10:9 {6} That if thou shalt {g} confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that {h} God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
(6) That is indeed true faith which is settled not only in the head, but also in the heart of man, of which we also give testimony by our outward life, and which serves Christ as our one and only Saviour, even as he sets forth himself in his word.
(g) If you profess plainly, sincerely, and openly, that you take Jesus alone to be thy Lord and Saviour.
(h) The Father, who is said to have raised the Son from the dead: and this is not spoken to exclude the divinity of the Son, but to set forth the Father's plan, with regard to our redemption in the resurrection of the Son.
10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. For the importance which Jesus attached to confession, see Mt 10:32 Lu 12:8 and compare Ac 8:37. To openly confess Christ in those days of persecution was a trial of faith of the severest kind. Note distinctly that there is no promise here to a concealed faith.
And shalt believe in thine heart. That is, with all the heart. The belief must not be only a mental assent, but a belief that brings the whole man into loving trust and obedience to Christ. Such a faith is referred to in Ro 1:5 where the obedience of faith is described.
Thou shalt be saved. Such a faith confessed unites its subject to Christ as his loving subject, and imparts to him the righteousness of those who have died to sin and been freed from the law. See Ro 6:1-4.
10:9 If thou confess with thy mouth - Even in time of persecution, when such a confession may send thee to the lions.
10:5-11 The self-condemned sinner need not perplex himself how this righteousness may be found. When we speak of looking upon Christ, and receiving, and feeding upon him, it is not Christ in heaven, nor Christ in the deep, that we mean; but Christ in the promise, Christ offered in the word. Justification by faith in Christ is a plain doctrine. It is brought before the mind and heart of every one, thus leaving him without excuse for unbelief. If a man confessed faith in Jesus, as the Lord and Saviour of lost sinners, and really believed in his heart that God had raised him from the dead, thus showing that he had accepted the atonement, he should be saved by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him through faith. But no faith is justifying which is not powerful in sanctifying the heart, and regulating all its affections by the love of Christ. We must devote and give up to God our souls and our bodies: our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth. The believer shall never have cause to repent his confident trust in the Lord Jesus. Of such faith no sinner shall be ashamed before God; and he ought to glory in it before men.
