Daily Devotional • September 22
St. Matthew the Evangelist
A Reading from Romans 10:1-15
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not based on knowledge. 3 Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (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 word of faith that we proclaim), 9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Meditation
The term “Judeo-Christian” has a long history, having first appeared in 1821. It has been understood to group Christianity and Judaism with respect to the former’s derivation from the latter, to Christianity’s borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, and due to what the two religions hold in common in Judeo-Christian ethics. In the United States, it has been used since the Cold War era to suggest that this country has a unified religious and cultural identity, which was opposed to communism.
In today’s passage, Paul does not explicitly use “Judeo-Christian” in his argumentation, but he is implicitly asking what will happen to the Jewish people who believe in God but not in Christ. While he can attest to their zeal for God, he also attests that their established customs and traditions are as yet incomplete. Paul knows whereof he speaks in this regard, as, when he was Saul of Tarsus, he was also full of zeal—with an added zeal for persecuting Christians—but did not have full knowledge until Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus.
Whereas Moses had described a righteousness which is of the law, Paul speaks of the foundational—and greater—righteousness of faith, which is from God, as fully realized in Christ and expressed in “Christ is the end of the law.” For the believer, whether Jew or Gentile, the law culminates in Christ. If we confess this in our heart, we can confess this openly with our mouth.
Paul made a powerful argument for the Judeo-Christian concept, where neither faith is “put to shame” or denigrated, but both come to love God fully in Christ. In a time of religious strife affecting Jews, Christians, and all faiths, this is an argument still worth making.
Pamela A. Lewis taught French for 30 years before retirement. A lifelong resident of Queens, New York, she attends Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and serves on various lay ministries. She writes for The Episcopal New Yorker, Episcopal Journal, and The Living Church.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham, Alabama
The Diocese of Oru – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Pamela A. Lewis is a member of Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, in New York City. She writes on topics of faith.
