SALVATION PART 3

II. Believe and Confess

“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; 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.” (Romans 10: 9-10)

The suggested meaning of confess is to speak out to one another.  As it has been said many times one cannot light a candle, place it under a bushel, and expect to see in the darkness – so confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is the answer to the new life received of God; being born again – born of God which makes one cry out ‘Abba’, which is Aramaic meaning, 'Papa'.

There are two activities in these verses: 1) Believing, - “… believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; …”; Salvation on the condition of believing. 2) Confessing, - “and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Confessing is that unavoidable act of acknowledgment to God on the part of the one who is exercising saving faith – acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  It must be noted that there are not two distinct human responsibilities, there is but one with two activities.  There are some who say that confession is a prerequisite for salvation but that counters salvation by grace.  Believing has as a result the confessing of Jesus Christ as Lord.  Confessing Jesus as Lord the moment one is saved may be undertaken, but it is not a separate prerequisite condition of salvation by grace, otherwise the merits of works is introduced where only the work of God reigns.