Can I please have an explanation about Romans 10:13?
Let’s read Romans 10:9-13, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God 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 in Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is right to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (NKJV).
This passage is all about SALVATION, for all men need to be SAVED. In Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.” Do you believe that? Do you believe that “the Son of Man came?” This means that He existed before He was actually “born into this world.” In 1st John 4:14 we are told, “The Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” This is why He came into the world; to be the “Savior of the world,” and in order to do that He became a Man so He could die in man’s place on the cross of Calvary for their sins. After His death on the cross He was buried and then on the third day He rose, victorious over sin, death and the grave. This is the gospel, my friend. It’s the gospel that Paul preached wherever he went, as we see in 1st Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
Now we are ready to look at our passage. Let’s start with verse 10, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Salvation starts in the HEART. The moment you take God at His Word and believe the gospel of His dear Son, He sees your faith and counts you as righteous. And since there is faith in the heart, it will be manifested “with the MOUTH.” There will be a confession of Christ as your Savior BEFORE MEN, for you will bear witness to them that you are saved through the finished work of Christ!
Verse 9 also tells us what a believer will confess; you will confess Jesus as your Lord and that you believe God raised Him from the dead. Go back and read what we said earlier in the 2nd paragraph. You will gladly witness to the fact that Jesus is Lord; that is, He is your Sovereign God who came into this world to save you. You will also testify that God was absolutely satisfied with the work He did on the cross to put away your sins and that the resurrection is the proof that God is satisfied. Romans 4:25 speaks to this, “Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”
Verse 11 then adds,” Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” The word “ashamed” in the Hebrews means “to flee from FEAR.” The believer will NOT be afraid, but will be bold in his witness for Christ. This does NOT mean we could never fail (as Peter did when he temporarily denied the Lord); it means that as we abide in Christ we will have a holy boldness and not flee in fear.
Verse 13 concludes this section with “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” To “call upon the Lord” is to “invoke His name.” It is really speaking of the habit of a believer’s life, for this is not limited to confessing that blessed Name before the world when first saved. The believer will continue to “call upon the Lord” daily to save him from the attacks of the enemy (Satan) from without and from the enemy (the flesh) from within. This is borne out in 2nd Timothy 2:22, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with THOSE WHO CALL ON THE LORD OUT OF A PURE HEART.” (272.1) (DO)