Day 10 — The Starting Point: Who Jesus Is, and What He Has Done
Today’s Passage: Romans 10:8-13, and John 10:27-30
Paul writes this letter to Christians in Rome, a city he has never visited. He turns his attention to his own people, the Jews, and expresses a deep grief. They possess a zeal for God, but they attempt to build a standing with God out of their own track record. They refuse the standing God offers as a gift. Paul then borrows the words of Moses. Moses told Israel that God’s commandment remained near them, resting in their mouths and in their hearts. It required no expedition into the sky or across the sea to retrieve it. Paul applies that reality to the message about Jesus. Within six verses he details how a person answers God, using terms a child can grasp. This marks the tenth day of our study. We have examined the historical evidence of who Jesus is and what He accomplished. Today focuses on how you respond, and what holds you secure after that response. Everyone who calls on the Lord is saved, and everyone He saves He holds.
Context Two sentences behind the passage
The words Paul quotes in verse 8 come from Deuteronomy 30. Moses spoke these words at the end of his life to people standing on the edge of the promised land. He told them God’s requirements remained within reach, already in their mouths and hearts. No one could plead distance as an excuse. The other sentence appears in verse 9, and in the first century, it carried a death sentence. Kyrios, the word translated Lord, served as the title the Roman empire demanded for Caesar. It also served as the word the Greek Old Testament used in place of God’s personal covenant name. To say “Jesus is Lord” aloud in Rome meant assigning to Jesus the absolute authority the state reserved for the emperor and the Scriptures reserved for God.
Romans 10:8-9 (BSB)
⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
The word is near you. The message arrives directly at your mouth and your heart. You face no distance to cross, no probationary period to serve, and no waiting to clean up your life before approaching God. You can act on this message exactly where you stand.
Verse 9 details the two elements of one decision. Jesus is Lord requires a transfer of ownership. You agree He holds the right to direct your life, and you surrender the attempt to run it yourself. God raised Him from the dead represents the historical claim we have investigated over these ten days. Jesus died under Pontius Pilate in the place of guilty people and walked out of a tomb in a physical body on the third day. Paul asks you to believe an event. This event possesses a date, a location, and eyewitnesses who remained alive to face questioning when Paul mailed this letter. Mouth and heart represent the identical decision, viewed from the outside and the inside.
Word study "confess", *homologeō* (Romans 10:9)
Greek: ὁμολογέω (homologeō), pronounced ho-mo-lo-GEH-oh. Strong’s G3670.
The word builds on two roots: homos (same) and legō (say). To confess is to say the same thing. In courtroom or market use, it meant agreeing to the terms of a contract or stating a position publicly. English carries the baggage of a police interrogation, as if confessing means admitting a crime. The biblical meaning demands a larger verdict: stating aloud the exact truth God has already declared about His Son.
Romans 10:10-11 (BSB)
¹⁰ For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved. ¹¹ It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
Paul states the reality twice, viewing it from both angles. A genuine belief reaches the mouth, and spoken words require a believing heart behind them.
Justified operates as a courtroom term. It means the judge declares you to be in the right. That declaration rests entirely on what Christ accomplished, rather than on any improvement in your own moral record.
Verse 11 addresses a fear buried deeper than the fear of punishment. We fear reaching out and facing humiliation, or turning to God only to find the offer applied to someone else. Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame. God receives whoever comes to Him. He guarantees you will never look foolish for trusting Him.
Romans 10:12-13 (BSB)
¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The ancient world sorted humanity into two groups: Jew and Greek. Every person knew their category. The division stood as a concrete reality, yet at this specific door, Paul erases the boundary. The same Lord governs both groups. He gives richly, a term describing open hands rather than clenched fists.
The closing line seals the case: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Paul eliminated national boundaries, and now he uses a word that eliminates every other human division. He removes respectability, religious background, and moral progress from the equation. Everyone who calls. Paul constructs this sentence to include every living person. He adds no loopholes.
What calling on Him is
Two realities occur simultaneously. First, you turn. You abandon the lifelong project of directing your own path, and you deal honestly with God about your record. Second, you receive. You accept Christ as Lord and Savior. You rest the entire weight of your case on His death and resurrection, rather than on your own merit. A person who turns without receiving carries only regret. A person who receives without turning merely agrees to a set of facts while living exactly as before.
Salvation rests entirely on His blood and His kindness. A person relies on Christ rather than on church attendance, baptismal certificates, religious family trees, or perfectly phrased prayers.
God looks for the posture of the heart rather than a recited formula. A person can speak flawless theology and mean nothing by it. Conversely, a person making a genuine turn might barely find words at all. Jesus told a story of a tax collector who refused to lift his eyes and managed only, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
You formulate the words yourself, spoken aloud or in your own mind. You might tell God you believe He raised Jesus from the dead and you are handing your life over to Him. You might list what you have done and state that you are finished building a case for your own goodness. If you feel distant from those steps, you can tell Him exactly that, and ask Him to make Himself known to you. He hears every honest sentence.
John 10:27-28 (BSB)
²⁷ My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
These words belong to Jesus Himself. He spoke them in Jerusalem during the winter, as crowds gathered in the temple courts demanding He state His identity directly.
Jesus assigns every verb of security to Himself. I know them. I give them eternal life. The sheep listen and the sheep follow. His grip keeps them from perishing. No one can pry a person out of His hand.
John 10:29-30 (BSB)
²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”
Jesus repeats the guarantee. He places a second hand around the first. He then explains the authority behind that grip: I and the Father are one. The crowds in the temple courts understood that claim perfectly and immediately gathered stones to execute Him.
For anyone who turns to Christ, your preservation belongs to Him. Your security relies on His grip on you, rather than the strength of your grip on Him. You rest secure in His hand and in the Father’s hand. Nothing possesses the power to remove you. Those who belong to Him belong to Him forever. Jesus pronounced this absolute guarantee over people who had accomplished nothing to earn it.
Where to go from here
This study provides information, but reading it cannot save you. An app cannot know you, sit with you, or teach you over the span of a lifetime. The evidence points you outward to concrete steps you can take in the physical world.
Secure a Bible of your own and begin reading one of the historical accounts of Jesus’ life. Locate a local church that opens and teaches the Scriptures, walk through the doors, and tell someone there what you are investigating. If you know a person who believes these claims, tell them what you have read.
Study notes No one turned away
Jesus established both facts in a single sentence, years before Paul wrote his letter to Rome.
"Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away." John 6:37 (BSB)
He guarantees the coming and the keeping in one breath. He takes responsibility for both.
Everyone who calls on the Lord is saved, and everyone He saves He holds. Since He requires no formal speech or perfect record, you can act on this evidence right now. Take a moment today to talk to God in your own words. Speak aloud if you can, and tell Him honestly exactly where you stand with Him.