Romans 10:9-13 (WEL) If you openly acknowledge with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one openly acknowledges [Jesus is Lord] resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.” 12 There is no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, for the same sovereign Lord is abounding with riches to all who call on him. 13 For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. [Joel 2:32]
V9 If you openly acknowledge with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
There has to be a public verbal statement. An example might be someone asking me if I am a Christian or a similar question. When I answer yes, it is proof. Even if we have a knife to our throat, let us never deny Jesus as our savior. The Greek word for confession (openly acknowledge) is (G3670) ὁμολογέω homologeo, which means to agree with, assent, that is, saying “yes.”
Robertson’s Word Pictures: “…the confession of Jesus as Lord as in 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 2:11. No Jew would do this who had not really trusted Christ, for Kurios in the LXX is used of God. No Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as Kurios. The word Kurios was and is the touchstone of faith.”
Faith, believing, is the condition required by God to be saved (John 3:15-18 and Galatians 3:24). Our faith must be in Jesus alone for salvation. The verbal response is an action proving faith (James 2:24). Works are not necessary; works prove the change. Frequently, this is done during baptism.
The confession is that Jesus is Lord, that is, God, the one and only God. One must have the correct Jesus of the Gospels. There are many false Jesuses; for example, the Mormon Jesus, the Jehovah Witness Jesus, the good buddy Jesus, etc.
It is not keeping the Law that saves, because the Law cannot be obeyed perfectly. Salvation is only by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
V10 For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one openly acknowledges [Jesus is Lord] resulting in salvation.
The heart is the soul of a person. It is the source of decisions and the core of a human being. It is eternal.
Believing is not a mental assent; otherwise, the demons themselves would be saved (James 2:19). Believing is from the heart—a whole-life commitment to Jesus Christ. See Luke 9:62, John 15:4-9, Luke 12:8-9, and Acts 4:12.
V11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”
Isaiah 28:16 (Septuagint). Compare Romans 9:33. Barclay (beware) writes (DAILY STUDY BIBLE): “A man must say Jesus Christ is Lord. The word for Lord is kurios (G2962). This is the key word of early Christianity. It has four stages of meaning. (a) It is the normal title of respect like the English sir, the French monsieur, the German herr. (b) It is the normal title of the Roman Emperors. (c) It is the normal title of the Greek gods, prefaced before the god’s name. Kurios Serapis is Lord Serapis. (d) In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures it is the regular translation of the divine name, Jahveh or Jehovah. So, then, if a man called Jesus kurios (G2962) he was ranking him with the Emperor and with God; he was giving him the supreme place in his life; he was pledging him implicit obedience and reverent worship.”
V12 There is no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, for the same sovereign Lord is abounding with riches to all who call on him.
God’s plan for salvation of humans is the same for Jew or Gentile. Compare Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23. Abraham was not circumcised or followed the Law. The Law was given hundreds of years later. God wants all humans to believe. Because of Jesus Christ—His birth, His ministry, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension, all people have an opportunity to have their sins forgiven and fellowship with God (1 John 1:3. Jesus is Lord of Jew and Gentile; He is Lord of all. This was troubling to the Jew who thought they were vastly superior to the Gentiles, and to think that a Gentile would be saved the same as a Jew would be saved was very difficult. There are no distinctions in believers. Thus, today there are Jews, Gentiles, and Christians.
V13 For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. [Joel 2:32]
It is not a special, elite class of humans who can be saved, for that is blasphemous. The offer of salvation is for all humans (1 Timothy 2:3-5, 2 Peter 3:9, John 3:15-18, Acts 2:21, Isaiah 45:22, Luke 19:10, and Ezekiel 18:23). God wants all to be saved and gives opportunity to do so. If one rejects God’s offer, they will experience unending, conscious torment in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
We learn:
- Salvation is for anyone who believes Jesus is Lord.
- Salvation is only by faith.
- Confession that one is a Christian believing Jesus is Lord is an action proving salvation.
- Denial that Jesus is Lord means that one is not a Christian.
Questions:
- Have you believed?
- Have you affirmed publicly somewhere, sometime that Jesus is Lord?