Belief in the Facts of the Kingdom as Distinguished From Salvation

The following passage is often used to emphasize that salvation is knowledge and belief, and that to make a profession of belief that conforms to this statement is to insure one's entrance into Heaven. It is important for the student to understand that the concept of residence in Heaven as the purpose of salvation is not mentioned in the tenth chapter of the Book of Romans, which is the context of the following passage, nor is entrance into Heaven mentioned one time in the entire Book of Romans.

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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)

If we were to remove this passage from the Book of Romans and make it the only statement in the Scriptures we could make a case for salvation as being belief in certain facts.

Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. That Jesus is Lord and rightfully our personal Lord is a true fact. Confession of this true fact is essential to salvation.

Believe in your heart that God has raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. The physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead is the cornerstone of our faith. Apart from the physical resurrection of the Lord we have no hope for our own resurrection.

You shall be saved. What it means to be saved must be determined from the entire Scriptures. Being saved has little to do with going to the spirit Paradise.

With his heart man believes unto righteousness. God counts us as righteous when we believe that God has raised the Lord Jesus from the dead.

With his mouth man confesses that Jesus is his Lord and God saves him on the basis of this confession.

The above is an accurate statement concerning God's plan of salvation. The statement serves as a basis and guide for the working out of our salvation. He who does not regard Jesus as his Lord and who does not believe that God has raised Him from the dead is not likely to find the road to eternal life.

The problem today is that the above passage is lifted from its context and made to mean that if a person confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes that God has raised Him from the dead he is saved and on his way to Heaven; not that he shall be saved, as the Scripture states, but that he is saved.

If there were no other verses in the Bible we could make a case for this point of view. However, this would be to make salvation a mental position having little impact on our life on the earth (which is exactly what Satan desires!).

Let us look at a passage also from the Book of Romans that reveals the folly of making the Divine salvation a mental position.

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

Speaking to the Christian people (certainly not to the unsaved because they cannot choose to live righteously and thus receive eternal life on the basis of their behavior), Paul tells us that if we (Christians) choose to obey sin we will die spiritually.

Let us say the individual believes that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead. After this profession of belief he is baptized in water into Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Then he chooses to sin. What then? He dies spiritually, according to the Apostle Paul!

We could give numerous examples from the New Testament that portray clearly the association of righteous behavior with salvation. Salvation is a not a profession of belief. A correct profession of belief is the basis and guide to salvation but the profession of belief is not salvation. Neither is residence in Heaven the goal of salvation. True salvation always produces righteous, holy behavior. Righteous, holy behavior brings us the most valuable reward of all, which is fellowship with God.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 3:7)

Christian theology is far off course. As a result sin is increasing rapidly throughout the Christian churches as well as the rest of the world. The work of demons is protected by law in the United States of America, for example. There is no standard, no plumb line. Why is there no plumb line? It is because God's people view the Christian salvation as a doctrinal position rather than the re-creation of the individual.