Romans 10:7 – Risen Christ
or, ” “Who will descend into the abyss?” ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
Truth to Learn
Jesus Christ is God and He is risen from the dead!
Behind the Words
The word translated “abyss” is the Greek word abussos, from which we get our English word, abyss. It is made up of the privative a, meaning “not” or “without” and a form of buthos, which refers to “the bottom or depth of something.” Hence, this word properly means “something that is so deep as to be perceived as bottomless.” In the New Testament this word is used to refer to the depth of the oceans, but it is also used to refer to the bottomless pit in Hades where spirit beings (like fallen angels) are incarcerated. This word is only used two times outside of the book of Revelation, here and Luke 8:31.
“Bring up” is from the verb anagō, which is made up of ana, meaning “up, again, or away” and agō, meaning “to lead or to bring.”
Meaning Explained
This part of Paul’s reference to the Old Testament is not identical to what is contained in Deuteronomy (either in the Hebrew version or the Septuagint), but the sense of it is the same. Moses referred to going to the region beyond the sea. In the time when Moses made this statement, sea travel was very difficult, and to travel to the region beyond the sea was a task of nearly infinite proportion. Also, the ancients believed that the ocean was bottomless. Moses was telling the Israelites that the commandment (that which could bring righteousness) was not far away from them, and it did not require a huge effort to obtain it. He was referring to faith, not a task to be done.
What Paul is saying about the righteousness of faith is essentially the same thing; it is not far away and it does not require huge effort to obtain it. However, since sea travel in Paul’s day was far easier than in Moses’ day, a direct quotation of Moses would not carry the impact that it did in Moses’ day. Instead, Paul uses the concept of descending into the abyss. Since Paul is talking about bringing Christ up from the dead in this verse, he obviously is referring to Hades. Note that Paul is not saying that someone has to go down and bring Christ up from the dead because He has already risen. In fact, only God could accomplish this. Paul’s statement is that we don’t have to do this impossible thing in order to obtain faith. As in the previous verse, the monumental task of bringing Christ up again from the dead could not produce righteousness. In fact, it’s just the other way around, only the righteousness of God in Christ could raise Him from the dead.
It is interesting to note that the two primary attacks against our faith are in regard to these two aspects of Christ. Attackers say that He is not God (He did not come down from heaven) and He is not alive today (He has not been raised from the dead). We can’t prove these two facts, we can only accept them by faith, the faith which produces righteousness.
Application
Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He is 100% God and He is 100% man. As such, he completely satisfied God’s law of righteousness and then voluntarily gave his life for us, proving His righteousness by rising from the dead. Amen!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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