“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.” (Romans 10:9-10)

The ‘confession (profession)’ of faith as seen in the verse above is often cited and misused by the people who require a ‘sinner’s prayer’ or outer expression of faith … for a forthcoming believer to actually be ‘saved.’

I know that I personally did make an outer expression of faith the day I was saved by raising my hand at an invitation to receive Christ, some respond to so-called altar calls then to recite a so-called ‘sinners prayer.’ Yet, I also know of many genuine believers who never made such an expression of faith when they were first saved. This then begs the question:

‘Is an outer expression of faith the dispensational requirement for salvation during today’s Gentile age of “the dispensation of the grace of God”?’

Let’s now see “What saith the Scripture” (Rom. 4:3, Gal. 4:30).

Genuine grace believers should know that their Apostle, Paul, makes clear that what saves a soul today is one thing alone; believing ‘faith in Christ’ thereby appropriating His crosswork for them.

Salvation today is not based Israel’s required ‘faith plus a public confession of that faith’ as noted in our text. Luke wrote this below, quoting Paul, our “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13), concise answer the Philippian jailer’s question; “Sirs, what shall I do to be saved.” Paul answered;

“Believe on (trust in) the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts 16:31).

We of today’s grace age are solely by “saved by Grace through faith (alone)… as “the gift of God” … “not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9, cf. Rom. 11:6)

Many Christians, Pastors and teachers today consider Romans 9-11 to be the most difficult part of Romans. As we will see, this is only because they ignore ‘context,’ which is critical for proper Biblical understanding. The discussion in this paper, is based upon seeing our text in its context in order to properly interpret what Paul is saying.

To establish Paul’s context for Romans 10:9-10 we must consider a key overarching understanding that we learn only through Paul’s thirteen epistles, which is that … we must divide what applies to Israel from … what applies to “the Church, the body of Christ.”

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 (as seen in the KJV only)

It is in Romans chapters 9-11 that Paul explains Israel’s state or condition before God at that time. Thus, we have the context of Romans 10:9-10. These three chapters of Romans were written specifically concerning Israel’s salvation, as noted here.

“Brethren, my (Paul’s) heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they (Israel) might be saved. (Rom. 10:1)

The truth of Romans chapters 9-11 cannot be seen by those who ignore “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2Tim. 2:15) as we are instructed to by Paul, our “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13). Most commonly preachers ignore dividing that which applies to Israel ONLY from … that which applies to “the Church, body of Christ.” We must always have this rule in mind in order to read the words involved in ‘context.’ Thus, we note here below the ‘conditional requirement’ for Jewish salvation in “the cities of Israel” (Matt. 10:23)

during the early Acts period.

“IF thou shalt confess (profess) with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 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. ¹¹ For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” (Romans 10:9-11)

The word “IF” in Rom. 1:9 lays down the required condition for salvation of a Jew at that time, saying … “If… thou shalt confess with thy mouth.” This is a ‘faith plus works’ requirement that is consistent with James’ epistle that was written “to the twelve tribes (of Israel)” only (cf. James 1:1). James went on to say of Jewish salvation, “faith without works is dead” (cf. James 2:17).

Yet, the ‘sinner’s prayer people’ (usually the Fundamentalist/Evangelical/Pentecostal Denominations) use Romans 10:9-11, making it harder for lost people to understand the simple truth of “salvation by grace through faith (alone)” (Eph. 2:8-9).

Some say one must audibly confess that ‘Jesus is Lord’? No! While Jesus in fact is “Lord,” His Lordship in the life of a believer implies sanctification in the life of a believer. This Lordship is a 2^nd stage and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of genuine believers (cf. Philip 2:13). Who of us can claim today that we are fully sanctified in our daily living?

So, are these denominations correct in using Romans 10:9-10 as a ‘profession of faith’ proof text… for today? Should we Bible believers use Rom. 10:9-10 in our Gospel tracts and Gospel messages today? NO!

Actually, these verses are saying Israeli salvation during the Acts period required ‘faith… plus the external work of a public profession of faith’ as the proof of an Israeli’s faith.

I realize that this study may make denominational religious people angry, but as Rom. 3:4 says, “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” We’re not interested in advancing any denominational doctrinal bias. The Bible “rightly divided” is right, no matter who it contradicts!

The most basic principle of Bible hermeneutics (the ‘method for Bible interpretation’) is ‘context.’ From time immemorial, people have been taking Bible verses without paying attention to their ‘context.’ Cults and denominations are notorious for this. They also use partially quote verses, or quote verses or phrases that fit the theological system of their denomination of sect. Verses and Bible phrases that challenge their theological system are disregarded in hopes that no one will study the Bible for himself or herself, and discover the ignored words and the ‘context.’ They could learn how religious tradition has cheated them!

Nothing is more tragic than misquoted Bible verses that only serve to complicate and muddy Paul’s pure grace gospel message; cheating the unsaved and the immature, unlearned believers from learning the TRUTH.

Many lost souls were at one time ‘church-going people’ who never clearly heard Paul’s genuine “gospel of the grace of God.” They may hear a few verses here or there, some more than others. However, many of them heard a watered-down, confusing, Gospel message. They heard salvation verses that belong only to another people (i.e., Israel), in another age. Those verses do not belong to the age of “the dispensation of Grace of the grace of God.” One case in point is our text, Rom. 10:9-10.

So, Romans 10 is not at all about Gentile salvation. While often used as the basis for a ‘Gospel invitation’ to publicly display one’s faith, Romans 10:9-10 is actually not speaking to us or about us today.

According to Paul, he is discussing Israel’s Salvation! So, before we take Romans 10:9-10 and try to apply it to us today, we had better first look at verse 1 of Romans 10 to see the ‘context’ and who it concerns.

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for ISRAEL is, that they might be saved.” (Romans 10:1)

Now, will we believe the Apostle Paul’s words as one who is writing by “inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” or will we believe some denominational bias?

Romans 10 is actually the heart of a three-chapter passage, Romans 9-11. These three chapters are the Paul’s discussion of the nation Israel’s past, present, and future. If you want to read about the basis of Gentile salvation, Paul had already talked about it at length in the first five chapters of Romans. Romans 10 concerns Israeli salvation as it was during the Acts period! Gentile salvation was already settled by Paul in the previous chapters of Romans.

Continuing with Romans chapters 9-11, there are protestants who erroneously believe ‘the church today has replaced Israel.’ They’ve misused and confused the Grafted-In Olive Tree Branches of Rom. 11, saying Israel was the branch cut off and we of “the body of Christ” was grafted in place of them. This is not so! The Catholic Catechism, Para. #676 says the Roman church is the ‘new Israel.’ NOT true! God will fulfill all His promises to Israel! (See, “The Olive Tree of Romans 11,” a multi-part study at www.artlicursi.com.) These examples add to the confusion people have with such assumed contradictions when actually there are no contradictions in the Bible.