“1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart {discerning who deserves heaven}, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith {the one all encompassing word defined by the following responses}, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. 19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. 21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Romans 10:1-21).

     There is little doubt that Romans chapter 10 is directed to Jews within National Israel who had been misled by the OT Priesthood into misplacing their faith in keeping the Mosaic Covenant (Moralism and Ritualism) to be saved. Because the objective facts of their faith was misplaced, the actions of their faith and the purpose for those actions were wrong and heretical. Although they had both “zeal for God” and faith in God, both their zeal and their faith were based on their ignorance of God’s righteousness. Therefore, they were lost.

     It was not enough to merely believe in God. They needed to believe the correct things about God, about themselves, and they needed to understand what God had done to deliver them from the condemnation of Sin before they could respond to the Gospel according to God’s directions. We can find a straight-line pattern in Romans 10:1-13 of God’s expectations (responses) to an understanding of the details of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. Understanding their ignorance of God’s righteousness (God-kind righteousness) and understanding they could never attain or achieve that kind of righteousness through Moralism or Ritualism, they needed to repent of their “dead works” (Heb. 6:1) and the sin of self-righteousness (Romans 10:1-7).
2. They needed to understand that salvation could not come through any form of human accomplishment, but only “by grace through faith” in the sinless life, the finished substitutionary Cross-work of death of Jesus Christ, His burial, and His resurrection/glorification (Romans 10:8).
3. They needed to act upon those understood and believed details of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by:

A. Confessing Jesus to be Jehovah (Romans 10:9-10)
B. Believing with their hearts every detail of the Gospel and resting their eternal souls in the Person of Jesus and His preserving care (Romans 10:9-10)
C. Believing the Gospel and confessing Jesus to be Jehovah, the sinner is then directed to call on the Name of Jesus to save him (Romans 10:13)

What do these terms mean?

     Believe: To trust; to rely/rest upon; to place confidence in. (See Mark 1:15; Luke 8:12-13; John 1:7; John 1:12; 3:14-18; Acts 8:37; 16:30-31; Romans 3:22; 10:9; Hebrews 10:39.)

     Faith: A conviction of Truth based upon hearing, implying a pledge of fidelity to that conviction, and inspiring action upon it. (See Romans 3:25; 4:5; 10:14; 11:20; I Corinthians 15:14-17; II Corinthians 1:24; Hebrews 11:4-5, 7-8, 20-24, 30-39.)

     Receive: To “receive” someone means to bring him into your home and give him a dwelling place. To “receive” Jesus Christ is to receive the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence. (See John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Colossians 2:6; Galatians 3:2.)

     Confess: To speak the same thing, to openly and publicly declare something to be true based upon a deep conviction of the facts. To “confess” the “Lord Jesus Christ” is to publicly acknowledge His Sovereignty, Deity and Lordship (in the word “Lord”), His salvational purpose (in the word “Jesus”) and the realization of the incarnational Messianic fulfillment of past, present and future Messianic prophecies (in the word “Christ”). (See Matthew 10:32; Luke 12:8; John 9:22; Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:11; I John 4:15; Revelation 3:5.)

     Believe is a verb. A verb denotes the action of the subject. The subject is the sinner who is to act upon the gospel by believing. For instance, in the sentence, play football, the verb is play and the subject is football. We can understand that playing football involves numerous kinds of actions. It involves running, kicking, blocking, tackling, huddles, passing, catching passes, hand offs, and etc. etc. All of these actions are encapsulated in the verb play. When one thinks of playing football, he thinks of doing all of these things.

     According to the Word of God, there are “works” that contradict believing. There are also “works” that are encapsulated in the verb believe. These are the “works” of salvation spoken of by Christ in John 6.

“28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:28-29).

     The Jews’ question regarding “the works (ergon) of God” pertains to those “works” that will earn them eternal life. Christ responds with the statement defining “believe” as a “work (ergon) of God.” However, if we take this verse out of the context of the rest of the Scriptures, we would assume that “believe” is used in the sense of believing to earn or deserve salvation. Numerous other Scriptures tell us that salvation is a gift appropriated or received by believing. Abraham, for instance, “believed God and it (believing) was counted {as a gift} to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3) We know therefore, that Christ’s use of the word ergon (“work”) was not used in the same way that the Jews were using the word. Christ was using ergon in the sense of an action that merely received the grace of God in His offer of the gift of salvation through believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

     There is considerable theological depth in the statement of Paul to the question of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31 (“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?) where Paul says, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Believe” is the verb describing the action upon the subject “the Lord Jesus Christ.”

     Believe: to understand the meaning of the word believe, we must return to the Hebrew word ‘aman (aw-man’). To believe is more than a mere intellectual assent to the facts of the Gospel. The basic idea is certainty.

     For instance, when my son was little, he would see me at the bottom of the stairway and he would run and jump into my arms. He never imagined for an instant that I would not catch him or that I would not be able to catch him. There was certainty in his leap. However, if he were to stand at the top of that stairway today (some 40 years later), I doubt he would leap, let alone with any certainty that I would, or could, catch him. When he was willing to leap, he believed with certainty. Even if he doubted, but stilled leaped, it could be said he still believed. However the moment his doubt or any degree of trepidation resulted in his no longer leaping, he no longer believed. Therefore, with true belief comes a resting in God and a complete reliance upon God to perform what He says He will do when a sinner takes the leap of faith.

     Now, before I explain the theological depth of each of the three words, “Lord Jesus Christ,” notice the little word “on” that divides between these three words and the word “believe.” The word “on” is translated from the Greek word epi (ep-ee') and means upon, as in the sense of resting upon. This corresponds perfectly with our previous determination of meaning in the Hebrew word ‘aman (aw-man’). The sinner’s faith must rest upon the certainty of the theological Truths encapsulated in the tripartite of faith, “the Lord Jesus Christ.” What then is the sinner to have certainty in? What then is the sinner to rely/rest upon in order to be saved?

1. Lord: the first of the three words of this tripartite of faith is the word “Lord.” To exhaust the depth of meaning in this single word regarding the Person of Jesus Christ would require volumes. To believe that Jesus is Lord is to believe that Jesus is Jehovah incarnate. In other words, to believe upon the Lord Jesus is to rest upon the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent One, Who is able to perform exactly as He promises throughout the Scriptures, now incarnate in a human body.
2. Jesus: the second of the three words of this tripartite of faith is the word Jesus. The meaning of the Name Jesus is given us in the angelic announcement of His birth. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The Greek name Iesous (ee-ay-sooce’) is a derivative of the Hebrew name Y@howshuwa` (yeh-ho-shoo'-ah). The Hebrew word simply means Jehovah saves and connects Jesus to all the OT prophecies regarding Jehovah as the Savior.

“8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. 9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour” (Isaiah 43:8-11).

“Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me” (Hosea 13:4).

3. Christ: the third of the three words of this tripartite of faith is the word Christ. Christ is not Jesus’ last Name. It is from the Greek word Christos (khris-tos') and connects to every OT Scripture regarding the Messiah or the Promised One. It cannot be separated from the ultimate anointed Prophet, Priest, and King in the incarnate, eternal Son of God. The word Christ is a Title that encompasses the supremacy of Jesus in all three of these roles within humanity as the Promised One.

     The tripartite of faith encompassed in the three words “Lord Jesus Christ” are three essential trusts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are the foundational truths for saving faith.

     What is the basis of faith? Faith begins with a willingness to accept the Scriptures as the verbally inspired revelation of God’s absolute will.

     “The warrant or ground of faith is the divine testimony, not the reasonableness of what God says, but the simple fact that he says it. Faith rests immediately on, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ But in order to this faith the veracity, sincerity, and truth of God must be owned and appreciated, together with his unchangeableness. God’s word encourages and emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Christ as God’s gift, to close with him, embrace him, give himself to Christ, and take Christ as his. That word comes with power, for it is the word of God who has revealed himself in his works, and especially in the cross. God is to be believed for his word’s sake, but also for his name’s sake.” 10

    Faith is reliance upon what God says. Regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ, faith is an absolute reliance upon what God says He has accomplished in the life, death, burial, and resurrection/glorification of Jesus Christ. Only absolute reliance will save a sinner.

“2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:2-9).