10:6-11 How are we to understand what Paul is saying here?

In the previous verses, Ro 9:30-10:5, we saw that the Jews tried to establish their own righteousness by works of the law instead of by faith in the finished work of Christ, like the Gentiles (CP 9:30-10:5). In 10:6-11 Paul goes on to say that God's righteousness cannot be reduced to a matter of human effort. It cannot be obtained by anyone ascending to heaven to bring Jesus down to earth - He already came down.

Nor can it be obtained by anyone descending into the "deep", to bring Him up from the dead - He is already risen. Christ has already done all that is necessary for salvation; there is no need to go on impossible journeys to find Him. Faith does not demand human effort; all anyone ever has to do to be made righteous with God is to accept Christ's finished work for their redemption by faith (CP Ro 1:16-17; 3:20-26; 4:4-8; 5:1-2, 8-11, 15-21; 10:4; 1Cor 1:30; 2Cor 5:18-20; Php 3:9).

The "word of faith" in Ro 10:8 is the message of faith that Paul preached (CP V8-10). We learn here that the lordship and resurrection of Christ are the essence of salvation and they achieve their full purpose only through confession and belief. Confess here means to say the same thing as God's word, the Bible, says. By confessing it, we are proclaiming our faith in its truth, we are not merely paying lip service to God's word. In His word God proclaims that Jesus is lord, and when we confess that also, we are assenting to its truth. The name lord in this context means Jehovah, or God.

Thus, to confess Jesus as lord includes a heart-belief in His deity, incarnation, sacrificial atonement, and bodily resurrection. All of this teaches simply that the righteousness of faith consists of belief and confession. It does not teach, as a great many Christians in the contemporary church believe, that when repentant sinners respond affirmatively to the gospel, they have to make a public confession of faith to be saved.

They are no less saved if their confession is private. God knows the intent of their hearts, and He will save whoever invokes His name for salvation, whether it be in public, or private (CP V12-13). In Ro 10:3-10 Paul is simply contrasting how easy it is to be saved with how hard the Jews made it by trying to do it by the works of the law (CP 9:30 - 10:10).

Belief means active trust in God's goodness to us in Jesus, and confession is the witness to that belief. Belief and confession makes no allowance for human efforts to establish one's own righteousness. That is where the Jews missed it (CP V3 with Mk 7:1-13).

This is not to say though, as we saw previously in our study on Ro 9:25-29, that the Jewish nation as a whole will be excluded from God's kingdom for all eternity.

A remnant will be saved who turn to Jesus at His second coming (CP V27-29 with Isa 10:20-22; 11:10-16 and Ro 11:12, 23, 26-29). See also comments on Ro 9:30-33, 10:4, 10:6-11, 10:12-13, 10:18-21, 11:1-10, 11:2, 11:4, 11:7-10, 11:16, 11:17-24, 11:29, 11:32, 11:33-36; Rev 12:1-5, and 12:6 and author's studies The Old Covenant -

Fulfilled in Christ and Completely Abolished in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1), and Israel in God's eternal Purpose in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2)

"Romans"