Understanding Roman's 10:10

Understanding Romans 10:10

Beloved of God, consider Roman's 10:10-- “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

In this verse is the key to understanding what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and how our righteousness in Him is everlasting and apart from works.

See the NLT: “10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Notice that the verse begins with “For"? Take a text out of its context and you'll be left with a con; understanding the verse in its context is hinged on understanding the preceding verse 9. Verse 9 itself has a colon (:) before it, meaning that its context is contingent on verse 8. Verse 8 begins with “In fact," meaning that its context is contingent on verse 7, which itself begins with “And", and so on.

To cut a long story short, the books of the Bible weren’t divided into chapters and verses when they were written. For example, Romans 1-end was just one loooong letter written by Paul. Bible scholars divided the books into chapters and verses.

Taking books, chapters and verses out of their context is like reading a verse from Genesis “...Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.” and yet another in Luke - “Go and do likewise” to mean that we must slay our brothers. The entire Bible is like a perfect embroidery with no loose ends, all the books inter-connected, making sense and giving life as a whole to all who believe and only through God’s Wisdom for all who believe - Grace Himself: Jesus Christ. Here's Romans 10:1-10 and how verse 10 is the key to right believing and salvation from all earthly ills through Jesus Christ:

VERSES 1-4: 

“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in Him are made right with God.”

“the people of Israel” here were very zealous about right living but they tried to attain righteousness by keeping the law. Paul called their enthusiasm misdirected. The futility of trying to get right with God by keeping the law and how all who believe in Jesus Christ are righteous in God's sight and apart from obeying the law is a recurring theme in Romans.

VERSE 5: 

“For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.”

Notice all? James 2:10 says “For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble at one point he is guilty of all.” The one who thinks he can keep the law by his strength in order to make God look upon him favourably has to keep the whole law in order for anything that he does to matter in God's sight. No one can. Romans 3:20 says- 

“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.” 

Isaiah 64:6 describes all of man's righteous works as “a menstrual rag" in God's sight. Only God's righteousness that He freely gives to all who believe in Jesus will suffice for God to declare any righteous.

VERSES 5-10: 

“For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.” 6 But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth).7 And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” 8 In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand;

it is on your lips and in your heart.”

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

See the NKJV of verses 9–10, the condition for our salvation:

“that 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. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

A person can confess Jesus as Lord all he wants but he is not saved unless he believes that God has raised Him from the dead - this encompasses believing what Christ accomplished for us through His being raised from the dead. But why was Christ raised from the dead? What did He accomplish for us through His resurrection? This is the key to right believing:

God raising the Lord Jesus from the dead was not just because He could. His resurrection is the divine receipt showing that we who believe have been forgiven of all of our sins and made righteous by His "single sacrifice for sins, good for all time" (Hebrews 10:12.) This according to Romans 4:25-

“Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."

See the The Passion Transation: “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!”

Christ would not have risen from the dead if our lifetime of sins had not been forgiven and we had not been declared righteous by God. His resurrection is akin to seeing someone who went to serve a death sentence in an impregnable prison for the crimes of another walking free.

The wages of sin is death. One death. Christ died that death ONCE for ALL. He died the death that the Law demanded of us, fulfilling every single demand that the Law made of us. Hebrews 9 tells us:

"27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. ..."

Believer, Jesus is not going to come and die again or demand payment for sins that you might commit in the future. All of our lifetime of sins have been fully paid by Him. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned unmerited favour. Thanks to the false teaching of antichrist pastors, some churchgoers think that God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ will make people go on sinning sprees, but the word of the One whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's says differently in Romans 5:16–17:

“16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

On the flip side, 1 Corinthians 15:56 says: “It is sin that gives death its sting and the law that gives sin its power.” Sin strengthens its grip over those who try to keep the law in order to be holy: 

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace.” Romans 6:14. 

But many have this verse backwards. The message of the cross is illogical to human reasoning. Our salvation and life in Christ is a mystery to the world and not subject to human logic or common sense. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:18:

"18 For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God."

As believers, we know that the wages of our lifetime of sins (death and all of its symptoms aka earthly ills like depression and unemployment) have been fully paid and we have everlasting righteousness because Christ is risen. This righteousness is not dependent on how well we obey the law. It is a gift. This helps us see Romans 10:10 in its context:

"9 that 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. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Salvation here is not just being saved to go to heaven; it is also deliverance from the molestation of enemies and redemption from all earthly ills. It is being saved from the power, pleasure and penalty of sin. The word used in the original Greek text of the New Testament is Swthria (pronounced soteria) and it encompasses all these meanings.

When you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and speak out your righteousness in Christ that you believe in your heart, salvation follows. This is crucial for every believer, especially when Satan the accuser fires fiery darts of accusations — strongholds/reasonings, imaginations and thoughts that try to get us to take up the burden of guilt for our sins — to trick us into coming under the judgment of the Law. See this in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,"

From what we are up against in the verses above, we see that this warfare that Paul wrote of here isn't fought in some coven, church building or some mountaintop; what we are up against is "arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" and "thoughts." 

Satan the accuser is a legalist. Ha Satan is literally “prosecutor at law” in Hebrew. Remember how Satan deceived Eve into believing that she was not like God the Righteous when in fact God made she and Adam in His likeness? The battleground for this warfare is our minds where we analyse thoughts and arguments that tell us that we are not righteous (like God) because we don't quite have our physical lives all together; those thoughts that try to condemn us so that judgment can follow- the same processes found in any regular court of law.

Satan the accuser can't just go about slapping judgment on anyone. He is a prosecuting attorney who's out to accuse, get convictions and ensure that the sinner gets the harshest judgment: Death preceded by its symptoms of earthly ills. But all have sinned. Christ died our death. Once.

We overcome not through carnal weapons (arm of flesh/human effort-driven activities at getting a “not guilty" verdict) such as doing restitution like Judas, promising to keep the law and being more obedient or attempting to break generational curses with 40 days' dry fasting when Christ already hung on the tree to redeem us from the curse of the law. We overcome by bringing the weapons of the enemy (accusations of the accuser) into captivity to the obedience of Christ, according to the same passage.

But what is the obedience of Christ? 

Who better to interpret the Word than the Word Himself! Romans 5:19 tells us all about the obedience of Christ and who we are because of His obedience-

"For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous."

Satan’s strategy has not changed since he deceived Eve in Eden: In this court of law, all who depend on their own obedience/human effort at being godly (be like God) stand accused and condemned. With their admission of guilt and their arm of flesh/human strength-driven efforts at being godly (like God) in order to make the Righteous Judge look favourably upon them, they reject Christ as their Bearer of sins and Advocate, so their sins and guilt remain on them. As it is in any earthly court of law, condemnation and judgment must follow after guilt is ascertained. Death (preceded by its symptoms of earthly ills such as stupid mistakes, poverty, sickness, anxiety and depression) is the outcome. This is how the letter kills. But the Spirit gives life and with the Spirit of the Lord, it is neither by human might nor power.

The law condemns all who try to do the seemingly good thing of keeping it in a bid to be declared “Not Guilty" by God the Righteous Judge. This is the way that seems right to man (attaining godliness by human strength as Adam and Eve tried to do) but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12.) The ones on this wrong way are no different from Peter when he implied that Christ didn't know what He was saying when He told him about his then upcoming denials; Peter thought he could obey the law (Eighth Commandment- “You shall not bear false witness…”) but ended up falling flat on his face three times. The ones on this broad road are like Judas who sinned and tried to get back into God's good books via his human strength (arm of flesh.) 

Recall the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy? Recall Adam and Eve were created in God’s likeness but were conned into believing differently? Satan made Eve believe that she (who was made in God’s likeness) could be like God through human effort (arm of flesh) at doing something. Before Satan the accuser/prosecutor at law can kill and destroy, he has to first steal the WORD that proclaims that we who are in Christ Jesus (our Advocate and Bearer of sins) have been declared “not guilty” or righteous (like God) by God (the Righteous Judge) Who, because of His sacrifice of His own Son for us, sees all who believe as godly/righteous and no longer remembers our sins and lawless deeds; see this truth in the witness of the Holy Spirit (our Witness) to us in Hebrews 10. 

Notice the judicial terms above:

God the Righteous Judge who has declared all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ “Not guilty.” Romans 8:33- “Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be His? God Himself is the Judge who has issued His final verdict over them—“Not guilty!”

Jesus Christ our Advocate and Bearer of sins who suffered and died to make us godly (be like God) as prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 53:11- “After He has suffered, He will see the light of life. And He will be satisfied. My godly Servant will make many people godly because of what He will accomplish. He will be punished for their sins.”

The witness/testimony of the Holy Spirit to us (Hebrews 10:17.)

Satan the “accuser of our brethren” who brings charges against believers in Christ (the brethren) day and night. HaSatan is literally prosecuting attorney in Hebrew. This helps us see Revelation 12 in its context:

"10 Then I heard a strong (loud) voice in heaven, saying, Now it has come—the salvation and the power and the kingdom (the dominion, the reign) of our God, and the power (the sovereignty, the authority) of His Christ (the Messiah); for the accuser of our brethren, he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out! 11 And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing]."

Beloved of God, like any earthly prosecuting attorney, the only weapon in Satan's arsenal is the law which he uses to accuse/charge in court and which condemns all who think they can keep even a jot of it in order to merit the favour of God the Righteous Judge. Such who try have dismissed Christ as their Advocate and Bearer of sins - 

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace.” Galatians 5:4.

Since Christ is Saviour from sins, those who hold on to their guilt and indulge in the (self)righteous work of trying to be godly by themselves as Adam and Eve did cannot experience salvation from sins, including those sins in Revelation 21:8 which some pastors use to threaten churchgoers. Christ came to save us from them all.

We overcome Satan the accuser by the blood of the Lamb (by which we are made righteous in God's sight- Romans 5:9) and the word of our testimony (in Christ, God does not remember our sins and lawless deeds- this is the testimony of the Holy Spirit to us in Hebrews 10:17) which we proclaim. This is how Satan kills and destroys: first, he has to steal “the word of our testimony” that says we are declared “not guilty"/made right with God through the blood of Jesus and escape God's wrath because of Christ's sacrifice and nothing else- Romans 5:9-

”And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God.”

Satan's accusations/charges can only stick where one is depending on his own strength to obey/be godly aka "be like God" and not utterly depending on Christ our Advocate and Bearer of sins in order to “not perish but have everlasting life.” Judgment (death preceded by its symptoms of earthly ills e.g. stupid mistakes at work, depression and sickness) must fall on all who reject Christ as their righteousness and are striving to be godly/righteous (be like God) by their human strength as Adam and Eve tried to do.

Spiritual warfare is a legal battle where we overcome through the obedience of Christ- Romans 5:19:

"For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous."

The righteous like God (through faith and utter dependence on Christ our Advocate) get to escape paying the wages of sin and to live the abundant life in Christ. The wicked (those who expect the Righteous Judge to give them a favourable verdict based on their mentrual rag good works and obedience) face judgment. This is why we often wonder why bad things happen to good people. There is none good but God. The difference between the righteous and the wicked is receiving God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of Righteousness to us in Christ.

A fall like that which happened to Peter when he denied Christ is not far from those who trust their strength and think that they can keep the law in order to be godly like God. Depression and suicidal thoughts (Judas mode) are not far from churchgoers who tow the path of trying to “mend things” in order to be good with God or pridefully trusting in their arm flesh aka human strength/ability at obeying the law in order to be godly/righteous like God. Such reject Christ as their Bearer of sins and Advocate. Such reject the witness/testimony of the Holy Spirit who witnesses to us that in Christ, God does not remember our sins. Believers, by Grace, never trust yourself. Proverbs 28:26 tells us:

"The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe."

Trust in Christ our Wisdom from God who restores sinners and failures to glory as he did with Peter who sinned copiously after he trusted in his strength to keep the Eighth Commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Some church leaders try to compartmentalize the law into moral law/oral law/ceremonial law and say that we who believe are still subject to some of these compartments of the law. What a horrid antichrist teaching! The law is a whole, just like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (a picture of the law which kills/gives the same knowledge and which many are eating of in a bid to be godly/be like God - see Romans 7:8-12 The Message.) As it was with eating of the tree which has many parts (bark, leaves, root, etc,) eating of any part of the law (the letter) kills, whether moral, oral, ceremonial or the one with which man privately judges himself in his heart (see Romans 2:12-15.) Whatever it is that man does by his arm of flesh/will-power/human effort in a bid to become godly like God, to contribute to his godliness or in a bid to “not perish but have everlasting life” is law-keeping.

Romans 7 also shows us that the law that we who believe are dead to includes the Ten Commandments; Paul used the 10th Commandment (You shall not covet…) as an example in this chapter. Try to keep the law and sin will increase. See Romans 5:20-

“The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more.”

This does not mean that God accommodates sins as antichrist pastors who twist and distort the verse “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound" and try to malign God’s saving Grace imply. It means that no matter how many or how vile your sins which man is helpless to save himself from are, they cannot match the power of God's saving Grace who delivers His people from them all when you look to Him alone for salvation (as the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness - Christ’s word in John 3:14–17) and put no confidence in your human effort (arm of flesh) at being godly. Beloved of God, God’s Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

In Christ, we are not under law but under Grace. We have no righteousness of our own. The Lord Himself is our Righteousness. In Christ, we have salvation from every earthly ill and death in hell. Romans 5:9 says of God:

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

As it is in any earthly court of law, there is no condemnation for those who are righteous in God's sight. See Romans 8:33- “Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be His? God himself is the Judge who has issued His final verdict over them—“Not guilty!””

Whatever man thinks that he has to do by his own strength (arm of flesh that will fail) in order to get right with God or be godly like God is law. No matter the nature- oral, moral, ceremonial- accepting guilt for sins that Christ suffered and died to take away upon accusation and worse, going the way of Judas in a bid to make things right is being under law. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life is a popular Bible verse. With the Spirit of the Lord, it is neither by (human) might nor power aka arm of flesh.

When you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and speak out your righteousness in Christ that you believe in your heart, salvation, including salvation from sins and every earthly ill, follows, 

“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:10.

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Grace is for sinners who know that they have no good in them of themselves, not those who can save themselves from their sins or obey the law in order to be godly aka “be like God” and earn a ticket to heaven. Beloved of God, Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:21 says of Him:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Christ is Saviour from sins. He saves from the cancer of sin and the death that follows. No man can save himself. We all need God's saving Grace to the same extent. For all who believe in Jesus Christ, God the Righteous Judge sees us as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins"- Romans 5:16-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”

It is because of those sins that He came- to save us from them all. Beloved of God, beware of “spiritual wickedness in high places” pastors whose trade is describing the truth of Grace (God's word!) as “blasphemy”/“license to sin.” Such point out sin and ungodliness which Christ died to redeem us from and then promote the attainment of righteousness/godliness (be like God) by human effort aka the arm of flesh. This is the same seemingly good but deathly false doctrine that Satan used to deceive Eve in Eden.

Peddlers of this false doctrine never point you to Jesus Christ the Tree of Life who gave His life to make us godly/righteous in God's sight (Romans 5:9) and to free us from every kind of sin (Titus 2:14.) They point you to the law (human effort at attaining godliness) as Satan deceived Eve.They preach that God's abundance of Grace and His gift of Righteousness to us in Christ are license to sin and tell you to depend on the knowledge of good and evil (law-keeping) in order to be rigteous/godly aka be like God. But God's word says differently. His word says receiving His abundance of Grace and His gift of Righteousness to us in Christ is the Way to live in triumph over sin and death:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

Beloved of God, come to Christ with your baggage of sins and imperfections, trusting His goodness, and experience what He came to do:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.