Today we’re looking at Romans 10:1-13 with an emphasis on verse 9, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (CSB) In our passage today, Paul is voicing his concern over the spiritual condition of Israel. Beginning at the end of chapter 9, he talks about how Israel has followed the law but has not gained salvation because of they rejected Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. They “worked” at being righteous without believing in Jesus through faith. They followed the law explicitly, but when it came to believing who Jesus was and trusting in His act of redemption, they turned their backs on Him.
Paul goes on in chapter 10 to say that he is concerned for their salvation. Even though they had zeal for God, they didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah and had no knowledge of why He had come to earth and they didn’t submit to His righteousness. They thought that following the letter of the law would save them. But Paul explains, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.” (Romans 10:4 CSB) Paul goes on to say that righteousness comes from faith, faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross! Not only is this true for the nation of Israel, but it is true for everyone, Jew, and Gentile alike. Paul emphasizes this in verse 12 when he says that there is no difference between the two because the same God offers salvation to anyone who asks.
That righteousness, or salvation, comes through confessing Jesus is Lord, and believing that He died for our sins, was buried, and raised from the dead, and lives in Heaven at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (KJV) Jesus did the hard work of becoming the sacrifice for our sins so that we could be saved. Notice it’s because of faith in God’s grace that we are saved. It’s nothing we can do on our own. We can’t work our way to an eternity in Heaven, we can’t buy our way in, only Jesus’ death on the Cross paid the debt for our sin, and we must accept that by faith. We can’t get in with a “Jesus plus” philosophy. We can’t add to what He has already done.
Paul goes on to say, “One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:10-11 CSB) When we come to Jesus and ask His forgiveness for our sins, and to cleanse our hearts and make us a brand-new person, we become part of His family. Then we have become Born-Again. We are saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We begin a journey toward an eternity in Heaven with Him.
It is that faith in what He has done for us that saves us. We put ourselves in His Hands, allowing Him to do work in us that will make us more like Him. He changes us from the inside out. Our salvation comes through faith in what He has done, and that’s all that we need.
donnasmusings 