Where Christians fear to tread: The Message – 16 June 2010

Romans 10:1-10

9 If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. 10 For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved. [GNB]

When I became a Christian as a teenager, many moons ago, I was told it was good to learn scriptures by heart and these verses were amongst those I learned. They are like gems in a mine: you have to plough through these chapters in Romans to come to them, but they shine out when you come across them. Here in all its simplicity and glory is the Message of the Gospel of Jesus – but placed amid confusion and misunderstanding that Paul says is the Jewish understanding of God. As he writes,

My friends, how I wish with all my heart that my own people might be saved! How I pray to God for them! 2 I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God; but their devotion is not based on true knowledge. 3 They have not known the way in which God puts people right with himself, and instead, they have tried to set up their own way

Many today “try to set up their own way” to God. Whilst v9-10 tell us exactly how we are saved, some seek to add their own qualifiers, based on sexuality, criminal convictions, race, colour, or simply ‘which church they go to’. Those who do so may be “deeply devoted to God”, but...

Going where Christians fear to tread, Paul says “you will be saved” if you believe as this verse says. It is the simple truth we can pass on to those who point the finger at Christians as hypocritical, homophobic and anti-everything. Our message begins with these verses – we should believe what Paul says.