“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation<\/em>” (Romans 10:8-10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNotice belief and confession lead\u00a0unto<\/strong><\/em> righteousness and salvation. That means they are prerequisites, but it does not necessarily follow that they are all that is needed (after all the word is also mentioned in this passage and Romans 10:17 says you have to hear in order to believe); nor does it follow that belief and confession are the last things needed.<\/p>\nWhat we do find is: “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you–not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience–through the resurrection of Jesus Christ<\/em>” (I Peter 3:21). Here immediate salvation is mentioned in connection with baptism. It doesn’t mean that baptism is all that is necessary, but it does mean that salvation does come at the point of baptism.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Hi, Thanks for your web site. It has been a God-send to folks like me who are relatively new in our walk with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been trying to find a Bible-believing church to attend, but there are so many\u00a0false teachings and\u00a0divisions in the body of Christ today that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,51,49],"class_list":["post-43323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-confession","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44070,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-didnt-say-jesus-is-lord-do-i-need-to-be-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":43323,"position":0},"title":"If I didn’t say “Jesus is Lord,” do I need to be baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello there, Thank you for the articles and answers on your website.\u00a0 I believe they stand on good biblical ground and are a blessing to Christians and the world. I have a question about Romans 10:9.\u00a0 Many years ago, I was immersed in water for the remission of my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-saying-yes-enough-to-confess-christ-before-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":43323,"position":1},"title":"Is saying “yes” enough to confess Christ before baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I enjoy reading your articles on your web site. I find your answers to questions biblically sound and with justification. I'm having trouble with confession, perhaps you can expound on it for me. Is simply answering \"yes\" when one is asked to confess Christ (before baptism) enough? Should the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-confess-before-i-am-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":43323,"position":2},"title":"What must I confess before I am baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Let me start off by thanking you for all that you do in the name of Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago I had prayed to God asking for guidance in finding the true church of which I can become a part so that I may further my understanding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22956,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-shouldnt-condemn-those-who-believe-baptism-is-unnecessary-for-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":43323,"position":3},"title":"You shouldn’t condemn those who believe baptism is unnecessary for salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian, a part of the Church of the Nazarene. I myself have been baptized, but it becomes a concern to me when many others find it absolutely necessary to be baptized with water to be saved. I am very open to the consideration of the doctrines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15189,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-person-dies-after-accepting-god-but-before-he-can-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":43323,"position":4},"title":"What if a person dies after accepting God but before he can be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism. People always ask what if a person is about to die and accepts God into his heart, does he go to heaven or hell? My response is two things: I tell them the guy had chances before, so God would be just in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-thief-on-the-cross-work-when-he-rebuked-the-other-thief\/","url_meta":{"origin":43323,"position":5},"title":"Did the thief on the cross work when he rebuked the other thief?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I noticed your 'Is water baptism is a work?' and I found it very insightful. I was curious about the thief on the cross. Did\u00a0this thief\u00a0do a 'work' before he died by rebuking his neighbor? Answer: Obviously the thief demonstrates faith in Jesus. \"Then one of the criminals who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}