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Join Wayne Burger each week as he explores various topics and scriptures and challenges listeners to meditate on God's Word more deeply.
Two very popular verses are found in Romans 10:9 and 10. Is this passage the pattern for how to be saved? Let's study these verses together.
"If you confess with your mouth Jesus says Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation." Romans 10:9-10.
Those are two of the most popular verses in the Bible. Many people look at those two verses as the summation of all that somebody has to do in order to be saved.
Let me show you why this cannot be the pattern for obtaining salvation. If that is the case then one does not have to repent. He said there is faith and there's confession but he didn't say anything about repentance.
So if this two verses are the pattern for how to be saved then we don't have to repent. And yet Paul stressed we needed to repent in Acts 17 30 as he preached there in Athens. He said at the time of this ignorance God winked at but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
If Romans 10 9 and 10 is the pattern then one does not have to put on the new man. Colossians 3 verse 10 said that we're to put on the new man. When we make a commitment to God we put off the old person and we put on the new person.
We put away those old habits. We put away those old words. We put away those old actions and put on the new man with the new words and new actions and new attitudes.
So if this passage is the summation of all that we have to do we don't have to worry about putting on the new man. If this is the pattern on how to be saved then one doesn't have to be baptized. And yet baptism is stressed in the scripture so clearly and so many times.
In the book of Acts every time someone is saved they're saved when they're baptized. In Acts 2 we'll start with verse 36 and when they convict that Jesus was Christ the Lord they said what have we got to do and Peter said repent and be baptized. Well if all we have to do is believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord then we don't have to be baptized.
Why did Peter go ahead and say repent and be baptized? It's because Romans 10 9 and 10 is not the pattern. He is simply summarizing and we'll talk about the context later what he's saying to the Jewish people. If that is the pattern then one does not have to live a faithful Christian life.
All we have to do is believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth and then live like we want to. No that's not what that passage says that's not what it means. If this is the case then the one can be saved without getting into a relationship with Christ.
We just have to confess Christ. Paul had already shown the necessity of getting into Christ. You see earlier in chapter 6 verses 3 and 4 he said know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into death.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death and like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in units of life. Paul had stressed that and now then in Romans 10 9 and 10 he's not going to contradict what he said earlier. So this if you just simply took this as the pattern of salvation then Paul was wrong by talking about baptism being necessary.
If this is the pattern and what Paul said in Romans 6 16 through 18 is false. There he said you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered you. What was the doctrine that was delivered to them? The doctrine of the gospel, the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and he said you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered you.
These people obeyed a form of Christ's death, burial and resurrection by dying to their sins, burying the old man in the waters of baptism and arrives into walk in units of life. Jesus died was buried in rows. We do the same thing when we die to sin.
We're not going to sin anymore. We're going to live a different life and we bury that old sinful man in the waters of being baptized and we rise to walk in units of life and so if this is the pattern for all that we have to do is believe in our heart and confess with our mouth then we don't have to be baptized and yet Paul had just two chapters earlier, three chapters earlier and stressed the fact that we have to be baptized into Jesus Christ. If this is the case, if this is the pattern for salvation then this passage contradicts numerous other biblical passages.
Remember for instance Jesus said in Mark 16 16 he that believes in his baptized will be saved. Well this passage in Romans 10 9 and 10 didn't say anything about baptism so therefore you've got what's stated in Romans 10 9 and 10 contradicting what Jesus did said in Mark 16 16 and in Mark 16 16 is where Jesus told his the Bible's go into all the world and preach this message. He that believes in his baptized will be saved.
If this passage in Romans 10 9 and 10 is the pattern for salvation then it contradicts what Peter told the people in Acts 2 as we've already looked at. When the people cried out in Acts 2 men and brethren what shall we do? Peter said repent and be baptized. Now you notice this neither repentance nor baptism is found in Romans 10 9 and 10.
So you have one passage saying one thing and another passage saying another thing. The Bible does not contradict itself. When we take a passage and think this is what it says and yet it contradicts another passage somewhere in the Bible something's wrong with our interpretation.
The Bible does not contradict itself. If this passage is true then all you have to do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth then this contradicts what Paul himself saw had to do to be saved. You see Paul was on the road to Damascus.
Jesus appeared to him. He came to believe in Jesus that day but he wasn't saved that day. God blinded him, sent him into the city and he wanted him to spend three days in blindness thinking about his condition and then when the man came to teach him what he needed to do he said arise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord.
If Paul is speaking the pattern of how to be saved in Romans 10 9 and 10 he is contradicting what he himself did in Acts 22 16. If Romans 10 9 and 10 is the pattern then it contradicts what Peter taught in 1st Peter 3 21. For there he said comparing baptism with the flood wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water the like figure where even baptism death also now save us.
Notice what Peter said in 1st Peter 3 20. He is comparing our salvation with Noah's salvation and we may think that Noah was saved by the ark. No not really.
God was saving him from a wicked world. How did God get rid of the wicked world? He didn't get rid of wicked world by the ark. He got rid of the wicked world with the flood.
The water washed away the world wickedness and when the ark came to rest it was in a clean purified world. That's the reason Peter says the like figure where even God baptized with us will now save us. He said it's just like the water salvation that Noah experienced so we are baptized and saved by the washing of water today and so what we're looking at is this is that if Romans 10 9 and 10 is the pattern for salvation just believe in your heart and confess with your mouth you contradict what Jesus said in the Great Commission he that believes in is baptized you contradict what Peter said on the first gospel sermon that's preached that's recorded in Acts 2 repent and be baptized you contradict Paul writing it contradicts what he did in Acts 22 16 and you contradict what Peter wrote about in 1st Peter 3 21 can a passage that contradicts that much Bible be accurate well it's accurate when we put it in its context Paul as he writes these words are not giving us the plan of salvation is summarizing the condition that must be met by those Jewish people correct biblical exegesis cannot isolate one passage or cause one passage to contradict another passage you see we cannot isolate any one passage and say that's what we have to do there is no one verse that tells everything a person must do in order to be saved nowhere in the Bible even though we may look at acts 2 he mentioned repentance and baptism but earlier he'd mentioned faith there is no one verse that summarizes everything that a person has to do therefore we have to build our case on looking at all of the scriptures as we go through the book of Acts we learn there's a pattern people hear the word they believe what the word teaches about Jesus Christ they manifest repentance in that they turn their life around they then confess the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and they're baptized for the forgiveness of their sins you see there is no one passage that tells everything that a person must do you know if we're just gonna pick a passage and say now this is the passage that tells us how to do it how to be saved we could go to Matthew 19 Jesus told this young ruler if you want to follow me go and sell all that you got and come and follow me is that passage the sum of what we have to do that we all have to sell everything we have in order to follow Jesus no we have to put everything in its context and so it is with this one if one passage tells us all that we have to do to follow Jesus Christ that all Christians would have to do the same thing listen to what Peter said in to Cornelius he said the that Peter would come and speak to Cornelius he'll tell you words whereby you can become obedient to that word there is no one verse that tells everything one must do in order to be saved what we need to do with Romans 10 9 and 10 is keep it in its context Paul is in the middle of teaching the Jews what they had to do to be saved he's dealing with the Jewish philosophy and ideas in chapters 9 10 and 11 and here in Romans 10 9 and 10 basically in the middle of that conversation of material to convince the Jews that they need to accept Jesus as the Savior he summarizes what they did and what they needed to do by saying believe in your heart trust that Jesus accept him as the Messiah trust him as the Savior confess his your faith to him therefore let's keep it in its context the context was Paul was righted a Jews who did not accept Jesus of the Messiah and he's convincing them you've got to accept Jesus accept it in your heart believe in him and then you've got to confess that faith in Christ by your words and by your life the greatest challenge for the Jew was to acknowledge that Jesus was Lord and had been raised from the dead that's what Paul is stressing in this context in hermeneutical terms which is the science of interpretation this is called a synecdoche which is when you put a part for the whole Paul's putting the part of what one has to do to be saved he was not giving all of the details he was summarizing it in one phrase that is you've got to believe in your heart and you got to confess your faith in Christ there is a challenge for us is he really Lord in our life you know it's easy to say that but it's harder first you know it is possible to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and not confessing that was true of the man in John 12 verse 42 through 44 he believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God but he would not confess him second it is also possible to confess but not really believe that was what Jesus was dealing with in Luke 6 verse 46 why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say you see they were saying it but they weren't doing it and so it's wrong to believe that Jesus Lord and not confess it's also wrong to confess and not fulfill third what must happen is that we believe in our heart that he is Lord and that we confess verbally and by the way we live that he is Lord all of that has to go together Paul was not giving the pattern of how to be saved he was summarizing the basic idea for all to be saved particularly for the Jewish people to whom he's writing in chapters 9 10 and 11 and he's summing it up by saying you've got to have faith in your heart and your mouth has to confess Jesus Christ is Lord confessing him as Lord is not just something verbally we do it is something that we must do regularly we must manifest it in the life we live we must manifest it in the way we worship we confess our faith by the way we live and so Paul was not giving the pattern for salvation by saying all you got to do is just hear and believe and confess no he's summarizing it and what are all that's meant by confessing the name of Christ if we confess him as Lord it means we follow whatever he says we've got to do all that Jesus requires this is a great passage but it is not the pattern for how to be saved it is simply a summation of what Paul wanted his Jewish brethren to accept and believe that's what we would say to you this is a good summary but we must study the scripture to see everything else that we need to do Paul the same writer stressed that we had to be baptized in the same book Romans 6 3 & 4 Paul stressed that we have to live the Christian life that's what he stresses in the Romans the sixth chapter Paul was simply summarizing here in these few words what it is to be a Christian the same would be true and the same as what he would say to you today if he were here you need to examine you need to acknowledge that he is Lord and submit to his will he must be willing to confess him with your mouth and by your actions and so we urge you to examine this passage not use it as the pattern for salvation but it's a summary of the life we must live if we're committed to Jesus Christ our Lord
Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God's Word special thanks to Mac Graham, John Kachelman and LightWay Media for recording, producing, and making this podcast possible.
If you're ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area we'd love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at four at the Senior Center you're always welcome for more information about this podcast visit lightweight media.com slash meditating on the word and find the link there to email me to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter with more information you can use in your personal Bible study be sure to like subscribe and follow us on your favorite podcast app so that you never miss an episode and if today's message encouraged you share it with someone else and consider leaving a review it helps others find us soon until next week keep meditating on the Word