Confess

“that 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.” (Romans 10:9-10 NASB). The word “that” at the beginning points back to what these verses are based on. Looking back, we see it is the word of faith that Paul is preaching; the word that is so near it is described as being in your mouth and in your heart.

The action words are “confess” and “believe” and are to be done by “you” and if you do them you have the promise that you will be saved. Confession is about Jesus being Lord, resulting in salvation and belief is about God raising Jesus from the dead, resulting in righteousness. These verses are very clear about the importance of a believing heart and a confessing mouth, yet I see so many trying to convince someone to ask Jesus into their heart. You don't determine the time of being born again; the Father does. In Convincing a person to pray, you may win an argument, but you risk the chance of creating false belief in the person who just responded.

These verses are also used by Armenians to support their position of salvation being free will. It is a view of salvation as seen from earth.

Prayer

Father, it is clear from these verses that we are to share the word of faith and allow time for the Spirit to properly prepare the heart. When the heart is ready then the new birth will take place. The Scriptures seem quite clear that salvation is according to the will of God not according to the work of man. We need to be active in sharing the gospel with love and patience and leave the born again part in your hands.