The Righteousness of Faith Speaks
Romans 10:6-11 NKJ
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) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 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): 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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
This chapter is well known in evangelical church circles. Evangelical, meaning those churches that believe in receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior in order to be saved. I am not fond of labels, but we would qualify as an evangelical church. These verses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, spell out the way to God’s righteousness, the way of salvation.
Paul is contrasting the two approaches to righteousness—the law of Moses and faith in Christ Jesus. And Paul boldly states that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Then he shows us what the righteousness of faith looks like. What faith-based righteousness says.
A right standing with God that is based on faith states that you don’t have to bring Jesus down from heaven, nor do you have to bring Christ up from the dead. The work that Jesus did in His death, burial, and resurrection is finished. Jesus does not have anything more to do. So, as a side note, we don’t need to pray and ask Jesus to save a friend or loved one. He already has. We can pray for someone to come across their path with the truth; someone they will listen to.
So if Jesus has completed His work, what does the righteousness of faith say? It says that the word of salvation is near us in our mouth and heart. This word of salvation brings faith for salvation. That if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is our Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. The righteousness of faith says God’s Word needs to be in two places, our heart and our mouth. Because if we believe in our heart and act on that belief by confessing or professing with our mouth, we will be saved. That’s it. No cleaning our lives up before we come to salvation, that is a different work called sanctification, which is an ongoing process. No working to earn our salvation. No getting God to do something special on our behalf. He has already done that in Christ. Our salvation is a gift that we did not earn. And this free gift is available to everyone who believes. This is why Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah: whoever believes on Jesus will not be put to shame.
This is such good news. Being made right with God was covered by Jesus, paid for in full. Now all anyone anywhere has to do is believe in their heart and profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That’s what the righteousness of faith speaks.
Application
I was saved walking across a field in Carbondale, Illinois, on June 6th, 1978. I prayed and received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I was selling books door-to-door that summer. The very next house I knocked on after praying was a lady who let me in and heard my pitch. Then she pitched Jesus to me and asked me if I wanted to pray with her. I did, and to this day, that lady probably remembers that I was the easiest person she ever led to Jesus. I didn’t tell her that I had already prayed; I figured another prayer wasn’t going to hurt anything. I wasn’t in a church. I did not walk an aisle, but that’s not what the righteousness of faith says. It says believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you will be saved. I did that and still rejoice about it today. What wonderful, good news for everyone.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for the righteousness that is by faith in You. I have received You as Lord and Saviour and am eternally grateful.