Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Wow! There is quite a bit of great information in this amazing scripture but baptism is not here.
This scripture identifies two of the five steps in the Biblical Plan of Salvation, confession and belief. Confession happens with the mouth and belief occurs in the heart.
The thing we must believe is that Jesus rose from the dead. No-one would do this if they did not believe in Jesus and they would not believe in Jesus if they had not been told about him by an evangelistic disciple. This means that everyone who makes the confession, “Jesus is Lord,” has heard the message and accepted the message which are the first two steps in the Biblical Plan of Salvation. But there is more…
There is a process.
When we accept the message, it means we are agreeing with what someone has taught us about Jesus… specifically that he died for our sins and was risen by God to life again. We are taught that if we want to be free from our sins and enjoy eternity in heaven, we should put our faith and trust in the work Jesus did, on our behalf, at the Cross. We are taught that He paid the price for our sin and there is nothing we can do to earn or merit the free gift of eternal life. This is the Gospel.
Since we have a humble, open heart and want to follow Christ, we ask… like so many before us, “What must I do to be saved?”
Romans 10:9 tells us we must confess with our mouth, “Jesus is Lord.”
We can’t argue with this. It’s very simple. This is the next step in the Biblical Plan of Salvation. A serious problem occurs when me make an error in logic and claim this is ALL we need to do.
All you need to do…
Now remember, this scripture has been offered by the anti-baptism proponents as a proof text; proving that baptism is not necessary for salvation. So is confession the ONLY thing I need to do or is it ALL I need to do? Of course not. I have already stated that we must believe the message and accept the message. Also, repentance is not mentioned in this scripture. Shall I ignore the biblical requirement of repentance before salvation just because it is not mentioned in Romans 10? Of course not! When we are studying this important subject we must see a composite, not just a fragment taken out of context.
Confession is a work?
Confession with my mouth is something I must do. It is something I utter. It is an action I take. It is an act I perform. According to this scripture, after I do this action I “will be” saved. Did you notice the future tense of the verb? The scripture does not say, “I have been saved.” The correct chain of events puts salvation after confession. The second part of the scripture plainly states that we are saved with our mouth. Something happens with our mouth. What? Our confession happens that “Jesus is Lord.” This scripture says that my mouth or my confession saves me!
OK. So, here’s the question. Because confession is something I must “do” to be saved, doesn’t that make it work of man or a work of merit? No? Why? Because it is a command of God, just like Baptism is a command of God. A command, which I have no choice but to obey, can not, by definition, be a work of man at the same time. It is required, so I must I obey it. Confession, like baptism is an act of faith.
It’s confusing because it’s out of context.
This is baffling to me. Why would an anti-baptism proponent choose this scripture to prove their point when it says nothing about baptism yet holds up an action which might just as easily be called a work of man. Confession isn’t any more a work of man than baptism or repentance. I am told to confess. I am told to repent. I am told to be baptized. All of these things precede the forgiveness of sins scripturally. All of these things are commands I an not authorized not break. Why is baptism singled out as an ineffective work of merit but belief, accepting the message, repentance and confession are not? I don’t see the difference. Please help me understand.
How is confession not a human work of merit?
Because God told me to do it!
Enjoy!
Dana Haynes
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