The Bible teaches that faith in Jesus is necessary to be saved eternally, for “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16; cf., John 20:31; Acts 4:12; 16:31; Eph 2:8-9). But is faith in Jesus enough, or are we required to confess Him publicly as well? After all, in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Rom 10:9-10). I’ve heard people voice this passage as a formula for salvation, presenting a two-step process where faith + confession = eternal salvation. But if this is correct, what do we do with the nearly 200 passages in Scripture that reveal salvation is by grace alone (Rom 3:24; Eph 2:8-9), through faith alone (Rom 3:28; 5:1; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9), in Christ alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)? Furthermore, what do we do with people who cannot speak (perhaps from birth)? And what about people who trust in Christ at the last moment, alone, on their deathbed? Are these denied salvation because there was no one to hear their confession of faith?
The Short Answer
In Romans 10:9-10, confession (homologeō) means to agree or acknowledge that something is true; namely, that Jesus is God and the Father raised Him from the dead after He died for our sins (1 Cor 15:3-4). Furthermore, it’s reasonable that the confession is made to God (as the verb is used in 1 John 1:9) and not to people. And, confess and believe are inseparably linked together, like two sides of a coin, representing the same act of positive volition towards the gospel message concerning Christ. According to Arnold Fruchtenbaum:
This chiastic construction (mouth-heart, heart-mouth) indicates that believing and confessing occur at the same time. Confession is not something one does later as part of gaining salvation. Believe in the heart brings righteousness and justification. The confession is made to God, and the content of this confession is that Yeshua died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Cor 15:3-4). Faith has content, and the content is that Yeshua is savior; that is what one confesses the moment he believes.[1]
The Long Answer
To make sense of this passage, it’s important not to use it as a prooftext that has been dislodged from its context. At the beginning of Romans 10, Paul expressed his love for his fellow Israelites and desired their salvation, saying, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge” (Rom 10:1-2).[2] There were many Israelites in Paul’s day who were zealous for the Lord, but their passion was misguided, as they were governed by man-made traditions rather than divine revelation (see Matt 15:3-6, Mark 7:9-10). Paul then distinguished between man-made righteousness based on Law and the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Paul said, “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom 10:3). Israel, like most of humanity, has been guilty of trying to be righteous before God by human effort, “seeking to establish their own” works-based-righteousness as the ground upon which God accepts them. But God does not save people on the basis of adherence to Law, as Paul explained, “For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4). The word “end” translates the Greek noun telos, which means “termination” or “goal.”[3] It is this latter meaning that Paul has in mind, in which the end goal of the Law was to lead people to Jesus so they would be saved by faith in Him. Elsewhere, Paul explained that “a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 2:16), and “the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Gal 3:24).[4]
Paul continued his reasoning, saying, “the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness” (Rom 10:5). This is adherence to the Mosaic Law as a rule of life. However, in the next verse, Paul wrote about “the righteousness based on faith” (Rom 10:6a). Paul had previously addressed the righteousness that comes by faith in Romans 9, where he wrote about “Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Rom 9:30-32). And what was Israel’s stumbling stone? It was Jesus. Paul previously explained that when people believe in Jesus as Savior, they receive “the gift of righteousness” that comes from God on the basis of faith (Rom 5:17). This is “the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil 3:9). We are righteous before God, not because of our good works, but because He gives us His righteousness as a free gift at the moment we trust in Christ as our Savior.
As flawed and weak people, we cannot bring about this righteousness by human effort. This is why Paul said, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Rom 10:6-7). To bring Christ down from heaven, or to bring about His resurrection from the dead, is not within the ability of people. Human effort cannot save. How then shall people be declared righteous? Paul explained, saying, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom 10:8a). To be “in your mouth” is an idiom that means God’s revelation was received by those with positive volition. For example, Jeremiah said, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jer 15:16). The psalmist said, “How sweet are Your words to my taste!” (Psa 119:103a). God told Ezekiel, ‘“Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.’ Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it” (Ezek 2:8-9). Eating the Word of God is a picture of positive volition where one receives divine revelation. And the phrase, “in your heart” (Rom 10:8), means God’s revelation was received into the human mind. The heart refers to the mind, which is the place of reason. God said, “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). And Jesus said, “out of the heart come evil thoughts” (Matt 15:19). And what did the person with positive volition welcome into their minds? They welcomed “the message concerning faith that we proclaim” (Rom 10:8b). In this passage, “faith” refers to the content of gospel information that was proclaimed by Paul, specifically as it related to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:3-4).
When gospel information is communicated, God expects a positive human response. Paul wrote, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as 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” (Rom 10:9-10). To “confess” (homologeo) means to say the same thing, agree, or acknowledge that something is true. This means the person with positive volition agrees with God about the gospel message concerning Christ, and the confession—or agreement—is made to God, the One who saves. Believing and confessing refer to the same act of positive volition, where a person welcomes gospel information and believes in Christ as Savior.[5] According to Arnold Fruchtenbaum:
As far as Romans 10:9-10 is concerned, the chiastic structure or inverted order of the terms ‘confession’ and ‘believing’ shows that these words are interchangeable and were used synonymously by Paul. Confession equals calling upon the name of the Lord. Calling upon the name of the Lord is simply exercising faith in Him. Again, confession is not a separate act from faith. Furthermore, it is made to God and not to a public audience. In the two-hundred-plus biblical passages that speak of the condition for salvation, confession is not mentioned… if a public confession were necessary for salvation, then salvation would be on the basis of works.[6]
Charles Bing states:
The word “confess” (homologeō) means to “agree, acknowledge.” The word itself does not demand a public confession or an oral confession. More reasonably, it is a confession to God, not man (see Rom 14:11 and 15:9, and compare its use in 1 John 1:9). As such, it expresses faith, which is prominent in the context (cf. Rom 10:4, 6, 11, 14, 17). The fact that Paul uses confess and believe in verse 9, then inverts the order to believe and confess in verse 10 suggests that they refer to the same thing.[7]
And when believers confess that Jesus is “Lord,” they are declaring that He is God, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9; cf., John 1:1, 14; Heb 1:8). To confess Jesus as Lord is not a commitment to surrender to Jesus as lord of one’s life, for that would conflate justification with sanctification. Jesus is Lord, and we should submit to His absolute authority after being born again (Jam 4:7); however, submission is not a condition for eternal salvation, as those who teach Lordship Salvation wrongly argue.
Salvation is never what we do for God, rather, it’s what He’s done for us by sending His Son into the world to be the Savior of all who believe in Him. In the following verses, Paul merges faith and confession into one idea, stating, “As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Rom 10:11-13). In this context, “Anyone who believes in Him” is synonymous with “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.” These are two sides of the same coin.
In summary, to confess means to agree or acknowledge that something is true; namely, that Jesus is God and the Father raised Him from the dead. Furthermore, the confession is made to God and not to people. And, confess and believe are inseparably linked together, representing the same act of positive volition towards the gospel message concerning Christ.
Dr. Steven R. Cook
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[1] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Book of Acts: Exposition from a Messianic Jewish Perspective (San Antonio, TX, Published by Ariel Ministries, 2022), 203-204.
[2] In several instances in the Bible, salvation refers to physical deliverance (Ex 14:13-14; 2 Sam 22:3-4; Matt 14:30-31). Some Bible scholars would argue that Paul is referring to Isarel’s physical deliverance from the Roman destruction that was coming in AD 70. Though Paul probably desired to see his people physically delivered, the context of Romans 10 argues for spiritual salvation.
[3] Messiah’s death brought the Mosaic Law to an end in the sense that it is no longer operational as a rule of life (Rom 7:1-6; Heb 7:18-19; 8:13).
[4] Salvation comes by faith in God and not by human works. Paul wrote, “to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom 4:5), and salvation is “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8), and “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5). Salvation is a gift from God to us. Paul wrote that we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24), and “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23), and, “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).
[5] The passage in Matthew 10:32-33 pertains to rewards for faithful disciples and not salvation. See Thomas Constable, Matthew 10:32-33.
[6] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Book of Acts: Exposition from a Messianic Jewish Perspective, 205-206.
[7] Charles C. Bing, Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages (Brenham, TX: Lucid Books, 2015).