Bible Q&A: What must I do to be saved?

And Romans 10:9 is the single verse I usually quote when someone asks me for the short answer about salvation: "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
But since I have room and time here for the long version, let's look at this verse by verse.

Romans 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."
Paul is outlining in Romans 10 the difference between law and grace, and says in this verse that when Christ came, He became "the end of the law for righteousness." That means we no longer are saved, as were Old Testament saints, by trying to keep the 10 Commandments and looking ahead in faith to the day when the Messiah would come to save them.
Now we look back in faith as the Christ who came and died for our sins and was resurrected as a sign or our eternal salvation, just as eternal as God is. See: "Can you lose your salvation?"

Romans 10:5, "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, 'The man who does those things shall live by them.'"
Moses is quoting Leviticus 18:5, which if I may paraphrase its meaning, says "He who lives by the law shall die by the law." Nobody has ever been saved by keeping the law, in Old or New Testament times. The law is as perfect as God is, and we are all imperfect. That's why we need Jesus.

Romans 10:6, "But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?"' (that is, to bring Christ down from above)."
If we were able to save ourselves by what we do -- such as keeping the law -- then Paul is saying we could also presumably rise up to heaven on our own efforts and bring Jesus down to earth.
Don't laugh, that's exactly the doctrine some so-called Christians are preaching today -- if we do enough good works to change this world that will cause Christ to return -- but it ain't so at all.

Romans 10:7, "Or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)."
Man had nothing to do with raising Christ from the dead. It was and is the work of God, just as salvation is God's work by His sovereign grace, and our part is not works, but simply faith.

Romans 10:8, "But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach)."
In Romans 10:6-8, Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 30:12-14. And you thought salvation by faith wasn't in the Old Testament? Here it is, in Moses' final words to Israel as he is about to die.
And then Paul defines exactly what is "the word of faith which we preach" that is as near to us at all times as our own mouth and our own heart.

Romans 10:9, "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
The two-step salvation plan: (1) Confess Jesus with your mouth as your Lord. Simply say, "Lord Jesus, I want you to come into my heart and save me from my sins."
(2) "Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
We must put our heartfelt faith in a living Christ, not a dead one. As soon as we believe in our hearts the resurrection of Christ, and confess with our mouths that we want Him to save us, then we have the most glorious promise in the Bible, "You will be saved."

Romans 10:10, "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Salvation is a work accomplished by God, but here is what we must do to get this free gift. Believing unto righteousness with our hearts and confessing we need Jesus with our mouths.

Romans 10:11, "For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'"
Here Paul is quoting Isaiah 28:16. Once you truly believe in Christ, you will never be put to shame for your sins anymore. They will be forgiven, all of them, once and forever, eternally.

Romans 10:12, "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him."
It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile, rich or poor, young or old, ugly or beautiful. The ground at the foot of the cross of Christ is level. All who come to Jesus there will truly be saved.

Romans 10:13, "For 'whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"
What a glorious promise. I used this verse once as the recorded message for my telephone answering machine. It's the best news this sinful universe ever heard, "Call on Jesus and you shall be saved."

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 25 years.)