Romans 10:8b-13 Commentary

In the United States across the last decade or so, partisan political divides have been more evident in society than has been true in a very long time.  But it’s not just society.  Christian congregations have been riven over such issues too.  A recent study showed that during and after the COVID pandemic, many congregations lost members to other congregations as people sought new church homes more in line with their own views.  As a result, many churches are now more homogeneous than was once true.

In short, we live in a time when fellow Christians disagree on a range of socio-political issues, even to the point of being suspicious of the genuineness of the faith of those believers who see things differently.

Of course, because our Christian faith informs all of life, faith does come into play when we encounter fellow believers with differing views.  In fact, Romans 10’s preachers might also note that it’s perhaps even more tempting to question the Christian faith of those with whom we disagree. A few years ago I wrote about what I called “Yesbut!” faith. I noted the temptation to assume that the faith that receives God’s grace but isn’t accompanied by certain good works isn’t really faith.

At this beginning of the Lenten season, such statements and sentiments might open the way for Jesus’ followers to confess our suspicion of, if not hostility toward our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we disagree on a range of topics. We begin, however, where this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s Paul begins: with what the apostle identifies as the expression of the faith that receives God’s grace.

Of course, Romans 10’s preachers of this profession of faith want to be aware of its context. In Romans 9:23ff. Paul mourns how Israel “has pursued a law of righteousness … they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.” In this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson the apostle asserts the completely opposite nature of Christians’ understanding of a relationship with the living God. God’s adopted children are not people who try to keep all the commandments, but those who profess and believe that the risen Jesus is Lord of all.

After all, “If you declare [homologeses*] with your mouth [stomati], ‘Jesus is Lord [Kyrion]’,” as Paul writes in verse 10, “and believe [pisteuses] in your heart [kardia] that God raised him from the dead [egeiren ek nekron], you will be saved [sothese].” The apostle makes no qualifiers on this profession and belief. He doesn’t, for example, say, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and take Position X on a certain issue will you be saved.” Nor does Paul claim, “If you believe in your heart God raised Jesus from the dead and have such-and-such a view on the issues of the day you will be saved.”

The apostle in Romans 10:10 simply says, “If you profess that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” In verse 10 he writes something similar: “It is with your heart [kardia] that you believe [pisteuetai] and are justified [eis dikaiosynen] and it is with your mouth [stomati] that you profess your faith [homologeitai] and are saved [soterian].”

In verses 12-13 Paul goes on to write, “There is no difference [diastole] between Jew and Gentile [Hellenos] – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses [plouton] all who call on [epikaloumenos] him, for ‘Everyone who calls on [epikalesetai] the name of the Lord [onoma Kyriou] will be saved [sothesetai]’.”

Romans 10’s apostle identifies a faithful relationship with God as being made up of two parts. God’s adopted children profess our faith with our mouths and believe its promises in our hearts. Jesus’ friends both verbally acknowledge his lordship and entrust our whole selves to God’s saving purposes in Jesus Christ.

Yet it’s worth noting that Paul spends more time in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson emphasizing a verbal profession of our faith than he does belief in God’s promises. In fact, he speaks not once but four times about the way a verbal profession of our faith in Jesus Christ receives God’s amazing grace.

Of course, it’s always tempting to say “YesBut!” to even such Pauline emphases. We wonder about people who say Jesus is Lord but act in ways that we don’t think reflect that lordship. What about Christians who believe God raised Jesus from the dead but use deadly and deathly language to talk about our neighbor? What about people whose actions seem to us to contradict our profession? Isn’t their faith dead?

Paul might answer that such faith is indeed on life support, if not dead. He certainly expected Jesus’ followers’ faith to make a positive impact on all of our words, actions and thoughts. But Romans 10 at least implies that Christians should be extremely cautious about making judgments about other Christians’ faith, especially that of those who don’t share our political and theological perspective. That’s, finally, God’s determination. Evaluating the faith of someone who professes Jesus’ lordship is God’s “call.”

After all, Jesus warned his followers that it’s notoriously difficult for people to accurately judge other people’s spiritual heart condition. Nearly all of us can think of people who act like Christians but whose hearts don’t especially seem to be in it. But we always remember that even Jesus’ godliest friends don’t just struggle to properly evaluate others’ heart spiritual condition. We even struggle to know our own hearts’ health.

So how might the Spirit be using this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson to prompt preachers to speak into our polarized moment in society and especially in the church?   The apostle doesn’t reject humbly calling out our fellow Christians’ behaviors when that is needed.  As Neal Plantinga has often noted, in the New Testament the Apostle Paul seemed to think that mutual rebuking of one another would be a somewhat common occurrence as we all seek to help one another in our walks of discipleship.

Still, Romans 10 warns us against judging faith – especially that of Christians with whom we disagree. After all, even Christians with whom we disagree on political and theological matters aren’t just image-bearers of God whom God longs to bless. They’re also our brothers and sisters in Christ who have accepted this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s summons to profess their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

*I have here and elsewhere added in brackets the Greek words for the English words the NIV translation uses.

Illustration

At a recent ecumenical gathering of pastors from around the U.S. the pastors in attendance shared some of the things with which they are wrestling in their congregations.  One pastor from the Pacific Northwest shared, “It seems like I have to spend a lot of time in my congregation convincing people that of course it is possible to be a Christian and a supporter of the Republican party.”  This prompted a Midwest pastor to say, “I have the same thing except I spend a lot of my time reminding people that of course a person can be a Christian and a supporter of the Democrat party!”  Other pastors whose congregations were more mixed on such matters then noted the ongoing work on helping fellow Christians understand one another and not be instantly dismissive and judgmental of one another’s faith.  Such pastors are in many ways doing the work to which Romans 10 calls us.

[Note: In addition to these weekly sermon commentaries on the CEP website, we also have a resource page for Lent and Easter with more preaching and worship ideas as well as sample sermons on the Year C Lectionary texts.]