Readings from Romans: Good News for All

The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
 August 9, 2026
Romans 10:5-17

“Readings from Romans: Good News for All”

A conundrum is a confusing and difficult problem or question. The more we go along in life, the more we see such things in life. In today’s Epistle lesson, Paul the apostle is addressing what seems to be a conundrum. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 in the book of Romans deal with “Paul’s response to the double phenomenon most threatening to the credibility of the gospel: the fact that a great number of Gentiles appear set in line to inherit the historic privileges of Israel, while the great bulk of Israel, by failing to come to faith in Jesus as the Christ, appear to be letting slip their hold upon these privileges. If the divine ‘word’ spoken to Israel appears to be so ineffective (9:6a), where does this leave God’s faithfulness?” (Sacra Pagina: Romans, Brendan Byrne, S.J. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1996; p. 307). That is the background to what Paul writes about in today’s Epistle lesson. Paul here points to righteousness by faith over against righteousness by law, reminding his hearers then and now of the importance of faith that comes from hearing the Word of Christ. Our summer preaching series, “Readings from Romans,” based on the Epistle lessons from Romans, continues today under the theme, “Good News for All.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

The righteousness by law is spelled out already in the opening verse of today’s Epistle lesson: “For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them” (Romans 10:5). Emphasis here on “the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” Paul didn’t pull this out of thin air. This is what the Lord said through Moses: “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:5). But that’s the problem, isn’t it? We try and try and try to do what God’s righteous law requires of us, but it falls apart pretty fast. All of the “Thou shalts” and “Thou shalt nots” in the Ten Commandments make clear that we cannot do them because we are incapable of doing them. Our sinful human nature prevents us from doing them. We might think they can, but the righteousness by law is not only not doing the evil, it is also doing the good. It’s both/and. Luther teaches this truth in his explanation to each of the Commandments (Luther’s Small Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther). So how do we measure up? The Word of God tells us the harsh truth: “They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:3; Romans 3:10, 12). If, on the basis of righteousness by law, we are trying to justify ourselves before God – literally self righteousness – how do you know when you’ve done enough? Or been good enough? To rely on our own acts of righteousness, there is no good news. “To persist in the way of law-righteousness is to refuse to acknowledge and submit to the ‘righteousness of God’ (10:3); it constitutes a rebuff of the grace of God, that renders Christ’s death ‘for us’ in vain (Ga. 2:21)” (Ibid, p. 318).  

So where is the good news for all? It is the righteousness by faith apart from the law. It is based not on our own doing, but on what God in Christ has already done for us. Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law in our behalf. He came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. It doesn’t depend on what we can do for God, but on what God can do and has done for us. As the Word of God makes clear in today’s Epistle: “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10). This is the good news of great joy that is for all people. “In place of moral striving demanded by righteousness by law, righteousness by faith involves simply an announcement of what God has done and a corresponding human response in heart and tongue” (Ibid). That response is entirely Spirit-led because “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith”  (Luther’s Explanation to the Third Article). We do not earn or deserve this righteousness; it comes to us only as a gift through faith. This is the good news for all. It is a gift for every person in every place. “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13).

This good news involves a sending out of those who will proclaim and preach this good news. In truth, we are all messengers and witnesses of God’s good news in Christ by virtue of our Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. As we have learned from Joining Jesus on His Mission, these five mission practices and their attending questions can be used anywhere at any time by Christ’s people in daily life. But Christ’s mission also involves sending others whom Christ, as Lord of the Church, raises up and calls to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20). Missionaries, evangelists, church planters – these individuals and their families are sent out into the world by the Church with the good news for all. And lest we think that mission work is only done in other parts of the world: “North America is the largest unchurched English-speaking mission field in the world. Only China and India have larger populations of non-Christians than we do… According to the Barna Group, 43 percent of Americans are unchurched. Romans 10:14-15 applies to our continent as never before” (United States | Baptist Mid-Missions). Overseas churches are sending their missionaries here to us! The mission field isn’t just somewhere on the other side of the globe. The mission field is here on our own doorstep. In light of this, Paul’s words in today’s Epistle lesson take on a new sense of urgency: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:14-15, quoting Isaiah 52:7).

Today we are blessed to have “beautiful feet” among us. Matt and Dee Dee Wasmund, and daughters, Lily and Olivia, are with us. They are missionaries serving in Seoul, South Korea, and our congregation is blessed to provide our prayer support as well as our financial support for what they are doing in sharing the good news of God in Christ that is for all people. Whether in Seoul, or the DMV, or anywhere else in the world, that closing verse from today’s Epistle lesson reminds us of the power of this good news: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Amen.