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For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n True belief and confession go hand in hand.<\/p>\n According to this verse and the previous one, the things required for salvation are belief and confession. It\u2019s as simple as that, and yet not so simple, for I fear that there are many who have professed to be saved who really aren\u2019t. They may claim to be Christians, they may even believe themselves to be Christians, but they really aren\u2019t. Let\u2019s see why.<\/p>\n Paul says here that \u201cwith the heart one believes unto righteousness.<\/span>\u201d In the previous verse he told us what it is we must believe: \u201cthat God has raised Him (Jesus) from the dead.\u201d The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof that He is more than mere man. It is proof that He is God in the flesh. Implied in the belief in His resurrection is the belief that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine, for the sins of all of mankind. Also implied is the recognition that we are sinners and in need of salvation. Why is all this true? Because if He was resurrected from the dead, then He is God and everything that He said is true and, therefore, everything that is written in the Bible is true.<\/p>\n What does Paul mean by believing with the heart? This means more than mere head knowledge. It implies more than an act of understanding. It takes in the consent of the will, an inward, hearty, sincere, and strong consent.<\/p>\n Notice that I said consent of the will<\/strong>. This believing requires submission of our will to His. If we truly believe that Jesus is God, then we must recognize that we are the creatures whom He created and He is far above us in power, intellect, holiness, majesty, and glory. We are His subjects, not the other way around. We are here to do His will. He is not here to do ours. If we have not subjected our will to His, then we don\u2019t really believe that He is God.<\/p>\n When we believe, according to what Paul told us in the earlier portion of this letter, God freely grants to us the righteousness of Christ. That is, in His record book we are recorded as being forever without sin!<\/p>\n But the second half of this verse says that \u201cwith the mouth confession is made unto salvation.<\/span>\u201d Does this mean that if you believe with your heart but don\u2019t confess with your mouth, you won\u2019t be saved? Let\u2019s think about this. If one truly believes with the heart, then a verbal confession is the natural outcome. When we first get saved we want to tell others, especially other Christians. None of us who has any kind of exciting news ever wants to keep it to ourselves. We want to tell others! This is the case when we get saved, we want to confess it to someone; we want to tell others that we have been born again.<\/p>\n As I said earlier, I fear that there are many who know about Jesus, who know the fact that he died on a cross. They may have even \u201casked Jesus into their heart\u201d but have never submitted to the Lordship of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, the Judge of all mankind. To these, I fear, God will one day say, \u201cDepart from me you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.\u201d That will be a tragedy!<\/p>\n How about you? Are you submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ?<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\nTruth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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