It shows that faith is the direct, sole true, and sure means to salvation. Hence the accusation arises of itself: why, then, do you not believe?
For the completeness of the accusation, the Apostle now either devises himself, or introduces someone else devising, what could still justify the unbelief of the Jews. Then he proves that this last refuge for justification is out of place.
Thus he sets forth, in all its force, the inexcusable character of Jewish unbelief. He speaks as though saying: the Jews' unbelief and their failure to call upon the Lord Jesus could still be excused.
Their failure to place in Him the hope of salvation could also be excused, if they had not heard of Him. They might not have heard because there was no preaching. There might have been no preaching because there were no sent preachers.
This would completely excuse them. For it is natural that one who has not believed should not call upon the Lord or place in Him the hope of salvation. It is natural not to believe when one has not heard what must be believed.
It is natural not to hear of this when there is no preaching. It is also natural that there be no preaching when there are no sent preachers.
But the matter is not so. Preachers were sent (verse 15). Those to whom they were sent, the Jews, heard their preaching (verse 18). They not only heard, but understood (verse 19). Yet they still remain in unbelief.
Therefore, after this nothing remains by which they could be excused. They are guilty on every side. "Thus the Apostle, saying this as if in defense of the Jews, thereby increases the accusation pronounced against them" (Blessed Theodoret).
The first question, concerning calling upon faith, is proposed because of the preceding discourse in which this was discussed. It is proposed as a transition to that upon which the Apostle chiefly wished to fix attention.
This was what he especially needed for the purpose of accusation: the hearing of preaching and the sending forth to preach. For now the chief grounds of accusation lie here. The first two matters have already been discussed above.
Answering these last three questions, the Apostle begins with the last (see Blessed Theodoret) and proceeds upward through the questions. Were the preachers not sent? They were sent. Did the Jews not hear? They heard. Did they not understand? They understood.
It is noteworthy that the Apostle takes his answers, "they were sent," "they heard," and "they understood," not from what was visibly taking place before everyone's eyes. He takes them from prophetic predictions about this.
In answer to the question, were the preachers not sent, he does not say: look, here am I, here are the Twelve, and here are many other helpers of ours. We all do not go of ourselves, but are sent.
He does not say this. Instead, he sets forth the prophecy about it: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good tidings!"
In answer to the question, did they not hear, he does not say: how could they not hear? We go directly to the Jews and preach first in their synagogues. Instead, he offers the prophetic word: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth."
In answer to the question, did they not understand, he does not say: how could they not understand? We explain to them in detail what the matter is. They understand, but through attachment to the Law they do not want to believe and persecute us.
They are especially angered when, departing from them, we offer the word of faith to the Gentiles and convert them to the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not say this. Instead, he depicts the same thing by the prophetic word: "I will provoke you by a nation that is not a nation."
Why does the Apostle act in this way? So that he may present the matter more strikingly. How reality answered all the questions was clear to everyone. To speak of it would only have been an unnecessary multiplication of words.
The Jew who heard such questions received the answer to them within himself, in his own conscience. It remained only for the Apostle to illuminate and sanctify these answers by that which the Jew valued above all: the prophetic word.
It is as though he says: you see what reality answers you. Yet you do not see how important is the meaning of all that is taking place before you. I help you in this.
Return in thought to the depths of the prophetic predictions. You will understand that everything now taking place, and what you are doing because of it, was foretold long ago.
It was foretold that the Jews would hear their preaching, understand, and yet not believe. But if the sending of preachers is the work of God's direct will, then the refusal to accept their preaching can only be recognized as resistance to God's will.
What sense is there in resisting God? From this understand what you should do. Recognize the folly of your resistance to faith. Condemn yourself for it.
Hasten to correct a deed worthy of God's condemnation by a deed worthy of God's good pleasure. Correct unbelief by faith.
As for the questions proposed in this fourteenth verse and at the beginning of the fifteenth, they are clear in themselves. They are proposed only to mark beforehand the points for accusing the Jews.
The accusation itself again proceeds by questions, but with answers attached to them. These answers lead to an accusation that admits no reply.
Here we should note that, according to the flow of the discourse, after "How shall they preach unless they are sent?" and before "as it is written," one must suppose the question: but were the preachers not sent?
They were sent, as it is written. The subsequent structure of the discourse compels us to suppose this. Below, the question is given: "Have they not heard?" An answer is offered in prophetic words.
Still lower another question is given: "Did Israel not understand?" Again an answer is offered in prophetic words. But at the beginning of these questions and answers, in verse 15, the prophetic word stands, while the question does not.
Therefore there is a need to complete the discourse mentally by inserting the question: were the preachers not sent? Then the answer should be read: they were.
THEOSIS