Romans 10:9-10:
**"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto Salvation."**
1. **Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus**: The act of confession here is not merely uttering words but is intended to be a public acknowledgment of one's Faith, a verbalization of a deeply held belief. In the context of early Christianity, this public confession could even lead to persecution, making it a significant act of Faith.
2. **Believe in your heart**: This goes beyond mere intellectual agreement and delves into the realm of personal conviction. It speaks to an inner, heartfelt assurance that Jesus is Lord and that He has been raised from the dead.
3. **You will be saved**: The result of both confessing and believing is the assurance of Salvation. The process is marked by both an inward transformation (belief unto righteousness) and an outward declaration (confession unto Salvation).
Word Study
Believe (Pisteuō in Greek)
1. **Intellectual Belief**: At its basic level, "believe" refers to an intellectual agreement with a statement or fact. However, in the Biblical context, it goes beyond that.
2. **Personal Trust**: The Biblical concept involves trusting God’s Grace for Salvation. It's an active, dynamic aspect of Faith, not a static state.
3. **Ongoing Conviction**: Belief is not just a one-time event but an ongoing state of being. It carries the idea of continual trust and reliance on Christ.
Confess (Homologeō in Greek)
1. **To Speak the Same Word**: The Greek word "homologeō" literally means "to say the same thing as another." In the religious context, it signifies agreeing with what God has said about Jesus—that He is Lord.
2. **Public Acknowledgment**: Confession in the Biblical sense often involves a public declaration of Faith. It's an outward expression of an inward conviction.
3. **Commitment to Christ's Lordship: To "confess the Lord Jesus" is more than simply acknowledging His existence or His role as Savior. It implies a commitment to His Lordship over one's life, potentially at great personal cost.
Both "believe" and "confess" in this context point toward a transformative, lifelong commitment that goes beyond mere verbal consent or mental agreement. They demand an active, ongoing relationship with Christ that impacts both inner convictions and outward actions.
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