Do I Need to Confess with My Mouth that “Jesus is Lord” to be Saved? (Romans 10:9 Commentary)
Do I Need to “Confess with my Mouth?”
Romans 10:9 has always been confusing because of how it emphasizes “verbal confession” as a requirement for salvation. In it, Paul writes,
“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.”
—Romans 10:9
What’s the deal here? If faith is supposed to be the thing that saves, then why does this passage emphasize verbal confession?
When I first came across this passage in middle school, I remember questioning my salvation because of it. Sure, I believed that “Jesus is Lord” and that “God had raised him from the dead” like the verse says, but I wasn’t sure if I had ever “confessed Jesus’s lordship” out loud with MY MOUTH. After reading this verse, I remember saying “Jesus is Lord” out loud a few times alone in my room just to make sure my salvation didn’t get disqualified for not doing that.
But is that what this passage is teaching? Do I need to say the words “Jesus is Lord” at some point in my life in order to go to heaven?
Only after studying this passage pretty intensely did I reach the conclusion that Paul’s emphasis is probably NOT on the verbal aspect of confession, but is instead on this:
The thing that gives me life is JESUS (as opposed to following the law).
Let me explain how I reached that conclusion.
Context: Romans is Mimicking Deuteronomy
Before examining the “confess with your mouth” verse, it’s helpful to first understand the verses immediately before it, which directly mimics a passage in Deuteronomy 30.
Deuteronomy 30 teaches that eternal life can be experienced by following God’s law, which is readily available:
“This commandment [God’s law] is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It’s not way up in heaven, so you don’t need to ask,
‘Who will ascend up into heaven for us and bring it down to us, that we may hear it and implement it?’
And it [God’s law] is not beyond the sea, so you don’t need to ask,
‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and implement it?’
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you might implement it.”
—Deuteronomy 30:11–14
The point of the passage is that humanity ALREADY HAS the law that leads to infinite life—all we have to do is OBEY it. The rest of that chapter teaches that we can either choose LIFE by obeying the law, or we can choose DEATH by rejecting the law—the choice is up to us.
Now lets compare that to Romans 10:
“But the righteousness based on faith doesn’t need to say,
‘Who will ascend up into heaven?’
(because that’s where Jesus ascended,)and it doesn’t need to say,
‘Who will descend into the abyss?’
(because that’s where Jesus was lifted from the dead).But what does it say?
‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)”—Romans 10:6–8
The Point: Our Righteousness comes from JESUS—Not the Law
While there is still plenty of truth to the Deuteronomy passage about how following God’s law produces life, Romans uses that same wording to make a DIFFERENT point—it substitutes “the law” with “Jesus.” Romans is saying that obeying the law IS NOT the thing we should depend on to give us life—it’s Jesus. The point Romans makes is that we don’t have to go looking for eternal life up in heaven or down in the abyss because we already have Him RIGHT HERE in front of us, and His name is Jesus.
Now that the context has been explained, let’s re-examine the verse in question:
“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.”
—Romans 10:9
Even though this verse mentions the specific act of “confessing with the mouth,” the context tells me that it’s actually emphasizing the acknowledgement of Jesus’s lordship. The only reason why this verse even uses the word “mouth” is because it’s still referencing Deuteronomy 30:14.
“[God’s law is] in your MOUTH and in your HEART, so that you can implement it [and thus experience life].”
—Deuteronomy 30:14
While Deuteronomy says that THE LAW gives us life when its in our mouth and in our heart, Romans says that JESUS gives us life when HE’S in our mouth and heart. The main point of the Romans verse is that instead of relying on THE LAW for life, we must rely on JESUS.
Does Romans Contradict Deuteronomy?
At the time Paul wrote this passage in Romans, it would have been very controversial, because in it, he was virtually crumpling up the sacred law of Moses and replacing it with Jesus. In fact, the entire message of Jesus was controversial in this same way. The way Jesus challenged Jewish traditions and rebuked the Jewish religious leaders made many think He was a heretic. Today, when we hear Romans telling us that “we must acknowledge Jesus as Lord,” it sounds normal—but for the people of that time, it would have been a huge deviation from what Israeli churches taught.
But the entire Old Testaments actually just points to Jesus.
Why “Acknowledging Jesus as Lord” Is Necessary for Salvation
Since I now see how Romans is actually emphasizing JESUS’S LORDSHIP instead of the act of VERBAL CONFESSION, I see a lot of logic behind the statement, “confessing Jesus as lord is necessary for salvation.”
Since Jesus is the source of eternal life, then doing things His way would lead to life. To make Him lord would be to tell Him, “Jesus, I want to do things your way—the way that’s conducive to eternal life.”
Following Jesus’s lead would naturally make us more like Him. We’d move the way He moves and make decisions the way He makes decisions. Making Him lord gives Him full access to our life, allowing Him to do His work.
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