Romans 10:9-11 - Declaring and believing

10:9

There are two central elements to believing the gospel. We confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that He is risen from the dead. The version of the Old Testament used in New Testament times was the LXX, the Greek Septuagint, and in this version word Lord was used for God thousands of times. This is important for there are some who will claim that calling Jesus Lord did not signify His deity, that the deity of Christ is something that was added on by the church in later years. This is simply not true and is not supported by the evidence. Saying Jesus is Lord is saying He is God. Moreover, it was also a political statement. The mantra of the Roman Empire was that Caesar is Lord, so confessing that Jesus is Lord was not mere words but a bold statement that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. In some ways we face a similar situation today in our increasingly anti-Christian western culture. A current example is society's attitudes to homosexuality and transgenderism. Society is trying to promote a totally unbiblical view and demanding that everyone goes along with it. But society is not lord, Jesus is Lord.

Believing in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead. The resurrection is central to the gospel. We worship the living Lord, not a dead prophet. In the Bible “heart” does not just mean emotions, rather it concerns the whole of the inner man, our emotions, mind, will and spirit.

So there is outward action and confession, and inner conviction of the truth.

10:10,11

This verse should not viewed in an overly mechanistic sense, inward belief and conviction and outward declaration in both word and deed go together. Remember also what Paul is doing here in Romans. He is proclaiming and explaining that salvation is by faith not by law. The importance of inward conviction is a common theme in the Old Testament. In places God complains that the Israelites only honoured Him with their mouths not with their hearts (eg Isaiah 29:13). The way of faith was not an alien concept to the Old Testament. In order to back up his point Paul then quotes from Isaiah 28:16. This verse stresses the importance of belief, the universality of the principle of faith, and the effect of faith. This promise of not being put to shame is increasingly important in an age when society is ever more anti-Christian. We can be confident in our God.