Do We Need to Confess Christ as Lord to Be Saved – Romans 10:9-10

Summary

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Grace in Focus – Do We Need to Confess Christ as Lord to Be Saved? (Romans 10:9-10)

Date: September 4, 2025
Host: Bob Wilkin
Guests: Ken Yates & unidentified co-host
Episode Duration: 13 minutes

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Brief Overview

This episode tackles the often-misunderstood passage Romans 10:9-10 and discusses whether confessing Jesus as Lord is a requirement for eternal salvation (justification), or whether the passage is actually about deliverance from temporal wrath (sanctification). Bob Wilkin and his co-hosts explore distinctions between justification and sanctification, address common misconceptions about the passage, and contrast interpretations within broader Christian traditions, especially Lordship Salvation and Calvinistic thought.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Common Misreading of Romans Road

• [00:04] Ken Yates introduces the episode by critiquing the “Romans Road” approach to evangelism, suggesting it may misuse certain passages for evangelistic purposes.
• Suggestion: The Gospel of John is a clearer resource for communicating the way of eternal salvation.

2. The Context of Romans 10:9-10

• [01:09] Bob Wilkin explains that Romans 10:9-10 is a famous “tough text” often misapplied in discussions about salvation.
• It’s commonly interpreted as requiring both belief and confession for salvation, leading to confusion among Christian groups and teachers.
  • Quote [02:08]: “It's a two step process, right? ... if you ask 10 preachers, you're gonna get 11 answers” — Bob Wilkin

3. Romans and Its Purpose

• [02:19] Bob Wilkin recommends Zane Hodges’ book Romans: Deliverance from Wrath for a different perspective.
• Many students and pastors see Romans primarily as evangelistic, but Wilkin and team propose that sections like Romans 10 are about the Christian walk and deliverance from wrath in this life—not about how to get to heaven.
  • Quote [03:39]: “Confession here is something that believers do.” — Bob Wilkin

4. What Is “Salvation” in Romans?

• [06:47] Ken Yates and the co-host affirm that in Romans, “salvation” usually refers not to eternal salvation (“saved from hell”) but rather to deliverance from God’s temporal wrath and the destructive consequences of sin for believers.
  • Quote [07:05, co-host]: “Salvation in Romans never means salvation from hell. [It's] always deliverance from wrath.”

5. Justification vs. Salvation: Two Distinct Realities

• [07:21] The hosts point out that Romans 10:10 makes a crucial distinction:
  • “With the heart, one believes unto righteousness (justification); with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (deliverance).”
  • Quote [07:49]: “The heart is internal. The mouth is external... the point here is there's something internally going on that results in me having... right standing with God, but there's something external that goes on that results in me being saved from God's wrath.” — Unidentified Co-host

6. The Meaning of Confession in the Assembly

• Discussion notes that Zane Hodges (referenced throughout) argues that “confession” in context is a corporate activity among believers—in church life, believers corporately call out to the Lord Jesus.
  • Quote [08:30]: “Believers who gather in Christian assemblies acknowledge the Lord Jesus with their mouths and publicly appeal to his name for all that they need.” — (quoting Zane Hodges)

7. Explanation of the Sequence: Belief, Then Appeal

• [09:19-09:33] The text itself says belief comes first, then the calling/confessing/appealing comes for believers as a privilege.
  • Quote [09:33]: “Believing precedes the calling or the appealing.” — Bob Wilkin

8. Refuting Other Interpretations

• The hosts critique other widespread interpretations:
  • That confession is simply an internal process.
  • That confession means admitting you’re a sinner.
  • That confession must happen for justification to occur.
  • Quote [10:30]: “I've heard people say it's confessing your sins... I've sinned against him, and so I need to confess my sins.” — Bob Wilkin

9. Harmony with the Gospel of John

• [10:39-11:02] The Gospel of John never presents confession or repentance of sin as conditions for eternal life—only belief.
  • Quote [10:43]: “The Lord Jesus never brings up sin when he's evangelizing... He never says, you need to confess your sins. He never says, you need to turn from your sins.” — Unidentified Co-host
• Therefore, they insist, any interpretation of Romans 10:9-10 that contradicts the simple Gospel presented in John is problematic.

10. The Minority (Free Grace) Position

• [12:15] Wilkin sums up the “Free Grace” reading: believers, not unbelievers, are addressed. Faith alone results in justification, and confession/calling out is a privilege and help for believers dealing with temporal difficulties.
  • Quote [12:15]: “As a believer, you have the privilege of calling, appealing to Lord Jesus because he's risen from the dead and he's there to give you all the help that you need... individually and corporately.” — Bob Wilkin

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:08] Bob Wilkin: "It's a two step process, right? ... if you ask 10 preachers, you're gonna get 11 answers."
• [03:39] Bob Wilkin: "Confession here is something that believers do."
• [07:05] Unidentified Co-host: "Salvation in Romans never means salvation from hell. [It's] always deliverance from wrath."
• [07:49] Unidentified Co-host: "The heart is internal. The mouth is external... the point here is there's something internally going on that results in me having... right standing with God, but there's something external that goes on that results in me being saved from God's wrath."
• [08:30] Zane Hodges via Bob Wilkin: "Believers who gather in Christian assemblies acknowledge the Lord Jesus with their mouths and publicly appeal to his name for all that they need."
• [10:43] Unidentified Co-host: "The Lord Jesus never brings up sin when he's evangelizing... He never says, you need to confess your sins. He never says, you need to turn from your sins."
• [12:15] Bob Wilkin: "As a believer, you have the privilege of calling, appealing to Lord Jesus because he's risen from the dead and he's there to give you all the help that you need... individually and corporately."

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Key Timestamps

• [00:04] Critique of “Romans Road” evangelism
• [01:09] Introduction of Romans 10:9-10 as a “tough text”
• [02:19] Romans as a letter about sanctification, not eternal salvation
• [06:47] Distinguishing justification and sanctification in Romans 10
• [08:30] Zane Hodges’ interpretation: confession is corporate, for believers
• [09:19] Sequence: belief comes before calling/appealing
• [10:39] Harmony (or lack thereof) with the Gospel of John
• [12:15] Summary of the Free Grace view

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Conclusion

This episode offers a counter-cultural take on Romans 10:9-10, emphasizing that justification (eternal salvation) comes by faith alone, and that the “confession” discussed is a call for deliverance, intended for believers facing rebellion, hardship, or spiritual threat—not as a step for getting saved from hell. Wilkin, Yates, and their co-host urge listeners to let clear biblical passages (especially in John) interpret complex or traditionally misunderstood texts. The discussion encourages Christians to keep “grace in focus”—resting in the sufficiency of faith in Christ for salvation, and understanding confession as an ongoing relational privilege, not a gateway to heaven for the lost.

Transcript

[Bob Wilkin]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.

[Ken Yates]

Many who want to spread the gospel of eternal salvation will use the Romans Road. And though there are some passages that relate, we might say the Romans road doesn't end very well. And would we be better served to explain the gospel from the Gospel of John? Hello friend. Thank you for joining us today here on Grace in Focus. We come to you each weekday. Glad you're with us today. This is the broadcast and podcast arm and of the Grace Evangelical Society. And you'll find [e-mail] and on our website you will find our magazine which has the same name, Grace in Focus. It is a free magazine published six times per year with a great look, great articles. You'll find them of interest and yes, we do want you to have it for free. The only charge is if you do not live in the 48th United States, we'll ask you to pay the postage. Otherwise free. Find out [e-mail] now with today's discussion on Romans 10, here are Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates.

[Bob Wilkin]

And we are continuing our discussion on tough texts. And all of these tough texts that we're dealing with are in the New Testament. Up to this point we've done basically Bob and Zane's book that they did by that title, Tough Text. But now we're going to talk about some texts that Bob and Zane did not discuss. That is part of our course that we offer through GES and the seminary on toughtic. Right. And so anybody who's interested in a course on these, we would encourage you to look into that and contact ges. You can get in the class and you can be part of these discussions. One of the tough texts that we deal with in our course is Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Oh, that comes up a lot.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yes.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Matter of fact, manifesting Jesus as Lord and believing your heart, that God raised him from the dead. And so a lot of people say you gotta believe and you gotta confess.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right. And so it's a two step process, Right. What does that mean? What does it mean to confess him as Lord? And obviously if you ask 10 preachers, you're gonna get 11 answers, right?

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Yes, some people have more than one answer.

[Bob Wilkin]

Exactly. And by the way, even those who would disagree with Bob and I, they don't even agree with themselves. No, you know, if you get some Lordship guys or some Calvinist guys and you ask them, well, what does it mean? You're gonna get different answers. Well, here's what Romans 10, 9 to say and by the way, let me just put in a plug when you come to the Book of Romans. Boy, Romans is just so misunderstood. I just really encourage people who are interested in the Book of Romans to get Zane Hodges book, Roman's Deliverance from Wrath. I've got it in my hand right here. Part of the reason I do this is I remember when this book first came out, the first time I went overseas to teach, I went to the Philippines and I taught at a Bible college there. And this book had been out about a month. And I used this as the textbook. And I had about 25 students from all over Asia, and most of them were either young pastors or people involved in ministry all over Asia. And boy, I tell you, they struggled with it. I mean, they could only see Romans as evangelistic. And we're going to get that here in this passage. You know, this idea that Romans 10, 9, 10. Well, Bob and I are both about to say confession here is something that believers do.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Right.

[Bob Wilkin]

And that's just anathema.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

And it's corporate.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yes, it's corporate. And, you know, we were going through this book and they saw it, but, boy, let me tell you, they struggled with it.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

And also, you're saying that salvation in Romans every time you come to it is dealing with deliverance from wrath in this life, and that's a radically different way of seeing the book.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah. And imagine if you've grown up and that's all you've ever heard.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Well, I remember I saw a blog you did recently, and you said there are so many people in Christianity, they think pretty much the whole Bible is about how to be saved.

[Bob Wilkin]

Well, sure it is. I think most of our readers probably say, yeah, that's probably right. You know, when all the Bible's doing is telling us how to go to.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Heaven, when the reality is most of the Bible is telling you how to please God.

[Bob Wilkin]

Exactly.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

And how to live for God and how to live a life that's faithful and pleasing to Him. And only occasionally do we get verses on what must I do to have eternal life. I think Romans is a good example. Romans 3, 21, 4, 24 does deal with justification by faith, apart from works. But aside from that, the whole rest of the book's about sanctification.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah. And I would say that even the justification reason why we can live godly, we have access to him. Romans 5, you know.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, that's why it's put in the book.

[Bob Wilkin]

Exactly. We've been declared righteous by God, now we have access to him, and now we can live in a way that pleases him as we walk by the spirit. That's what the. Obviously. But again, when you look at Romans and say, well, this is just telling me how to go to heaven, I mean, just how radically different is that? Well, Anyway, in Romans 10, 9, 10. Oh, by the way, the Philippines. I don't know how the students took it. I was there for about five weeks. They seemed to like it. But I don't know if they may have been just being nice, but the faculty said, what you're teaching is too weird. Don't come back. That was a. It was a while ago. But Anyway, Romans, chapter 10, verses 9 and 10. It says, I would ask as I read these verses, who's he talking to? Who are these verses addressed to? When he says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Okay, is he talking to an unbeliever? And obviously, if he is and what we're saying and is saved, is saved from hell, then you have to do more than believe. You have to confess him and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Notice he doesn't say, believe in him for eternal life.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Right.

[Ken Yates]

We will rejoin in just a moment. Years ago, Zane Hodges wrote the Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true. And GES president Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob's new book, the Gospel is Still Under Siege, is a book about theological clarity on the biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now secure yours today at the Grace Evangelical Society's bookstore. Find [e-mail] store. That's faithalone.org store. Now back to today's content.

[Bob Wilkin]

And then in verse 10, it says, for with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Now, you already mentioned, Bob, that in Romans, salvation never means salvation from hell.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Always deliverance from wrath.

[Bob Wilkin]

We might word it consequences that sin brings into my life. And sin brings destruction, sin brings death, sin brings lack of fellowship, loss of reward. I mean, there's all kinds of things that sin brings into my life.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Notice how verse 10 indicates that the salvation and the righteousness are two separate things.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right?

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

With the heart, one believes unto righteousness, which is the noun form dikaiosune of Paul's word, justify dikaio. And so what he's saying is, with the heart, one believes unto justification.

[Bob Wilkin]

I'm justified by faith. Yeah, I believe.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

But with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. The heart is internal. The mouth is external. So the point here is there's something internally going on that results in me having. Right. Standing with God, but there's something external that goes on that results in me being saved from God's wrath. And by the way, Hodges doesn't like the translation. What does it say? Confess the Lord Jesus.

[Bob Wilkin]

He doesn't like the Lord Jesus. He just says lord Jesus.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

He's saying basically that when you're in church, you're part of a group of people that is regularly crying out, lord Jesus.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right, right.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Could you read the quote from his commentary? I think you have a short quote there.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yes. Well, here this applies to verses 12. And in his commentary, he has this quote. Thus, believers who gather in Christian assemblies acknowledge the Lord Jesus with their mouths and publicly appeal to his name for all that they need. And in verses 12 and 13, it says, for there is no difference between either Jew or Greek, since the same Lord of all deals richly with all who appeal to Him. So he's saying this confession or calling upon him is appealing to Him. And it says, for whoever shall appeal. This is his translation. Call to the name of the Lord will be saved, he says, delivered, because he doesn't want the confusion there. But delivered from what? Delivered from the wrath that sin brings.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

And what's interesting is those who appeal, in the very next verse, it says, how shall they call upon Him? Or how shall they appeal to him in whom they have not first believed? Believing precedes the calling or the appealing.

[Bob Wilkin]

And so what we're saying here is that Romans 10, 9, 10 is saying, we believe and we're justified. And now we have the privilege of appealing to him, and we confess him.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

And being delivered from the calamities that come in this life, from those who are out of fellowship with Him.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right. And so we believe that he's raised from the dead, and therefore he's able to deliver us and will. And he will if we appeal to Him.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

If we appeal to. I like it. You know, I've heard so many cockamamie explanations of Romans 10, 9, and 10. I've heard people say, well, it is by faith alone. But this confessing the Lord Jesus is just something you do internally. It's not actually with your mouth. You're just saying it in your heart. You don't have to do this publicly, or else it would be an additional condition. And it's not really confessing His Lordship, it's just confessing that he's God.

[Bob Wilkin]

I've heard people say it's confessing your Sins, I mean, they're just, oh, yeah, you know, confessing him. He's, Lord, I've sinned against him, and so I need to confess my sins, you know.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Okay, and how would you harmonize that with the Gospel of John?

[Bob Wilkin]

You can't.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

The Lord Jesus never brings up sin when he's evangelizing people. In the Gospel of John, he never says, you need to confess your sins. He never says, you need to turn from your sins.

[Bob Wilkin]

He.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

He never says, you need to confess me. None of that. So if you're going to say Romans 10, 9, and 10 is the way we're born again, then what do we do with the Gospel of John? Do we throw it out?

[Bob Wilkin]

Well, we'd have to, or we're going to have to. And what we're doing in these tough texts is. You said this when we first started this. What so many people do is they take these tough texts and then go back to the clear teachings and reinterpret the clear teachings. So people are going to say, if they do that, Romans 10, 9, 10, saying, well, we have to confess Jesus as Lord. That's what he said to the woman at the well, you have to go.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

To seminary to be able to see that.

[Bob Wilkin]

Oh, boy, ain't that the truth? You got to know the Greek really well to be able to say, no, this is.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

This is probably in Aramaic or Ethiopic or something.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah, I mean, take John 3:16, the way we say, you know, Romans 10, 9, and 10 is understood. Try reading that back into John 3:16.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, you can't do it.

[Bob Wilkin]

You know, you got to confess him. You got to acknowledge he's Lord. You got to do that, man. Nicodemus would have said, man, I have no idea what you're telling me.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

And the disciples at this point didn't even believe he was going to die. They thought he was going to establish his kingdom and they were never going to die, and he was never going to die, and they were going to rule and reign with him forever. And when he said, by the way, I'm going to Jerusalem. I'm going to suffer and mistreated and die, Peter says, God forbid it, Lord.

[Bob Wilkin]

No, you're not doing that. You're not doing that.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

You're not doing that.

[Bob Wilkin]

And so I know it's a minority position, but Romans 9 and 10 is saying this, that as a believer, you have the privilege of calling, appealing to Lord Jesus because he's risen from the dead and he's there to give you all the help that you need as you call upon him, I would say as an individual and I think Zane is right, but also corporately we can do that. And so as we fellowship with other believers.

[Unidentified Guest or Co-host]

Amen.

[Bob Wilkin]

Thanks Bob. Thanks for your discussion and for all of our listeners. Remember, let's keep grace in focus.

[Ken Yates]

Be our guest and subscribe to our 48 page magazine, six issues per year, also called Grace in Focus. It's free by emailing your name and snail mail address to [e-mail] that's faithalone.org maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org and when you do, please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode. Please join us. Are we at an advantage for eternal life? If we are doing good, hope to see you. And until then, let's keep grace in focus.

[Bob Wilkin]

The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.