Rom 10:9
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” – English KJV
“ὅτι ἐὰν ὁμολογήσῃς ἐν τῷ στόματί σου Κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν, καὶ πιστεύσῃς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν, σωθήσῃ” – Greek Text
“hoti ean homologeses en to stomata sou kurion Iesoun kai pisteuses en te kardia sou hoti o theos auton egeiren ek nekron sothese” – Greek Pronunciation
This is an awesome verse. Here we find a promise from God; a covenant between the Almighty Creator and fallen man. This verse not only tells us the reward, but the conditions to get it. Reading this carefully reveals that there are important things that we must do before we will be saved.
“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus”
There are two very important things that we need to take note of here.
1) Confess with thy mouth
The Greek word to take note of is “Homologeses”. We do not have a word in English that properly translates the complete meaning, so the best is to break it down.
This word means the following:
a) Acknowledge and agree
b) Confess
c) Make a covenant
d) Give thanks
It is essential for these four points to be done audibly (with thy mouth). This is not merely indicating that we should say these things out loud, but that these four points should be visible to others as well. These points apply to whatever comes next…
2) Lord Jesus
Many translated versions have changed the word order from “Lord Jesus” to “Jesus is Lord”. Both statements may be true, however, the grammar of this verse has been used for a reason. What is the difference between the two statements?
Anyone can say that “Jesus is Lord” because it is the truth. Even the devil can say that Jesus is Lord, because whether he likes it or not, Jesus is Lord. However, not everyone can say “Lord Jesus”. Confessing “Lord Jesus” is confessing that Jesus is Lord over you. A Satanist can say that Jesus is Lord in Heaven, but he will not proclaim that Jesus is his Lord. See the difference?
It is vitally important to remember that even Satan believes in God. Believing in God is not that special, all it means is that we are on the same level as Satan! The difference only comes in when we accept Jesus as our Lord.
The first condition is not proclaiming “Jesus is Lord”, but rather “Jesus is MY Lord”.
So the first condition is the following:
a) Acknowledge and agree that Jesus is Lord over you.
The Middle Ages is a good example to look at. A peasant could not choose their lord, if they wanted another lord they needed to relocate. They agreed that their lord is whoever owns the land they live on. If they rebelled they were thrown out, imprisoned, tortured or killed. For us to be saved we must agree and acknowledge Jesus’ rule over our lives. This means that we must relocate (repent of our sins and break away from our old master) and move into God’s Kingdom. We cannot serve two masters.
b) Confess audibly that Jesus is Lord over you.
If you asked a peasant who their lord was, they would tell you, even if they were ashamed of who ruled over them. How can we, who are ruled by the Creator of the Universe, who carries the name above all names, hesitate to confess this fact to the world when peasants that had terrible rulers did not? We should never hide the fact that we are governed by the Almighty God! We must confess that we were previously ruled by sin (confession to God), and confess that we are now ruled by Jesus (confession to the world).
c) Since Jesus is our Lord, we must promise to abide by His rules. This is a very important covenant, one that must be taken very seriously.
Did you know that there was a time in history where only one nation in the world had a fair justice system? The Israelites used the commandments in the Torah to govern their nation. These rules never changed, they were constant and applied to everyone (and still do today). Every other nation was ruled by whatever laws their ruler would declare, all of which could change with the inauguration of the next leader. If a ruler said that murder is acceptable, then murder was accepted. Israel was the exception. They lived by the unchangeable laws of God (as we do today). God gave us one set of laws and He does not change His mind over issues every now and then. If we proclaim that Jesus is our Lord, we need to accept His laws and live by them, there is no other choice.
d) Give thanks that you have opportunity to have Jesus as your Lord.
We do not deserve His lordship over us, we deserve eternal separation from Him, yet Jesus wants each of us in His kingdom. We must be thankful for this opportunity. HOWEVER, we must choose His lordship over us willingly or else we cannot be saved. God will not force us to follow Him, He will allow us the opportunity to do so. We must grab this opportunity and be thankful of it!
All four of these statements combine to make the first condition of this contract.
“and shalt believe that God raised Him from the dead”
Condition number two:
Notice that we cannot prove that God raised Jesus from the dead, we can only believe it in our hearts. The only time we will ever prove this fact is when Jesus returns (and then it is too late). The second condition therefore calls for faith.
It is the faith within us that God is looking for, however, there is something specific here. Not only should we have faith in general, but specifically have faith that “God raised Jesus from the dead”. It is of no use to live a good lifestyle and try to follow the rules but not believe that Jesus lives! How can we be governed by a dead ruler? Jesus LIVES! We do not live our lives for some grave but for a LIVING KING!
Jesus conquered the grave and therefore conquered sin as well. If we do not believe that He conquered our sins for us then we cannot embrace His victory. If we cannot embrace His victory we cannot be saved and our sins will condemn us. The victory of Christ is the cornerstone of our faith.
The first condition requires us to live our lives for our Lord Jesus. This is a visible change in our lives and should serve as example to others.
The second condition is not visible to the world around us, but is visible to God. We can deceive people, but we cannot deceive God.
“thou shalt be saved”
What an awesome promise!
Note that this means we actually need to be saved...
There is something that we need to be saved from, something so terrible that God gave His only Son so that we don’t need to meet that fate. For God to give His only Son means that whatever that fate is we can be sure that we will not like it and that God does not want us to face it!
There are “Christians” who teach that there is no Hell… If there is no Hell, what do we need to be saved from? Why would Jesus give His life if it was not absolutely necessary?
Notice also that God is making a promise.
Some denominations within Christianity believe that we cannot assume that we are saved and that we will only discover our fate when God judges us. I do not agree with this. God offers to make a covenant with us. If we follow these two conditions we will be saved, that is a promise from God. His laws do not change and He will never break His promise. Therefore, if we stick to our side of the bargain, God will stick to His.
Those who say that we cannot know whether we are going to Heaven or not is actually saying that God is a liar! (and that is a very serious sin)
I might not be able to judge and say whether another person is going to Heaven or Hell (Since I cannot see whether they are working on the two conditions, especially the second), but I can look into my own life and see whether I am working on both conditions.
It is important that we constantly look at our lives and ensure that we are keeping our end of the bargain. Are we declaring that Jesus is Lord over our lives, rather than merely declaring Him to be Lord “somewhere”? Are we keeping His commandments to the best of our abilities and repenting of those that we break? Is Jesus visible in our lives? Are we living a thankful life? Do we believe and share in His victory? Do we have faith in Him?
These are important questions that we always need to check, because if we answered ‘yes’ to all of these questions (which should then be evident in our lives) then we have an awesome destiny ahead of us!
