Romans Chapter 10 Vs. 17

The Message of Salvation to All

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17

So then faith... Is not man doing his part in response to God’s having done His part. Saving faith can come about only through the gospel. Salvation is God’s work alone. This also shows that there is no other way to be saved but by the explicit gospel of Christ.

Luke 11:28 “But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

word of God... Or better, the word of Christ. The reference is to the oral communication of the gospel. (The word translated “report” in verse 16 is translated “hearing” here). Notice that it is not faith in what is heard, but faith that comes about by what is heard. This is what Paul meant (in Rom. 1:16), when he said the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation.”

It is the Word of God that is powerful, that convicts us of our sin and sets us on the road to salvation. Look at the next Scripture and see just how powerful this Word is.

Heb. 4:12 “For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Paul explained, Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message (lit., “is out from hearing”; cf. Rom. 10:14) and the message is heard through the word of Christ (lit., “and the hearing is through the saying [rhēmatos; cf. Rom. 10:17] concerning Christ”). The Greek word akoē (“hearing”) can mean the thing heard (the message; Rom. 10:16) or the act or sense of hearing (Rom. 10:17).