<p>10:9 <i>Because if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved</i>- Being saved is as simple as that. It is belief and not legal obedience which is required.</p><p>Confessing Christ before men applies to baptism, not just bucking up the courage to give someone a tract at work (Mt. 10:32 = Rom. 10:9,10). Rom. 10;9,10 stresses that belief <i>and </i>confession are necessary for salvation. This may be one of the many links between Romans and John&rsquo;s gospel, in that Jn. 12:42 speaks of those who believed but wouldn&rsquo;t confess. Confession, a public showing forth of our belief, is vital if we are to be saved. It&rsquo;s perhaps worth noting that baptisms tend often to be attended largely by believers, and be performed indoors, e.g. in a bath at someone&rsquo;s home, or a church hall. It&rsquo;s quite possible to learn the Gospel, be baptized- and nobody out in this world ever know. It&rsquo;s down to us to ensure this isn&rsquo;t true in our case.</p><p>I have wondered, and it&rsquo;s no more than me wondering, whether it could be that Rom. 10:9,13; Acts 22:16 and the other references to calling on the name of the Lord at baptism imply that the candidate for baptism made the statement &ldquo;Jesus is Lord&rdquo; after their confession of faith or just before their immersion, and then they shouted the word &ldquo;Abba Father&rdquo; as they came out of the water, indicating their adoption as a child of God (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). &nbsp;</p>