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NASB | Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 10:9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. |
Subject: word saved definition in Romans 10:9 |
Bible Note: You said that you would like to know more about ‘salvation’, so here goes. Salvation is both the act by which Jesus Christ accepts those who come to Him through the cross, accepting them on the basis of His sacrifice for them when they come to Him in faith for salvation, and the resulting process through which He works in that person in order that He may present them perfect in Himself. That is why the Bible teaches different aspects of 'salvation'. It speaks of someone as ‘having been saved’ (Titus 3.5; 2 Timothy 1.9). These verse are in the aorist tense, and indicate something that has happened once for all. This occurs when a person turns to God from sin and commits himself to Jesus Christ in faith that Christ will save him. He is ‘saved’ once for all. And because the work is totally dependent on Christ it is guaranteed. It also speaks of those who ‘have been saved and are therefore now are saved’ (Ephesians 2.5; 2.8). These are in the perfect tense and and indicate something that has happened in the past the benefit of which continues to the present time. These two definitions are what is in mind when we say a person has been ‘saved’ and is therefore now saved. But the Bible also speaks of those who “are being saved” (1 Corinthians 1.18; 2 Corinthians 2.15). These references are in the present tense and indicate a process that is going on. God is at work in them to will and do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2.13). And then the Bible speaks of those who will be saved (1 Corinthians 3.15; 5.5; 2 Corinthians 7.10; 1 Thessalonians 5.9; 2 Thessalonians 2.13 ). These are in the future tense and indicate something that is yet to happen - and equivalents. In other words, when God ‘saves’ someone they are from one point of view saved once and for all, and it is fully effective. But if it is genuine it will then result in a process by which they are being ‘changed from glory into glory’(2 Corinthians 3.18), with the final guarantee of a completed process. If the salvation is not progressing, even though slowly, then its genuineness must be questioned. The Saviour does not fail in His work. Consider a man drowning at sea, in a fierce storm, clinging to a life raft with one hand, his other arm broken and trailing behind, and both his legs paralysed, having been many hours in the freezing water and suffering from hypothermia, more dead than alive. Then along comes the life boat and drags him out and he gasps, hardly able to speak because of the seriousness of his condition, “I am saved”. Well, it is true. He is no longer doomed. But he has a long way to go. He would not have much confidence in his salvation if they put him to one side in the bow of the boat, with the waves lashing over him, and said to him, “Well, you’re saved now”, and then went off and played cards and then practised turning the lifeboat over. His confidence and dependence lie in a fully trained and capable crew who are dedicated to warming him up, treating him and getting him to hospital so that he can be fully restored. So as they get to work on him, wrapping him in a blanket and gently warming his frozen limbs, trying to set his broken arm and doing everything else necessary to restore him to some kind of normality, he can begin to have hope and think gratefully to himself, “I am being saved”. But he may well still be aware of the winds howling round, and the boat heaving in the heavy seas, and the pain and agony of his limbs, and he may then look forward and think, “I will soon be saved”. If those crewmen, and the ambulance waiting for him on shore on that terrible night, can be so dedicated, can we think that the One Who died on a cross for us on an even more terrible night, will be less dedicated? He does not just want us in the lifeboat. He wants us fully restored. And that is what He is determined to have. And if we want to be saved that is what we must want! We cannot say, ‘Lord, save me, but leave me as I am’. This salvation is entered into by an act of faith and commitment. As we genuinely recognise our need to be saved (in every way) from sin we commit ourselves completely to the One Who Saves (the Saviour), and trust Him to carry out the work, knowing that once He has begun the good work He will carry it out to the end (Philippians 1.6). We are then ‘saved’, and have entered the process of ‘being saved’. |