Romans 10:2-13

Living Bible

² I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal. ³ For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation. ⁴ They don’t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.

⁵ For Moses wrote that if a person could be perfectly good and hold out against temptation all his life and never sin once, only then could he be pardoned and saved. ⁶ But the salvation that comes through faith says, “You don’t need to search the heavens to find Christ and bring him down to help you,” and, ⁷ “You don’t need to go among the dead to bring Christ back to life again.”

⁸ For salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is what we preach—is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. ⁹ For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation.^[a]

¹¹ For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed. ¹² Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them. ¹³ Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.