Need help understanding Bible verse

[WillKC4]

From Romans chapter 10:

“Brothers and sisters:
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.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
The Scripture says,
No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all,
enriching all who call upon him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Is Faith all that is needed to be saved? And what do you think saved is? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and looking forward to seeing what others think!!

 

[sweetashoney]

Will,
Any single verse in scriptures should be read as a part of the whole. We can pull single verses out of the bible which can tell us pretty much anything we want to hear. In this instance it’s important to keep in mind other verses such as the following ones:
*
“For he will render every man according to his works . . .” (Rom. 2:6-8).

“For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom. 2:13).

"For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgments . . . (Heb. 10:26-27).

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?” (Jas. 2:14).

“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (Jas. 2:17).

"But some one will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. . . .Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren? (Jas. 2:18-20).

“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas. 2:24).*

It is assumed by the entire context of the New Testament that faith will automatically entail works. Works done without faith are indeed of no avail, but faith that has no works is a dead faith and also of no avail. Faith comes first, it precedes works, so it is true in that sense that we are saved by faith, but our salvation is still in progress and not complete until we are judged.

Does that help any?

 

[WillKC4]

Thanks a lot! It does help. I struggle with the Bible a lot as there seems to be such contradictions at times and its interpretation seems to be what is important?? I do love reading it though and hearing what others think about certain passages.

 

[Barbkw]

"Romans

Introduction"

“Of all the letters of Paul, that to the Christians at Rome has long held pride of place. It is the longest and most systematic unfolding of the apostle’s thought, expounding the gospel of God’s righteousness that saves all who believe (Romans 1:16-17); it reflects a universal outlook, with special implications for Israel’s relation to the church (Rom 9-11). Yet, like all Paul’s letters, Romans too arose out of a specific situation, when the apostle wrote from Greece, likely Corinth, between A.D. 56 and 58 (cf Acts 20:2-3).”

3 pages of introductory text on Romans continues at:

nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/romans/intro.htm

 

[JRKH]

Wonderful answers already.

The Short answer to your question: “Is Faith all that is needed to be saved?” is yes.

But just as you recognize the need for understanding what “saved” is, it is also necessary to understand what “faith” is.
We can spend a lifetime answering that question. By that I mean, it is easy to look up the meaning of faith, but incorporating that meaning into our hearts, minds, lives and actions takes much time, prayer, effort, and perseverance.

Peace
James

 

[sweetashoney]

Thanks a lot! It does help. I struggle with the Bible a lot as there seems to be such contradictions at times and its interpretation seems to be what is important?? I do love reading it though and hearing what others think about certain passages.

You’re very welcome, Will. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch just released the entire New Testament version of their study bible. It’s only about $15 on Amazon and might be invaluable for you. It’s important to have such a guide as you read the scriptures. I think it’s called the Ignatius Study Bible. They also just released the the study on Genesis, too. I highly recommend their work.

 

[sweetashoney]

Thanks a lot! It does help. I struggle with the Bible a lot as there seems to be such contradictions at times and its interpretation seems to be what is important?? I do love reading it though and hearing what others think about certain passages.

Also, remember that many of the seeming contradictions are not truly contradictions. Jesus can do more than one thing at one time, like walking and teaching simultaneously. He may have given the same speech more than once and at many locations. The authors didn’t seem to mind mixing up chronology, either. They wanted to get their point across, and if grouping speaches by topic rather than timing benefitted their purpose more, they had none of our modern qualms about getting things out of chronological order or using false names for the sake of a theological point. It is still an historical account, but not in the form of modern journalism.

Addressing your other observation about interpretations: the interpretations of scripture are so important that they are the foundation for the multitudes of denominations. That is why an authoritative interpreter (the Church) is necessary if there is to be true unity among Christ’s followers. Left to our own resources we end up with many contradictory beliefs which spawn more and more denominations every day. I personally believe God did not intend for such to happen and left us the Succession of Bishops (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) to guarantee the correct interpretation

 

[Catholic_Dude]

From Romans chapter 10:

“Brothers and sisters:
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.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
The Scripture says,
No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all,
enriching all who call upon him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Is Faith all that is needed to be saved? And what do you think saved is? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and looking forward to seeing what others think!!

This verse is actually a strong proof text against Faith Alone.

The text explicitly says you must “believe” and “confess” you will be saved…which, by definition, is more than faith alone. Confessing here is taken to mean living a life being ready to confess Christ any time you’re challenged. John 12:42-43 uses the same two words for “confess” and “believe” and shows that belief alone is not enough.

 

[ab75]

Wonderful answers already.

The Short answer to your question: “Is Faith all that is needed to be saved?” is yes.

But just as you recognize the need for understanding what “saved” is, it is also necessary to understand what “faith” is.
We can spend a lifetime answering that question. By that I mean, it is easy to look up the meaning of faith, but incorporating that meaning into our hearts, minds, lives and actions takes much time, prayer, effort, and perseverance.

Peace
James

and I think understanding “faith” to be more closely related to our understanding of faithful than belief is important.

 

[JRKH]

and I think understanding “faith” to be more closely related to our understanding of faithful than belief is important.

Absolutely.
As time goes on and I learn more, I see faith as having little to do with “belief”. Faith means engrained, a part of your being, something not even necessarily thought about.
When we “react” to something that reaction tells us what we have “faith” in.

Peace
James

 

[losh14]

Thanks a lot! It does help. I struggle with the Bible a lot as there seems to be such contradictions at times and its interpretation seems to be what is important?? I do love reading it though and hearing what others think about certain passages.

It may help to treat each epistle as a conversation and each Gospel as a narrative. This what we mean by “context” - the epistles often had very specific purposes in mind, so that where Paul may go into great detail on some points for the Corinthians, he may neglect them altogether in Romans. It’s not that the message changes, but what needs to be communicated does. The churches at Rome and at Corinth posed distinct challenges for the early evangelists, and could not be met with a pat response.

Like an earlier poster noted, if we read the entirety of what Scripture says on salvation, we can either say that Scripture contradicts itself by calling first for faith, then for confession, then for baptism, then for good works, or we can say we have a complete picture of soteriology by noting all that is required of a Christian. The Apostles and those who took on their mantles dealt with these questions as well and we continue to deal with them today.

 

[losh14]

The text explicitly says you must “believe” and “confess” you will be saved…which, by definition, is more than faith alone. Confessing here is taken to mean living a life being ready to confess Christ any time you’re challenged. John 12:42-43 uses the same two words for “confess” and “believe” and shows that belief alone is not enough.

We also have to get past parlance and usage. I’ve often found that even Protestants think of faith as more than merely believing. It is impossible to truly believe without acting on it. Anything else is merely mental assent - and the Catechism goes to pains to define faith as not merely mental assent but also committment of will and all that follows.

The discussion instead often comes down to Protestants arguing that Catholics can’t work their way into Heaven, and Catholics arguing that Protestants can’t get into Heaven with an “I believed once, that’s all that’s needed” attitude. In reality, we tend to live our lives very similarly, in obedience, humility, service, love and gratitude.

I think this is also why there’s a heavy emphasis among Protestant (especially evangelical) parlance about “relationship” with the Lord. To discuss relationship forgoes the entire discussion of what kind of belief is necessary and gets to a really good heart of what a life of faith means. I’ve found that when I have the Catholic-Protestant discussion with newly-met evangelical acquaintances, if I go right to discussing my relationship with Jesus, I don’t get the usual proselytizing.