Romans 10:8, 13
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
13 For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.
A major component of the faith that Paul preached (Romans 10:8) includes the fact the Lord Jesus is God (Romans 10:13). Thus, it is a significant part of the faith that believers must earnestly contend for (Jude 3).
If I may affirmatively elaborate...
First, let's make sure that passage is applied well. That passage was NOT written to or about unregenerate non-believers! Attempts to apply that text to the unregenerate must first remove the text from its inherent context and audience affiliation(s). Aside from the fact the entire chapter is only a portion of a much longer narrative that encompasses three chapters, and those three chapters are specifically about the salvific destiny of Abrahm's descendants and Paul's kinsman, Israel (not necessarily geo-political nation-state Israel). Paul is citing Moses. Romans 10:5 is referencing Leviticus 18:5 and Deuteronomy 30:11. Romans 10:6 and 7 are citing Deuteronomy 30 12-14. Verse 8 is quoting Dt. 30:14 and it is worth noting that the original verse (Dt. 30:14) makes a causal relationship between the word that is in the person's heart and his/her subsequent obedience.
Deuteronomy 30:14 NAS
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
Deuteronomy 30:14 ESV
But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Deuteronomy 30:14 KJV
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Paul then moves from Moses to Isaiah. Isaiah 28:16 and 49:23 both states those who put their trust in the LORD will not be shaken or ashamed. That is "
LORD," not "
Lord" or "
lord." The Tetragram is used in both verses. This is important because the "him" in Romans 10 is Jesus. Paul has predicated his comments on "...
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord..." In other words, Paul is inescapable implying Jesus is the LORD of Isaiah's messianic prophecies. He is making an equivalence, comparing Jesus with God. He does this as a (former) Jew and (former) Pharisee. From within the context of Judaism that comparison qualifies as heresy..... unless what Paul wrote is true and correct. Comparing oneself, or any other human, to God was considered heresy and so heretical it was a capital crime, a stoning offense. By extension, if Paul is teaching heresy then everything he wrote is unreliable. It all has the potential of being incorrect simply because his Christology is wrong. All of Paul's epistolary - more than half of the New Testament - must be discarded! However, it's not just Paul's letters that are questionable if the comparison this manner of using the Old Testament is incorrect, if equivalences made between God and Jesus are irrational. Moses wrote the word is near you, in your heart that you may do it and, according to John's preamble the word of God is Jesus incarnate. John 1:14 explicitly states the word became flesh. Moses' "
word" is inherently messianic so the direct connection to the subsequently promised Savior is inescapable. If John is making an equivalence and that equivalence is heretical then John's gospel, his three epistles and Revelation are all put in doubt; their veracity is void and their legitimacy questionable at best. John addressed this matter in his gospel (but that is content for another post).
Lastly, the Moses and Isaiah texts inherently occur within an already-established covenant. Everything in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is explicitly and repeatedly couched in the covenant God made with Abraham. Everything written in those four books and all the events recorded in those four books is couched in God keeping His promises to Abraham (and the Hebrews' forefathers, Isaac and Jacob). Those promises are all also messianic. Every occasion when God promises
He will do X, Y, or Z and that promise is later fulfilled by Jesus that is an occasion of equivalent comparison. God did not say he would fulfill "
X" through some intermediate who would perform the task; He declared He would do it. Therefore, Jesus is not just a mediator of God, an agent sub-contracted by God to do work God assigned to him, Jesus is also God. So, when God declares He will build His temple and Jesus later states he will build God's temple Jesus is either being true and correct comparing himself with God, or he is a lying heretic.
If he is a lying heretic then none of us are saved, neither the orthodox nor the cultist.
So what?
Well, much more about the above could be said, but relevant to this op two points are worth noting. The first is that the vision Abraham had when God first introduced His monergistically-initiated covenant to Abraham involved symbols of God performing a suzerain ritual with God. God (in the form of the smoking pot and fiery furnace) performed the ritual fealty to God = God covenanting with God and doing so at the risk of death for any breach of promise, allegiance, contract, covenant. It was not Abraham that walked between the sundered carcasses and pledged faithfulness to God. The covenant with Abraham was foundationally a covenant God made with Himself..... at the risk of His own life. But how can an immortal God die? That question is answered in Jesus, the logos of God who is God. Furthermore, Paul declares the promises made to Abraham in that covenant were also made to Jesus, the promised seed of Abraham. Abraham has many "seeds," but only Jesus is the seed of promise.
Galatians 3:1-16 (excerpted for the sake of space)
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All nations will be blessed in you." .........So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness................ Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.
Therefore, Romans the Romans 10 text is necessarily implying an equivalence between God and Jesus, an equivalence that would be blatantly heretical if it were not true.
(apologies for the length)
