"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

Believers, the above verse (Romans 10:17) is translated as: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" in many popular versions of the Bible. Nothing wrong with this. Christ and God the Father are one. 

However, for the purpose of rightly dividing the word, the translation that says "word of God" is technically incorrect. The correct translation of original Greek text says "...the word of Christ." Most bible verses have the precise translation from the original Greek text:

"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." NASB

See the TPT: "Faith, then, is birthed in a heart that responds to God’s anointed utterance of the Anointed One."

See the NLT: "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ."

The Law of Moses is the Word of God and every single dot of it will come to pass. But the Law of Moses is not the GOOD NEWS about Christ that we as believers are to be hearing. The Law condemns all who attempt to do its works in a bid to get right with God. See Galatians 3:10-

"Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, “Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!”"

The law condemns even the best of those who are trying to keep it for whatever purpose. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life and with the Spirit of the Lord, it is "Not by might nor by power" aka human effort at keeping the Law in order to be godly (be like God). 

As it did with Adam and Eve who thought they would be godly if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, human effort at attaining godliness gets one nothing but condemnation and death. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a picture of the law (See Romans 7:8-12 MSG.) Just like the tree, the letter kills.

God Himself made the Way for us to be godly (be like God) and it has got nothing to do with human striving (arm of flesh) at obeying the Law: Isaiah prophesied of Christ's suffering for us in Isaiah 53. See the result of His decease which He accomplished at Jerusalem in Isaiah 53:11-

"After He has suffered, He will see the light of life. And He will be satisfied. My godly servant will make many people godly because of what He will accomplish. He will be punished for their sins."

Faith produces godliness. It does not come through hearing the Law or trying to do its works in order to be godly. The Law is NOT of Faith, but because of the false doctrine preached by wolves behind some pulpits, many churchgoers still strive to keep the Law to prove that they are of faith. Remember:

"So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." 

But what is this Good News about Christ? Paul explains in Romans 1:

16 “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

The law is not of faith. Trying to obey the law in order to be godly is being faithless. And without faith it is impossible to please God. Notice the gospel (Good News) is all about "how God makes us right in His sight" and how it is accomplished from START to FINISH by FAITH? The Law is not involved in our attainment of rights-standing with God. And how does God make us right in His sight? See Romans 3-

“26...and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

This is the crux of the gospel: Righteousness by faith. Romans 5:9 says:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

In Christ, "never" above does not mean "until your next sin." Never means never. But some wolves in sheep's clothing will tell you who are a child of God to expect the wrath of God for the same sins that Christ came to save you from. This is as evil as beating a child for bedwetting and expecting him to stop by this means. A loving parent will wake the child up as many times as possible to get her to go and pee until the situation is controlled. How much more our Saviour Jesus Christ of whom it is written in Titus 2:14-

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

God's everlasting gift of righteousness to us in Christ is not to make us free to go on sinning sprees as many who do not yet understand and feel that everyone except them is just itching to commit sin believe. Romans 5:20 says: 

"Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,"

God's grace super-abounds so much that sin does not stand a chance in our lives; it's akin to extinguishing a lit matchstick (sin) with the force of of a thousand fire extinguishers. Sin doesn't stand a chance under Grace. But under law, sin has dominion. 

Believing Jesus is believing that we are righteous by faith in Him and not because we obeyed the law. "The law is not of faith" is a popular Bible verse but many churchgoers are yet to connect the dots. The letter kills, but many religious leaders are actively preaching the satanic message that it is when you obey the law and do good things that you can be godly and get into God's good books. This false teaching follows after the example of Satan who lied to Eve that she could be godly (be like God) by human effort at doing something. But this is the result of trying:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Trying to be godly (be like God) by human effort is how to get cut off from Jesus Christ who is the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve tried to be godly (be like God) by human effort and their lot became death. See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the law that many are trying to obey in order to be godly today in Romans 7-

8-12 "Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me."

Satan is still seducing people through his ministers today by deceiving many into thinking that they can be godly by human effort at keeping the law. It seemed good to Eve, as it seems good to many in the church today. But the end is death. The letter kills. We can do nothing without Christ, least of all be godly, but these ones deny God's power in making the sinner who believes righteous through Christ and tell you to rely on the arm of flesh that will fail to attain right-standing with God. Philippians 3:2 counsels us concerning such preachers: “Beware of dogs...” This is how God makes the sinner godly/righteous but they reject His power: 

Romans 5:19- “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

As believers in Christ, our righteousness is not our own which comes from obeying the law. According to Isaiah 64:6, our best efforts only amount to "a menstrual rag" in God's sight: 

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight."

This is a fruitless way of attaining righteousness that has dangerous consequences. Paul said of all his law-keeping and obedience before he embraced Christ:

Philippians  3:7 - "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith."

We are made righteous by Christ's obedience and not our puny efforts at obeying the law, as it is written in Romans 5:19- "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

"So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." See the word of Christ from the mouth of Christ Himself:

“16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Believing Jesus is believing that we are righteous by faith in Him and not because we obeyed the law or did anything to deserve Him and God's blessings in Him. The one who is trying to obey the law to get right with God is condemned already, "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3:20.

The law is not of faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Fear too comes by hearing, by hearing the Law of Moses. Beware of preachers whose sermons are hinged on obeying the Ten Commandments and doing good things in order to be godly/righteous in the sight of God. Beware of preachers who magnify the power of the devil, whose preaching is 90% what devils can do to you and little about Jesus - the only mention of our Lord is the 'in Jesus name' at the end of each prayer point; beware of those who make you so scared with their prophecies of doom and make it so that you have to keep going back to them for new to-do lists in order to be 'free.' Beware of those who disregard the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ that makes the sinner who believes righteous and tell you to try to earn righteousness by doing works of the law.

Jesus said in Matt 16:6 - "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." A little yeast leavens the whole lump! Many are pretending to be of Christ but watch out for the word they preach. Is it the word of Christ- Righteousness by faith- or is it that "neither cold nor hot" message that says: 

"Yes you are saved by Grace but you still have to obey the law as a guiding principle for morality and do good things in order to be godly and maintain your salvation"?

This horrid mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the "neither cold nor hot" that Christ speaks of in Revelation 3.

All you need to do to be saved is believe! It's in the most popular bible verse in the world- JOHN 3:16. But many feel that there is more to it that is driven by human effort at being good. Christ is not in the business of saving sheep who think:

"I have done my best to be good/godly/like God. Jesus will see that I have tried and consider me." 

Such feel that they have some good in them. This is the height of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. There is something about the arm of flesh (dependence on human effort at obedience) that wants to be relevant in the story of our salvation. That something is Pride. God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot — Romans 7:18 —

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort) that will fail says: 

"No, I can. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and overcome sin by my will-power."

The earlier a believer understands that of ourselves, there is no good in anybody, the better. Like Peter who boasted in his own strength and ended up breaking the Law, many wrongly believe that they have the will-power to do what is right and keep the law. Peter's example shows us that good intentions will get one nowhere when one is tempted beyond what he can bear. He denied Christ thrice after boasting in himself and knowing 100% that he wouldn't. The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them or that they can obey the Law and overcome sin by their will-power. Believer, let's not be found here. The arm of flesh (dependence on human effort for whatever) will fail. Jesus never fails. He came to save us from our sins. Matthew 1:21 says of Him:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Believer, whatever preaching leaves you (believers only) feeling that demons are going to jump you if you don't by yourself have and use a particular set of skills that only this one pastor can give you; whatever sermon tells you that what Jesus did at the cross has not already broken all generational curses; whatever sermon tells you that as a believer in Christ, you have to stand in your own righteousness from obeying the law and not that of Another - Jesus; beware of such. They are not of Faith. They will only keep one locked down under sin's dominion: 

"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.

Only by receiving God's abundance of Grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ do we GET TO live in triumph over sin and death, including every symptom of death such as stress, stupid mistakes, sickness, lack, depression and all earthly ills:

""And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

This is the message of Christ. Right believing always produces right living.