Exercises in Right Division (Romans 10:9)

STATEMENT ONE:  Of the natural (unregenerate) man Paul said, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:” (Romans 3:12-14)

STATEMENT TWO:  Later in that same book Paul says, “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.” (Romans 10:9)

PROBLEM:  If what is said in Romans 3 is true of man in his natural state, and it most certainly is, then there is simply no way for him to ever sincerely exercise the confession and belief of the man referenced in Romans 10. If the natural man can confess Christ then his mouth was not FULL of cursing and bitterness. Moreover, if he can believe unto the salvation of his eternal soul then he most certainly was able to do something profitable and good – and Paul proclaims that such actions are outside the realm of possibility for him. From this observation it is clear that to require confession and belief as prerequisites to saving grace is a completely untenable position. The Lord put it this way, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

RESOLUTION:  It follows that the confessing and believing man of Romans 10 is NOT a mere natural man, but is rather a man who is born again, even as the Lord taught saying, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) and again saying, “He who is of God heareth God’s words.” (John 8:47) It is the new birth, the preceding act of resurrection mercy, that imparts the gift of eternal life to God’s covenant people. Regeneration does not find its footing on one's confession or belief or on one's decision to follow Christ as many in Christendom assert, but on the basis of God’s adoption of his chosen people as sons through election (Gal 4:6). Stated another way, the only reason anyone would ever confess and believe is because God has already done something for them - he's given them eternal life else they would lack the capacities required to do such things.

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS:        

• The abject depravity of man is both true and relentless (Romans 3:10-18).
• This precept alone invalidates the vast majority of soteriologies in the Christian marketplace today.
• We are therefore shut-up to the mercy of God if we are to be saved (Titus 3:5) even as the bible teaches (Exodus 33:19).
•  Regeneration precedes faith in time (I John 5:1).
• God’s people believe spiritual truth not in order to obtain eternal life, but because they already have eternal life (John 5:24).
• We do not believe so that we might be born again in order to become sons of God, but rather, “because ye ARE SONS (election, teth), God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts (regeneration, teth), crying, Abba, Father. (the cry of faith, teth)” (Gal 4:6)

The majority of Christendom teaches that faith leads to regeneration which leads to sonship, but Paul's testimony is that sonship leads to regeneration which leads to faith. Those who make confession and belief the prerequisites to saving grace do not understand the condition of man after the fall and fail to recognize that faith is not a condition of the covenant but a provision of the covenant.