9 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.
Beginning with verse nine, Paul developed the content of what we believe. The issue is genuine faith.
9 that
The word “that” indicates the content of Christ’s saving message. It matters not only who we believe but what we believe. The emphasis is on content here.
if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
The idea of “confess” alludes in this context to Deuteronomy 30:14 (cf. v. 8). Confession is public identification with Christ as the Messiah. The Greek word means to say the same thing. We agree that Jesus is God Almighty.
“Lord” indicates Jesus as sovereign God. The Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) uses the word “LORD” over 6,000 times for the name of God.
Confession with the “mouth” indicates that the confession must be made audibly and openly. This is a confession that, as Lord, Christ as God is sovereign over all things, especially sovereign over our salvation.
and believe [point action—Greek] in your heart
Believing in one’s heart is to believe with one’s entire being. This is a belief that grabs the person; it is not superficial belief or fideism. What the heart believes the mouth confesses. Belief is primarily a mode of thinking, not emoting.
The “heart” in the New Testament is not emotions but the entire being—mind, emotion, and will. This means that belief is more than a function of the mind; it is a function of the mind, but it is more. Believing with the “heart” is no token assent that Jesus rose from the dead.
Note that in 10:9 confession precedes belief, and in 10:10 belief precedes confession. The reason for this is twofold:
“Mouth” precedes “heart” in Deuteronomy 30:14 (v. 8)
Verse nine emphasizes the incarnation first and the resurrection second in chronology. Verse 10, however, stresses the order of the believer’s personal experience as: (1) salvation and (2) confession. First one believes and then confesses that belief.
The first half of verse nine gives the result (confess) and the last half gives the means of salvation (believe). This verse gives the result first and the cause later, but the next verse gives the cause first and the result later.
that God has raised Him from the dead,
The resurrection is completely unique; it is a distinctive of Christianity. Belief in the resurrection is a corollary of confession that Jesus is Lord.
1 Co 15:17, And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
you will be saved.
God will save the soul that believes that Jesus is God and that He raised the humanity of Christ from the grave.
PRINCIPLE:
What the heart believes the mouth will confess.
APPLICATION:
Confession is the inevitable result of believing. The Bible never affirms faith without content. Faith in faith (fideism) is never presented in Scripture. There are two items we are to believe in our verse: (1) Jesus is Lord and (2) the Father raised Him bodily from the dead.
The resurrection of Christ validates the Christian faith. His resurrection proves that salvation from Him is true. The Father put a stamp of approval on the person and work of Christ at the resurrection.
Ro 1:4, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
True faith will manifest public confession of that faith.
1 Ti 6:12-13, Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
There are those who claim that we must make Jesus Lord of our lives to be saved. Subjective lordship for salvation is not found in the Bible, but only objective Lordship; that is, Christ as Lord is God Almighty. If to be saved we “make” Jesus Lord, to what degree are we to make Him Lord before we are considered saved? It is clear that we accept Him as Lord God; that is, we believe in His deity.
Thank you, thank you, Grant, for using a Bible translation which, in Romans 10:9 states: “that if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart. . . . .” as opposed to “that if you
confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. . . . .” There is a SIGNIFICANT
difference in concept between the two Scripture quotes.
The first simply IDENTIFIES Jesus as Lord, but the second quote states that we must FIRST
perform a “work” IN ORDER to be saved. This second quote leads to the “Lordship salvation”
concept.
Salvation is a GIFT. On the day I,( a pagan at that time) was saved in 1978, I did not have to go to a
Bible or Bible commentary and spend hours attempting to figure out the “how” and “why” of
Jesus’ deity. I elected to receive the GIFT and was immediately saved, period ! I THEN began the
“work” of studying in order to understand the Bible, the deity of Jesus, and the road which God sets
before His saints.
On Bible Hub (web site), I was able to, within seconds, compare MANY Bible translations of Romans
9, and found that, of the Translations presented on that site, 21 use “Jesus is Lord” and only 9 use
“the Lord Jesus.”
Again, thanks for using a translation which conveys true theology.
Michael,
Thanks for your comment and testimony. It is a blessing.
Grant this is what you wrote above:
“This means that belief is more than a function of the mind; it is a function of the mind, but it is more.”
Are you just meaning that upon believing that the life of the believer will have a dramatic effect on their thinking, attitude and eventually their behavior?
What are you meaning by ; it is a function of the mind, but it is more?
Thank u
Grant below is a snipet from an article from gotquestions.org:
Does this statement below tie into what your saying that belief is more than a function of the mind?
(Article entitled “is asking Jesus into your heart biblical” (edited):
Even the word believe can be misleading if it is presented as mere intellectual assent (agreeing that certain facts are true) instead of as trust (relying on those true facts). Judas Iscariot believed certain facts about Jesus, but he never trusted Jesus for salvation. Salvation is not about believing a list of facts. Salvation is not even about asking God to forgive you. Salvation is about trusting in Jesus as your Savior, receiving the forgiveness He offers by grace through faith. Salvation is about being made new through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
Thanks
Scott, my point in this study was to clarify what is meant by the word “heart.” The English meaning of the word heart carries primarily the idea of emotions. The Greek word has the meaning of the whole person: mind, emotion and will. Making a decision for Christ is not essentially an emotional experience but a decision of the entire person, which primarily involves the mind and will.
I can agree with your last statement but I would add that salvation is more than “trusting Jesus as your Savior;” it involves trusting the death of Christ to pay the penalty for a person’s sins.
One point of clarification: when a person goes positive volition toward Christ they may not have a full understanding of the substitutionary death of Christ; that comes as a person gains further clarity about the true meaning of the gospel.
Ok great- thanks
Do you have to believe Jesus is God to be saved?
Randall, “Lord” refers to deity, however, I don’t think it is necessary to understand all the ramifications of His deity.
Do you have to believe in the Trinity to be saved, and if you don’t believe in the Trinity is that cult?
Do you have anything on the Trinity teaching?
Randall, here is an extremely brief summary:
THE TRINITY
A. Definition
There is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and cocqual persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence.
B. Proof
1. OT intimations. The OT does not reveal the Trinity but it allows for the later revelation of it.
a. Passages which use the plural word Elohim and plural pronouns referring to God (Gen. 1:1, 26: Isa. 6:8.
b. Passages which speak of the Angel of Jehovah (Gen. 22:11, 15-16).
2. NT confirmation. In the NT there is clear revelation that Father, Son, and Spirit are God; thus a Trinity or Trinity (neither is a biblical word).
a. The Father is God (John 6:27; Eph. 4:6).
b. Jesus Christ is God (Heb. 1:8).
c. The Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4).
d. The Three Persons are associated equally and as one (Matt. 28:19, “name”; II Cor. 13:14).
Randall, I do not believe it is necessary to understand the Trinity to be saved, but one cannot deny it.
Grant your title is a pastor teacher,and you sure do allot of teaching, and i am very sure that everyone that gets on your web site including me really enjoys your teaching. Praise God for TEACHERS like you, with sound gospel teaching. Thanks again. in Christ Randall
Randall, I am blessed by your hunger for God’s Word.