Thoughts on Romans 10

Today’s reading: Jeremiah 34; Romans 10

Does your understanding of salvation match up with Paul’s in Romans 10, or do you look for more or less than what he says is actually required?

In the middle of Romans 10 Paul says, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Paul is discussing the question of Jewish vs. Greek identity for salvation, and declaring that you do not need to be an ethnic Jew for salvation, nor convert to Judaism and keep Torah, because the law has never made anybody righteous; what salvation requires is what he has been arguing throughout the letter already, faith in Christ.

This is the root and heart of the Christian faith. Our entrance into heaven is not about the family we grew up in, the church we attend, the good things we’ve done, the bad things we’ve avoided, a prayer we’ve prayer, or anything else we can accomplish or claim for ourselves. Our salvation, our entrance into heaven, is based on nothing other than a sincere trust in Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for sin, and His subsequent resurrection from the dead. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins, and that is the hope of your salvation, then you are saved, simple as that.

It doesn't require more than this, but it also doesn't require less.

It is not uncommon to talk to people who will tell you they will probably go to heaven when they die because they've been a pretty good person, or because they've never killed anyone or anything bad like that, but neither of these is enough. As James puts it, if we keep the whole law but fail in one place, we are guilty of all of it, so no matter how good you think you've been, or how much bad you think you've avoided, you are guilty before God and need your sins paid for. Jesus died to pay for your sins, but if you do not put your faith in Him for that payment, you will be held accountable for them yourself. You cannot go to heaven apart from faith in Christ.

But it is also not uncommon to talk to people who will affirm that you start your spiritual life by faith, but who will then require certain works or practices to maintain it. One of the largest "Christian" denominations in the world teaches, for example, that if you miss going to church on a given Sunday, you are condemned for it before God. Somehow I think Paul missed that memo when he was writing to the Romans (or to any of the other churches he wrote to for that matter). Yes, being an active part of a local church, serving, giving, loving others, praying, reading the bible, and so many other things, should really be an outworking and expression of a healthy spiritual life, but they are not what is required for salvation.

If you believe with your heart Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

There is much more to the Christian life than merely this, but all of the Christian life finds it's root in this simple truth, that my entrance into heaven, my standing before the Lord, my adoption into His family, my being filled with His Spirit, my salvation is found by faith alone in Christ, who died to pay for sins and rose from the dead to raise us with Him into eternal life.