Romans 10:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

No one can now say that he refused the work because of its difficulty. Do you see how the Apostle deprives the Jews of every excuse? What justification do those deserve who choose what is most difficult and impossible, and abandon what is easy and able to save them? Even the Law was not able to give this. All this proves nothing other than an obstinate will resisting God. The Law is burdensome, but grace is light. The Law, even with countless efforts, does not save, but grace gives justification as both gracious and lawful. What, then, will those say in their defense who persist against grace and hold uselessly and aimlessly to the Law? Therefore, so that the Jews could not say, "How did those who did not find the lesser righteousness find the greater?" the Apostle gives an indisputable proof that the new way is easier than the former. There the fulfillment of all the commandments was required: when you have fulfilled everything, you shall live. But the righteousness of faith does not speak so. What, then, does it say? "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." Then, lest it seem from the proof that this way is convenient and easy that it is not even worthy of attention, see how the Apostle enlarges upon it. He did not immediately come to what we have said, but what does he say?

How, then, are the word of faith and the justification received from it in our mouth and in our heart? If, he says, you confess with your mouth that the Lord Jesus is God, and if you believe in your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead, then you will receive eternal salvation. Why is this so? Because the heart and the mouth are the two instruments, or, as it were, the receptacles of faith. The heart, that is, the soul, believes, and in this way is justified and receives sanctification. The mouth confesses and preaches what the heart believes, and this confession and preaching bring salvation. Thus the divine Apostle showed the imperfection and weakness of the Law of Moses. He revealed the perfection, saving power, and ease of the Gospel of faith. In this way he stopped the mouths of those Jews who, hoping and boasting to receive justification from the Law, did not accept the justification that comes from faith in Christ. By this he established all believers upon the rock of faith.

Before the strict demands of the Law concerning righteousness, the man of the Old Testament could only answer, Where shall I obtain righteousness? It is not in me. To attain it, one would have to go either to heaven or beyond the sea. In other words, it is wholly unattainable, as though it were in heaven or beyond the sea. Justification through faith, however, is accomplished much more simply and easily. Although we also have no righteousness in ourselves, and although it must be received from the Savior, who does not visibly remain with us, no one should say, Where shall I obtain righteousness? Must I go up to heaven, where the Savior should be, or into Hades, where He descended? To acquire His righteousness, His visible presence with us is not necessary. His absence does not hinder the work of justification. Indeed, "what does Scripture say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith which we preach (Deut 30:14). "For if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, 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" (Rom 10:8-10).

He is the loving and almighty Lord, ready to receive all and hastening toward all who turn to Him. Therefore the Hebrews should not be troubled by anything in their conversion to Christ.

They especially should not be troubled by the fact that the Greeks are received along with them. God lacks nothing, especially not readiness to give the Kingdom to all, in which there are many mansions.

This ought already to have been well known to the Hebrews. The prophets Isaiah, Joel, and others clearly proclaimed God’s readiness to receive all who turn to Him.

The passage cited by the Apostle from the prophet Isaiah, concerning the saving power of faith, concerns the precious stone in Zion. All Jews understood this stone to mean Christ the Messiah.

The words of the prophet Joel about the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all who confess the Lord were likewise referred to the times of the Messiah.

The continuation of those words is: “And it shall be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” These words were cited by the holy Apostle Peter in his sermon.

He delivered it when the Holy Spirit had just descended upon the Apostles. The Jews, seeing the Apostles’ ecstasy under the action of the Holy Spirit, thought they were drunk.

In refutation of this, the Apostle Peter said: “We are not drunk. Rather, what the prophet Joel foretold has been fulfilled in us, when he said, ‘Upon My menservants and upon My maidservants in those days I will pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.’”

Then he concluded: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:16-38).

Saint John Chrysostom says the same when concluding his explanation of this passage: “Do you see how the Apostle deprives the Jews of every excuse? When justification, the most important thing of all, is so easy and readily received through faith, and when without faith it is impossible to be saved, is it not the utmost folly to leave what is convenient and easy, and take up what is impossible? The Law is burdensome, but grace is light. The Law, with countless conditions, does not save. Grace grants both gracious and legal justification. What then will those say in their own defense who stubbornly resist grace and cling to the Law without profit or purpose?”

Of course, those who were not stubborn could say nothing in defense of their unbelief. Therefore they believed and confessed Christ.

They asked what they should do next to be saved. Having received the answer that it was necessary to be baptized, they were baptized (Acts 2:37, 41; 16:30-33).

But those stubborn in unbelief always found various justifications for their unbelief. Therefore the Apostle goes on to review some of these justifications.

He concentrates especially on the fact that the calling of all to salvation was so frequent, strong, and manifold that even the Gentiles responded to it.

By this they became a provocation to the Jews in their conversion to the Lord and Savior. To give his words greater solidity, he again cites Old Testament testimonies.

Saint Paul speaks separately of confession with the mouth and of believing with the heart. He places oral confession first, and after it heartfelt faith. He does this in application to the passage cited above.

In the essence of the matter, everything is from faith in the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Confession comes from faith planted in the heart.

Indeed, it is impossible without such faith. If it sometimes occurs without it, it has no significance in producing salvation.

But faith, when it is living and aflame, cannot remain hidden in the heart without showing itself. It comes forth of itself in word, in gaze, in movement, and in deeds.

Thus faith and its confession, in their truth, are inseparable. Here too the Apostle’s whole attention is directed to faith. When he added confession, he did not wish to indicate something separate, but the same faith.

The object of confession is the Lord Jesus: if you confess the Lord Jesus. This may be understood thus: if you confess the Lord Jesus as He is in truth, that is, the Son of God and God incarnate.

Or it may be taken directly: if you confess Jesus as Lord, that He is the Lord God. By this, confession of the divinity of Jesus Christ is established as a necessary condition of salvation.

The object of heartfelt faith is the Resurrection of Christ. Why so? Because belief began, and begins, with this. Upon this the whole subsequent structure of faith was and is founded.

That Jesus, called Christ, was crucified and died on the cross was evident to all and known to all. The apostolic preaching did not conceal this. On the contrary, it set it forth as its first point.

But it did not stop there. It always added: He died on the cross, but He also rose and lived (Rom 14:9). From this point faith began, and by it faith was conditioned.

For if He had only died, who would have begun to believe? The Apostles always portrayed faith in the Resurrection as the foundation of faith in Christ and of salvation (see 1 Cor 15:14).

From these objects it is also clear that the Apostle does not divide faith and confession. It is not as though one could confess the divinity of Jesus Christ without confessing His Resurrection.

Nor could one believe in His Resurrection without faith in His divinity, while doing no harm to the work of salvation. The two are indivisible.

That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God is evident from His Resurrection, as the Apostle said at the beginning (see Rom 1:4). Faith in His Resurrection leads directly to confession of His divinity.

Therefore this passage, according to its meaning, may be read thus: if with your mouth you confess, and in your heart believe, that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

The Apostle said, God raised Him, because of the weakness of the hearers. He did this so that the thought of how resurrection is possible would not enter in and cut off the course of faith.

By setting down, God raised Him, he removes every hesitation concerning possibility. For it is the common faith that all things are possible for God.

Chrysostom says: "That Christ is Lord is clear from the Resurrection, as the Apostle also said at the beginning of the Epistle: declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead (cf. Rom 1:4). And that the Resurrection is not difficult has been proved even to the most ignorant by the power of Him Who raises."

That the One raised is also God, he has just said, when he commanded us to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. He Who is Lord is Himself able to rise.

If it is said that God raised Him, this is only to indicate His indivisibility from God the Father. For the Son of God, Who is God, became incarnate without leaving the bosom of the Father.

When He was raised by the Father, He Himself also participated in this action. Divine actions are indivisible. They proceed from the Tri-hypostatic Godhead.

The Resurrection of Christ is the work of God the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, when you believe and confess in this way, that Jesus Christ is Lord, God incarnate, Who died and rose for our salvation, then you will be saved.

But how is this accomplished? The answer must be drawn from all that has gone before. It is an unalterable law that without fulfilling the commandments there is no salvation.

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments (cf. Mt 19:17), says the Lord. And again: not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven (cf. Mt 7:21).

Therefore, if salvation, which is entrance into the Kingdom and into life, is conditioned by confession and faith in Christ and in the Resurrection of Christ the Lord, it must be supposed that this is so because the fulfillment of the commandments is inseparably joined to them.

That is indeed the case. Let us recall what was said earlier about the nearness of the law. Saint Moses said: the law is near you, because it is written and lies before your eyes.

Though he added that it is also in the heart, this was only a promise. The Prophets later indicated its fulfillment in the future coming of the Promised One.

With Him, the whole law and all the commandments would be written not on parchment, but on the heart. This is exactly what happens.

The one who receives the Promised One Who has come cleaves to Him by faith. The one who cleaves to Him becomes one spirit with Him (see 1 Cor 6:17).

His Spirit is the sum of all the holy feelings, dispositions, and aspirations required by the commandments and constituting their fulfillment.

Therefore the one who cleaves by faith to Christ the Lord bears within himself the fulfillment of all the commandments. For that very reason he is saved.

One may come to the same conclusion by another path. He who believes and is baptized will be saved (cf. Mk 16:16), says the Lord. But whoever is baptized into Christ puts on Christ (see Gal 3:27).

Christ is everything holy and righteous. Therefore the one who believes in Christ bears within himself holiness and righteousness, which are the fulfillment of the commandments. Therefore he is saved.

Or again: the one baptized into the Lord is baptized into His death. This is so that, as Christ rose from the dead in the glory of the Father, he too may walk in newness of life.

Renewed life is a holy and righteous life, walking in all the commandments of God. Therefore, again, the believer is saved because he has the fulfillment of all the commandments.

Or thus: the one who believes and is baptized is reborn by the Holy Spirit unto new life. He becomes a child of God, not only in name but essentially.

This is because he is made Godlike, that is, holy, as his Begetter, the Tri-hypostatic God, is holy. In this he has salvation.

Thus, whatever one touches in faith in Christ the Lord, from everything one comes to one conclusion. The one who truly believes is saved.

But this is because, according to the ordering of faith, he becomes a fulfiller of all the commandments. He bears them inscribed in the heart, in holy feelings and dispositions, created there by the Holy Spirit.