Inscripturated Word and Incarnated Word
Kevin DeYoung says “we should approach the Scriptures with the same reverence we would have in approaching Christ.”
Word of Faith
I’m reading Romans 10 and I’ve been hung up over verses 5-8. Paul quotes from two Old Testament texts (Leviticus 18:5 and Deuteronomy 30:11-14) and says that the first is what righteousness based on the law says and the second is what righteousness based on faith says. But when you go back to the OT context, it looks like the two texts are saying more or less the same thing. It’s easy to see that the Leviticus passage is about righteousness based on the law: “the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” But how does the Deuteronomy passage point us to righteousness based on faith?
I have two Romans commentaries and several study Bible, but none of them helped me a whole lot. The most helpful thing was this sermon by John Piper. He says that Paul sees the Deuteronomy passage as pointing to Christ as our righteousness. The key point in the Deuteronomy passage is that the law is doable, but we all know—Paul included—that no one but Christ has ever measured up to the law’s standards. Read the sermon to see Piper’s four step answer to how Paul sees Deuteronomy 30:11-14 as pointing to Christ as our righteousness the way Romans 10:4 says it does.