The word of faith.
Paul, in Romans 10:6-10, applies these words to the "righteousness of faith," and contrasts them with the voice of the Law, which is, "The man which doeth those things shall live by them" (Romans 10:5). That this application is not a mere accommodation of the words of Moses to a new subject, will be evident from a brief consideration.
I. ISRAEL AND THE "RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH." The constitution under which Israel was placed, while formally a legal, was practically an evangelical one. On the legal footing, on any other footing than that of the "righteousness of faith," the statement that the commandment was neither far to seek nor difficult to obey would not have been true. The Law, as requiring perfect holiness, obedience unvarying and uninterrupted, prescribed as the condition of life (Romans 10:5) that which no one on earth, saint or sinner—the sinner's Savior only excepted—has ever rendered. It was certainly "nigh," but, as a "ministration of death"—"of condemnation" (2 Corinthians 3:7, 2 Corinthians 3:9), its nighness was no boon. How, then, was the curse averted or acceptance made possible? Not by the ability of the Israelite to yield an obedience adequate to the Law's requirements, but by the introduction of the principle of grace. Sin was forgiven, and, shortcoming notwithstanding, the sincere worshipper accepted in "his full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience;" or rather, in view of his faith, of that spiritual trust in Jehovah in which these strivings after obedience had their origin (Genesis 15:6; Psalms 32:1, Psalms 32:2). The hidden ground of this acceptance was Christ, now manifested in the preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:1-21.). From this point of view, the commandment no longer towered above the Israelite, stern and forbidding, launching out curses against him, and filling him with dread and dismay; but its precepts were sweet and consolatory to him, and only filled him with the greater delight and love the longer he meditated on them or practiced himself in obeying them (Psalms 19:7-14; Psalms 119:1-176.). It is in this evangelical spirit we are undoubtedly to read these exhortations of Moses, whose standpoint, therefore, essentially harmonizes with that of Paul.
II. ISRAEL AND THE NIGHNESS OF THE COMMANDMENT. "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good" (Micah 6:8). God had written to Israel the great things of his Law (Hosea 8:12). He had made known his Name, his precepts, the conditions of acceptable service, the way of life; had given that people a revelation, full, clear, adequate, adapted to their mental stature, and to their condition as sinners. This takes for granted the underlying evangelical element above referred to. Without that, the "commandment" would but have mocked their weakness. And it is this evangelical element in Moses' "commandment" which comes clearly to light in Christ, and which is embodied in Paul's doctrine of the "righteousness of faith." The words of this passage apply with increased force to the historical revelation of the Savior. They strikingly suggest:
1. That man needs a revelation.
2. That he instinctively craves for one: "Who shall go up?" etc.
3. That he would sometimes make great sacrifices in order to get one: "Go up to heaven;" "go over the sea."
But the revelation which man needs most of all is the revelation of a Savior. He wants to know how he can escape from sin, from guilt, from wrath, from bondage; how he can be restored to holiness, to peace, to blessedness. The "commandment," in its wider sense, gave him this knowledge in part; the full discovery is in the gospel. The Word, in the preaching of this gospel, as well as in the circulation of copies of the Scriptures, and the innumerable opportunities enjoyed in Christian lands of getting acquainted with the way of life, has now come very nigh to us. It is in our mouths and in our hearts, while the salvation which the Word makes known is as readily available as the Word itself is simple and intelligible. "If thou shalt confess," etc. (Romans 10:9).
III. ISRAEL AND THE PRACTICABLENESS OF OBEDIENCE. The word which Moses gave was one which could be obeyed—nay, obedience to which was easy. Only, however, provided there was circumcision of heart (Romans 10:6)—a sincere willingness to know and to do God's will (John 7:17). To the natural heart the commandment is hard, and must always remain so. This, again, shows that the obedience Moses has in view is the spiritual, though not faultless, obedience of the believing and renewed heart—the result of possession of and standing in the righteousness of faith. Only through faith relying on a word of grace, and apprehending mercy in the character of God, is such obedience possible. Ability to render it is included in that "being saved," which Paul posits as a result of believing with the heart in the crucified and risen Christ (Romans 10:9). Observe, further, how the Law, with all its apparent complexity and cumbrousness, resolves itself in Moses' hands into one "commandment" (Romans 10:11). It is this which makes the Law simple, just as it is the simplicity of the gospel that it reduces all "works of God" to the one work of "believing on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). Amidst the multiplicity of commands, there was but one real command—that of loving the Lord their God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 10:6, Deuteronomy 10:10, Deuteronomy 10:16, Deuteronomy 10:20). In love is implied faith—the knowing and believing the love which God has to us. Love is faith's response to the revelation God makes of himself to man. Faith is thus the condition:
1. Of justification.
2. Of acceptableness in obedience.
3. Of power to render obedience.—J.O.