Names of God; part 27. Being a son in the house of YHVH.

Title: Names of God; part 27. Being a son in the house of YHVH.

 

 

Rom 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" —  that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,

 

Rom 10:9 that [namely] if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;

 

Rom 10:10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

 

A Jew frequently stated the name of God in prayer and in ritual. If they believe in Jesus then His name is confessed as Adonai.

 

So why does confession result in salvation in verse 10? If he believes and doesn't confess is he not saved? Such a thing, if it were a requirement for salvation, would not be so rarely stated in the scripture. There are many opinions as to what Paul may mean here. Mostly, expositors rightly state that confession of faith is only the other side of belief. In other words, why would a believer keep it secret his whole life? Or why would a believer never utter the name "Lord" and equate it with Jesus?

 

But there is something more in confession for the first century Jew. Every Jew was under the burden of the general belief in salvation by works or by keeping the Law. He was under the legalistic culture of Israel, which at the time was nothing more than an moral cult that desired to kill Jesus for blasphemy. This burden upon the first century Jew was a slavery. If he was courageous enough to openly state Jesus as Lord and he was strong enough in faith to handle the persecution that would come with such a confession, then he was delivered or saved from that yoke of bondage. By faith he is made righteous and by confession he is set free or saved in life.

 

Salvation in Christ through faith should lead to experiential freedom from all bondages put upon man by other men and by the kingdom of darkness, no matter how much they persecute.  

 

When the Jew believes, he is made righteous. When he confesses Jesus as Lord he is delivered from the yoke of the Law, which would be the first and natural result of his salvation.

 

As we have been studying, can the enemy break into the house of Yavah Roiy and take me away from the Lord's table and my cup that overflows?

 

To openly confess Jesus as Lord would be the Jewish believers first step out from under the burden of the Law that his unbelieving Jewish brethren remained under -  out from the yoke of slavery. The whole Jewish community believed that salvation was through keeping the Law of Moses and their rites, rituals, and prayers were all indicators of it. They even added to the Law through the work of centuries of rabbis contributing to an oral law that they designed to put a fence around the Torah so that none would break it. The oral law included hundreds of extra rules steeped in legalism. When the believing Jew was able to state openly and so without fear of the persecution that was sure to come upon him, that Jesus was Adonai, he was free of that burden. He would know that walking out from the burden of the Law and the moral cult of Israel, he walked into the persecution that would come from the unbelieving Jews upon the believing.

 

Salvation: deliverance from death and sin and resultant deliverance in life. Those still in bondage will persecute the free.

 

"because the Jews of Rome were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus (Christ) he [Claudius] expelled them [Jews] from the city." [Suetonius]

 

The Jews in Rome who had believed in Christ were first persecuted by other Jews and then by the state. The same thing happened in Jerusalem. Aquila and Priscilla were of their number who were expelled from their community and their home. God certainly will turn such a curse into a blessing.

 

Act 18:1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.

 

Act 18:2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,

 

Act 18:3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers.

 

Act 18:4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

 

The accompanied Paul to Ephesus and began a church in their house. The blessing that came into their lives was that they were able to greatly support the ministry of the apostle Paul.

 

Rom 16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

 

Rom 16:4 who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles;

 

Rom 10:9 that [namely] if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;

 

Rom 10:10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

 

Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." [Isa 28:16]

 

Rom 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him;

 

Rom 10:13 for "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

 

Paul then relates that the gospel has been presented by grace to all, both Jew and Gentile, and some from both classes have rejected it in favor of salvation by works.

 

Rom 10:14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

 

Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!" [Isa 52:7]

 

Rom 10:16 However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, " Lord, who has believed our report?" [Isa 53:1]

 

Despite a universal preaching of the gospel there has not been a universal obedience to the gospel. Man's free will remains intact.

 

Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

 

The gospel is a promise. If the promise is not given and heard then faith has no object.

 

Rom 10:18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;

"Their voice has gone out into all the earth,

And their words to the ends of the world."

 

Paul calls to the Jews in verse 18. Is it possible that the universal preaching of the gospel was kept hidden from the Jews? Such a notion is preposterous since salvation comes directly from the Jews (Joh 4:22).

 

Ok, so they heard. Did they not know what they heard?

 

Rom 10:19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At the first Moses says,

"I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation,

By a nation without understanding will I anger you."

 

Rom 10:20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,

"I was found by those who sought Me not,

I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me."

 

In other words, salvation was preached to the world. It was not Israel's monopoly. Both Moses and Isaiah predicted the salvation of the Gentiles.

 

Salvation was not Israel's monopoly. There was no reason for Israel not to understand that salvation was by faith and not by works, since the Gentiles who would be given salvation, were not under the law.

 

But, neither was Abraham under the law for that matter. As God reveals, it was the disobedience and obstinacy of Israel that rejected salvation by grace.

 

Rom 10:21 But as for Israel He says, "All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."

 

Now you and I can understand 11:6 in context.

 

Rom 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

 

Paul uses himself as an example. If Israel had been rejected then he would have been as well, but in fact, he is the apostle to the Gentiles.

 

Rom 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

 

Rom 11:3 "Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have torn down Thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life."

 

Rom 11:4 But what is the divine response to him? "I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

 

Rom 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.

 

Rom 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

 

We appropriate all things from God by means of grace and not by works, but this does not mean that we do not perform works. We perform far more works by means of grace.

 

So we posed the question: How does a believer understand grace and works in the context of the Christian way of life? How is he to become a good son? We explored Rom 11:6 first and now Eph 2:8-10.