that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Parallel translations
- WEB that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB 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;
- NLT If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him, you will be saved. Salvation comes through heartfelt faith expressed in open confession.
Overview
Paul gives one of the New Testament's clearest statements of how to be saved: confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in his resurrection. Confessing his lordship acknowledges Christ's deity and rightful rule; believing in the resurrection trusts God's vindication of his saving work. Together, inward faith and outward confession mark genuine salvation, freely available to all who turn to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Luke 12:8I tell you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God.
- Acts 16:31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
- Phil 2:11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- Matt 10:32–33Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.
- 1 Jn 4:2–3By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
- 1 Pet 1:21Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.
- 1 Cor 15:14–18And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.
- Rom 8:34Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.
- Rom 14:11It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.”
- John 12:42–43Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.
- 1 Cor 12:3Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
- 2 Jn 1:7For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
- John 20:26–29Eight days later, His disciples were once again inside with the doors locked, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
- John 9:22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
- Acts 2:24But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.
- Acts 8:36As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
- John 6:69–71We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 10:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.