A Word from Romans 10

If you’ve been a Christian for a few years (and even more – a Christian in an evangelical Protestant church), you’re probably familiar with part of today’s word Romans Chapter 10, which offers a well-known explanation of what we need to do to be saved. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’” the passage says, “and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it’s with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it’s with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (10:9-10)

Naturally, it’s important to know that it is faith—and our confession of faith—that saves us, rather than our efforts to “earn” God’s favor through what we do or don’t do. And yet, it’s important to keep in mind that the “faith” we’re talking about is “faith in God” and not “faith in some ritual we performed,” as if going through the right motions is more important than having the right heart. One of my favorite authors describes the difference like this:

There’s a wonderful old song that says, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” But the lyrics are not, “Blessed assurance—based on my compliance with the stipulations, they can’t keep me out now.” No, we trust the person, not the arrangement. As one writer puts it, “Christ doesn’t save by going around handing out tickets to heaven. He saves by giving himself.” (John Ortberg, Eternity Is Now in Session]

That’s probably why the very next verse in today’s word says this: “As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’” (10:11; emphasis added) It’s our trust in Christ that makes the difference, and not our trust in the boxes we checked on somebody’s “How to Get Saved” list.

And so today, let’s make sure that what we “declare with our mouths” is what we “believe in our hearts.” And may confidence in our salvation come from the God who loves us and is with us today, and not from the religious hoops we jumped through at some point in the past. Amen.