How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Parallel translations
- WEB How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?
- BSB How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?
- NKJV How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
- NASB How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?
- NLT But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
People cannot call on Christ unless they believe, cannot believe unless they hear, and cannot hear without a preacher. Salvation depends on the gospel being proclaimed.
Overview
Paul traces a chain backward from calling on Christ to the necessity of preaching. Faith requires hearing the message about Christ, and hearing requires someone to proclaim it. This passage grounds the church's missionary task: since salvation comes through faith in the gospel, that gospel must be brought to those who have not heard. It shows that God's sovereign plan includes human means of proclamation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mark 16:15–16And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Acts 26:17–18Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
- Titus 1:3But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
- Acts 8:31And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
- Heb 11:6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
- Luke 24:46–47And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
- Jas 5:15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
- Eph 4:21If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
- 2 Tim 4:17Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- Acts 19:2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
- John 20:31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
- Jonah 3:5–9So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
- 1 Kgs 8:41–43Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;
- Rom 16:25–26Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
- Rom 1:5By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
- Jonah 1:9–11And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
- Jonah 1:5Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
- Jonah 1:16Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 10:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.