“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” What does Romans 10:17 teach us?

Romans 10:17 says: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Some Bible versions like KJV and NKJV have "hearing by the word of God" but this is a technically imperfect translation. The original Greek text says "word of Christ." The Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, is also the word of God and every bit of it will come to pass, but it kills all of its doers: The letter kills. Trying to keep the law in order to get right with God is also the sure way to get cut off from Christ:

“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.” Galatians 5:4.

Also,

• “the Law is not of faith."
• We are saved by grace through faith…” and
• "without faith it is impossible to please God."

The law is not of faith. Law-keeping is anything at all that one does or thinks he can do by his human effort (arm of flesh) in order to contribute wholly or partially to his ability to be godly (be like God) or to “not perish but have everlasting life.”

Faith is evidently very crucial for every believer. And it comes by hearing the word of Christ. But what is this “word” that we hear by which faith comes? We see a perfect example in the account of the salvation of the woman with the issue of blood who heard something about Jesus. See Mark 5-

25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

Recall: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Plus, Christ shows us here that faith in Him makes us whole.

Whatever it was that this woman heard about Jesus caused her to abandon her useless works that she hoped would bring her salvation from her condition and seek Christ to touch the hem of His garment. But what do you think she heard about Jesus? Definitely not what many are preaching and hearing about Him today. It surely wasn't something along the lines of:

“You have to do your best to obey the law, make sure that you are clean and do some works in order to be made whole (like God) and for God to bless you in Jesus' name.”

The woman would never have ventured to touch Christ if that was what she heard about Jesus; if she had kept herself within the confines of the dictates of the law. She would have been stoned to death if an observant Pharisee had seen her mingling with the crowd in her unclean state. The law forbids her action.

Beloved of God, what the woman heard is as true today as it was when Christ walked the earth as Man:

She heard that this Man Jesus was freely healing and delivering all who came to Him for salvation without first asking whether they were unclean, which sins they were committing, whether they were keeping the Ten Commandments, whether they had paid tithe or whether they quarrelled with their spouse before leaving their homes.

She heard that Christ was healing all who came to Him for salvation without terms and conditions or their baggage of fasts, seeds, obeying the law and washing synagogue toilets all done in order to get God to bless!

She heard that Christ was touching and healing lepers (a picture of sin in man,) unclean people like herself, all without first asking whether they had works to make them deserving or whether they were good people. Beloved of God, she heard the same word that is written of Christ for us in Matthew 4:24-

"The news about Him spread through the whole country of Syria, so that people brought to Him all those who were sick, suffering from all kinds of diseases and disorders: people with demons, and epileptics, and paralytics—and Jesus healed them all."

All! And without terms and conditions like "stop sinning and go and sow a mighty seed so that Jesus can heal you."

But the religious Pharisees/leaders who were full of useless works of the law (faithless) and expected God to bless them because of their human attempts at being godly through obeying the Ten Commandments and arm of flesh-driven works could not receive from Jesus. Rather, they tried to use the Law, things that the helpless people had not yet done and sins that people had committed to prevent people from freely receiving from Christ who gives freely and without terms and conditions like whether a person has obeyed the Ten Commandments and paid tithes.

The same thing is still happening in many places of worship today. If that woman with the issue of blood were alive with her issue today, chances are that her church pastor, claiming to represent this same Jesus Christ who freely saves the undeserving, would request for her tithe card before asking which sin she was committing and prescribing works of the law like 70 days' fast and sowing a mighty seed in order for her to qualify to receive her healing from God - similar to the arm of flesh-driven things that her religious doctors prescribed; the same things that she had been doing for 12 years which left her broke and in an even worse state!

The letter (law) kills. This hearing that encompasses human effort-driven means of attaining wholeness (be like God) that is prevalent in some places of worship today is not the hearing by which faith comes. Rather, it is a horrid mixture of part-law and part-Grace aka “neither cold nor hot.” The religious Pharisees had it better than those who today are hearing and following this mixture doctrine- they had their bloody sacrifices to cover their sins and their various temple worship activities. But what do you have, you who are neither under Law nor under Grace- neither cold nor hot and thus with no blood shed for the remission of sins? Only the full wrath of the law. Beloved of God, by Grace, let's not be found here. The law voids faith. See Romans 4:14-

“If those who are [followers] of the Law are [the true] heirs [of Abraham], then faith [leading to salvation] is of no effect and void, and the promise [of God] is nullified.”

In Christ, we are not under Law but under Grace. This is not to say that we have no works or think that good works are unnecessary as antichrists love to imply. Grace is not a doctrine or one of the subjects in a Bible school curriculum- tucked in somewhere among Discipleship, Apologetics and Calvinism. Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "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."

The law is not of faith. Without Grace who is Christ Himself, there can be no faith. Afterall, He is the Author and Perfecter of Faith. Without faith, there can be no good deeds/works of faith. Those who depend on their ability to produce good works by their arm of flesh (obey the law in order to be anything before God) have voided faith In their lives. Their works are dead. Only in Christ do we have freedom from sins and get to be committed to doing good works. Works of faith are the evidences of our salvation in Him, not conditions for salvation.

Understand that the unclean woman was Jewish so the treatments that she suffered at the hand of her doctors were in line with what the Law of Moses commanded and also carried out using the law as a guide. But in spite of all of her efforts and suffering at the hands of her religious doctors, she only got worse and broke to boot. Her unclean state which made her a pariah and liable to being stoned to death if she as much as touched anyone persisted. The law that many are trying to obey in order to be free from the uncleanness of sins arouses sinful desires that result in the proliferation of sins. See Romans 6:14 and Romans 7:5-

“For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.”

To be in the realm of the flesh is to depend on the arm of flesh (human effort) for the attainment of godliness or anything good, e.g. Ishmael was born according to the flesh while Isaac was born according to the Spirit. With the Spirit of the Lord, it is neither by human might nor power that we bear fruit aka produce good works that are acceptable to God. Recall God referred to Isaac as Abraham's only son. Human effort-driven fruit or “righteous" works are neither recognized nor acceptable to God for inheriting Abraham's blessing. But false doctrine preachers make according to the flesh out to be wanting to commit usually lust-related sins with reckless abandon. See the TPT version of Romans 7:5-

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.”

The one with the old/sin nature still has the sin nature that all of mankind inherited from Adam. He strives to be godly/righteous by human effort and believes that he can contribute something to deserve to “not perish but have eternal life;” he does not believe that he is a new creation in Christ, made righteous solely by Christ's obedience with no human effort additives 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.”

In her bleeding state, the woman with the issue of blood could never bear children/fruit. This is a picture of many in the church today who are suffering under the oppression of Pharisee-type "pastors" that are averse to preaching the word of Christ- the same word that the woman with the issue of blood heard and thus abandoned her useless works for God's undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour aka Grace. Such keep the flock focused on obeying the Ten Commandments in order to be godly/clean or doing works of the law and things like 70 days' fast by their own human effort/will-power in order to be free from their issue of sins, sickness, barreness, lack and every earthly ill that holds man captive.

These (self)righteous works cannot save anybody. They will only make the doer get worse, have no good works (fruit) and worst of all, keep the doer separated/cut off from Christ who is Grace-personified, just as the unclean woman’s efforts got her nowhere, worsened her situation and acted as a barrier to touching Christ who is Grace-personified..until she heard the truth about Jesus. Works of the law done to get God to bless or heal are a barrier to receiving from God. See what trying to keep the law in order to be godly/righteous/whole does in Galatians 5:4-

"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."

Isaiah 64:6 tells us how God sees those righteous works that many think will make God like and bless them because they misinterpret “faith without works is dead” thinking that works of the law are the same as works of faith-

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

The law is not of faith. The difference between works of the law and works of faith is the mindset about how these works come about- by human effort or through the power of Christ in us? One can boast about works of the law. It’s doers always go about using “faith without works is dead” to deceive people into thinking that we who are under Grace don’t believe that works are necessary. Antichrist pastors make it look like being under Grace means you do nothing but twiddle your fingers idly or commit sins with reckless abandon since your sins are forgiven. Not so! On the contrary, in Christ, we get to produce a harvest of good works for God. Our testimony is like Paul's in 1 Corinthians 15:10-

"But because of God’s grace I am what I am. And His grace was not wasted on me. No, I have worked harder than all the other apostles. But I didn’t do the work. God’s grace was with me."

How is God's grace wasted on a person? See this in Galatians 2:20- "I do not get rid of the grace of God. What if a person could become right with God by obeying the law? Then Christ died for nothing!"

It is impossible for doers of works of the Law to deceive themselves in this matter: if you knew and believed that it is Christ in you doing the works and not your own might and power, it would be difficult for you to point accusing fingers at others who are still held captive by sin and threaten them with judgment if they don't change. Rather, you would see how helpless man is to overcome sins and produce good works by his arm of flesh (human effort); as Moses did with the Israelites that were showing deathly symptoms (acts of sin that lead to death) of the snake sting (sin nature) within them, you would point such to Christ who saves from sins and transforms the sinner who truly believes to live right and produce good works, as you say He is doing for you.

With works of faith, Christ gets all the glory for the many good works that we get to do and which the world can see. We know that without Christ our Righteousness and Strength working in us, we would all collapse into the sins-ridden and helpless mass of flesh that we are of ourselves.

As a result of doing all these seemingly righteous but in reality, dead works of the law in order to get God to bless and heal, like the woman who could not bear fruit in her unclean state when she was separated from Grace (Christ Himself,) many churchgoers continue to hemorrhage sins and symptoms of death (sickness, poverty, etc) and cannot bear fruit/good works: they have no works to show for their faith because their faith is dead/made void by their efforts at trying to produce wholeness and good word by human striving aka law-keeping.This is why many churchgoers, like the woman as she bled for 12 years, keep on jumping from one monthly deliverance session to the other, depending on useless arm of flesh-driven 70 days' fasts prescribed by religious doctors (pastors) to make God change their story and waiting for power to change hands when Christ has utterly disarmed Satan and put the power and dominion in our hands with His death and resurrection. Beloved of God, let's not be found here. Sin has dominion over such-

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

Believer, like the woman with the issue of blood who is a picture of the church, your sins and uncleanness are not the barrier to receiving health, wholeness, peace and eternal salvation from Christ. How could they be when Christ's key job description is outlined for us in Matthew 1:21-

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

Plus God's Salvation from sins and all earthly ills in Christ is free and without terms and conditions like "Do you have sins" or "Have you paid tithe?"-

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32-

God gives us all things freely with Christ, even salvation from sins and grace to live a godly life as well as do good deeds.

Due to the teachings of antichrist pastors who have positioned breaking the law (having sins) as a barrier to touching and receiving from Christ like the religious doctors of the woman with the issue of blood, many of us have been conned into believing that Christ only saves from issues like sickness and accidents and only after we have sowed seed or fasted for 70 days. Many of us have been conned into believing that overcoming the issue of sins is our own responsibility. Many of us have been conned into believing that we have to make ourselves clean (sin-free) by doing "good" things using our useless human effort aka arm of flesh that will fail before we can be saved from our issues! But if you can be clean or sin-free by yourself, why do you need Christ to save you from your sins?

By Grace, let's take our blessed brains to church. Not every assembly is the "assembly of the brethren." Many "pastors" are simply mouthpieces of Satan- preaching the same attractive but deathly doctrine that Satan used to deceive Eve in Eden: that one can be godly (be like God) by human effort (arm of flesh) at doing something, just like the woman with the issue of blood who was led to believe tha her works could bring her salvation from her issue

Beloved, our Saviour's key job description is "Saviour from sins." He is Jehovah Tsidkenu - the Lord our Righteousness. We have no righteousness of our own.

Our best efforts at producing righteous works in order to be godly (be like God) or saved only result in the production of menstruation rags in God's sight- just like the woman with the issue of blood when she followed the dictates of the law and depended on her religious doctors' human effort/arm of flesh-driven prescribed activities like fasting and sowing seed to ginger God to make her whole.

So what is the barrier to receiving salvation from issues such as sins, sickness, lack and all earthly ills from Christ? Beloved of God, it is those (self)righteous works that "pastor" tells us to indulge in in order to be godly/whole or to get God's freely-given blessings.

Whatever it is that one is doing by his own power in order get God to bless, heal, deliver, provide or in order to "not perish but have everlasting life" is a barrier to receiving from God. It is whatever we think will contribute an iota of righteousness into to our account with God. The one who doing these useless works in order to get God to bless is telling God who gave His own Son to die for us so that we might freely have His blessings that His sacrifice of Jesus was unnecessary. This is the height of pride- dependence on human effort (arm of flesh) at attaining godliness. Beloved, let's not be found here. Never trust yourself. Trust in Christ our Wisdom from God. Proverbs 28:26 says

"A man is a fool to trust himself! But those who use God’s wisdom are safe."

Only two people did Christ describe as having great faith throughout the gospels: the centurion with the sick servant and the idol-worshipping Canaanite woman with the severely demon-possessed daughter. These people were not Jews. They had no baggage of laws kept, church attendance and good deeds done that should make them deserving of God’s freely-given blessings. They were as undeserving as could be but they heard something that many today are not hearing about Jesus and freely received from Jesus, as all who hear and believe do can today.

Like the woman with the issue of blood, come to Christ empty of all of your own "menstrual rag" righteousnesses (obedience to the law and good works that you think should make you deserving of God's freely-given blessings) and see our Saviour Jesus Christ in the fullness of His Grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) towards you. Christ calls this great faith. See God's counsel to us in Isaiah 30:15-17 (MSG)-

"God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: “Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on Me—..."

Beloved of God, whatever your own issue is- sickness, lack, unemployment, too much kids' homework, even sins and addictions - like the woman with the issue of blood, let's stop our silly efforts to save ourselves and take all of our issues to our Saviour Jesus Christ. He will save. He will heal. He will deliver. He will lead you to hear His Word. He will build your faith. He will save you from your sins. He will cause you to bear fruit to God. No questions asked!

The darker our background of uncleanness/sins, the greater the brightness of His glory that shines through us as we are being transformed by His Spirit. This is the hearing by which faith comes: the same word that the woman with the issue of blood heard and was saved from her issue: the word of Christ who is Grace-personified. In Him, we never remain the same

The word of Christ by which comes the hearing of faith is believing that God saves and blesses His children in Christ- not because of what we have done but freely and because of what Christ has done. We have nothing to boast about but Christ. Our works of faith are all Him.