Romans 10:9 – Belief and Confession

So before we study what Paul’s actually saying, we need to clear up a few things, and we’re not trying to be controversial or criticise other Christians.
We simply want to understand the verse the way Paul intended it to be understood. And if we don’t understand the context, we’ll end up making Romans 10 say things that Paul never intended it to say.

So before we study what Paul’s actually saying, we need to clear up a few things, and we’re not trying to be controversial or criticise other Christians.
We simply want to understand the verse the way Paul intended it to be understood. And if we don’t understand the context, we’ll end up making Romans 10 say things that Paul never intended it to say.

In case you haven’t heard of it, let’s look at the popular “Romans Road” to salvation.
Now, Romans is a wonderful place to learn the gospel.
We’ve spent many weeks studying it because this book establishes believers in gospel truth.
If a new believer were to ask where to start reading about salvation, Romans is at the top of the list. Romans establishes people in gospel truth. It gives believers the A-B-C of the Christian walk, like what it is to be a believer, why we believe, and how we came to need salvation.
However, we need to be careful not to use verses in ways Paul never intended.

The modern “Romans Road” that’s found in numerous tracts often jumps over and misses Paul’s actual point.
The Romans Road usually begins at Romans 3:23:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Now that’s a great place to start.
People need to know they’re sinners. We don’t understand our need for a Saviour or for salvation until we understand our sin.
The next stop is usually Romans 6:23 :
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

That’s true as well.
We need to know the consequences of rejecting the salvation that God has provided in Christ, as well as what we can expect from salvation, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
However, we’ve moved forward three whole chapters from Romans 3:23.
Now, if you remember our earlier study in Romans, you’ll realise that it actually skips right over the gospel of salvation.
Then this “Romans Road” goes backward, and Romans 5:8 is added:
“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

So, we see that the cross has something to do with this gift.
But if you went through Romans verse by verse, you would’ve learned that already.
Those verses teach important truths.
We’re sinners; sin brings death, and Christ died for us. He died for sinners, not for those who are most righteous, but for those who are the least righteous.

The final stop is usually Romans 10:9, which is often used to instruct a person on the method they must use to actually receive salvation.
Again, Romans 10:9 reads:
“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

There’s the gospel people say.
This is what you’ve got to do to be saved. But there are problems with using Romans 10:9 in the Romans Road.
Romans ten doesn’t include the death of Jesus Christ paying for our sins.
So it’s putting this new believer, if they actually do believe Romans 5:8 at all, in a place that’s going to hurt them immediately.
Romans 10 is operating in a specific context dealing with Israel.
It’s talking about unbelieving Israel before the revelation of the mystery was given. It’s about Israel at the time Christ came and revealed Himself as the long-promised Messiah who would bring the also-promised glorious kingdom on earth. This was before the mystery of salvation by faith in Christ’s finished work and the mystery body of Christ was revealed.
When people use it as the primary gospel verse for us today, they’re placing new believers into a passage that can easily be misunderstood.
Many say, “We’re not teaching that saying words saves you.” Well, why not use a clearer verse such as Acts 16:31?
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”

The issue is bigger than one verse.
We shouldn’t build doctrine by cherry-picking phrases that support a statement we want to make. We should understand Scripture as it’s written, in its context, and to whom it was written.
The gospel actually appears much earlier in Romans.
In fact, straight after Romans 3:23, where the Romans Road starts. Verse 24 says we’re “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Then Verse 25 points to Christ’s shed blood. Paul’s argument flows beautifully when we follow it naturally.
Romans explains the gospel far better than a collection of disconnected proof texts.
This matters because Romans 10:9 has often been used to teach things it doesn’t teach at all.
Many have used it to justify public confessions, altar calls, or repeating a sinner’s prayer. Others make water baptism a required public profession. Still others teach that salvation demands surrendering every area of life to Christ’s lordship before one can be saved.
The argument goes like this: “If Jesus isn’t Lord of your life, then He’s not really your Lord, and therefore you’re not truly saved.”
Many errors can grow out of one verse when it’s pulled out of its context. And even many who don’t teach that you have to say words to be saved will lead people to the so-called “sinners’ prayer”.
Yet none of those ideas exists in the passage itself.

The truth is that salvation is not produced by saying certain words.
A person can repeat a prayer, recite a verse, or walk an aisle without ever trusting Christ.
The issue is faith.
It’s not the repetition of words but genuine belief in the gospel. As Paul explains elsewhere, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the saving message is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. That’s the gospel, and when it’s preached and someone believes it, they’re saved! It’s that simple.

So, let’s try not to read popular traditions into the text. Instead, let’s let Paul speak for himself.
Good Bible study doesn’t pull verses out of context to support our own ideas; it follows the argument as it’s written. When we do that, we’ll not only understand Romans 10 more clearly, but we’ll appreciate the simplicity of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone even more.

The underlying mistake is simple: people assume Romans 10 is talking about you and me, but it’s not. Paul isn’t explaining how to evangelise Gentiles. He’s not laying out the gospel of grace for unbelievers. Romans 10 is part of a larger section, Romans 9 through 11, explaining why Israel missed the salvation God had promised them.
By the time we reach Romans 10, the gospel’s already been fully explained. Romans 3, 4, and 5 teach justification by faith. Romans 5:1 concludes with, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
If someone doesn’t understand salvation by the time they get to Romans 5, they need to go back and revisit those chapters. Romans 6, 7, and 8 explain who we are in Christ. Romans 9, 10, and 11 explain Israel’s unbelief and their stumbling.

That’s why using Romans 10:9 as the primary gospel verse creates confusion. Paul plainly says in Ephesians 1:13 that after hearing “the gospel of your salvation” and trusting Christ, believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
There’s no mention of making a public confession, saying special words, giving a testimony, or waiting for baptism. Salvation is God’s gift, freely given by grace through faith at the moment we believe. Romans 3:24 says we’re “justified freely by his grace.”

So the Romans road, as we’ve just seen, goes in circles in Romans, and ends up running off a cliff right here in Romans chapter 10.
Now, if Romans 10 isn’t primarily about us, what is it about?
Romans 9, 10 and 11 explain why Israel missed their salvation, why they didn’t get it.
The theme began at the end of Romans 9 with Israel stumbling over Christ. They sought righteousness through the law instead of through faith. When Jesus came, many in Israel rejected Him because He didn’t fit their expectations. He preached faith. He extended mercy to sinners. He ate with publicans and welcomed those whom religious people considered unworthy. The self-righteous leaders couldn’t accept that.
That’s the issue in Romans 10.
Israel wasn’t lacking information. They were stumbling over the very Christ whom God had sent, the Christ who had finally arrived after centuries of prophecy to take the nation into their promised kingdom.
The problem wasn’t that they needed a better confession. The problem was that they wouldn’t believe. And that’s the lesson Paul’s driving home as he continues this chapter. Faith was always the issue, and Israel stumbled when they refused to put their faith in the One whom God had provided.

Romans 10:2-3 says Israel had “a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” They were ignorant of God’s righteousness and were trying to establish their own. Then verse 4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Christ Himself was the righteousness they needed, yet they wouldn’t submit to Him.
From that point, Paul begins quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 30.
Why Moses?
Because Paul’s proving that Israel’s problem wasn’t a lack of information. The law had already told them God’s truth was near them. Moses said they didn’t need someone to ascend into heaven and bring God’s word down. God had already revealed it.
Paul applies that principle to Christ.
When he says in Romans 10:6-7, “Who shall ascend into heaven? Or, Who shall descend into the deep? ” he’s exposing Israel’s unbelief.
Christ had already come down from heaven. To ask for more proof was to reject the testimony God had already given.
Think about what that question, “Who shall ascend into heaven?” implies. Who can tell us whether there’s life after death? Who can go into the heart of the earth and return with the answer? Paul says we don’t need to ask that question anymore. Christ has already answered it. He died, was buried, and rose again.
So to keep asking, “Who can descend and tell us?” is really to ignore Christ’s resurrection. Just as asking who can ascend ignores Christ’s coming from heaven, asking who can descend ignores the fact that He already rose from the dead.

That’s why Paul continues quoting Moses in Romans 10:8: “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.”
He’s quoting Deuteronomy 30:14.
Notice what Moses taught. The word was already near them. It was in their mouth and in their heart.
See, if it’s in the heart first, what’s that talking about? Faith.
That’s been the issue all along. Moses wasn’t merely teaching people to perform religious activities. The reason they were to obey God was that they believed Him. Faith came first; obedience followed. The law was never intended to function apart from faith.

This is Paul’s point. Why did Israel miss the promises?
They heard the part that said, “Do and live,” but they missed the part that required faith.
They saw the commands but missed the heart behind them. Moses taught both righteousness under the law and righteousness by faith.

Remember what Jesus said in John 5:39: “Search the scriptures; for they are they which testify of me.”
The word was already near them. They had Moses. They had the prophets. They had the Scriptures.

In Deuteronomy 30:15, Moses declares, “I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.”
Moses set before Israel life and death and Jesus did exactly the same thing.
John 3:36 says,
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Do you see the parallel?
Moses presented life and death through the law God gave. Jesus presented life and death through faith in Himself.
That’s exactly what Paul’s showing in Romans 10. Israel’s problem wasn’t merely that they rejected a teacher. They rejected the One who Moses had been pointing to all along.

Listen to the claims Jesus made.
John 5:24: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.”

Imagine hearing that as an Israelite.
You’ve grown up under the Law of Moses. You’ve heard about Abraham and the prophets your entire life. Then a carpenter from Nazareth stands before you and says, “Hear my words and you’ll have everlasting life.”

That’s a staggering claim.
No wonder people asked, “What about Abraham? What about Moses?”
And Jesus answered those objections.
He said Moses wrote about Him. He declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
You see, the issue wasn’t a lack of evidence. The issue was unbelief.
In John 8:24 Jesus said,
“If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

Notice what He didn’t say.
He didn’t say, “If you fail to offer enough sacrifices,” or “If you don’t perform enough works.” He said, “If you don’t believe in Me.”
That’s why Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Jesus placed Himself where the law stood. It was no longer the law that brought righteousness it was Him who brought righteousness.
He became the issue. He became the dividing line. He became the source of righteousness.
In John 8:51, He said,
“If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”

In John 14:6, He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Those are not the words of just another prophet.
Those are the claims of the One who Moses foretold. Moses brought Israel the old covenant. Jesus came as the Mediator of the new covenant. Moses pointed forward; Jesus fulfilled what Moses pointed to.
So when Paul explains Israel’s stumble in Romans 10, he’s showing us that they missed the very One their Scriptures testified about. Moses set before them life and death. Jesus did the same. But now life was found through faith in Him.
The tragedy is that many in Israel accepted Moses yet rejected the One Moses preached about.

And that’s Paul’s point throughout Romans 9, 10, and 11.
Israel didn’t fail because God wasn’t faithful. Israel stumbled because they would not believe the Christ whom God had sent. Faith was always the issue. It was the issue in Moses’ day, it was the issue when Jesus came, and it remained the issue when Israel stumbled over Him, the Stone God had laid in Zion.

Going back to Deuteronomy 30, Moses gives a warning.
He says in verses 17-18,
“If thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear… ye shall surely perish.” Notice the issue isn’t merely outward conduct.
The issue is whether they’ll hear the Lord, not just with their ears but with the heart. Their hearts turned away from Him.

Now compare that with John 3:16.
Jesus says that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. What happens if they refuse to believe? They perish. Do you see what’s happening? Jesus is placing Himself in the very position the Law occupied. Moses set before Israel life and death. Jesus arrives and says, in effect, “Life and death now depend on your response to Me.”
That’s the point Paul’s making.

Sometimes, especially when we’re trying to rightly divide Scripture, we can become so focused on distinguishing Christ’s earthly ministry from Paul’s revelation that we forget why Jesus came in the first place.
He came fulfilling prophecy. He came accomplishing what Moses and the prophets spoke about. He came as the end of the law for righteousness. He stood before Israel and said, essentially, “Trust Me.”

In fact, when you read Deuteronomy 30 with Jesus in mind, you begin to see why He could say, “Search the scriptures; for they are they which testify of me.” Moses was pointing ahead to Christ all along.
Listen to Deuteronomy 30:19-20:
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life… that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice… for he is thy life.”

Jesus later says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
The connection is impossible to miss.
Israel’s tragedy wasn’t that they lacked information. Their tragedy was that they missed the One Moses was talking about.

This helps explain Romans 10:9.
Paul isn’t giving a salvation formula for us to repeat word for word. He’s explaining Israel’s failure. They wouldn’t confess what was true, namely that Jesus was Lord, that He was the Lord God spoken of in their Scriptures. They stumbled over Christ.
That’s why Romans 10:8 says:
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;”

Notice the contrast throughout the passage where the works of the law stand on one side and the word of faith stands on the other.
Moses taught it. The prophets taught it. Jesus taught it. Peter taught it, and Paul taught it. Faith has always been required.

When Paul says, “which we preach,” the “we” is larger than just Paul.
He’s just quoted Moses.
The prophets testified of Christ. Jesus preached faith in Himself. Peter proclaimed the risen Christ. Paul’s doing the same. The common message is that Jesus is the promised Messiah and Lord.

The differences between Peter’s ministry and Paul’s ministry aren’t found in the truths they shared; they’re found in the distinctly different revelations God gave them.
Both preached that Jesus was alive. Both preached that He was the Christ. Both preached faith in Him.
That’s exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.
After listing the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, he concludes,
“Whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”

They preached the resurrection because they knew Christ had risen.
Paul even says Christ died and rose again “according to the scriptures.”
Why?
Because the prophets had testified these things beforehand. Paul wasn’t inventing them. He was proclaiming them as the gospel of salvation.

Now, before moving on, Paul’s reference to preaching gives us an important lesson.
What is preaching?
Preaching is more than simply sharing information. Teaching can explain facts. Someone can teach about Islam, atheism, or any other belief system without actually believing any of it. But preaching’s different.

Preaching is speaking with conviction about something you know yourself to be true. You preach it in order to produce faith in someone else.
If I say, “Well, maybe Christ died for sins. Maybe He rose again. I’m not sure.” That’s not preaching. Preaching says, “Christ died for your sins. He was buried. He rose again. This is true.”

Preaching aims to produce faith because, as we see in Romans 10:17, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

That’s why good preaching must handle Scripture honestly.
It mustn’t twist verses, ignore context, or use passages to teach what they were never intended to teach. And of course, that brings us right back to Romans 10:9, which has often been used carelessly and taken out of its context.

Paul’s concern, as ours should be also, is that God’s Word be handled faithfully and in its proper context.
That’s exactly what Paul’s doing in Romans 10 as he explains why Israel stumbled over the very Christ whom Moses, the prophets, and the Scriptures had been proclaiming all along.
In 2 Corinthians 4:1-2, Paul says that because he received this ministry by God’s mercy, he doesn’t quit. But notice what else he says: “We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.” That’s interesting.

Now, renouncing something does not save us; let’s be clear about that.
Christ saves us. God’s grace saves us. Nobody becomes a Christian because they stop doing this or stop doing that. But when we grow in grace and begin learning who we are in Christ, there are things we’ll naturally start putting away. Why? Because they don’t match who we are anymore.
I remember a person who was very close to me. He heard and believed the gospel of salvation. He was later invited to a very raunchy show, but refused to go. On being asked why, he simply said, “It doesn’t interest me any more”.

Paul says one of the first things he renounced was dishonesty. Hidden things. Things people conceal.
Grace frees us from pretending. We don’t have to pretend we’re better than anyone else. We’re all sinners saved by grace. That’s the message. Grace allows honesty because our standing with God isn’t based on maintaining an image. It’s based on Christ.

Paul goes on to say that he was not “walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully.”
That’s where this connects directly to Romans 10.

Mishandling the Bible has caused enormous confusion in Christianity.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, so if the Word of God’s being mishandled, people are going to misunderstand what God actually said.
That’s why context matters so much, and that’s why rightly dividing the Word of truth matters so much.
That’s why we’re showing that Romans 10 is about Israel’s stumbling and not some gospel formula, some sort of incantation resulting in salvation.
The world’s full of sin and wickedness, but one of the greatest tragedies is when confusion comes from the very place that’s supposed to uphold the truth. The church is supposed to be the pillar and ground of the truth. If God’s Word isn’t handled correctly there, where will people learn it?

That’s why every Christian should learn the Bible.
Not just pastors. Not just teachers. Every believer. It’s the tool God gave us for growth, maturity, and ministry. Used correctly, it helps people. Used carelessly, it can hurt people.
Sometimes people misuse Scripture with good intentions. They think, “I want people saved, so I’ll use any verse that gets the job done.”
But Paul says stop handling the Word of God deceitfully. Good intentions don’t justify poor Bible handling.

The goal isn’t to find a verse that supports what I want to say. The goal is to understand and teach what God actually said.
That brings us to another issue Paul mentions: craftiness.
The world loves skilled speakers. Pastors and teachers are often taught how to communicate clearly and hold people’s attention. Now, clear communication is helpful. But preaching can become dangerous when people trust the speaker and his style and reputation more than the Scriptures.
A preacher can become so polished, so entertaining, so emotional, that people leave saying, “What a wonderful message!” But if you ask what they learned from the Bible, they can’t tell you.
That’s not success.

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul says he didn’t come with “excellency of speech” or “enticing words of man’s wisdom.” Instead, he came preaching “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
Why?
Because he wanted their faith to stand in the power of God, the power of God’s word, not in the wisdom of men.
Think about that.
Paul deliberately refused to make himself the attraction. He wanted the truth to be the attraction.
If you understand the Word of God, you can study it yourself, believe it yourself, teach your family, encourage others, and grow by it.
The power is in God’s Word, not in the personality delivering it.
God’s Word should never be more confusing than when you started hearing it. The goal of teaching is clarity. The goal of preaching is to speak truth and encourage faith and obedience.
Yet Paul warns in Romans 16:17-18 that some use “good words and fair speeches” to deceive the simple. That’s why impressive speaking alone isn’t enough. A smooth speaker without sound doctrine is dangerous.
God’s Word must be handled honestly, carefully, and in context.

Israel stumbled because they missed what God actually said about Christ.
Let’s not make the same mistake by allowing tradition, proof texts, or persuasive speaking to replace the clear teaching of Scripture. Our faith must rest in God’s truth, rightly divided, correctly understood and faithfully preached.
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul says, “Preach the word.” Not opinions. Not trends. Not fables. Preach the Word. He tells Timothy to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
Why?
Because a time would come when people would “not endure sound doctrine.” Instead, they’d gather teachers who tell them what they want to hear, and they’d turn away from the truth unto fables.
That’s not an ancient problem, far from it. That’s a church problem in every generation.

So when Paul talks about preaching in Romans 10, it isn’t a side issue. It’s central to his point.
Why?
Because faith comes through hearing God’s truth. Later in Romans 10:17 he’ll say, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

What have we already learned?
Moses communicated God’s Word to Israel. Jesus communicated God’s Word to Israel. Peter communicated it, and Paul communicated it.
God’s truth had been preached. The problem wasn’t that Israel didn’t hear. The problem was that they didn’t believe, and faith is always connected to words.

Now, words themselves don’t save anyone, but words reveal what someone believes.
Paul explains this principle in 2 Corinthians 4:13. Quoting David from Psalm 116, he says, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken.” Then Paul adds, “We also believe, and therefore speak.”

Do you see the order?
First belief. Then speaking.
David spoke because he believed and Paul spoke because he believed. Faith produces testimony.
That’s important when we come to Romans 10:9. If someone confesses with their mouth but doesn’t believe in their heart, God knows the difference. The issue has always been faith.
That’s the entire context of Romans 10. Paul’s explaining unbelieving Israel’s problem. They would not believe who Jesus was.
Jesus, Peter and Paul all preached faith, and Israel stumbled at faith.

Now notice something else in Romans 10:8-9.
The sentence hasn’t ended. Paul’s just quoted Moses from Deuteronomy 30. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.” Then, without changing subjects, he says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus…”

Paul’s making a connection between Deuteronomy 30 and Israel’s response to Christ.
Under Moses, Israel confessed God’s law and was expected to believe and obey it. Paul already explained in Romans 2:13, “Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”

James says the same thing.
James 1:22 says, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
In James 2:12 he says, “So speak ye, and so do.” In other words, if we truly believe something, our confession and our actions ought to agree, and that’s exactly what Israel failed to do concerning Christ.

Before Christ came, Israel confessed the God of Moses. But when the Messiah arrived, they refused to confess Him as Lord. They refused to receive the One Moses had written about.

So when Paul says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,” we need to remember who he’s talking to.
The “thou” of verse 9 is the same “thee” of verse 8. The context comes directly from Moses speaking to Israel. Paul’s explaining what unbelieving Israel needed to do when their Messiah arrived.

This fits perfectly with John 1:10-11:
“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
That’s exactly the issue Paul’s dealing with. Christ came to Israel. Israel should have recognised Him. Israel should have confessed Him. Israel should have believed Him. But they didn’t.
So when we read Romans 10:9, we have to keep that context in mind. Paul’s explaining Israel’s failure, not handing out a simplified evangelistic formula that’s detached from the rest of Romans.

Now notice what happened in Israel’s history.
Moses put God’s Word in their mouths. They confessed the Law. They taught it to their children. They recited it. But when the Lord spoken of by Moses finally appeared, they rejected Him.
The issue wasn’t a lack of words.
The issue was unbelief.
Israel could have shouted, “Lord, Lord,” all day long. In fact, many of them did. But when the Lord stood before them, they rejected Him.
That’s why Paul keeps bringing us back to faith.

The word was preached.
The word was heard.
But hearing doesn’t automatically produce belief.
Romans 10 isn’t a chapter about magic words. It’s a chapter about faith.
The Word of God was near them. Moses preached it. The prophets testified of it. Jesus declared it. Peter proclaimed it. Paul continued preaching it. Yet Israel stumbled because they refused to believe what God had already revealed.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus was already teaching Israel to receive Him and confess Him as Lord. Remember the question He asked concerning David? Why did David call his own son “Lord”? The answer was that the Son of David was also David’s Lord. Jesus was teaching that He was both Messiah and Lord before He ever went to the cross.

Jesus also taught that a person’s words reveal what they truly believe.
In Matthew 12:34-35, speaking to unbelieving Israel, He says, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

Why was Jesus saying this?
Because these religious leaders were rejecting Him. They called Him a blasphemer. They accused Him of evil. Their words revealed their hearts.
Jesus goes even further in Matthew 12:37: “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Not because words magically save or condemn people, but because words reveal what they truly believed.
The heart speaks through the mouth and that’s exactly the principle Paul’s using in Romans 10.

At the trial of Jesus, in Matthew 27, Pilate asks, “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” The crowd answers, “Let him be crucified.” Again and again they cry out, “Crucify him!”
Those words testified against them.
Then they said the astonishing words, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”

Paul asks in Romans 10 why Israel didn’t receive salvation. Well, here’s part of the answer. They didn’t confess Jesus as Lord. They rejected Him with their mouths because they had already rejected Him in their hearts.
Luke 23 adds this,
“And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.”

Instant here means they were relentless in their demands and their words carried influence. They persuaded others. That’s a reminder that words matter. Preaching matters. Testimony matters. Truth and error are both spread through words.
If they’d received Him, they would’ve confessed Him and if they’d believed Him, they would’ve followed Him, but instead they cried, “Crucify Him.”

Now contrast that response with Peter’s confession in Matthew 16.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” After several wrong answers were given, Peter declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
That’s the response Israel should have had.
Jesus replied, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

Notice Peter wasn’t struck by some mysterious lightning bolt of revelation. He’d listened to Jesus. He’d followed Jesus. He’d heard His words, seen His works, and believed Him.
That’s been the issue all along.
Moses pointed to Christ.
The prophets pointed to Christ.
Jesus testified concerning Himself.
Peter believed, the religious leaders did not.
They should have believed Him because He fulfilled everything Moses and the prophets had spoken. He proved He was the promised Christ, the promised Messiah.
But instead of confessing Him, they condemned Him. Instead of receiving Him, they rejected Him. And that’s precisely why Israel stumbled over the Stone that God had laid in Zion.

Look at Thomas in John 20.
After Christ’s death, Thomas refused to believe the reports of the resurrection. He said that unless he saw the wounds himself, he would not believe. Then the risen Christ appeared before him and said, in effect, “Thomas, here I am. Stop being faithless. Believe.”
And what did Thomas say?
“My Lord and my God.”
There it is.
He believed in the resurrection, and he confessed Jesus as Lord. Thomas moved from unbelief to faith. He’s often called “Doubting Thomas,” but the truth is that many of the disciples struggled to believe until they saw the risen Christ.

John tells us exactly why he wrote his Gospel.
In John 20:31 he says, “These [he means these words] are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

John was presenting evidence to unbelieving Israel.
The signs, the miracles, the words of Christ, and the resurrection all testified that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

The same message appears in Acts 4.
Peter stands before unbelieving Israel and declares, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead.”
He says Christ is the stone the builders rejected, yet He became the head of the corner. Then Peter boldly says, “Neither is there salvation in any other.”
Notice Peter’s message after the resurrection. Jesus is Lord, and God raised Him from the dead.
That’s exactly what Romans 10 is discussing.
Israel’s problem wasn’t lack of information. They heard Jesus. They heard the apostles. They saw the evidence. Yet many refused to believe.

Peter himself later explains in 1 Peter 1:3 that the disciples’ hope was renewed through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the cross they were discouraged, confused, and fearful. Everything changed when they became convinced that Christ had risen.
And that’s Paul’s point.
Why did Israel stumble? Not because God’s promise failed. Not because Christ wasn’t who He claimed to be. They stumbled because they would not receive Him. They would not confess Him. They would not believe the testimony God had given concerning His Son.
The whole issue in Romans 10 is faith.
Faith in the One Moses spoke about. Faith in the One the prophets foretold. Faith in the One Israel crucified but whom God raised from the dead.

This brings us back to Romans 10:9.
Why does Paul specifically mention confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead?
Because those two statements answer the two questions Paul quoted from Deuteronomy 30.
Who shall ascend into heaven?
No need to ask. Christ came down from heaven. He is Lord.
Who shall descend into the deep?
No need to ask. Christ went into death and rose again.

The very questions Moses said not to ask are answered in Jesus Christ. Yet Israel rejected those answers. They would not acknowledge Him as Lord, and they would not believe the testimony of His resurrection.

Paul isn’t giving a formula here. He’s explaining Israel’s failure.
Moses taught faith. So did David, the prophets, Jesus, Peter and Paul.
Before Jesus came the object of faith was God’s promise of a saviour. But faith now had a specific object: Jesus Christ.

Israel didn’t just need faith in general.
They needed faith in the Christ whom Moses foretold and whom God raised from the dead.
This is why we must be careful not to turn Romans 10:9 into a stand-alone gospel presentation. Paul’s not preaching here what he explains elsewhere in detail: Christ’s death for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection according to the Scriptures. Notice that Romans 10:9 doesn’t mention Christ dying for our sins. It doesn’t explain the cross as Romans 3, Romans 5, or 1 Corinthians 15 do.
That doesn’t mean the verse is wrong. It means it’s addressing a different question.
If someone asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” we already have an example in Acts 16:31. He told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” But even there, Paul didn’t stop speaking. The next verse says he preached the Word of the Lord unto him. You can’t build an entire doctrine from one isolated phrase. You have to understand the whole message.
That’s exactly what Paul ‘s been urging us to do throughout Romans.
That’s why Romans 9 to 11 exists. Paul’s explaining how Israel stumbled over the very One sent to save them.

The lesson for us today is simple.
Don’t just hear God’s Word. Believe it. Don’t settle for religious tradition, proof texts, or eloquent speeches. Let Scripture speak for itself. Let Christ be the center of it. Because whether it’s Moses, the prophets, Jesus, Peter, or Paul, the testimony is the same: God’s Word points to Christ, and faith in what God has said is always the issue.
God bless you.