By Dave Rudolph, Managing Director Biblical Ministries Worldwide South Africa
Romans 10:1–17
Not long ago, I met a missionary couple serving right here in South Africa whose calling is unlike anything I expected. Their mission? To bring the Gospel to the pastors in their own denomination—men who stand in pulpits across our country yet do not personally know Jesus.
Yes, you read that correctly.
By all reasonable estimates, more than 75% of the pastors in that denomination are not born again. This is not a fringe movement; it is the largest denomination in South Africa, claiming over 10 million members. The missionaries’ task is both astonishing and heartbreaking: evangelise pastors, disciple them, and train them in the Scriptures—helping them unlearn years of misguided teaching and embrace the true Gospel.
It raises a troubling and necessary question: How can a nation with centuries of Gospel presence still be filled with churches—and even pastors—who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus?
And then we remember Solomon’s words: “There is nothing new under the sun.”
The Apostle Paul confronted the very same reality in the early church. In Romans 9 and 10, he describes religious Jews, even leaders who were zealous, disciplined, and trained in Scripture—who nevertheless missed the righteousness of God entirely.
Paul opens Romans 10 by returning to the tension he raised in chapter 9: Why did the Gentiles—who weren’t even pursuing righteousness—receive it, while the religious Jews, who chased it through the law, completely missed it? The answer is painfully simple. They pursued righteousness through works, not faith. Though grace was freely offered to them in Christ, they rejected it because they depended on their own goodness to save them. Spiritually blind, they trusted in their own efforts rather than in God’s righteousness.
And what Paul saw in his own people is still true today. Many religious South Africans—even some pastors—are hoping their good works will earn salvation. The problem is real, and we shouldn’t be surprised that many who profess Christianity are not actually following Christ. That is why Romans 10 is so vital: it reveals Paul’s deep, urgent passion for people who believe they know God, but do not truly know Jesus at all.
So Romans 10 becomes more than an ancient theological argument. It becomes a window into Paul’s own Gospel heartbeat—a passion for misguided people, for the message that can save them, for the mission that carries that message, and for the messengers whom God sends.
Paul’s Passion for the Misguided (Romans 10:1–3)
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved…”
Romans 10 opens with a confession that Paul carries deep sorrow for his own people—people who, like many South Africans today, are deeply religious yet spiritually lost. Paul speaks of their “zeal for God,” but not “according to knowledge.”
Paul’s deep concern stemmed from the reality that Israel, though zealous for God, lacked a genuine knowledge of Him. Their religious devotion was sincere, yet without a personal relationship with Christ, their efforts could not bring salvation. Their zeal alone was not enough—they were spiritually lost despite their outward commitment.
And this was not a passing concern.
Across three chapters—Romans 9, 10, and 11—Paul’s passion bleeds through the text:
- Romans 9: “great sorrow and unceasing anguish…”
- Romans 10: “my heart’s desire…that they may be saved.”
- Romans 11: “Has God rejected his people? By no means!”
Paul loved his people enough to grieve for their blindness. He loved them enough to pray earnestly for their salvation. And he loved them enough to tell them the truth they kept missing.
It is no different today. Many South Africans are banking on their good works to save them. Paul’s heartbreak for his nation is the heartbreak we must carry for ours.
Paul’s Passion for the Message (Romans 10:4–9)
If Paul grieves over the misguided, it is because he knows there is a message powerful enough to rescue them.
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
The Gospel transformed Paul’s life, and it is the very message he longs to share with his own people. Salvation brings a personal relationship with God through Jesus, and it is freely available to anyone who confesses and believes—Jew or Gentile, slave or free. It is more than religious knowledge or outward ritual; it is a spiritual, life-transforming gift from God.
This is the truth that burns in Paul’s heart, the message he passionately wants to proclaim to those still trying to earn God’s favour by their own efforts.
If people are lost, if religion cannot save, if works cannot justify, then the only hope is that someone will proclaim this message with clarity and conviction.
Paul’s Passion for the Mission (Romans 10:10–13)
In Romans 10, Paul seems to be driving towards one clear idea that we see in verse 13:
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Having established the message, Paul now shows how it moves. The Gospel spreads—not by accident or intuition—but by intentional proclamation.
But how can they call if they haven’t heard?
And how can they hear unless someone tells them?
Paul emphasises that the Gospel must be delivered in order for it to be received. Confession with the mouth, and faith in Christ requires hearing; hearing requires preaching; preaching requires someone being sent.
This is the mission, and the message is simple for a child to understand:
“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)
Christ is near. His righteousness is available. The call of salvation is wide open.
People must hear—but they cannot hear unless the messenger goes.
Paul’s Passion for the Messenger (Romans 10:14–17)
Here, Paul reaches the crescendo of his argument:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
This is a curious thing to recognise the “beautiful feet” of those who go. Paul seems to be echoing something that Isaiah said in Isaiah 52:7:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
This appears to be Paul’s call for passionate proclaimers to step forward to take the Gospel message to those who are lost and without hope.
Because feet carry the messenger. And without the messenger, the message goes unheard, and the lost remain lost.
Paul borrows Isaiah’s imagery—messengers running across mountains with good news—and applies it to every believer who opens their mouth to proclaim Christ.
If God doesn’t raise up and send proclaimers to preach the truth so that men and women can believe and call on the name of the Lord, then they cannot be saved. That’s quite a statement, and yet that’s how God’s plan works.
God has to send the messengers out. There’s no other way to hear the truth and to believe. A clear message precedes saving faith. It doesn’t happen by intuition. It doesn’t happen by mysticism. It happens when the gospel is received and understood.
And this is the crowning glory of Paul’s argument—if the Gospel has been heard by anyone, it was sent by God. And God is in the business of sending messengers with the Good News. God is behind the entire movement of the Gospel. He’s doing this. He’s raising up the messengers. He’s sending them out.
And there is something special about the messengers God calls and equips to take the message to the lost. He has done something special in their lives. He has given them passionate hearts which have a deep desire for men and women to be saved.
This is not a ministry for the select few. It is not reserved for missionaries or pastors.
Every believer is called to be a messenger with beautiful feet.
What Makes a Messenger Have “Beautiful Feet?”
Paul highlights four foundational convictions of every Gospel-hearted messenger:
- Jesus Is Sufficient
“Christ is the end of the law…” (v. 4)
Jesus is enough, He is sufficient, He alone produces the righteousness of God in us—nothing more is needed. We receive His righteousness the moment we accept the Gospel by faith as we believe in Him. The passionate proclaimer knows this truth: Jesus is sufficient for salvation.
- Jesus Is Near
“The word is near you…” (v. 8)
The messenger with beautiful feet understands that Jesus is near. He has already come, and the Gospel is here. We don’t need to go up into heaven to see Him, nor do we need to go down into the grave to see Him. He’s right here with us!
- Jesus Is Lord
“Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord…” (v. 9)
The messenger with beautiful feet proclaims a risen, reigning King—not a mere religious figure. The passionate proclaimer is convinced that anyone who reaches the conclusion that Jesus is Lord has had their reality changed. They realise they are subject to a new authority, and so they confess that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord of all.
- Jesus Is Resurrection
“…and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead…” (v. 9)
The messenger with beautiful feet believes beyond the shadow of a doubt that the man Jesus, who was dead, is now alive. That He arose bodily from the grave, breaking the power of death. The passionate proclaimer is convinced that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, just as He says He is, and that we serve a Jesus who takes those who are spiritually dead and gives them life—He raises them to spiritual, everlasting life!
A Gospel heart believes these truths deeply—and takes them wherever God opens doors.
A Call to Malawi
Toward the end of this passage, Paul’s passion turns practical. So I will also be practical.
As part of Biblical Ministries Worldwide, we ask believers to pray specifically for Malawi—a beautiful, deeply needy nation in central east Africa.
- 22 million people
- 75% nominally Christian
- Only 12.5% evangelical
- 2.75 million unreached
- 11% Muslim—concentrated along the southern Lake Malawi region
The region of Mangochi, near the Mozambique border, is 98% Muslim—and lies adjacent to areas troubled by RENAMO and FRELIMO conflict. It is spiritually barren, religiously resistant, and desperately in need of Gospel messengers with “beautiful feet.”
BMW South Africa is praying for six South African missionary couples to join a church-planting team targeting:
- The East Coast of Tanzania
- The Comoros Islands
- southeastern Malawi
These are strategic, challenging, promising harvest fields. And we are praying that God will raise labourers from right here in South Africa—from our churches, our communities, our families. Will you join us in praying for these nations?
A Gospel Heart Starts Where You Are
God has placed you in proximity to spiritually dead people—right where you live, work, and play. You may be their only connection to these truths.
So ask Him:
- to give you a Gospel heart
- to awaken in you a desire for the salvation of the lost people in your life
- to make you a messenger with beautiful feet
- to send you into someone’s harvest field
Whether across the ocean or across your street, you are called.
May God create in you a Gospel heart.
And please—join us in praying for the nation of Malawi, and for God to raise up labourers for the fields of East Africa.
You can follow BMW South Africa on Instagram and Facebook—and sign up for our newsletter here.
Start where you are.
Go where He sends.
Carry the message that gives life.
