Romans 10 Footnotes

10:9-10 Merely mouthing “Jesus is Lord” and proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead cannot secure salvation (Mt 7:21-23). A heartfelt confession of Jesus’s lordship designates a lifelong commitment that issues from the center of a person’s being, the heart. What matters is not “saying” Jesus is Lord but “making” him Lord at the core of one’s existence. This is what Paul meant by calling on the name of the Lord to be saved (10:13).

10:14-15 Since salvation comes by confessing Jesus as Lord, Christians must preach this good news. But what about those to whom no preacher came? Paul did not deal with that question here. His concern centered on God’s message to the Israelites, to whom the message did go and who did hear, but who also, tragically, rejected the message (vv. 16-21).

Two points remain. First, those who know the truth must spare no effort to proclaim it to others, for salvation is at stake. Second, the fate of the un-evangelized rests in the hands of a loving and just God who will judge people on the basis of the light they received. (See article on “What About Those Who Have Never Heard About Christ?” p. 1412.)