"But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:6-10
In the scriptural text that you just read, Paul speaks of the righteousness based on faith as if it were a person and puts in its mouth a quotation from Deuteronomy. His point is that the righteousness of faith does not require some impossible odyssey through the universe to find Christ. In the book of Deuteronomy, 9:4 you'll find these words; "Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee." Also, in the book of Deuteronomy 30:11-14 "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it [is] not hidden from thee, neither [is] it far off." "It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it" "Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?" "But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." The scriptures tell us that; "The word is nigh thee" is quoted from (Deuteronomy 30:14), which was quoted in the previous scripture. God has clearly revealed the way of salvation: it is by faith. The Word of faith is the message of faith and that is the way to God.Matthew 10:32-33 "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." We can clearly see the importance of the things we say from all of this. Faith, we know is believing in things we cannot see. If you can see something, it takes no faith to believe. Jesus Himself said, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. In, John 20:29 "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed." Friends, know this and understand, this verse does not mean a simple acknowledgment that He is God and the Lord of the universe, since even demons acknowledge that to be true. This is a deep personal conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is that person's own master or sovereign Lord. This phrase includes repenting from sin, trusting in Jesus for salvation and submitting to Him as Lord. This is the volitional element of faith., please understand and know, that true saving faith is supernatural, a gracious gift of God that He produces in the heart and is the only means by which a person can appropriate true righteousness. Saving faith consists of 3 elements.1, Mental: the mind understands the gospel and the truth about Christ
2, Emotional: one embraces the truthfulness of those facts with sorrow over sin and joy over God's mercy and grace
3, Volitional: the sinner submits his will to Christ and trust in Him alone as the only hope of salvation.
Lastly,, "Confession is made unto salvation": One is not saved by his mouth's conversation, (meaning many, who by their head knowledge say they are saved, but really are not), but rather, the mouth testifies readily of the grace of God in Christ which has been received by faith (for those who have been truly saved and their words are coming from their heart). Confession is the Greek word which basically means to say the same thing, or to agree with someone. The person who confesses Jesus as Lord, agrees with the Father's declaration that Jesus is Saviour and Lord.
