When someone begins to understand what the Bible calls “good news,” the first reaction is often hesitation. The message that Jesus bore the consequences of our sins at the cross sounds like good news, but almost too good to be true.
When people hear that all they must do to receive Jesus’ free gift of salvation is believe in Him, it can feel like one of those emails claiming you’ve received an inheritance from a wealthy benefactor. We know what to do with those emails. Click, delete.
Part of the reason that people wrongly equate the gospel with an email scam is that they don’t hear or fully understand what it means to confess, “Jesus is Lord.” Let me explain.
The passage that gets at the heart of our response to the gospel
Romans 10:9-13 is, along with John 3:16, one of two passages that has been credited with bringing Queen Victoria to settled confidence in Jesus Christ for salvation. The verses brought her certainty and hope in the future God had promised her because of what Jesus had done. But what do they say?
Just before this section, Paul contrasts God’s way of making people right with him with the many ways people invent for themselves. In verse 3, he explains that instead of submitting to God’s righteousness, people try to establish their own: “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”
We come up with countless ways to persuade God and others that we’re good people. But in doing so, we reject God’s rescue. It’s like trying to prove we’re strong swimmers while refusing to get into the rescue boat. Eventually, that approach will fail.
We work hard to show how moral, generous, inclusive, religious, or sincere we are. But we often fail to ask the most important question: Is this what God actually requires? Instead of submitting to His standard, we replace it with our own.
What God truly asks of us
Instead of setting up our own standard of righteousness, Romans 10:9 explains what God wants: “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.”
At first glance, that can sound too simple. Is it really enough to confess and believe?
Let’s take those two responses in turn.
1. Confess that Jesus is Lord
To confess that Jesus is Lord may sound unfamiliar. “Lord” can feel like a term from another time. But in the Old Testament, “Lord” is used hundreds of times to refer to God himself. So to confess that Jesus is Lord is to acknowledge that Jesus is God.
In the first-century Roman world, the phrase also had political weight. People declared, “Caesar is Lord,” to express allegiance to the emperor’s authority. To say “Jesus is Lord” was to transfer that allegiance—to recognize His ultimate authority.
In other words, it means saying, “Jesus is in charge.” It’s stepping down from the role of ruler in your own life and placing yourself under His authority. It’s an acknowledgment that your life no longer belongs to you.
2. Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead
The second part of the response is to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Why does that matter so much?
Because the Christian message is not built on vague spiritual ideas. It is rooted in a decisive act in history. The resurrection stands at the centre of the gospel. It confirms that Jesus truly died for sinners and that he has power over life and death.
To believe in the resurrection is to trust that Jesus is who He claimed to be and that He can give eternal life to those who turn to Him.
But in the Bible, belief is never just agreeing with facts. It involves trust. The truth of the resurrection calls for a personal response. We entrust ourselves to Jesus. We give Him our loyalty because of who He is and what He’s done.
The resurrection demands a response
I still remember when I first came to believe in the resurrection. I had examined the historical evidence with skepticism, weighing the testimony of those who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus. When I became convinced that he truly rose from the dead, everything changed.
It meant that Jesus’ claims were true. It meant that God had acted in history. And it meant that every human attempt to create our own path to God fell short. If God has spoken, nothing else carries the same authority.
So the question is not whether the gospel sounds too good to be true. The question is whether we will respond to it.
Have you confessed Jesus as your Lord? Is He directing your life, or are you still in control? Have you believed in His resurrection? Has that reality reshaped how you see God and your future?
As Isaac Watts wrote, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
In awe of Him,
Paul
