by Steven Chan
06 June 2010
In Rom 10:9-10, the Bible emphasizes the importance of expressing our faith: “because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” It is insufficient to have faith in our hearts; one must also express that faith verbally – with our mouth – that’s verbal confession of our faith.
It appears that the Bible expects believers to express our faith constantly and in all areas of our lives. It is not adequate to have our faith kept in our hearts and never expressed in any way. In Romans 10:9-10, our verbal confession of Jesus as Lord conjoined with faith in our hearts will result in our salvation. In 1Tim 6:12, the apostle Paul reminded Timothy of the good confession that he made in the sight of many: “Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.”
Our works is also a form of expression of our faith: James 2:18: “Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith.” It is by our works of good deeds that our faith would be known. Without such an expression, the Bible says that our faith is useless or in vain. Our faith must be expressed – verbally and through our good works.
Preaching the gospel to others and singing praise to the Lord constitute confession or an expression of our faith: Rom 15:9: “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.” God shall be confessed, and His praises sung among the Gentiles. When we praise the Lord, we express our faith!
Prayers and thanksgiving are also expressions of our faith: 1 Thess 5:17-18: “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” In Luke 17:12-19, we read the account of the healing of the ten lepers and how only one returned to give thanks and glory to God as an expression of His faith: “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” The nine lepers failed to express their gratitude and faith towards God.
In John 12:42-43 the Bible observed that there were some who were afraid to express their faith in Jesus because they feared being rejected by their peers and they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
It is interesting to note that after stating that confession with our mouth conjoined with faith in our hearts lead to salvation, the Bible further observes as follows: Rom 10:10-11: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, ‘Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” It is the fear of shame that cause some of us to be unwilling to confess Jesus as Lord of our lives. But the Bible assures us that there is no shame in acknowledging Him. We should not be fearful nor be ashamed to express our faith in the Lord – whether by preaching His Word or in all other areas of our lives – giving thanks to him and glorifying His Name for His goodness and mercy.
Have we been expressing our faith? How have we been expressing our faith? God expects us to express our faith – in all forms – whether in words or actions. When we express our faith, we glorify God – and our faith itself is also strengthened. Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God”. (Rom 4:20)
