Romans 10:9- Amplified Bibile-
"Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe that God raised him fro the dead, you will be saved."
Anytime the Bible says the words "you will be saved…" it is usually a good idea to listen. Romans 10:9 basically gives us the framework for salvation. It tells us two simple things to do, and then tells us that if we do them we will be saved. That must mean that these two things are pretty important. These two things will make up the first two lessons or letters of this Bible Study. The first of the two is Acknowledgement. The verse says that if we acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, then we have fulfilled the first of the two-part instruction of how we can be saved. This sounds easy enough, but what does "acknowledging Jesus is Lord" mean? There are 3 different definitions of acknowledge that I found that I feel are good examples. The first says that acknowledge means to accept or admit the existence of truth of. The second definition says to acknowledge is to recognize the fact or importance or quality of. Finally, the third definition of acknowledge says that it means to express or display gratitude or appreciation of. Now, throughout this Bible Study I will tell you about some instances that from now on I am going to call "Wow, God" moments. These are moments where God just takes me to something that fits in perfectly to what He wants me to talk about. These definitions that God led me to for sure led me to a "Wow, God" moment.
Let's look at the first definition of acknowledge. The first definition says to accept or admit the existence or truth of. Wow, this is right on to what the verse is trying to get us to do before salvation. Place this definition in the verse and you will further understand what God is wanting us to do. "If you accept or admit the existence or truth of, Jesus is Lord, you will be saved." There is really not much I could say about this to make you understand anymore than this definition does. All we really have to do is accept Jesus's existence and admit that He is Lord. If you are a Christian and you're reading this I'm sure you agree with those two principles.
The second definition says that to acknowledge means to recognize the fact or importance or quality of. Once again, right on track with this verse. "If you recognize the fact and importance that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved." Again, this is simple. Just recognize that Jesus is Lord and you will gain salvation. This definition, like the last one, does not leave me much room to speak on what it means to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. It basically is self-explanatory as cliche as that sounds.
The last definition is one that also sums it up without leaving me anything to say about it. It states that to acknowledge is to express or display gratitude or appreciation of. One more time, let's plug this definition into the original verse. "If you express or display gratitude for Jesus being Lord, you will be saved." Same concept as before, we need to thank Jesus for being Lord of our lives and for dying on the cross for our sins.
Naysayers and doubters say that Christianity is the "fool's faith." They say this because our faith seems too easy for them. It seems unimaginable that God would send his son to die for us and because his son died all of our sins are forgiven. Another reason that they call it the "fool's faith" is because even children can understand the concept of salvation. It really is simple. The Christian life may not be simple, it isn't supposed to be, but salvation does not have to be difficult. Look at these three definitions plugged into the same verse. They all give us different instructions and each of them is simple.
Now, on to our Bible Study. We had a good group of guys for the first lesson. We started the Bible Study by reading this verse in about 8 different translations of the Bible. When we read the Amplified Version(which is known for adding in extra words for emphasis) and it had the word acknowledge in it. Again a "Wow, God" moment. We then went around the room and discussed things that we can do to acknowledge God in our lives. We came to the conclusion that there are many ways. Examples that were given at this time include; giving God glory in all things, reading the Bible and praying in public, telling others about God, live your life in a way that others notice you are different.(different in that you don't follow the crowd, you try to live your life in a way that pleases God, and there were many others that were great examples.
So, after this first lesson what have you gathered from Romans 10:9 and all of the definitions of acknowledgement? Leave me some comments telling me about what this lesson may prompt you to do and how it may have changed your view on certain things. Hopefully, this lesson will lead you to go against the flow and acknowledge Jesus as Lord of your life. The next lesson is Belief and we will use the second half of Romans 10:9 to help us. I remind you that anything I say in this Bible Study comes from God, not from me, so to Him be all the Glory and I hope everyone is enjoying and getting a lot from this. God is good all the time.
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