The near word and the bringer of good news (10:5–8, 14–15)
Says Moses writes of “the righteousness that is by the law” (10:5, BSB). “The righteousness that is by faith” says not to ask in one’s heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” and says, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart” (10:6–8; cf. Deut 30:11–14). Paul asks, “how can they preach unless they are sent?” and cites, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (10:15; cf. Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15).
Baruch (non-canonical), in a poem on wisdom, asks, “Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her …? Who hath gone over the sea, and found her …?” (Bar 3:29–30); its editor, O. C. Whitehouse, compares Deut 30:12–13. Baruch’s link of wisdom with the law is treated in the Romans 2 historical note. Philo reads Deut 30:11–14 to mean that no one need fly up to heaven or cross the sea to seek the good, for it stands near each person; mouth, heart and hands mean “words,” “intentions” and “actions” (Post. 84–85).
Psalms of Solomon 11 (non-canonical) opens, “Blow ye in Zion on the trumpet to summon (the) saints, / Cause ye to be heard in Jerusalem the voice of him that bringeth good tidings” (Pss. Sol. 11:1); its editor, G. Buchanan Gray, points to the psalm’s relation to Bar 4:36–5:9 and Isa 40–66.
None of this decides how 10:5 relates to 10:6–8 or how Paul uses Deut 30 and Isa 52:7; the exegetical and Hebrew notes take those up.
Claims
- SaysRom 10:5 says Moses writes of the righteousness that is by the law; Rom 10:6–8 says the righteousness that is by faith says not to ask who will ascend into heaven and says the word is near, in the mouth and in the heart (cf. Deut 30:11–14); Rom 10:15 asks how they can preach unless they are sent and cites the beautiful feet of those who bring good news (cf. Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15).
Citations
- BSB public domain Rom 10:5–8, 15; Deut 30:11–14; Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15
- APOT 1 public domain vol. 1 (1913), 1 Baruch (Whitehouse, per the vol. 1 contents page, n10): Bar 3:29–30, text and note on vv. 29–30 (“Comp. as parallels Deut. xxx. 12, 13; Prov. xxx. 4; Sir. li. 28”), p. 590 (apocryphapseudep01charuoft n607), read on the page image 2026-11-04; text quoted, note paraphrased
- Philo (Cohn–Wendland) CC BY-SA 4.0 Post. 84–85 (Cohn–Wendland section numbers; library/raw/first1kgreek/tlg0018.tlg006.1st1K-grc1.xml, sha256 f533b7e6…), sections and sense checked in the registered Greek text 2026-11-04; paraphrased in our own words (Yonge’s “it is not good … to depart to the heaven” renders δεῖ loosely, so the paraphrase follows the Greek); no Greek displayed
- Philo (Yonge) public domain “On the Posterity of Cain” ch. XXIV, Bohn vol. 1, pp. 304–305 (worksphilojudaeu01philuoft n317–n318), read on the page image 2026-11-04; the three words “words,” “intentions” and “actions” quoted from p. 305
- APOT public domain vol. 2 (1913), Psalms of Solomon (Gray, per the vol. 2 contents page, n10): Pss. Sol. 11:1 (Gray’s line numbers 11:1–2) and Gray’s note on Ps. XI (relation to Bar 4:36–5:9 and Isa 40–66), p. 643 (apocryphapseudep02charuoft n662), read on the page image 2026-11-04; text quoted, note paraphrased
Quotations from Philo (Cohn–Wendland) are used under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credits
2026-11-04
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