The simple truth

https://odb.org/2025/02/20/the-simple-truth

Romans 10:9–11 (NIV): 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

The context of Romans 10:9-11 is the contention then by the Jews that Gentiles need to convert to Judaism to become God’s people. Remember that Romans was a letter written by Paul to the believers in Rome, both Jews and Gentiles. To convert to Judaism means to follow the Mosaic law and the expanded rules developed by the Jewish religious authorities. Paul, however, asserted that believers just needed to declare that Jesus is the Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead. Romans 9:10 – For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

When I was younger and was seeking to become a genuine born-again Christian, I was also surprised by the simplicity of the mechanism to become a believer. We just needed to utter the sinner’s prayer. Of course, I was given something like a 10-week Navigators course on what it means to believe in Christ, to teach me on the fundamentals of the faith. But the final act was simple. We confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He died for our sins as were sinners and in God resurrecting Him, He overcame both sin and death that we may have eternal life. Salvation is by faith in Christ and not by our good works.

Yet as we enter into God’s family of the church and learn more about the faith, we know that living the believers’ lives as disciples of Christ is not just the sinner’s prayer. It is much, much more than that. There is the transformation of our lives in the way we think, speak, and relate to others. There is the development of our character in Christ. We need to build up our relationship with Father God. We need to have a prayer life and a quiet time with the Lord. We also need to study His Word and serve Him to fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives and to live in the centre of His will. In the process, we will gain in our knowledge of God by relating to Him, serving Him, and loving Him.

The law of God as enumerated in the Old Testament is still relevant to guide us in our lives as believers since God is the same today as He was in the past. But we are longer under that law as the law is now written in our hearts. Thus, Christian life is all-encompassing. There is a morality aspect as well as character as a person. We live in the natural, yet we are essentially spiritual beings in communication with the Almighty God, an all-powerful and all-knowing spiritual being. We are in the world and not of this world. As much as we originated from the faith of the Jews, we are not part of that faith. As believers of Christ, we are not inferior to the Jews but have equal rights to our inheritance in Christ.

I pray for every one of us, including my own self, that we will continue to persevere on in this journey of faith. To strive forward heavenward towards the goal that Christ has set before us, forgetting what’s behind and despite what’s in the present. That we will look to the future for the glory that awaits us in Christ Jesus, the rich inheritance of the saints! Amen!