ROMANS 10:14

“How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?”

If you’ve been around preschoolers enough, you have probably been riddled with the “Why?” questions. Am I right? I have mentioned before that I spent a large part of my ministry working with children before I “grew up” and started working with men, lol. So, I’ve been hammered by the best of the preschoolers’ questions. Why did God make the sky blue? Why are fish smelly? Why do frogs croak? Believe me, I’ve heard them all.

It almost seems that way in today’s verse when Paul starts his series of “How” questions. Let’s take a look at the first three. The Greek word for “how” is pos and can be translated also as “in what way.” I kind of like that. Don’t you? Paul poses these indirect questions without really expecting anyone to answer him. He will be giving us the answer a little later.

APPLICATION

The first question is a follow up to the previous verse we saw in yesterday’s blog post. “for ‘EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’” A person cannot be expected to call on someone they have not believed in, can they? The Greek word for “call” is epikaleó which means to invoke, to appeal to. The prefix epi intensifies kaleo (to call). In other words, it means to really call. I heard that the rescued Weapons Service Officer’s first reply when they received radio contact from him was “God is good.” I bet he was calling on someone he believed in, don’t you?

The next question follows this one. How can someone believe if they have not heard? Heard what? The Gospel message of faith in Jesus. Isn’t that what they needed to hear? The Jews had heard the message and had rejected it. The Gentiles could care less about this Jewish rabbi who proclaimed to be the Messiah. Someone’s ignorance of Jesus does not exclude them from judgment. Just look back at Romans 1:19-20.

And the final question Paul raises is how can someone hear unless someone tells them. They need a preacher, a prophet or a voice from God, right? Look again at the Romans 1:19-20 passage and answer that question. This, of course, does not exempt us from our responsibility to be a truth teller. We need to be spreading the message for and wide. Help answer some of those “how” questions for people. Show them the One Who has all the answers.

O Lord, You are the answer to every question anyone could ever ask. Draw them to Yourself.

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