Additional Conditions of Salvation?
Are confessing “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9-10) and calling on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) additional conditions of salvation besides repentance (Luke 13:1-5; 2 Peter 3:9) and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Acts 10:43; 16:31)?
Are they outward signs of an inward reality related to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and not conditions of salvation?
I have taken that the idea behind “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus” is broken down into a couple of issues : 1) We “confess” “say the same thing as” “totally agree with” what God says about the Lord Jesus Christ is the testimony of the Bible. When we call upon Christ in faith we are agreeing with the testimony that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” 2) To see Jesus as “Lord” is a confession of His absolute deity, rather than another condition to salvation. As we grow in grace and knowledge of our Savior, we would certainly expect to see an increasing appreciation of His authority as Lord in our lives, but I do not see His lordship as a condition of salvation.
Matt, I would advocate taking these as outward signs of the inward work of the Spirit in drawing us.
Dick Dayton
RC Sproul has a helpful gem from Luther. Apparently, Luther (and others?) broke saving faith down into three parts:
- notitia: the content of the gospel - (maybe also awareness of that information)
- assensus: mental assent - recognize that the content of the gospel is true
- fiducia: trust - to rely on what Christ did
An audio version here: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/understanding_the_gospel/saving-fa…
The categories are helpful. I’d say that confessing and calling are different ways of describing the same thing: fiducia.
Paul doesn’t say that you will not be saved if you don’t call or confess.
As a loose analogy: suppose your child’s school is having a field trip and they send home a note: “If you sign this permission slip, you’re child will be permitted to go on the field trip.” But you’re going along anyway as a volunteer, so you don’t bother. Not a problem, because either your signature or your presence convey your permission, though the original “if” statement is still true. It’s your permission that counts.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Are confessing “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9-10) and calling on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) additional conditions of salvation besides repentance (Luke 13:1-5; 2 Peter 3:9) and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Acts 10:43; 16:31)?
If you have placed “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” you have confessed him as the Lord who Saves and and you have repented of whatever it was in which you believed before exercising faith.
Does 1 Corinthians 12:3 have any bearing on how we interpret Romans 10:9-10 or am I taking the verse out of context? The verse states that “no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” Would this mean that only someone who is already saved can make this confession sincerely?
Thanks for your previous responses.
Matt
Christ Saves Sinners is my evangelistic website.
Discussion