Question:
Answer:
In the passage in question, St. Paul writes:
[B]ecause, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. (Rom. 10:9–10)
Some Christians cites this passage to support their belief that all you need to do is sincerely accept Jesus Christ one time and that your eternal salvation is guaranteed. This doctrine regarding the assurance of salvation is popularity referred to as “Once Saved/Always Saved.”
However, as Dr. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch note in The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible—New Testament, a close analysis of this passage illustrates that St. Paul is teaching something else. He is making a connection between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, basically providing an interpretive paraphrase of Deuteronomy 30:11–14 in Romans 10:5–8, and then he teaches further in Romans 10:9–10 by explicating the citation from Deuteronomy 30 which he gives in Romans 10:8.
This becomes clearer in comparing Deuteronomy 30:12–14 and Romans 10:6–10:
“For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” (Deut. 30:11–14)
Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by it. But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. (Rom. 10:6–10)
As Hahn and Mitch comment regarding Romans 10:6–8 and 10:10:
10:6–8 An interpretive paraphrase of Deut. 30:12–14. Moses contends that Israel could not escape responsibility for obeying the word of God, as though the Torah were somewhere beyond its reach. In the spirit of Moses, Paul insists that Israel cannot escape responsibility for obeying the word of the gospel, as though it were forced to look high and low for Christ. On the contrary, Israel cannot plead ignorance because the gospel has come to its doorsteps through the Scriptures and the missionary efforts of the Church.
10:10 “his heart . . . his lips” Paul connects these with the inward conviction (heart) and outward confession (lips) of faith in Jesus. The images are drawn from the Deuteronomy quote [paraphrase] in Rom. 10:8. (p. 271)
In Deuteronomy 30, Moses goes on to affirm that the Israelites have to obey the Old Covenant law. They have to live that law:
See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess (Deut. 30:15–18).
Similarly, earlier in Romans, St. Paul affirms that good works in Christ play a crucial role in our salvation. We certainly cannot earn our salvation. But St. Paul makes clear that we accept or reject the divine gift of salvation by the life choices we make:
Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality (Rom. 2:4–11, emphasis added).
What St. Paul teaches harmonizes with Jesus’s teaching in John 8:31–32 about what being a faithful disciple entails, and also with what Jesus teaches in dealing with and discussing the rich young man (see Matt. 19:16–26).
For more on this topic, please see our “Assurance of Salvation?” tract.