt manner of and expression in this and the verses which precede and follow, renders the apostles meaning somewhat doubtful. This verse is frequently considered as referring to the Jews, and designed to show that their want of faith could not be excused on the ground of want of knowledge. The sense of the passage would then be, As faith cometh by hearing, have not the Jews heard? Have they not had the opportunity of believing? Yes, indeed, for the Gospel has been proclaimed far and wide. So Koppe, Flatt, Tholuck, Meyer, Philippi, etc. But there are several objections to this view of the passage.

1. In the first place it is not in harmony with the context. Paul is not speaking now of the rejection of the Jews, or the grounds of it, but of the calling of the Gentiles.

2. If the 16th verse refers to the Gentiles, They have not all obeyed the gospel, and therefore this verse, Have they not heard? cannot, without any intimation of change, be naturally referred to a different subject.

3. In the following verse, where the Jews are really intended, they are distinctly mentioned, Did not Israel know?

Pauls object in the whole context is to vindicate the propriety of extending the gospel call to all nations. This he had beautifully done in Rom_10:14, Rom_10:15, by showing that preaching was a necessary means of accomplishing the clearly revealed will of God, that men of all nations should participate in his grace. True, indeed, as had been foretold, the merciful offers of the gospel were not universally accepted, Rom_10:16, but still faith cometh by hearing, and therefore the gospel should be widely preached, Rom_10:17. Well, has not this been done? has not the angel of mercy broke loose from his long confinement within the pale of the Jewish Church, and flown through the heavens with the proclamation of love? Rom_10:18. This verse, therefore, is to be considered as a strong declaration that what Paul had proved ought to be done, had in fact been accomplished. The middle wall of partition had been broken down, the gospel of salvation, the religion of God, was free from its trammels, the offers of mercy were as wide and general as the proclamation of the heavens. This idea the apostle beautifully and appositely expresses in the sublime language of Psa_19:1-14, The heavens declare the glory of God, day unto day uttereth speech, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, their line is gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. The last verse contains the words used by the apostle. His object in using the words of the Psalmist was, no doubt, to convey more clearly and affectingly to the minds of his hearers the idea that the proclamation of the gospel was now as free from all national or ecclesiastical restrictions, as the instructions shed down upon all people by the heavens under which they dwell. Paul, of course, is not to be understood as quoting the Psalmist as though the ancient prophet was speaking of the gospel. He simply uses scriptural language to express his own ideas, as is done involuntarily almost by every preacher in every sermon.‹59› It is, however, nevertheless true, as Hengstenberg remarks in his Christology, that The universal revelation of God in nature, was a providential prediction of the universal proclamation of the gospel. If the former was not fortuitous, but founded in the nature of God, so must the latter be. The manifestation of God in nature, is, for all his creatures to whom it is made, a pledge of their participation in the clearer and higher revelations.

It will be perceived that the apostle says, Their sound has gone, etc., where as in the 19th Psalm it is, Their line is gone. Paul follows the Septuagint, which, instead of giving the literal sense of the Hebrew word, gives correctly its figurative meaning. The word signifies a line, then a musical chord, and then, metonymically, sound.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An objection: If calling be a testimony of election, were not the Jews called? why should I not … that, saith the Apostle, seeing that there is no nation which hath not been called? much less can I say, that the Jews were not called.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

But I say, Have they not heard?--"Did they not hear?" Can Israel, through any region of his dispersion, plead ignorance of these glad tidings?

Yes, verily, their sound went--"their voice went out"

into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world--These beautiful words are from Psa 19:4. Whether the apostle quoted them as in their primary intention applicable to his subject (as OLSHAUSEN, ALFORD, &c.), or only "used scriptural language to express his own ideas, as is done involuntarily almost by every preacher in every sermon" [HODGE], expositors are not agreed. But though the latter may seem the more natural since "the rising of the Sun of righteousness upon the world" (Mal 4:2), "the Dayspring from on high visiting us, giving light to them that sat in darkness, and guiding our feet into the way of peace" (Luk 1:78-79), must have been familiar and delightful to the apostle's ear, we cannot doubt that the irradiation of the world with the beams of a better Sun by the universal diffusion of the Gospel of Christ, must have a mode of speaking quite natural, and to him scarcely figurative.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. But I say, have they not heard?] But to return to the objection: You say they have not all BELIEVED; I ask: Have they not all HEARD? Have not the means of salvation been placed within the reach of every Jew in Palestine, and within the reach of all those who sojourn in the different Gentile countries where we have preached the Gospel, as well to the Jews as to the Gentiles themselves? Yes: for we may say of the preaching of the Gospel what the psalmist has said (Ps 19:4) of the heavenly bodies: Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. As the celestial luminaries have given testimony of the eternal power and Godhead of the Deity to the habitable world, the Gospel of Christ has borne testimony to his eternal goodness and mercy to all the land of Palestine, and to the whole Roman empire. There is not a part of the promised land in which these glad tidings have not been preached; and there is scarcely a place in the Roman empire in which the doctrine of Christ crucified has not been heard: if, therefore, the Jews have not believed, the fault is entirely their own; as God has amply furnished them with the means of faith and of salvation.

In Ps 19:4, the psalmist has קום kauuam, their line, which the Septuagint, and the apostle who quotes from them, render φθογγος, sound; and hence some have thought that the word in the Psalm was originally קולם kolam, voice. But that קו kau is used for word or speech is sufficiently evident from Isa 28:10, line upon line, precept upon precept, &c., where קו is analogous to word or direction. It is very remarkable that these words of David, quoted by St. Paul, are mentioned in Sohar. Genes. fol. 9, where it is said: עבדי משיחא אינון מלין Abdey mashicha innun millin. "These words are the servants of the Messiah, and measure out both the things above and the things beneath." To this notion of them the apostle may refer in his use of them in this place, and to a Jew the application would be legitimate.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. But I say, have they not heard? etc. Since the minds of men are imbued, by preaching, with the knowledge of God, which leads them to call on God, it remained a question whether the truth of God had been proclaimed to the Gentiles; for that Paul had suddenly betaken himself to the Gentiles, there was by that novelty no small offense given. He then asks, whether God had ever before directed his voice to the Gentiles, and performed the office of a teacher towards the whole world. But in order that he might show that the school, into which God collects scholars to himself from any part, is open in common to all, he brings forward a Prophet’s testimony from Psalm 19:4; which yet seems to bear apparently but little on the subject: for the Prophet does not speak there of Apostles but of the material works of God; in which he says the glory of God shines forth so evidently, that they may be said to have a sort of tongue of their own to declare the perfections of God.

This passage of Paul gave occasion to the ancients to explain the whole Psalm allegorically, and posterity have followed them: so that, without doubt, the sun going forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, was Christ, and the heavens were the Apostles. They who had most piety, and showed a greater modesty in interpreting Scripture, thought that what was properly said of the celestial architecture, has been transferred by Paul to the Apostles by way of allusion. But as I find that the Lord’s servants have everywhere with great reverence explained Scripture, and have not turned them at pleasure in all directions, I cannot be persuaded, that Paul has in this manner misconstrued this passage. I then take his quotation according to the proper and genuine meaning of the Prophet; so that the argument will be something of this kind, — God has already from the beginning manifested his divinity to the Gentiles, though not by the preaching of men, yet by the testimony of his creatures; for though the gospel was then silent among them, yet the whole workmanship of heaven and earth did speak and make known its author by its preaching. It hence appears, that the Lord, even during the time in which he confined the favor of his covenant to Israel, did not yet so withdraw from the Gentiles the knowledge of himself, but that he ever kept alive some sparks of it among them. He indeed manifested himself then more particularly to his chosen people, so that the Jews might be justly compared to domestic hearers, whom he familiarly taught as it were by his own mouth; yet as he spoke to the Gentiles at a distance by the voice of the heavens, he showed by this prelude that he designed to make himself known at length to them also.

But I know not why the Greek interpreter rendered the word קום, kum, φθόγγον αὐτῶν, their sound; for it means a line, sometimes in building, and sometimes in writing. As it is certain that the same thing is mentioned twice in this passage, it seems to me probable, that the heavens are introduced as declaring by what is written as it were on them, as well as by voice, the power of God; for by the word going forth the Prophet reminds us, that the doctrine, of which the heavens are the preachers, is not included within the narrow limits of one land, but is proclaimed to the utmost regions of the world.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(18) Have they not heard?—The relations of hearing to belief suggest to the Apostle a possible excuse for the Jews, and the excuse he puts forward interrogatively himself: “But, I ask, did they (the Jews) not hear?” Yes, for the gospel was preached to them, as indeed to all mankind.

Their sound.—Here, the voice of the preachers; in the original of Psalms 19, the unspoken testimony of the works of nature, and especially the heavenly bodies, to natural religion (“What though no real voice or sound,” &c.).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. But I say] Here the connexion recurs to Rom_10:16, after the parenthetic inference from the quotation there made. Isaiah had said “Who hath believed?” St Paul now quotes again to shew that this means anything but “Who hath heard?” Prophecy contemplated a world-wide preaching, whatever might be the limits of believing.

Have they not heard?] Better, Did they not hear? See on Rom_10:16.

Yes verily] Same word in Gr. as that rendered Nay but, Rom_9:20. It is corrective; the hearing was not only wide, but world-wide.

their sound, &c.] Here Psa_19:4 is quoted, (Psa_18:4, LXX.,) verbatim with the LXX., and closely with the Heb. The Heb. word rendered “sound” means precisely “line” or “chord;” probably in the sense of a musical note, and specially a key-note—the basis of the strain.—The words are not formally introduced as a quotation, but no doubt are really such; not merely an adaptation. In the world-wide message of the stars concerning God, St Paul is led to see a Divine intimation of the world-wide message of His Gospel. Natural Religion was but the parable and forerunner of the final Revelation.—The past tense is the past of prophecy; the purpose is regarded as fulfilled. Q. d., “Were not all men, in the Divine intention, hearers? Yes, verily: prophecy regarded them as such.”—By the date of this Epistle, vast tracts of the then “world” were penetrated by the “word of God.” But this is not the strict reference of the past tense in the quotation, which points to the completeness of the Divine purpose.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I say, have they not heard?.... , "but I say", is a phrase frequently used by the Jewish doctors in disputation, either in forming or answering objections. The Ethiopic version confines these words to Israel, and reads, "have not Israel heard?" whereas they are to be understood both of Jews and Gentiles; the question refers to each, and the answer is,

yes, verily: which the Arabic renders just the reverse, "no", or "not at all, notwithstanding their sound went into all the earth"; and so makes this an aggravation of their stupidity, and obstinate rejection of the Gospel, that they would not hear it, though its sound reached every place; but the answer is in the affirmative, they did hear. The Jews heard the Gospel in the times of Isaiah, and other prophets, though they disbelieved the report of it; they heard it from John the Baptist, and were pleased with his ministry for a while; yea, they heard Christ himself preach it, who spake as never man did, with power and authority, as the Scribes did not, and wondered at his gracious words; they heard the apostles of Christ, who for some time were limited in their ministry to them only, and after their commission was enlarged, were ordered to preach first to them; so that they could not say they had not heard it, and they were left entirely inexcusable. The Gentiles also had heard it; the apostles were bid to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; and at a proper opportunity, they did as the Lord commanded them, and the Gentiles heard the Gospel with joy and pleasure; multitudes were converted everywhere, and churches raised through their ministry, according to the will of God; thus

their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world; the passage referred to is Psa 19:4, which some here, as there, understand literally of the works of nature, the heavens, the firmament, the sun, moon and stars, proclaiming every where the being of God, his perfections, especially his wisdom, power, and goodness; so that the Gentiles were not without hearing of God, even whilst they were destitute of a divine revelation; which was a sort of a prelude of the after extensive spread of the Gospel among them: a voice, or sound, is ascribed to the inanimate creatures; and which is so loud, that it reaches to the end of the earth. There are three voices, the Jews say (f) which go "from one end of the world to the other"; and one of them is , "the voice of the orb of the sun": others understand these words of the law, of which many "encomiums" are given in the psalm from whence this passage is taken; and though it was delivered peculiarly to the people of the Jews, yet the fame of it reached the nations of the world, as Moses suggests it would, Deu 4:6; and the Jews say (g).

"that when the law was given to Israel, , "its voice went from one end of the world to the other".''

Or as it is better expressed by Philo (h), and almost in the words of this text,

"the fame of the laws which Moses left, is gone throughout all the world, unto the ends of the earth.''

But certain it is, that the apostle is speaking neither of the light of nature, nor the law of Moses, but of the preaching of the Gospel; and what the Psalmist, literally understood, says of the heavens, that the apostle in an allegorical and mystical sense, or by an argument from the lesser to the greater, or by way of allusion, applies to the apostles and ministers of the Gospel, the luminaries of the world, and stars of heaven; whose ministry, by this time, had reached the then known parts of the habitable world; as it was to do, before the destruction of Jerusalem, according to Christ's prediction, Mat 24:14, and as the Apostle Paul testifies it had, Col 1:6, and in which he himself had a very considerable share, having preached the Gospel from Jerusalem, round about unto Illyricum. There is some little difference between the passage in the Psalms, and as cited or referred to by the apostle, who instead of "their line", reads "their sound"; which have made some suspect a corruption of the present Hebrew text, or a various reading; and that the Septuagint, followed by the apostle, used a copy which had not, "their line", but "their voice", and which was the true reading; but then how came the Chaldee paraphrase to render it by, "extension", and Aquila by "a canon", or "rule?" and besides, the Masora observes, that this word is no where else read, which is not true of for that often occurs; to which may be added, had this been the reading, the Septuagint would have rendered it most probably, as they do elsewhere, by "voice", and not "sound": but for the reconciliation of this let it be observed, that the Hebrew word signifies a rule, or plummet, or such a line as builders use in their work, as a direction to them, hence Kimchi (i) explains it by "their building"; and so it may signify any rule, or direction, whether given by writing, and so Aben Ezra (k) interprets it by "writing", or by word of mouth; besides, the carpenter's line, when stretched out, and remitted upon the timber, makes a sound, and hence the word might be used for one: all this agrees with the ministry of the apostles, who were builders; and as they worked by a line and rule themselves, so they gave out rules and directions to others, both by writing and preaching, both which reached far and near; this the apostle seems to allude to, in Co2 10:13, where he speaks of the measure, line, and rule of their ministry, which reached to Corinth and further, without going into another man's line: moreover, that great Oriental critic, and our countryman, Mr. Pocock (l), has shown from the use of the word in the Arabic language, that the word in the Psalms may signify a loud cry, or noise, as well as a line, or rule; so that the psalmist and the apostle may be easily reconciled.

(f) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 20. 2. (g) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 116. 1. (h) De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 657. (i) In Psal. xix. 4. (k) In ib. (l) Not. in Portam Mosis, c. 4. p. 48, &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Ver. 18. Yes verily; their sound, &c.] Sonus tonus, οο φθογγος. David saith only, "their line," Psa 19:2. That accurate and artificial frame of the heaven preacheth, as it were, the infinite wisdom and power of the Creator. All God’s works are his Regii professores, regal preachers, his Catholic preachers, or real expositors (as one calleth them) of his Divinity. The world (saith Clem. Alex.) is Dei Scriptura, writing of God, God’s great Bible with three great leaves-heaven, earth, and hell. David’s words are here very fitly applied to the sound of the gospel; the circle whereof is like that of the sun, universal to the whole world; and the motion not unlike: for it arose in the east of Judea, went thence to the south of Greece, and then to the west of Italy and the Latins; from whence it is come to these northern parts of the world (the very utmost angle of the universe), where that it may continue, let us pray,

" Vespera nunc venit, nobiscum Christe maneto:

Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam."

"All that I fear," saith Mr Baxter, "is, lest Mr Herbert be a true prophet, and the gospel be in its solar motion travelling for the American parts, and is quitting its present place of residence and unworthy professors and possessors: and then farewell England." Contempt drove Christ from Nazareth, his own country, which he came purposely to heal. Confer Jer 51:9; Eze 24:13.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I say - But to this objection, I, the apostle, reply. The objection had been carried through the previous verses. The apostle comes now to reply to it. In doing this, he does not deny the principle contained in it, that the gospel should be preached in order that people might be justly condemned for not believing it; not that the messengers must be sent by God, not that faith comes by hearing. All this he fully admits. But he proceeds to show, by an ample quotation from the Old Testament, that this had been actually furnished to the Jews and to the Gentiles, and that they were actually in possession of the message, and could not plead that they had never heard it. This is the substance of his answer.

Have they not heard? - A question is often, as it is here, an emphatic way of affirming a thing. The apostle means to affirm strongly that they had heard. The word “they,” in this place, I take to refer to the Gentiles. What was the fact in regard to Israel, or the Jew, he shows in the next verses. One main design waste show that the same scheme of salvation extended to both Jews and Gentiles. The objection was, that it had not been made known to either, and that therefore it could not be maintained to be just to condemn those who rejected it. To this the apostle replies that then it was extensively known to both; and if so, then the objection in Rom 10:14-15, was not well founded, for in fact the thing existed which the objector maintained to be necessary, to wit, that they had heard, and that preachers had been sent to them.

Yes, verily - In the original, a single word, μενοῦνγε menounge, compounded of μέν men and οὖν oun and γέ ge. An intense expression, denoting strong affirmation.

Their sound went ... - These words are taken in substance from Psa 19:4. The psalmist employs them to show that the works of God, the heavens and the earth, proclaim his existence everywhere. By using them here, the apostle does not affirm that David had reference to the gospel in them, but he uses them to express his own meaning; he makes an affirmation about the gospel in language used by David on another occasion, but without intimating or implying that David had such a reference. In this way we often quote the language of others as expressing in a happy way our own thoughts, but without supposing that the author had any such reference. The meaning here is, that that may be affirmed in fact of the gospel which David affirmed of the works of God, that their sound had gone into all the earth.

Their sound - Literally, the sound or tone which is made by a stringed instrument (φθόγγος phthongos). Also a voice, a report. It means here they have spoken, or declared truth. As applied to the heavens, it would mean that they speak, or proclaim, the wisdom or power of God. As used by Paul, it means that the message of the gospel had been spoken, or proclaimed, far and wide. The Hebrew, is “their line, etc.” The Septuagint translation is the same as that of the apostle - their voice ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν ho phthoggos autōn. The Hebrew word may denote the string of an instrument, of a harp, etc. and then the tone or sound produced by it; and thus was understood by the Septuagint. The apostle, however, does not affirm that this was the meaning of the Hebrew; but he conveyed his doctrine in language which aptly expressed it.

Into all the earth - In the psalm, this is to be taken in its utmost signification. The works of God literally proclaim his wisdom to all lands and to all people. As applied to the gospel, it means that it was spread far and wide, that it had been extensively preached in all lands.

Their words - In the psalm, the heavens are represented as speaking, and teaching people the knowledge of the true God. But the meaning of the apostle is, that the message of the gospel had sounded forth; and he referred doubtless to the labors of the apostles in proclaiming it to the pagan nations. This Epistle was written about the year 57. During the time which had elapsed after the ascension of Christ, the gospel had been preached extensively in all the known nations; so that it might be said that it was proclaimed in those regions designated in the Scripture as the uttermost parts of the earth. Thus, it had been proclaimed in Jerusalem, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, Arabia, and in the islands of the Mediterranean. Paul, reasoning before Agrippa, says, that he could not be ignorant of those things, for they had not been done in a corner; Act 26:26. In Col 1:23, Paul says that the gospel had been preached to every creature which is under heaven; see Col 1:6. Thus, the great facts and doctrines of the gospel had in fact been made known; and the objection of the Jew was met. It would be sufficiently met by the declaration of the psalmist that the true God was made known by his works, and that therefore they were without excuse (compare Rom 1:20); but in fact the gospel had been preached, and its great doctrine and duties had been proclaimed to all nations far and near.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But I say, have they not heard? He puts an objection, and by his answer shews the Jews are inexcusable in not believing, since the gospel has been preached all the world over, and in places where the Jews were, as it was foretold: and also because the Gentiles every where have believed; which even excites you Jews to jealousy against them, as Moses foretold: (Deuteronomy xxxii. 21.) that is, when you now see, that the Gentiles, whom you despised so much, by believing in Christ, have received the gifts of the Holy Ghost, of working miracles, of speaking tongues, of prophecy, &c. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He answers an objection, that some one might make in behalf of the Jews, to excuse them; that they could not believe, because they had not heard; and faith, as in the foregoing verse, comes by hearing. To this he answers, that the gospel was published to the whole world; therefore the Jews must needs have heard it. That the gospel had been preached all the world over, he proves by a testimony taken ont of Psa 19:4; q. d. David tells you, that all have heard, or might hear; for the sound of the gospel is gone out into all the earth.

Objection. But David speaks of the works of God, as the heavens, the firmament, &c.

Answer. Some think the apostle only alludes to this place, {Psa 19:4} and doth not allege it. Others think that the psalmist doth literally and historically speak of the heavens, &c.; and prophetically of the apostles, and preachers of the gospel. By

all the earth, in this verse, you may understand the greatest part of it; and by

the ends of the world, the remote parts thereof.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Have they not heard—That they have heard, St. Paul maintains by a quotation of a passage from Psalms 19. Their words refers to the words of the heavens, the firmament, etc., declaring the glory of God: “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” And then come the words quoted. The they of whom the apostle asks whether they have not heard must be the Gentiles. And what they have heard is nature’s voice preaching unto them. As they have a law written on their hearts, so they have a gospel in the teachings of nature by which to be saved. (Notes on Rom_2:14-15.) That this refers to the Gentiles is plain from the fact that Israel’s case is taken up in the following verses.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But their unbelief was not owing to the want of hearing For they have heard. Yes verily - So many nations have already heard the preachers of the gospel, that I may in some sense say of them as David did of the lights of heaven. Psalm xxix, 4

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

world

oikoumene = inhabited earth.

(See Scofield "Luk 2:1").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It was no less than a miracle that the gospel, in the space of a few years, should be preached to all nations, and planted in the remotest parts of the world; and yet thus it was; which makes St. Paul here apply that to the preaching of the apostles, which David applies to the preaching of the heavens, Psa 19:4.

The gospel of Christ, like the sun in the firmament, casts its beautiful and glorious beams all the world over. For upon the commission given out by Christ to his apostles, to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, the apostles divided themselves into the several quarters of the world, for the speedy performance of this service, namely, the carrying of the gospel, as the sun doth his light, unto all the nations of the earth. As if St. Paul had here said, "Like as the voice of the heavens are gone through the world, so is the voice of Christ and the light of his gospel, which doth much more declare the glory of God than the sun and the moon in the heavens can do."

Some observe, that there was hardly any one considerable nation in the world, but within forty years after Christ’s ascension had the glad tidings of the gospel preached to it.

Hence the apostle tells us, That the grace of God which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men: Tit 2:11; that is, the gospel, without restriction was tendered to all nations, Jew and Gentile; to all persons, bond and free, honourable and ignoble.

Behold the goodness and mercy of God in enlightening the dark corners of the world with this glorious light from heaven!

Behold the great power and efficacy of the word, under the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit!

Behold an example of laborious diligence and industry in ministerial service!

what pains did the apostles take!

what hazards did they run!

what journeys did they undertake, to preach Jesus Christ, to plant and propagate the everlasting gospel!

Shall not we attend our flock, and travel from house to house to visit our charge, which falls within the compass of a few miles, when the apostles compassed sea and land, travelled far and near, laboured night and day, to transmit the gospel to the ends of the world?

Lord! how does their indefatigable diligence shame our supine negligence!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. “But I say, Have they not all heard? yea truly: their voice has gone into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world.” How do we reconcile this statement with the preceding? But a minority in Paul’s day had ever heard the verbal gospel. The same minority on earth as to the auricular proclamation still obtains. The solution of the problem is the simple fact that the holy Ghost, who is the only real Preacher on the earth, men and women only serving as telephones, is actually in every nation under heaven, having spoken to every responsible human being in every age and race. Therefore, Paul says (Chapter 1:20) that even the heathens are left without excuse. While human agency is God’s appointment and a glorious means of grace, yet the great Gospel Preacher is everywhere speaking to every immortal soul and preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I say [To give my cornered Jewish objector every chance to escape from his obvious culpability, I ask in his behalf this question], Did they not hear? [This question demands a negative answer--a denial of the "not heard," and is therefore an emphatic way of asserting that they had heard. "They" is unlimited, all had heard it, so the Jew could never plead lack of hearing as an excuse for rejecting the gospel. Having thus asserted his position in the question, he proceeds to prove it in the answer] Yea, verily [Menounge. See note on Rom_9:20 ], Their sound [ Psa_19:4 . "The Psalmist," says Clark, "has kavvam, their line, which the LXX., and the apostle who quotes from them, render phthoggos, sound." Line means string, harpstring, a tone, a chord, and then, metonymically, sound] went out into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world . [It was Alford who, in this connection, discovered "that Psalm 19 is a comparison of the sun, and glory of the heavens, with the word of God. As far as verse 6 the glories of nature are described: then the great subject is taken up, and the parallelism carried out to the end. So that the apostle has not, as alleged in nearly all the commentators, merely accommodated the text allegorically, but taken it in its context, and followed the comparison of the Psalm." The light of the knowledge of God had hitherto been confined to the narrow space of Palestine, but the light of the gospel had now passed beyond these boundaries, and had begun to be as world-illuminating as the celestial orbs, and in doing this it had only fulfilled the words of David. God had done his part as thoroughly in grace as it had been done in nature, and no Jew could excuse himself at the expense of God's good name. "There is not," says Godet, expressing the sentiments of Paul, born of the memories of his own ministry, "a synagogue which has not been filled with it, not a Jew in the world who can justly plead ignorance on the subject." "When the vast multitude converted at Pentecost," says Johnson, were scattered to their homes, they carried the gospel into all parts of the civilized world." (Comp. Tit_2:11 ; Col_1:6 ; Col_1:23 ) This bestowal of natural light and bounty universally was more than a suggestion that God intended to bestow spiritual light and grace upon all. (Comp. Act_14:17 ) "As he spake," says Calvin, "to the Gentiles by the voice of the heavens, he showed bar this prelude that he designed to make himself known at length to them also." "It was," says Hengstenberg, "a pledge of their participation in the clearer, higher revelation."]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Have they not heard? Who are alluded to? Both Jews and Gentiles. The objector might say, Well, if faith comes by hearing, so few have heard that we are not responsible for our unbelief. Nay, says the apostle, the opportunity to hear has been very widely extended. In the language of the Psalmist (19:4), Their sound (that of the preachers of the gospel) is gone out into all the earth. When the vast multitude converted on Pentecost were scattered to their homes, they carried the gospel into all parts of the civilized world. Paul was now writing to the church in Rome, where no apostle had ever been.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

But I say, "Did they not hear?" Yes, most certainly

Paul uses a question for emphasis. You can translate this as a statement. AT: "But, I say the Jews certainly have heard the message about Christ" (See: Rhetorical Question and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

Both of these statements mean basically the same thing and Paul uses them for emphasis. The word "their" refers to the sun, moon, and stars. Here they are described as human messengers that tell people about God. This refers to how their existence shows God's power and glory. You can make explicit that Paul is quoting Scripture here. AT: "As the Scriptures record, 'The sun, moon, and the stars are proof of God's power and glory, and everyone in the world sees them and knows the truth about God.'" (See: Parallelism and Personification and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

word

world

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

18. ἀλλὰ κ.τ.λ. Israel has heard; ἤκουσαν though οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν. μὴ can it be pleaded that.…

εἰς πᾶσαν κ.τ.λ., Psa 19:4, quoted not for argument but for illustration: the Gospel has gone forth as widely as the utterance of GOD spoken of by the Psalmist.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18.] But (in anticipation of an objection that Israel, whom he has especially in view, had not sufficiently heard the good tidings) I say, Did they not hear (ἤκουσαν partly founded on the cognate ἀκοή of the last verse, partly recalling the ἤκουσαν of ver. 14)? nay rather (ch. 9:20, note) into all the earth went forth their voice, and to the ends of the world their words. It is remarkable that so few of the Commentators have noticed (I have found it only in Bengel, and there but faintly hinted: Olsh., who defends the applicability of the text, does not even allude to it) that Psa_19 is a comparison of the sun, and glory of the heavens, with the word of God. As far as ver. 6 the glories of nature are described: then the great subject is taken up, and the parallelism carried out to the end. So that the Apostle has not, as alleged in nearly all the Commentators, merely accommodated the text allegorically, but taken it in its context, and followed up the comparison of the Psalm.

As to the assertion of the preaching of the Gospel having gone out into all the world, when as yet a small part of it only had been evangelized,—we must remember that it is not the extent, so much as the universality in character, of this preaching, which the Apostle is here asserting; that word of God, hitherto confined within the limits of Judæa, had now broken those bounds, and was preached in all parts of the earth. See Col 1:6, Col 1:23.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. ἀλλὰ λέγω: ‘but it may be said in excuse: It is possible that those whom you accuse of not obeying the Gospel message have never heard of it?’ On μὴ οὐ see Burton, M. and T. § 468.

μενοῦνγε: an emphatic corrective, ‘with a slight touch of irony’ (Lid.); cf. 9:20.

εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν κ.τ.λ. St. Paul expresses his meaning in words borrowed from Psa 19:5. (18:5), which he cites word for word according to the LXX, but without any mark of quotation. What stress does he intend to lay on the words? Does he use them for purely literary purposes to express a well-known fact? or does he also mean to prove the fact by the authority of the O. T. which foretold it?

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Did they not hear? [μη ουκ ηκουσαν] . A negative answer is implied by the interrogative particle. "Surely it is not true that they did not hear." Sound [φθογγος] . Only here and 1Co 14:7, on which see note. Paul uses the Septuagint translation of Psa 19:4, where the Hebrew line or plummet - line (others musical chord) is rendered sound. The voice of the gospel message is like that of the starry sky proclaiming God 's glory to all the earth. The Septuagint sound seems to be a free rendering in order to secure parallelism with words.

Of the world [της οικουμενης] . See on Luk 2:1; Joh 1:9.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 18. “But I say, Have they not heard? Yea, much more, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”

It is not God who has failed in His part. No; they who have not believed (the majority of Israel) cannot excuse themselves by saying that the mission, which is an essential condition of faith, was not carried out in their case. As (according to Psa 19:1 et seq.) the heavens and their hosts proclaim God’s existence and perfections to the whole universe, and, mute as they are, make their voice re-echo in the hearts of all men; so, says St. Paul, with a sort of enthusiasm at the memory of his own ministry, the voice of the preachers of the gospel has sounded in all countries and in all the cities of the known world. There is not a synagogue which has not been filled with it; not a Jew in the world who can justly plead ignorance on the subject.—Μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν: “It is not, however, the case that they have not heard, is it? Evidently the apostle is speaking of those who have not believed, consequently of the Jews. How can Origen and Calvin think here of the Gentiles? It is the case of the Jews which is being pleaded. The pronoun αὐτῶν, their (voice), refers not to the subject of the previous sentence, but to that of the sentence of the Psalm quoted by Paul: the heavens.

No one certainly will think that Paul meant here to give the explanation of this passage; it is an application of the Psalmist’s words, which is still freer than that made of the passage from Deut. in Rom 10:6-8.

The apostle has just advanced, and then refuted, a first excuse which might be alleged in favor of the Jews; he proposes a second, the insufficiency of which he will also demonstrate.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.