(Verses 9–10.) That is, the word of faith, which we preach. He says that no work of the Law, but faith alone, is to be given in the cause of Christ. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him up, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Everything he said above, he has made plain here: that this is the rule of faith, to believe that Jesus is Lord, and not to blush to confess that God, bringing Him back from the dead, brought Him into heaven with His body, whence He had come to be made flesh; lest one fall under the sentence of the Gospel, which says: Many, it says, among the chief rulers believed on Jesus, but they did not confess him openly because of the Jews. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God (John 12:42).

(Verse 11.) For the scripture saith by Esaias, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed (Isaiah 28:16). For when the examination of all things begins on the day of judgment, and all false inventions and doctrines are brought to confusion, then those who believe in Christ will exult, seeing it made plain to all that what they believed is true, and that what was thought folly is wisdom. For they will see themselves alone, among all the rest, glorious and wise, who had been reckoned contemptible and foolish. For this is the true proving, where there is reward and condemnation.

(Verse 12.) For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. He says that all alike are either confounded because of their distrust, or exalted because of their belief; for without Christ there is no salvation with God, but rather punishment, or death. For neither the prerogative of the fathers nor the giving of the law will be able to commend the Jews, who did not receive the merit and the promise of the fathers. And the Gentiles have no testimony by which they might be commended even according to the flesh, unless they believe in Christ. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. It is plain that this concerns all, whether Jews or Greeks, because without calling on the Lord Christ no one lives before God. Though, then, He is Lord of all — as the apostle Peter agrees, saying, He is Lord of all — yet He is not rich except towards those who call upon Him, because they will receive the reward. To the faithless He is not rich, because they have no share in His good things; for they will not receive what they did not believe He would give. And yet he did not say that God is rich to those who believe, but to those who call upon Him; so that, after it has believed, the mind should not cease to ask for what it has been taught by God that it must always ask. As it stands written in the Gospel according to Luke, men ought always to pray because of the adversary, since he is subtle and crafty; to believers forgiveness of sins alone is given, and it follows that, devoted to prayer, a man is delivered from evil and is able to obtain what God has promised to those who watch with their whole heart (Luke 18:1 ff.).

(Verse 13.) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is said in Micah. For the very God who was seen by Moses says: My name is Lord (Exodus 6:3). This is the Son of God, who for this reason is said to be both Angel and God: that He might not be thought to be Himself the one from whom are all things, but the one through whom are all things. So His being called God refers to this, that the Father and the Son are one; and His being called Angel to this, that He was sent by the Father as the messenger of the promised salvation. And He is said to be sent for this reason, that He might not be believed to be the Father Himself, but the one begotten of Him. And therefore whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. In this sense Moses too spoke: Whosoever, he says, will not hearken to that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:18–19). If He is Lord of all, He is called upon by His servants. And because this is true, he added:

(Verse 14.) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Certainly the Jews themselves do not believe in Christ, whom he has called Lord. This follows from what I said above: that one must first believe, so as to have confidence in asking. And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? It is plain that one cannot believe him to whom obedience is refused. And how shall they hear without a preacher? Nor is this obscure: for he who resists the preacher does not receive the one who sent him.

(Verse 15.) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? Nor does this admit of question: for they will not be true apostles unless they are sent by Christ, nor will they be able to preach without one who sends them; for no signs of mighty works bear them witness. As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! This the prophet Nahum says (Nahum 1:15). By saying “feet” he signifies the coming of the apostles as they went about the world and preached that the kingdom of God was drawing near. For their coming enlightened men, showing the way by which one goes in peace to God, which John the Baptist had first come to prepare. This is the peace to which those who believe in Christ make haste. Thus holy Simeon, because there is discord in the world, rejoicing at the birth of the Saviour, says: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace (Luke 2:29); for the kingdom of God is peace. For when all discord has been cut away, all will bow the knee to the one God. Thus Jerusalem, the city above, which is our mother, is interpreted “vision of peace”.

(Verse 16.) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. It is true: for though the world is lit up by the splendour of the Lord’s teaching, yet there are those who fight against it, who call light darkness. For the eye of their mind has been so dulled by error that they do not receive even the splendour of the true light. These the Gospel accuses, saying: The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5). For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? (Isaiah 53:1): that is, who has believed what we have heard from you, and speak? He has confirmed by a prophetic example that the Jews gainsay the truth of the Gospel. For the Law rebukes the Jews, because as it was among the men of old, so it is now. For he who does not receive the faith does not belong to this number.

(Verses 17–18.) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. It is plain that unless something is spoken, it can neither be heard nor believed. But I say, Have they not heard? That is, they heard, and would not believe. For though faith is by hearing, yet there are those who hear and do not believe. For they hear and do not understand, because their heart has been blinded by malice. Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. He testifies that the preaching of God was heard by the Jews to such a degree that he declares the world to have been filled with the divine message; for the very fabric of the world proclaims the Creator. What the Psalmist said of the creation (Psalm 19:4), the Apostle says of the evangelists, because the preaching of the name of Christ has been heard everywhere and has reached every place. For where the presence of a man preaching was lacking, yet the sound and the report reached it; just as the fame of the mighty works done in Egypt had reached all nations, as Rahab the harlot bears witness. For if it has reached every place, the Jews could not have failed to hear the apostolic preaching; so that none of them is excused from the charge of distrust.

(Verse 19.) But I say, Did not Israel know? That is, did it know? For since by the testimonies given above he convicts the race of Israel on account of its unbelief, when he might seem to be complaining with grief about all the Israelites, he does not deny that Israel knew and attained what had been promised it in the Law — but that Israel which is Israel in spirit rather than in flesh, whom God had also foreknown would believe. For all heard, but not all believed. Therefore: First Moses saith, in the song of Deuteronomy, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you (Deuteronomy 32:21). These are the words of one who is indignant, because the Jews were always found to be distrustful; and he assigns to all the wicked one generation and one cause. While he rebukes those then present, in the same place he touches rather those to come, to whom this belongs. For all of these have one condemnation, if they remain in distrust. So a jealousy of envy was born in them, when they saw a nation which before, because it was without God, was brutish in understanding, calling upon as its God Him who had been the God of the Jews, and obtaining the gift promised to them; so that, suffering jealousy because of it, they should be racked with anger, and pay the wages of their malice and unbelief. For nothing so consumes a man as jealousy, which God has therefore set as the avenger of unbelief, because it is a grievous sin. For they are always tormented, being provoked to anger, when they hear that the Law and the prophets belong to us who believe Christ.

(Verse 20.) But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was made manifest unto them that sought me not, and I was found among them that asked not after me (Isaiah 65:1). Since above he used the words of Moses concerning the shutting out of the Jews, to this too he added the example of the prophet Isaiah, so as to teach more plainly from his continuation that God, the Jews having been driven out, offered grace freely to the Gentiles, to the reproach and the ruin of the Jews. For the prophet Isaiah bears witness to these things in the person of Christ.

(Verse 21.) But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a people that believeth not, and gainsayeth (Isaiah 65:2). This Israel is the carnal Israel, that is, the sons of Abraham, but not according to faith; for the true and spiritual Israel is he who by believing sees God. All day long signifies “always”; for they were always corrupt. Therefore they are rebuked as men who would not believe, so that they may know that they themselves are the cause of their own perdition. This can also be taken of the Saviour, who, with His hands stretched out on the cross, convicted the sin of those who were killing Him. For that case proclaims the wicked crime of the Jews; and what Isaiah dared to say above shows that those who had been God’s enemies would be His friends, and that those who were called Israelites, because they were disobedient, were to be cast off as enemies.