You will be saved

But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your ear" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10.8-9

So the word of faith is near. Hopefully it is being preached. What has to happen with it?

If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you will be saved.

Last week one of my blogposts stirred up a little Twitter discussion. The same day that I posted that that pope had said that anyone, even atheists, or do good works will go to heaven. It was an interesting discussion. An atheist or two even entered the debate. These are people I respect and often enjoy reading their tweets. But, in this, I had to wonder why were too concerned. If there is no god, then why does it matter about good works or bad works or faith or no faith or belief or no belief?

Well, I have to say, in this case at least, that the pope is wrong. Well, at least his view is incompatible with the scriptures. Doing good works is not even mentioned here. It is a belief that makes the difference. That belief will result in profession. And, though it is not mentioned here, that belief will always produce those good works (Ephesians 2.10).

First salvation – then good works. Vice versa just won’t suffice in this case.