Romans 10:10 "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
In this context, Paul is talking about how Israel needs the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. He starts by talking about Moses's writings concerning the law, then moves to how “faith” operates. We should not ask ourselves who is going to heaven or hell. Romans chapter 10. “6 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) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But rather, the Word should be in our mouths and in our hearts, then he gets to verse 9. “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.” So at this point. We aren’t telling ourselves who is going to heaven or hell, but rather ensuring that we have confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. Then Paul moves on to verse 10, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.", then for clarification adds 11 “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
So we have a couple of ideas here. Confessing Jesus is Lord with our mouths is necessary for salvation, but we also NEED to believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. Jesus LIVES. If you do that you will not be put to shame. Salvation here means deliverance from wrath and the power of sin. The condition for righteousness (being justified) is internal faith.
Expanding out to the context of scripture, this faith will produce the fruits of the spirit in you. For most this is going to happen over time. The other idea is that both Jews and gentiles NEED to do this. Just being a Jew doesn’t help you in the eyes of God concerning salvation in Jesus Christ. I am not going to get into what happened with Jews before Christ, but those that followed God prior to Christ are in good shape, to put it mildly. Salvation is offered universally to everyone in this when he states “whoever”.
Application: We might sometimes ask ourselves if someone is going to heaven or hell based on what they are saying or doing. However, we do not make this determination and we need to avoid making that call in our hearts. Heart in the context here is 2588. καρδία kardia kar-dee'-ah. It means “thoughts or feelings” (mind). In other words, we are “convinced” by way of faith in our thoughts and feelings. Through this, we have righteousness and are justified. We are also “saved” from the wrath and the power of sin. The reaction to this should generate a “new life” or “things done in the body” or “deeds” that are representative of the fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. This doesn’t mean we will automatically display these things or that we won’t display other things that can be righteous at times (like righteous anger). We do not want to sit there with judging eyes picking and choosing who we think might be going where eternally. We can speak from truth and what the word of God has to say, but we don’t make that decision.
Questions you can ask yourself. Do you find yourself pondering in your heart the things that are only up to God? Can you try and let those things go and instead focus on the truth of the Word Of God and what God has for us, and others through us. Do you believe Jesus Christ is who He says he is? Do you know someone struggling with doubt? Pray about reaching out to them.
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