In Romans 10.16, Paul writes, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel.”

This strikes some as an odd way of speaking. Obey the Gospel? Isn’t Paul concerned to emphasize belief as an alternative to obedience?

Of course, there is plenty of evidence in Romans that Paul is just fine with describing the saving response to the Gospel as obedience (Romans 1.5; 6.17; 15.18; 16.26). But yesterday the more immediate context struck me for the first time. Paul has just used Deuternomy 30 to refer to the Gospel:

And the righteousness of faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, 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 (10.6-9).

And what does Deuteronomy 30 repeat four times?

• return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul (v. 2)
• And you shall again obey the voice of the the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today (v. 8).
• If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it (v. 16).
• Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them (19b, 20).

I think that last reference is especially Pauline in insisting the Israelites can only inherit the blessings promised to Abraham if they trust God the way Abraham did.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”–in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.