Romans 10:14-18

10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them ¹ ? 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely ²  is the arrival ³  of those who proclaim the good news.” ⁴  10:16 But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ⁵  10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word ⁶  of Christ. ⁷ 

10:18 But I ask, have they ⁸  not heard? ⁹  Yes, they have: ¹⁰  Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.

² tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”

³ tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.

⁴ sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.

⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.

⁶ tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.

⁷ tc Most mss (א¹ A D¹ Ψ 33 1881 Ï sy) have θεοῦ (qeou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Cristou; found in Ì^46vid א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 pc lat co). External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rJhma Cristou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression.

⁸ tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).

⁹ tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mh) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.

¹⁰ tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mh) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.

¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.