Romans 10:9-14

In the Hebrew language, the word for ‘faith’ comes from the same root word as the word for ‘truth’. Faith is not just believing anything, but it’s believing the truth of G-d. When Paul uses the word ‘faith’ he is talking about truth – specifically the truth concerning the gospel. 

v9: Confess with your mouth: Paul now begins to teach us about how we can properly respond to the gospel – the good news of how G-d has redeemed us from sin. The gospel focusses on the person of, and the work done by, the L-rd Messiah Yeshua (who He is and what He did). The word ‘gospel’ in Hebrew comes from the same root word as the word for ‘flesh’. This is how G-d worked out redemption for us – being fully G-d, Yeshua took on human flesh (the incarnation) so that He could, as a spotless lamb, pay for and remove our sins from us. Believing (through faith) in Yeshua, and the work He has done for us is the ONLY way that we can find forgiveness for our sins and be declared righteous in the sight of G-d.

• L-rd: We need to also recognise that Yeshua is our L-rd. He has authority over us. Part of faith is recognising His L-rdship. 
• Heart: The heart, Scripturally, has to do with our thoughts. Confessing with our mouths and believing in our hearts means that we need to agree with what G-d has done. Believing involves submitting to and recognizing what Yeshua has done as truth.
• G-d: This is referring to G-d the Father 
• Him: Referring to Messiah Yeshua.
• G-d has raised Him: Yeshua, although He had the power to raise Himself from the dead, did not raise Himself. G-d the Father raised Him from the dead. Even in death, Yeshua was completely submitted to His Father’s will. 
• Raised… from the dead: Referring to the resurrection.
• Will be saved: This is written in the passive. This means that we cannot save ourselves, but it was G-d who responded to us (and He saved us) when we agreed with His truth. 

v10: Righteousness…salvation: The emphasis of this verse is that there’s a relationship between righteousness and salvation. Messiah, with His perfect righteousness, paid the price so that righteousness could be imputed to us. It is mediated to us not by works of the law but by faith. When we believe and confess, the outcome of His work of righteousness is our salvation. Once we are saved, by G-d’s grace, we are going to be committed to living righteously.  

v11: The Scripture says: Quoted from Isaiah 28:16 (see 1 Peter 2:6)

• Believes: We are not saved through good works but through believing in Messiah (once we are saved, however, we want to behave righteously – that is, to do good works). 
• Not be put to shame: A great benefit of the gospel is that we can be confident that, before G-d, we will not experience shame. Righteousness has nothing to do with us, but it has everything to do with the sufficiency and perfection of the work of Messiah – what He did. We have been declared righteous, as the righteousness of Messiah was imputed to us, credited to us, the moment that we believed. When G-d the Father looks at us (those who believe) He sees the righteousness of His Son. 

v12: There is no distinction: This promise of salvation and righteousness is available to ALL who believe – Jew or Gentile. 

• Greek: Referring to the Gentiles. 

v13: Whoever calls…: Quoted from Joel 2:32 

• Calls upon the name of the L-rd: There is only one Name that we can call on in order to receive salvation – the name of the L-rd Messiah Yeshua. This is the foundation of G-d’s plan for salvation. 

v14: How shall they call…how shall they believe: There is a problem. It is a necessity to call and to believe, but how can people do this if they have not heard about Yeshua? How can they respond to Him and believe in Him if they do not know about Him? 

• Preacher: Preaching is sincerely and accurately conveying the truth of G-d’s Word, His revelation, to people. It is only when people come into contact with G-d’s truth that they are able to respond to it and experience a newness of life. It does not matter who we are – if we know the gospel, we have been called to share it with others.