Sharing the Good News

¹ Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire is for Israel’s salvation. That’s my prayer to God for them. ² I can vouch for them: they are enthusiastic about God. However, it isn’t informed by knowledge. ³ They don’t submit to God’s righteousness because they don’t understand his righteousness, and they try to establish their own righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the goal of the Law, which leads to righteousness for all who have faith in God. ⁵ Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the Law: The person who does these things will live by them. ⁶ But the righteousness that comes from faith talks like this: Don’t say in your heart, “Who will go up into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ or “Who will go down into the region below?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the message of faith that we preach). ⁹ Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. ¹¹ The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame. ¹² There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him. ¹³ All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved. ¹⁴ So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher?