Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romasn 10:5-10

This passage is often cited as a justification for a casual, baptism-free Christian conversion experience, which is complicated by Paul referring to baptism as the way we obtain resurrection (Romans 6) and the offering of our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12).

What is actually being said frees us far more than getting to skip Baptism to become a Christian. Paul is trying to help the Roman Christians understand the difference between followers of Jesus and those who wanted to cling to the old law alone. He is pointing to the theological fracture that is growing between Jewish Christians and their former community, as well as the need to be joined together with their Gentile brothers and sisters. He wants Christians to abandon the self-righteousness of legalism for Grace. Keeping the Law didn’t bring Jesus to Earth and didn’t raise him from the dead.

The lesson for us is in the confession he calls for.

“Jesus is Lord” implicates obedience to him, following his example, learning from his apostles (including this very epistle). “Jesus is Lord” comes before creeds, so-called Sacraments and man-made confessions. “Jesus is Lord” has primacy over the doctrines of the Trinity and the canon of Scripture, Nicaea and Constantinople. “Jesus is Lord” predates the East-West Schism, the Reformation and, yes, the Restoration movement.

What Paul calls for in Romans is simple, not easy.

Unity, and a life that confesses that Jesus is Lord.

Ethan Kirl