Romans 10:9-10
Bible verses · Also called: Romans 10:9, Romans 10:10, Rom 10:9-10, With the mouth confession is made unto salvation, Jesus is Lord
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9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
A passage teaching that "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." It preserves one of the oldest confessions of faith of the early church and is widely used in evangelism and in the sinner's prayer.
Context
In chapter 10, Paul says that Israel, being ignorant of God's righteousness, sought to establish its own. In verses 6–8 he quotes Deuteronomy 30:12-14 to show that righteousness is not obtained by ascending into heaven or descending into the deep; rather, it is the word of faith that is "nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." Verses 9–10 then explain this "mouth" and "heart." Verses 11–13 declare that there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, citing Joel 2:32.
Interpretation
- Faith and confession as a pair: Because "mouth" and "heart" are a pair drawn from the quotation of Deuteronomy, they are read not as two separate conditions but as the inward and outward aspects of a single faith. Most denominations understand the passage this way.
- The weight of "Jesus is Lord": "Lord" (Greek kyrios) is the word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to render the name of God, and in the Roman Empire it was a title applied to the emperor. The confession is therefore read both as an acknowledgment of Jesus' deity and as a rejection of any other master.
- Public confession: Baptists and many evangelical churches understand "confess" as a public confession made before others and connect it with the profession of faith made at baptism.
Debates and Issues
Some critics argue that it is an oversimplification to teach that salvation is secured simply by repeating a "sinner's prayer" based on this passage. They stress that confessing Jesus as "Lord" means a change in who is master of one's life. Others counter that speaking as though salvation depends on the degree of one's obedience obscures grace. In the English-speaking world, this question was the subject of the so-called "lordship salvation" controversy.
In the Korean Church
This is one of the passages most frequently cited as the basis for the sinner's prayer in gospel tracts, in evangelism training programs such as Evangelism Explosion, and in new-member classes.
Related Passages
- Deuteronomy 30:11-14
- Joel 2:32
- 1 Corinthians 12:3
- Philippians 2:11
See also 6
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