Lesson for February 28, 2024
Confess with Your Mouth Jesus as Lord
Romans 10:8-10, “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 are preaching,that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.’”
The conjunction in verse 9, “that if,” is used after the verb “preaching” from verse 8 to indicate the content of what is communicated in the message of salvation (the word of faith). Understanding that this passage was written about unbelieving Jews will clarify everything Paul taught in these verses.
The Greek verb for confess is “homologeo,” which means to agree, to admit, to acknowledge, to cite, and to make a legal statement. So, what Paul began with was “that if you confess with your mouth.”The point which Paul was making was that the Jews could not ignore Who Christ was and escape the consequences of eternal damnation. “Confess with your mouth” is a Greek idiom that meant to agree with God regarding the deity of Jesus Christ, not an audible confession to a congregation of people. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah prophesied throughout the Old Testament. These Jews had to first realize and believe Jesus was Who He claimed to be – God in the flesh.
This was therefore an expression of faith, which could be either verbal or non-verbal. The expression occurs in the soul. Words may be spoken with the “mouth,” but they are first formed in the soul. The unbelief of the Jews was blinding their minds regarding Christ as deity. This is why Paul said they first needed to acknowledge that Jesus was God in the flesh by acknowledging “Jesus as Lord (deity).” The Resurrection was mentioned because, if you ignore the first coming of Christ as the sacrifice for sin, you make the Resurrection unnecessary. If you blot out the Resurrection, you blot out salvation. The Resurrection confirms that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.
The Biblical heart is the mentality of the soul designed for thought, memory, vocabulary, categorical storage, the conscience, a momentum department, wisdom, and the subconscious. The soul (mind) does the thinking, makes the decision to believe in Christ, and it is the soul that is saved as a result.
What is confessed by the soul is faith in Christ, which results in salvation. This verse does not say and does not mean to walk down an aisle and stand before the church congregation and tell everyone that you have believed in Christ for salvation.
Salvation is a transaction between an individual and God. It does not involve other people. The individual must believe for themselves in Jesus Christ, and no one can do it for them. When faith in Christ occurs in the mind of a person, a confession to God is automatically made in the soul.
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and (even) believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth they confess, resulting in salvation.The key word in this passage is and, which is the Greek word “kai.” This little Greek word can be used as a connective word (and), a contrast word (but), a word for emphasis (and indeed), or to give additional information (even). In our passage, it is used to give additional information to the phrase, “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.”
Romans 10:11-13, “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not beput to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;for ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
This is a quote from the Old Testament in Isaiah 28:16. The complete passage in Isaiah is speaking of Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. It is a reference to Jesus Christ as the God of Israel. The word foundation in Isaiah 28 connotes entrance into the plan of God which can occur only through faith in the Messiah. To the Jews who rejected the first coming of Christ through unbelief, Christ became a stone of stumbling and a rock which would crush them because they refused to believe. (Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8)
The Jews who believed in Christ were never disappointed about that decision because it meant the imputation of God’s perfect righteousness. But for the Jews who ignored the first coming by the rejection of Christ, there was personal and historical disappointment. And, in eternity there will be plenty of disappointment as well, when an unbelieving Jew stands before Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment.
“For all who call upon Him” is not a reference to verbally calling out the name of God or praying out loud. Calling on God means to mentally acknowledge Christ as the payment for sin. Therefore, “for, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” This was a quotation from Joel 2:32 that Paul applies to salvation of the soul, even though it is referring specifically to the Second Coming of Christ and the Jews who are going to be delivered at that time. In the case of the Jews Paul was writing to, it means eternal salvation.
Romans 10:1-4, “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire, and my prayer to God for them (Israel) is for their salvation.For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own (righteousness), they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”