What About Romans 10?
Romans 10 contains some of the best-known statements about salvation in the New Testament.
Paul writes:
“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.”
(Romans 10:9)
A few verses later:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:13)
These verses are sometimes used to argue that belief and confession are all that is involved in responding to the gospel.
After all, Paul does not mention baptism here.
Does that mean baptism is unnecessary?
Before drawing that conclusion, let's ask the question that has guided these studies from the beginning:
What is Paul actually talking about in context?
GOING DEEPER
Start With Paul's Concern for Israel
Romans 10 is not primarily a chapter giving a step-by-step explanation of conversion.
Paul begins:
“Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”
(Romans 10:1)
Paul is deeply concerned about his fellow Jews.
They are religious.
They are zealous for God.
But Paul says:
“Their zeal is not based on knowledge.”
(Romans 10:2)
They were trying to establish their own righteousness rather than submitting to God's righteousness.
The great issue in Romans 10 is:
Will Israel put its faith in Jesus as the risen Lord?
That is the setting for Paul's statements about believing and confessing.
“Jesus Is Lord”
Think about what it meant for a Jewish person in the first century to confess:
“Jesus is Lord.”
The nation had rejected Jesus.
He had been crucified.
Yet the apostles proclaimed that God had raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord and Christ.
To confess Jesus as Lord was not simply repeating a religious phrase.
It meant accepting the very One many had rejected.
Paul says:
“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.”
The mouth confesses what the heart believes.
Jesus is the risen Lord.
That is Paul's emphasis.
Is Paul Giving a Complete Conversion Checklist?
This is an important question.
If Romans 10:9 is intended to list everything involved in conversion, then something important is missing.
Paul does not mention repentance.
Does that mean repentance is unnecessary?
Jesus said:
“Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
(Luke 13:3)
Peter said:
“Repent and be baptized...”
(Acts 2:38)
Paul himself preached that people:
“should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”
(Acts 26:20)
We would not reasonably say:
“Romans 10:9 doesn't mention repentance, therefore repentance is unnecessary.”
The same caution should apply to baptism.
A passage does not have to mention every part of our response every time salvation is discussed.
Romans Has Already Discussed Baptism
This is especially important because Paul has already discussed baptism in the same letter.
In Romans 6 he writes:
“Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
(Romans 6:3)
Then:
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death...”
(Romans 6:4)
Paul knew the Roman Christians had been baptized.
More than that, he used their baptism to explain their relationship with Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and new life.
So when we reach Romans 10, we cannot pretend Romans 6 isn't there.
Romans 10 does not cancel Romans 6.
And Romans 6 does not cancel Romans 10.
Both were written by Paul in the same letter.
Our understanding should include both.
Believe in Your Heart
Paul says:
“Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.”
Christian faith rests upon the gospel:
Christ died.
Christ was buried.
Christ rose from the dead.
Notice how closely that fits Romans 6.
There Paul described baptism in terms of:
Christ's death,
burial,
resurrection,
and new life.
Romans 6 and Romans 10 are not presenting different gospels.
Both are centered on the crucified and risen Christ.
Confess With Your Mouth
Paul continues:
“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.”
(Romans 10:10)
This should caution us against reducing faith to mental belief alone.
Paul includes confession.
The heart believes.
The mouth confesses.
Does confession earn salvation?
Of course not.
Saying “Jesus is Lord” does not place God in our debt.
Confession is an expression of faith.
That gives us an important principle:
Something can be part of our response to faith without becoming a work that earns salvation.
That principle matters when we discuss baptism.
“Everyone Who Calls on the Name of the Lord”
Paul then quotes Joel:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:13)
Calling upon the Lord certainly involves faith.
Paul immediately asks:
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?”
(Romans 10:14)
But we have already encountered the expression “calling on the name of the Lord” in an interesting place.
Ananias told Saul:
“Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
(Acts 22:16)
And the Saul of Acts 22 is the Paul who wrote Romans 10.
In Paul's own conversion, calling upon the Lord and baptism were not competing responses.
Ananias joined them together.
Does “Calling on the Lord” Mean Saying a Prayer?
Romans 10:13 is sometimes connected with what is commonly called the “sinner's prayer.”
There is certainly nothing wrong with a sinner praying to God.
Saul himself prayed after encountering Jesus.
But the New Testament never gives a particular prayer and tells people:
“Repeat these words in order to become a Christian.”
When people in Acts ask what to do, the answers reflect where they are in their response to the gospel.
At Pentecost:
“Repent and be baptized.”
The jailer:
“Believe in the Lord Jesus.”
Saul:
“Arise and be baptized...calling on the name of the Lord.”
We should be careful about replacing the language and examples of Scripture with a later formula.
Faith Comes From Hearing
Paul continues:
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”
(Romans 10:17)
This tells us where faith begins.
Someone must hear the gospel.
That is exactly what we see throughout Acts.
The gospel is preached.
People hear.
They believe.
And believing people respond.
Faith does not appear without a message.
It comes through hearing God's word about Christ.
One Passage Should Not Erase Another
Suppose someone says:
“Romans 10 mentions belief and confession but not baptism. Therefore baptism cannot be involved in conversion.”
Apply that reasoning consistently.
Romans 10:9 does not mention repentance.
Would we eliminate repentance?
John 3:16 mentions belief but not confession.
Would we eliminate confession?
Acts 2:38 mentions repentance and baptism but does not explicitly command belief.
Would we eliminate faith?
Of course not.
Why?
Because we gather everything Scripture says.
We don't build doctrine by finding one verse and making every other passage disappear.
Let Paul Say Everything Paul Says
Paul says:
We are justified by faith.
Paul says:
Believe in your heart.
Paul says:
Confess with your mouth.
Paul says:
Call upon the Lord.
Paul also says:
We were baptized into Christ.
We were baptized into His death.
We were buried with Him through baptism.
And elsewhere:
We were raised with Him through faith in the working of God.
Why choose between those statements?
Paul didn't.
Neither should we.
Faith Is Still the Center
Nothing here should weaken Paul's emphasis on faith.
A person who does not trust Jesus cannot be saved simply by going through the motions of baptism.
Water cannot substitute for faith.
Religious ceremony cannot substitute for Christ.
Paul's message is:
Jesus is Lord.
He has been raised from the dead.
Trust Him.
Confess Him.
Call upon Him.
That is the faith from which Christian obedience flows.
Romans 10 Does Not Make Baptism Disappear
Romans 10 teaches a wonderful truth:
Everyone who calls upon the Lord can be saved.
Jew or Gentile.
Anyone who truly turns to Jesus in faith can receive God's grace.
But Romans 10 gives us no reason to erase what Paul has already said about baptism in Romans 6.
Nor should Romans 6 be used to diminish what Paul says about faith in Romans 10.
Put them together:
Trust the risen Christ.
Confess Him as Lord.
Call upon His name.
And remember that the same Paul describes Christians as those who were:
“baptized into Christ Jesus.”
That is not a contradiction.
It is the fuller picture.
Continue Your Study
Next Bible Study
Does It Matter Why We Were Baptized?
The men at Ephesus had already been baptized.
Their baptism had even originated with a message that came from God.
Yet after Paul taught them about Jesus:
they were baptized again.
Why?
Does the physical act alone make a baptism valid?
Or does what a person believes and understands matter?
Acts 19 gives us an unusual opportunity to answer that question.
Related Bible Studies
Buried and Raised With Christ
Are We Saved by Faith Alone?
Was Saul Saved Before He Was Baptized?
Read First. Conclude Later.