ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Romans 10.15

Book: Romans · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

13. for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15. and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!

  1. But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17. So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:13-17, ASV)
WEB

13. For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?

15. And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”

  1. But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17. So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:13-17, WEB)
KJV

13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15. And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

  1. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? our report: Gr. the hearing of us? report: or, preaching? 17. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:13-17, KJV)
YLT

13. for every one, whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, he shall be saved.' 14. How then shall they call upon [him] in whom they did not believe? and how shall they believe [on him] of whom they did not hear? and how shall they hear apart from one preaching?

15. and how shall they preach, if they may not be sent? according as it hath been written, 'How beautiful the feet of those proclaiming good tidings of peace, of those proclaiming good tidings of the good things!'

  1. But they were not all obedient to the good tidings, for Isaiah saith, 'Lord, who did give credence to our report?' 17. so then the faith [is] by a report, and the report through a saying of God, (Romans 10:13-17, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle, citing Isaiah 52:7
  • Audience: the Roman house churches (mixed Jewish-Gentile), whom Paul had not yet met
  • Location: Corinth, near the close of the third missionary journey
  • Time period: c. AD 56-57

Theological reading

The last link in the chain of questions running from verse 14, and the verse most often taken as the New Testament's charter for sending preachers.

The chain is built backwards from the promise of verse 13 that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How shall they call on one they have not believed? How believe one they have not heard? How hear without a preacher? How preach unless they are sent? The sequence moves from the individual's salvation back through the church's commission, and Paul's point in context is not primarily missionary strategy but the vindication of the argument he has been making about Israel: the word did go out, so unbelief cannot be excused by lack of opportunity.

The citation is from Isaiah 52:7, where the feet of the herald are beautiful because of the news they carry, the announcement to captive Zion that her God reigns. Paul takes an announcement of return from exile and applies it to the gospel proclamation, which is consistent with his handling of Isaiah throughout the letter.

The word rendered "sent" is apostalōsin, from the root behind apostolos, so the verse quietly grounds apostleship in commissioning rather than in self-appointment, the same claim Paul made about himself at Romans 1:1. The praise falls on the feet, the least glamorous part, and on the messenger's arrival rather than his eloquence.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.