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Jesus is Lord. Christ is King. These phrases have been central to Christianity from the beginning. Whether Peter’s profession in Matthew 16 or the counter-cultural message of Acts 17, these phrases have had a powerful impact on both the people who profess these truths and those who hear them. But what do they mean? What do they represent? Why does it matter? To start with, let's look at where the specific phrase comes from in Scripture, Romans 10, and why it is so important.
On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
-Romans 10:8-10
Paul is in the middle of a discourse here dealing with his heartbreak over the way that his Jewish brothers and sisters have missed out on Jesus, simply because they had overcomplicated things, trying too hard for righteousness that simply comes from faith instead of a law or works. This is where our phrase comes in: a simple confession of Jesus is Lord brings about Salvation, kinda.
JESUS IS LORD IS THE KEY TO SALVATION, KINDA
Paul here in Romans 10, attempts to make it as simple as possible, so he lays out two seemingly simple steps for obtaining righteousness. The first step being the verbal external confession of Jesus as Lord. This leads us to the reason our phrase has become the center of controversy. The thought being that if someone simply confesses this phrase, then they become a part of the family and immediately deserve support for any action they do. But that is only the first step, because Paul also tells us there is an inner confession as well. An inner confession in our hearts that we believe fully Jesus had died and been resurrected.
This seems to be a simpler idea overall. Confessing someone as Lord sounds like a much bigger commitment than just believing someone raised from the dead. It is so simple that this is why it has become a litmus test of sorts. If someone won’t profess this at any given moment then the thought process would be that logically they are denying their salvation. However, that only makes sense if we ignore the second part, the inner belief. Paul is calling the believers to something much more than a simple call-and-response style of faith. It is a call to a full change in heart. This section of Romans is part of the lead-up to Romans 12. Believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is a major part of renewing our minds. We can know this because of what Paul says in verse 10. The verbal confession brings salvation, but the heart's confession brings about righteousness. Righteousness requires more than just mere confession, but full lifestyle changes to be more like Jesus. Or as Paul puts it in Romans 12, to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
WHY IS IT BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION?
It’s important to recognize as well what Paul says here. It is NOT belief that Christ is Lord that brings about righteousness, but belief in His resurrection. This is important because of what Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15 about the resurrection.
In I Corinthians 15, Paul starts with a confession of the Resurrection and the importance of that confession for our faith. Specifically, because of the implications of a resurrected Savior. If Christ is raised, then death is defeated, then sin is defeated, and if sin is defeated and Christ is Victorious, then that affects the way we live and the hope that we have. So if our righteousness comes from a hope in the resurrection and an allowance of the Spirit to renew our mind towards the will of Christ, then it will ultimately affect how even our affirmation of Jesus as Lord must play out. This means that simply making the statement Christ is Lord is not what matters, but the purpose of making the statement, the method in which it is delivered, and the heart of the one delivering it matter.
THE PURPOSE MATTERS
Why are we affirming Christ as Lord? Is it about status or worship? One of the main themes we have seen with those attempting to use this call for political purposes is that the goal of making the statement is solely for personal gain. This shows us that while they are attempting to identify with salvation, they are not taking the next step toward righteousness and a renewed mind. To truly affirm that Christ is Lord, is to fully submit to that reality, which means that our personal power and status are now forfeit. If you are tempted to use “Jesus as Lord” to gain influence for yourself, then you don’t fully understand what it is you are affirming.
THE METHOD MATTERS
If the why behind our affirmation matters, the how we affirm these things also matters a great deal as well. In the case of the recent events in both the Trump and Harris campaigns, what we saw were people in the crowds supposedly yelling at the stage and wanting an affirmation. We saw the purpose already, it was about power, but the method itself is also a problem. Why are we screaming the core of our belief at people? Why are we interrupting people, drawing all the attention to ourselves with a statement of faith that is supposed to show our desire to decrease? In the case of the Harris controversy, why are we actively making up lies and doctoring videos with this phrase to feed a persecution complex? These methods we are seeing are directly tied to the purpose for doing it. If we as believers, are presenting this affirmation in a way that detracts from the Lordship of Jesus or the witness of His kingdom, then we don’t fully understand what it is we are affirming.
THE HEART MATTERS
This leads us to the main point. If our purpose is not right, and our method is not right, then ultimately it comes down to whether we actually are allowing our hearts to be changed. This is a major piece of what we see Jesus identifying throughout His ministry and most explicitly throughout the sermon on the mount. Our hearts make the difference. Murder begins in the heart, adultery in the heart, hatred, enemies, prayer, forgiveness, worship, etc are all about our hearts. This is the same thing we see here with affirming Christ as Lord. It begins with our hearts fully embracing a resurrected Jesus who has defeated death and sin. Only when we do that are we able to actually affirm the belief that Christ is Lord. This then affects our purpose in making that declaration for salvation and changes our methods from self-serving distractions into humble acts of worship. In the case of the political rallies, we see the heart being about political gains and status. In the case of those that want to call us demon we see a heart that is interested in Spiritual gain and status. With those using Christ is King to shame Jewish people, we see a heart full of antisemitic hate and earthly pride. These hearts are counter to the very Jesus that is being claimed, and we need to recognize this fact. This is what we see Paul outline in I Corinthians 13.
It does not matter how much faith we claim we have or who we affirm, without love we are nothing more than noise. That love cannot be proud or seeking power or seeking others destruction. It instead is found only in conjunction with the Fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit that renews our minds and our hearts. Our hearts make all the difference in what we are affirming.
JESUS IS LORD, CHRIST IS KING, WE NEED TO ACT LIKE WE BELIEVE IT
So if our purpose is aligned with Jesus, our methods are consistent with His message, and our hearts are focused on His will and not our own, then what should this look like? Jesus Himself gives us the answer in Matthew 25, when he talks about the sheep and the goats. In this parable, there are two groups that both are affirming that Christ is Lord. One group is affirmed, and the other is rejected. What separates them apart, is how they treat others. Those who fed the hungry gave water to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited those who were imprisoned were welcomed into their righteousness.
What does affirming Christ as Lord look like? It looks like actually believing that Christ has resurrected, taking the power away from the effects of sin, and as a result, actively living in a way to see those effects in our community cease. Yes, affirming Christ as Lord is the key to Salvation, but only if we fully understand what that means.
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