Romans 10:10: For With The Heart One Believes And Is Justified, And With The Mouth One Confesses And Is Saved

Romans 10:10
[10] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (ESV)

Our eternal salvation is a matter of the heart. What does Paul mean when he speaks of the heart? We tend to use the word when we think of romantic love. We certainly know that the heart is a place where we find emotions. Is that what Paul is talking about? Is our salvation simply an emotional reaction?

The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible describes the word for "heart" in this way: "The inner man; the function of mind, where man remembers, thinks; the heart, the seat and center of all physical and spiritual life; the soul or mind as the fountain and seat of thoughts, passions, desires, affections, appetites, purposes, endeavors.

The heart is far more than a place that conjures up romantic sayings. It is the source of all that is truly us. I love how Jesus put it. He said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34)." What we truly believe in the core of our being is going to be demonstrated in our outward actions. There is no way around that.

Paul helps us to understand that when it comes to us being justified before God, and confessing that Jesus is Lord, we will only do that if our heart believes. This means that the core of our inner being is in total agreement with what the Word of God says about who Jesus is and what his sacrifice meant for us who believe.

Are you saved? If so, it is clearly a matter of the heart. It is far more than an emotional reaction to a sermon. And one who is truly saved will gladly confess the Lordship of Christ in both words and actions.