Who shall ascend

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There are passages in the Bible that are sometimes a little difficult to understand. Sometimes you may wonder, "What did the author mean here?"
The more familiar you are with the spirit of the Bible, the more you become familiar with the different ways of expression of the various authors, and the easier it becomes to understand.
It is also important not to forget that the Holy Spirit is there ready to help us if we spend the necessary time with Him so that He can teach us about the passage in question.

Often the problem is that people isolate a sentence or two from a Bible teaching or a conversation described in the Bible. This not only makes it difficult to understand the meaning if we do not know the context, but it is also easy to drift into wrong explanations that have nothing to do with what the author meant.
Who hasn't asked himself the question: "But what does Paul mean when he speaks of Christ ascending into heaven or descending into hell? ».
Paul is speaking here to Christians of Jewish origin who still mixed the Law and grace in their personal lives. They thought that even if one was saved by grace one still had to follow the Law somehow in order to be fully justified.

So the sentence we are interested in is this one:

Romans 10:6-7 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

To understand this sentence, it is important to consider the context of the sentence.
We have here a perfect example which shows that the cutting of the verses and chapters of the Bible was done not according to the context but for a simple purpose of quicker referencing.
As a result we can sometimes find the same subject which continues to be developed in the next chapter.
This is the case for this sentence which interests us today.
To better understand it, we must start at least from Romans 9:30 and up to Romans 10:9.

Romans 9:30; 10:9 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.
10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 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 which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul is talking about justification by faith, which is being considered a righteous person by God through faith.
He is comparing, or contrasting, the Law given by Moses with the grace given by Jesus Christ.

Paul says that the Jews tried to become righteous before God by trying to keep the Law, but did not succeed (verse 31). These Jews had not understood that we can only be justified before God by our way of thinking (faith), not by following rules with "empty deeds" if I may say so. Empty actions are the example of a person who would act by "doing to do" just as you would pay a bill, for example.

The problem of the Jewish people at that time was that they did things simply to do them, without any deep knowledge of the person of God (Verse 2).
As a result, Jews who chose to remain in a life according to the Law, had no access to God's salvation in Jesus Christ.
This is why Moses said (verse 5) that those who have chosen to live and try to be righteous before God through the Law will be judged by the Law. This means that the Law cannot justify any human being, for no human being is capable of fulfilling the same Law in its entirety throughout his life on earth. Therefore, no one can be justified, that is to say made righteous before God, and be saved by the Law given to Moses.

This is a base, or a foundation, that Paul has just laid down before continuing his explanation.

Then he goes on to say that only Jesus Christ was able to fulfil the whole Law to perfection, so that all humans who choose to believe and accept this fact through His sacrifice in their own lives may have access to this justification, that is, be considered righteous by God.
Paul therefore brings this fact: Faith in Jesus is therefore the only access to perfection before God who opens the doors of salvation for us.

So it is in this context that Paul says:

Paul now goes on to say that to think that the Law alone has the power to save us is wrong.
When Paul says, "Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? “…

In other words, he says, "Do not ask yourself who can be saved by this Law. Do not ask yourself who can accomplish all this Law by his own strength and come into the presence of God for eternity, for the Law would be the only way to salvation. If you ask yourself such a question, you cancel the fact that Christ came to heaven after giving His life for you and give you the opportunity to be saved. With such a thought, you are like bringing Christ down from heaven, for He is of no use to you where He is, at the right hand of God interceding for you."

In the same way when Paul also says, "Or, Who will descend into the abyss? "...

Again Paul says in other words: "If you ask yourself who can go to hell (the world below) and master evil with his own strength, that he may be righteous before God, and if you think that we can master evil with our own strength and righteousness, it is as if you are bringing Christ up from hell. If you bring Christ up from hell, then you cancel the fact that He went there for you in order to make Himself its master. You cannot attain this salvation, for you cancel His action of having made Himself master of hell in order for you to avoid it".

Then in verses 8 and 9, Paul goes on to say that God says that His Word is in the people He is speaking to, ready to be activated by their faith, on a personal decision. He goes on to say that it is only by firmly believing and accepting that Jesus gave His life for us that we are saved, made righteous and perfect before God. The Law does not have the power to save, but faith does.

Bye for now...