If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

There is the heart of a person and there is the mouth of a person. When it comes to salvation, the two should be in harmony with one another. If you believe in your heart that Jesus is who the Bible says He is, then your mouth should also confess that Jesus is your Savior and Friend. If you do these two things, then our verse for today says you are saved.

The belief that we hold about Jesus is held in the heart, not simply in the mind. The belief that Jesus is who the Bible says He is does not come about simply through rational understanding. It is a belief that rises above mere rational belief to the level of belief born of faith. The heart transformed by the Holy Spirit believes by faith what the Bible reveals about Jesus.

But the belief is just the beginning. There is also the confession. A person whose heart has been truly transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit will quite naturally confess out loud what is held in the heart. Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33). What we say about what we believe, then, is very important.

The Bible teaches that the person whose heart truly believes and whose mouth truly confesses will also demonstrate a Christ-like life. It was James who explicitly made this point. He said, “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?” (James 2:14). Indeed, Jesus himself said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

The heart full of faith in Jesus will confess that faith and will begin, however imperfectly, to walk in that faith. Let us confess our faith in word and deed, so that others might see and know our Savior, too.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International