Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.” These verses show two steps of our being justified and saved: believing in the heart that God has raised Him from the dead and confessing Him with the mouth. The former is inward, and the latter is outward. To believe with the heart is toward God; to confess with the mouth is toward man. To believe with the heart is to believe in Christ, who was glorified and raised by God from the dead; to confess with the mouth is to confess that Jesus, who was despised and rejected by man, is Lord. Both are conditions for our being justified and saved.
Christ’s being raised from the dead was invisible; hence, it requires our believing. Moreover, although Christ’s death has redeemed us, it is His life in resurrection alone that can save us. Therefore, only when we believe in the great miracle that God performed in Him in raising Him from the dead, can we be both redeemed and saved.
Furthermore, Paul says that with the heart “there is believing unto righteousness” (v. 10). Unto is an equivalent of a Greek preposition which, in many instances, means “resulting in.” Therefore, the result of believing with the heart is righteousness. If you want to be justified, that is, to have the righteousness of God, you must believe in the Lord Jesus. If you believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, you will be justified. Believing in this way is unto, or results in, righteousness. When you believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, your believing results in receiving righteousness. Receiving righteousness equals being justified by God.
Although believing in your heart results in righteousness, in order to complete the step in salvation, you must confess with your mouth. Paul says, “With the mouth there is confession unto salvation” (v. 10). The result of confessing with the mouth is salvation. If you want to be saved, you need to confess the Lord Jesus. Certainly, to confess with your mouth is to call on the name of the Lord, that is, to say, “O Lord Jesus.” When you call on the name of the Lord, the entire universe, including the angels, demons, men, and all created things, realizes that you are saved. You need to call on the name of the Lord audibly, even loudly. Therefore, when you preach the gospel, you must not only help sinners to believe in the Lord but also teach them to call on the name of the Lord loudly.
When we call on the name of the Lord from deep within our spirit, whether loudly, softly, or even silently, we will be beside ourselves with joy and will be brought into ecstasy. Our enjoyment of Christ by calling on His name with the exercise of our spirit is strong proof that God is now the Spirit, that our Lord Jesus Christ is also the Spirit, and that we have our regenerated spirit.
Of all the chapters in the book of Romans, chapter 10 presents the most concerning Christ. In verse 4 Christ is called “the end of the law.” In no other chapter in the whole New Testament is Christ designated in such a way. Hence, Romans 10 gives us a very crucial title of Christ: the end of the law. This Christ was incarnated by coming down from heaven and was resurrected by coming up from the abyss. Having passed through this process, Christ, who is the end of the law, has become the living word. He is near us, even in our mouth and in our heart. The two phrases in your mouth and in your heart imply that Christ is like the air (v. 8). Only air can be in our mouth and in our heart. The resurrected Christ is the living word, which is the Spirit; He is like the air, the breath, that we take into our being. All we need to do is exercise our mouth to breathe Him in, our heart to receive Him, and our spirit to retain Him. If we do this, we will be saved and supplied with all His riches by calling on His name.
Romans 10 presents an excellent description and definition of Christ for our participation. We must not only believe in Him with our heart but also call on Him with our mouth. We must call on Him, not only for salvation but also for the enjoyment of His riches. We were made vessels to contain Him; we were selected and predestinated to be His containers. This requires our cooperation in receiving Him and taking Him in. In order to do this we need to open ourselves from the depths of our being and call upon Him with our mouth from deep within our spirit so that our human vessels would be filled with Christ.