For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him and whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they’ve never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they’re sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!
– Romans 10:13–15
These verses in many ways summarize the heart of the entire book of Romans because Paul has just spent nine chapters walking through the beauty of the gospel, the good news. And as we get further into the book of Romans, we’ll see in Romans 15, the whole reason why he’s writing this book is to encourage the church in Rome to spread the gospel with him, not just in Rome, but to people who’ve never heard it, specifically in Spain.
Romans 10:13–15 Shows Paul Advocating for the Spread of the Gospel
And so he begins to talk about the necessity of people hearing the gospel in order to believe it. It’s just basic logic that if people don’t hear the gospel, they can’t believe it. And if they don’t believe it, they can’t be saved from their sins. So they need to hear it from somebody. Romans 10:17 goes on to say, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.”
So how does the word of Christ get to them? Somebody must proclaim it to them. How are they to hear unless someone preaches it? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? So when you look at even just the verbs in this passage, kind of backwards, you see the plan of God for the spread of the gospel throughout the world to all the peoples of the earth. It starts with him saving sinners and then sending them out.
And he sends them out to do what? To preach, to proclaim, to share the gospel. And as they share the gospel, people hear it. As people hear it, they believe it. And obviously we know not everybody who hears the gospel will believe it, but we also know that some will. Inevitably this gospel has power to save. And every nation, tribe, and tongue is one day going to experience salvation from God. That means you can share this gospel anywhere on the planet and it’s guaranteed somebody there is going to believe it. And once they believe it, they’ll call on the name of the Lord and everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. So where’s the only potential breakdown in this whole plan? Is God still sending people to proclaim the gospel? Well, sure. He’s definitely sending.
Romans 10:13–15 Reminds Us of the Need to Preach the Gospel
And when people hear the gospel, will they believe it? Just like we said, yes, some will. And when they believe they will call on the name of the Lord and everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved. In other words, the only place where this plan breaks down is when the people of God sent with the spirit of God do not proclaim the gospel of God.
This is the only reason why there are three billion unreached people in the world today. Why we pray every day on this podcast for unreached people. Why? Because we have been sent by God as the church, the people of God. We have been sent with the spirit of God and the greatest news in the world. And so we need to pray continually, all of us, not just a certain group of us, but all of us to pray.
This Verse Encourages Us to Assume Our Role in the Great Commission
God, we want this good news proclaimed among all the nations. We want to see all the peoples of the earth reached with this good news. We want them to hear it, knowing that when they do, many will believe and they will call on your name and you will save them. So God, we pray, use our lives every one of our lives toward that end. Use our prayers now and every day. When we pray through this podcast for the nations of the world, God, we pray you’d hear our prayers and answer them and cause the gospel to go, the good news to spread to the ends of the earth through our praying, through our giving. God, help us to use the resources you’ve given to us for the spread of the gospel among all the nations, especially those who’ve never heard.
And God, we pray that you’d use our going, our going today, right where we live. Help us to reach the nations right around us. I think about the dialogue I was just having with a man from Afghanistan. God, please, I pray for the spread of the gospel in his family here among the nations where you’ve put us, wherever we are in the world, and that God you would send us wherever, however, whenever you will, for the spread of this good news. To be beautiful feet going and proclaiming this good news wherever you lead us in the world.
Prayer for the Gimma People
We pray that you would help us to live out of the overflow of Romans 10:13–15, until all the peoples of the world have heard the good news, including the Gimma people of Sudan, this remote rural Muslim people group among whom there are hardly any followers of Jesus, hundreds of thousands of them. God, we pray that someone would proclaim the good news to them. And you would use our lives in whatever way you will to be an answer to that prayer for the Gimma of Sudan and thousands of other people, groups like them. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
