“That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
This is one of my most favorite verses of scripture because it plainly states the two sides to salvation. Righteousness, which is what Jesus earned by His perfect keeping of old covenant law, is gained by a belief of the heart and salvation is gained by a confession of the mouth. Now to be truthful, these are two different salvations. Righteousness is salvation from sin, which is a temporal salvation because mankind can only sin against God in this life. Eternal salvation is gained by a confession of the mouth.
Jesus is both Saviour and Lord. He came to earth as a man. He died on the cross to deliver mankind from its sin but was completely transformed at His resurrection. He was made Lord of All and given all power in heaven and earth and with this new authority, Jesus established a new covenant. Therefore, mankind can be delivered from its sin and still not be saved because the gift of righteousness is given by the Father who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, but the Lord of Lords saw an opportunity to offer eternal life to those washed of their sin.
Jesus was not Lord of Lords and King of Kings when He died on the cross. He was given the name above all other names at His resurrection by the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was highly exalted after His death. This is why there are two separate and distinctly different salvations offered to mankind. It was the Father God who sent the Son to earth to die for men’s sins, therefore, righteousness is the gift of God, the Father, but eternal life is the gift of the Lord.
The problem is; you cannot make Jesus Lord by confessing Him so. He can only be made Lord by obedience. The titles of “blessed only Potentate,” and “only wise God,” are not hollow titles, devoid of any real authority. They are real titles embodying real authority. No lip service will satisfy the requirement of confessing Jesus as Lord.
Which is why Paul states “Don’t you know that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom.6:16). This is pretty self explanatory but there is more here than meets the eye. According to Romans 10:9-10, there are two salvations. By believing in your heart that Jesus took all your disobedience against God’s law in His own body on the tree, paying the price of disobedience against God for you, you are delivered from sin but that is old covenant sin. There is a new covenant established by the risen Lord and in order to make Jesus Lord, “you must yield yourself servants to obey,” which means Jesus issued commandments as Lord and disobedience of God’s commandments are sin.
To try to keep the commandments of the old covenant law is to deny Jesus has kept them for you. It is the keeping of the old covenant law that is imputed to you through faith in Jesus’ death. That is the righteousness of the old covenant. However, in that you must confess Jesus as Lord in order to realize eternal life, Jesus undoubtedly issued commandments as Lord and obedience causes a stream of words to flow over your tongue. In order for Jesus to be your Master and Lord, you must obey Him. If you do not obey the commandment that causes a stream of words to flow over your tongue Jesus is not Lord and you are not saved. It is as simple as that.
“Do you not know that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The definition of righteousness is to do the right thing. God defines righteousness by issuing commandments. Obedience is righteous behavior; disobedience is unrighteous behavior. Sin is defined as disobedience against God’s commandments. Ok, so the truth that Jesus was “highly exalted by His Father at His resurrection and given a name that is above every other name; that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,” becomes the central truth of the New Testament.
The truth that Jesus has replaced His Father as God of the new covenant, Lord of the kingdom of heaven, is the critical truth of the New Testament because whom you yield yourself servants of to obey, his servant you are. If you yield yourself servants of the Father, His servant you are.
So, after Jesus is raised from the dead with all power in heaven and on earth, Matthew 28:18, He issues three commandments to His disciples, who are the seed bed of the Church, and ascends into heaven. Now, in order to enter the new covenant you must first be washed of your sin; you must first believe Jesus fulfilled the old covenant law for you. Then, you must recognize the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ and obey them because “to whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are.”
In order to be a citizen of heaven, you must yield yourself to obey the commandments of the Lord of Heaven. To whom you yield yourself a servant of, his servants you are. Though Romans 6:16 is traditionally understood to pertain to obedience of old covenant commandments, by yielding to old covenant commandments you make yourself a citizen of earth. The Father God established the kingdom of God on earth with the Children of Israel.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me,” so keeping the Father’s commandments will not give you a path to heaven. Even though Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” He never claimed to be the Father. On the cross, Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” If Jesus was the Father, as in the two were one, how could Jesus have been forsaken?
Jesus must be viewed as a distinct individual who individually offers a singular path to the Father God. As such, carefully following the resurrected Lord Jesus must be viewed as the only path to God. Jesus is no longer Saviour alone. He is Saviour and Lord and must be followed as such. Jesus cannot be made Lord by confession alone; He can only be made Lord by obedience.
There must, therefore, be a distinction made between the commandments of the Father and the commandments of Jesus. To follow the Father will not put you on a path to eternal life; the keeping of the Ten Commandments will not provide righteousness or eternal life.
Many Christians fail to understand that Jesus took their sins against the old covenant law in His own body on the cross and try to maintain righteousness through repentance and a pleading of the blood of Jesus over the perceived sin. They fail to appreciate the two thousand year time difference between Jesus’ death and today and they fail to appreciate the truth that those who believe in Jesus are delivered from the old covenant law as a means of defining of sin. Without this understanding they are left victims of their own conscious, which then convicts of any perceived wrongdoing. To repent of sin against old covenant law after belief in Jesus’ death is to deny Jesus took your sin on the cross and died under the penalty of the transgression of the Father’s commandments.
This duality of salvation contained in the New Testament can make the subject of salvation somewhat confusing just because the New Testament is traditionally not taught as written. Righteousness is defined as doing the right thing and the right thing to do was defined differently under the old covenant than it is under the new covenant. Once a lost soul has believed Jesus took the penalties of their sin in His own body on the tree, they are delivered from the old covenant law with a coat of Jesus’ righteousness, maintained by faith. However, the new covenant has a different set of commandments that must be kept in order to remain in good standing with the God of the new covenant. To disobey these commandments is unrighteousness.
Thus, righteousness or unrighteousness has two definitions in the New Testament because the New Testament has two salvations. The Father God established the kingdom of God with the Jewish Nation. He established a covenant with the Jewish people that defined the kingdom of God and He instituted a worship of God and a tabernacle of service. These were all earthly.
After Jesus’ death on the cross, He was given authority by His Father to establish a new kingdom. Now, in that Jesus was given authority by His Father to establish a new kingdom, it must be understood that Jesus’ kingdom supersedes His Father’s kingdom and replaces it. Thus, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me,” John 14:6. The way to God has changed from the Old to New Testament and from the old to new covenants.
However, Jesus had to provide a way out of the old covenant for mankind before He could establish a new kingdom. It is imperative to realize the promise of the old covenant was never eternal life. The only thing the old covenant provided was righteousness. That righteousness made one in right standing with God, whereby God could bless without measure. These blessings were all temporal; earthly blessings. They were blessings of protection from enemies, health, wealth, well being and peace. These are great blessings for earth but unnecessary for heaven.
Jesus died under the old covenant law to redeem those who believe in Him from the law, clothed with His righteousness by faith, a righteousness that is not dependent on behavior. However, Jesus was not left in the grave; He was raised to life again but established a new covenant upon His resurrection, a covenant that defined right behavior differently because those who enter the new covenant are clothed with the righteousness of the old covenant through faith in Jesus’ death. Thus to live a righteous life under the new covenant is much different from that defined by the old covenant.
The promise of the new covenant is all that the old covenant promised and eternal life. In order to live in the new covenant, however, we must keep the commandments of the new covenant. One thing has not changed; in order to be in covenant with God, you must keep His commandments; your behavior must line up with what He defines as right behavior. As unbelievable as it may sound, there is a new God on the throne of heaven. Jesus cannot be made Lord by confession alone, “to whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are,” and Jesus must be Lord in order to access eternal life, according to Romans 10:9-10.
Again, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me,” John 14:6. No mixing of old and new covenant law will provide a path to life. There is one way and Jesus is it. Jesus is no longer Saviour alone; He is now Saviour and Lord.
All of humanity obeys somebody and becomes a servant of whomever they obey. The question is: “Whom do you serve?” Paul said, “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The word, sin, is defined as not keeping the behavior that God defines as right behavior. The God of the old covenant, however, is different from the God of the new covenant. Eternal life was not promised by the old covenant and Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus defined right behavior by issuing commandments that defined behavior He deemed as right. His first commandment was a commandment to wait to be saturated with the Holy Spirit, who in this age, testifies of Jesus. He is Jesus’ representative in the age of the new covenant. Now, in John 7:38, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as Living Water. By obeying this commandment daily, daily you are saturated with the Living Water and thus become an eternal living being, saturated with the life of God.
This saturation occurs as the gift of tongues flows out of your belly through your mouth. Thus, each servant of Jesus must wait for the saturation to occur, which is why Paul said, “Work out your own salvation by fear and trembling.” You see, eternal salvation occurs by obedience according to Hebrews 5:9, “He gives eternal salvation to those who obey Him.” So it is by obedience of Jesus’ commandment to wait for the baptism with the Spirit that eternal life is gained.
If you serve Jesus by obedience of His commandments, you make yourself a citizen of heaven. If you choose not to serve Jesus by not keeping His commandments, you become a servant of that you choose to serve. Jesus is either the God of the new covenant or He is not. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me,” John 14:6. It’s a matter of choice.
Under the old covenant, sin had a moral component, but through faith in Jesus’ death, the moral requirements of the old covenant are imputed to those who believe, leaving Jesus free to institute a completely different definition of sin. There is no judgment or condemnation for disobedience, no conviction of wrongdoing. Obedience, or disobedience, is a matter of choice. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
One would think that anyone washed of their sins would automatically love Jesus. One would think that anyone washed of their sins would keep Jesus’ commandments, but history has revealed that is not the case. Christians today keep every commandment in the scripture except Jesus’ commandments. Bottom line is; sin is sin, whether it is disobeying a commandment not to covet your neighbor’s wife or a commandment to saturate yourself with the Spirit of God.
The law of the new covenant is that you must saturate yourself daily with Living Water, whereby you become a living soul. Disobedience of God’s law is sin, and the “wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23. What this means is the one who accepts Jesus’ death as payment of their sin becomes righteous through that faith but then is made unrighteous again through disobedience of the new covenant commandments. Thus, there are two paths to righteousness. One path is by faith; the other is by obedience and it takes both to gain eternal life.
Just consider Romans 10 again, “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Is the righteousness gained through belief of the heart salvation? Not according to this verse. What happens if you put Ephesians 2:8 up against Hebrews 5:9? “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works lest anyone should boast.” “And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” If you are saved by grace through faith it is righteousness you have received but righteousness of the old covenant law is not eternal salvation according to Hebrews 5:9. It takes a confession of the mouth to receive eternal salvation; a confession that comes from obedience.
What of Galatians 4:4? “That in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.” How is it that we become sons of God after redemption from the law if righteousness is eternal life? Why does Paul say redemption from the law and becoming a son of God are two separate events in the life of the believer?
The righteousness of the law is imputed to believers by faith but the faithful must live unto righteousness. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness” 1Peter 2:24. If we are dead to sin and sin is defined by commandment what defines the righteousness we should live unto? If we are redeemed from the old covenant law, there is no more old covenant law to define sin in our lives. So what defines righteousness for the believer in Jesus’ death?
If believers in Jesus’ death must live unto righteousness, there must be commandments that were issued after His death that defines that righteousness, for righteousness is defined by commandment. In other words, “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The confession then is an act of obedience to a commandment issued post resurrection by the risen Lord and this commandment defines the righteousness believers in Jesus’ death must live unto.
Consider Abraham. “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” but was it Abraham’s faith that saved him or was it his obedience? “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which afterward he should receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went…For he looked for a city whose builder and maker was God” Hebrews 11:8.
Having received the righteousness of Christ by faith in His death, is the Christian then free to live as he pleases, having been redeemed from the law? No, the risen Christ issued commandments that demand obedience in order to remain righteous. “The righteous shall live by faith.” In other words, if you believe the risen Lord after receiving His righteousness you will obey His commandment to make the Living Water flow out of your mouth daily and as the Living water flows you will be saturated by Living Water and become an eternal living soul, possessing eternal life.
Was Abraham saved by faith or by obedience? If Abraham had not believed God, he would not have acted on God’s command to look for the city but because He did believe God, he acted. The same dynamic is true for Christians. If you believe Jesus was raised from the dead with all power, given the name that is above every other name, rules as the blessed only Potentate and only wise God, you will keep the commandments He issued as such. If you do not believe, you will not act.
Thus Christians are certainly saved by grace but they are not saved by faith; they are saved through faith because it is through faith that obedience occurs. They are not saved by their own works, or works they devise on their own, but they are saved by performing works God devised.
Certainly John 3:16 looks forward to Jesus’ death on the cross but is there any question it also looks forward to Jesus’ resurrection? Which Jesus is it; therefore, must we believe in to receive everlasting life? The whole entire Church looks back in time to Jesus, who today is both Saviour and Lord and it is the title, “Lord,” Jesus operates with. If you are going to receive everlasting life, it is the Lord you will receive from. Is it reasonable to believe faith in the Saviour alone produces everlasting life?
Jesus cannot be made Lord by confession alone. No verbalization of His Lordship can make Him Lord in reality, which is why mankind is not saved by works. No amount of good works, regardless of who defines them, will gain you salvation. Jesus is certainly Lord of all the heavens and has all power on earth but Jesus can only be made Lord of your life by obedience of His commandments. “Don’t you know that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are?” Everybody serves somebody, whom do you serve?
Not just that, but authority flows through obedience. In order for the love, kindness, and goodness of God to flow into your life, you must submit to Him. Thus, it is critically important to understand who the God of the new covenant is and what His requirements are. Jesus does not require the keeping of the old covenant commandments, if you believe He took all your sins in His own body on the tree. His only requirement of benevolence is that you give yourself to Him and saturate yourself with His Spirit daily. Thus saturated with the blessed only Potentate, the only wise God, all of the Godhead can flow through your union with Jesus and the needs of the whole world can be met through His provision.