Deeper Reflection
In verses 14 and 15, the Apostle Paul set out a compelling argument by asking four questions beginning with “How…?” and using the key words “call”, “believe”, “hear”, “preach” and “sent” to emphasise the critical importance of those who proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. Those five verbs depict “an account of God’s way of bringing ‘salvation’ to man… calling on the Lord depends on believing, believing depends on hearing, hearing depends on proclaiming, proclaiming depends on being sent (by God).”²⁴ When these verbs are put in reverse order, we see a logical progression of how a person can call on Jesus and be saved: “God sends heralds; heralds preach; people hear; hearers believe; believers call; and those who call are saved.”²⁵“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News!” (v.15b) was a statement that Paul quoted (and adapted) from Isaiah 52:7. This is instructive for us. “Paul sees Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in God’s sending forth of evangelists (like himself ), who proclaim the ‘words of Christ’ that liberates captives from prison. …God must send preachers so that people can call on the Lord.”²⁶Are cross-cultural, overseas missionaries the only heralds whom God sends into the world to bring the Good News to people who have yet to hear? Certainly not! As one commentator rightly pointed out, “Christians are saved to serve and a paramount element in that service is to bear witness to the power of Christ.”²⁷ All of us who are God’s people are God’s sent ones; we are to preach the Good News to those people to whom God sends us.²⁸

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²⁴ Paul Barnett, Romans: The Revelation of God’s Righteousness (Christian Focus, 2003), 236. ²⁵ John Stott, The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Romans, Revised Edition (IVP Academic, 2020). ²⁶ Paul Barnett, Romans: The Revelation of God’s Righteousness (Christian Focus, 2003), 237. ²⁷ The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11: Romans-Galatians, Revised Edition, 164 ²⁸ A helpful article on this topic can be found at https://research.lifeway.com/2013/09/26/a-god-who-sends/