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Him as Lord. If the man believes with the heart (i. e. with his thoughts, affections and will, for that is what the heart stands for in Scripture), that God has raised Jesus from the dead, the result is “righteousness” (i. e., as throughout this epistle, justifica-, tion or acceptance before God) ; and if he confesses Jesus as Lord (i. e., as Divine King and Master), the result is salvation i. e., salvation in its fullest, largest sense, deliverance from the guilt and power of sin and preservation unto the glory to be revealed in the last time (cf. 1 Peter 1:5). In studying these verses it is well to note the absolute necessity of confession “with the mouth” (cf. Matt. 10:32,33; Luke 8:38). But someone will say, is not a man saved on the one condition of faith? Yes. And does Paul not add another condition to this, and is there one “work” necessary after all for salvation, viz., confession? No. Confession is not a. work, it is the inevitable outcome of the faith with the heart. The faith that does not lead to confession is dot faith. If you are not confessing Jesus as Lord with your mouth you may be sure that you do not believe with your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and you may therefore also be sure that you are not saved. Thursday, August 2 . Rom. 10 ) 11 - 13 . Again Paul appeals to Old Testament Scripture. The way of salvation in the New Testament is exactly the same as the way of salvation in the Old Testament, that way is faith. This way of faith is open to all, "whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame” (cf. Isa. 28:16). It may be a Jew or it may be a Gentile, it may be one whose outward life is exem plary or it may be the vilest outcast, but “whosoever believeth on the Lord shall
Wednesday, August I. Rom■ 10 : 4 - 10 .
Jesus Christ perfectly kept the law, and then, having perfectly kept it Himself, died as an atoning sacrifice for those who had broken it (Gal 3:13), and thus He became “the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth.” God counts those who are in Christ righteous not because they have kept the law Of Moses, but be cause they believe on Jesus Christ. Paul here passes from “the righteousness which is of the law” to “the righteousness which is of faith.” Moses wrote of “the right eousness which is of the law,” but he also wrote of the righteousness which is of faith (cf v. 6 ; Deut. 30:12). Paul quotes from Moses in describing “the righteous ness which is of faith” (cf. Deut. 30:12-14), but Paul does not use Moses’ name in doing it. This may be because Paul under the Spirit’s guidance, was putting a deeper meaning into Moses’ words than Moses himself saw in them. The words are modi fied, too. Moses (at least in the text as we now have it) spoke only of the “sea,” faith goes farther and speaks of the “abyss.” (v. 7, R. V.) As Moses’ words are alluded to and not exactly quoted his name is omitted and “the righteousness which is of faith,” is made the speaker. For the righteousness which is of faith there is no work to do: it is neither neces sary to ascend to heaven nor to descend to the abyss for Christ, the saving word is right at hand, nay right in the heart and mouth of the believer. The word in the heart is the simple word that God has raised Jesus from the dead, and the heart has simply to close with this message, i. e., to believe it. The word in the mouth is, “Jesus is Lord,” and all the mouth has to d o is to confess it, or rather to confess
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