First Sunday in Lent: Epistle, Romans 10:8b-13                    

Romans 10:8b-13

Easy believism! Cheap grace! Oh the epithets hurled at those who believe in Christ. The Bible actually speaks of believing “into” Christ and I wish our English translations picked up on that reality. Because faith in Christ places us somewhere. As St. Paul so aptly records in 2 Corinthians 5, we are “in Christ.” So faith, belief, trust is no mere mental exercise. At the very least it is a relocation; a taking up of a new address, if you will.

 

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

 

The misunderstanding begins in thinking that faith comes from the believer. It does not. Later in this very chapter Paul reminds us, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (v. 17). Anyone who does believe in Christ has been gifted with faith. Again not some empty “faith in faith,” but faith in the One who has granted it.

Faith doesn’t come from me. And it is not sustained by me. Faith comes from the crucified Christ who gave his life as a sinless sacrifice for a wretched human being, namely me. No, indeed. Believing is not an easy task. It is impossible. Except that the One who demands it provides what he demands. God be praised!