Dr. Peter S. Ruckman's Romans 10:9 compared to Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Peter of Alexandria, Augustine, Chrysostom, Hilary of Poitiers

Thank you to Brother Don Nesbitt, the Lord's bloodhound. His youtube handle is @w46try7. The Lord put it on my heart to write that.

I am not claiming that all of these men are in the Mandatory Vocalization Club (check my youtube, TylerMcLaughlin-t1n if that confuses you). This article exists for people to compare Dr. Peter S. Ruckman's soteriology, and interpretation on Romans 10:9 against others. None of these people except John Chrysostom are in the Mandatory Vocalization Club. I will write a future article on it, that is a promise :)

Notice the confession of Dr. Peter S. Ruckman versus profession.

“And here it comes: the simplest, clearest presentation of salvation found anywhere in either Testament. Two conditions: If. ‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,’ number two, ‘And shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ No ifs, ands, buts about it. And notice the heart is not changed. The heart believes on Christ in its regular condition. There is no overpowering of the sinner by the irresistible grace of God, which transforms him against his will into a new creature so he can receive Christ, and all that Calvinistic baloney. It’s saying that an unsaved man in his natural condition, and he’s told, if you believe something in your heart and confess it with your mouth, God’ll give you the new birth, God’ll save you and impute to you righteousness and justify you.” - Dr. Peter S. Ruckman, Romans 10:9

"“Saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” This is the source of the so-called “sinner’s prayer.” Since it is an Old Testament prayer before the Crucifixion, Christians add: “and save me for Jesus’ sake.” This brings up the question of whether it is necessary to pray to be saved. There is a movement among Bible-believing Christians today that says if you pray to receive Christ, that is a work, and you aren’t saved by works (Eph. 2:8–9; Tit. 3:5). The logical conclusion to such an argument is that if you prayed to get saved, that you are lost and need to be saved (again!). It is the Baptist version of the Brownsville Revival retreaders. It’s propagated by pastors who aren’t seeing many people saved in their churches, so they turn on their congregations and try to reconvert them. In one of these churches over in Milton, the associate pastor (who was the son of the pastor) professed to have gotten saved seven times. That was six times past the first time when he prayed to be saved. And you are going to trust a man with no more assurance or stability than that to lead you to Christ? Now is prayer necessary for salvation? [do not take this out of context, Dr. Peter S. Ruckman later says that the mouth is required for salvation] No. You can say a prayer and be no more saved than the Pharisee was when he prayed. The touchstone of the Gospel is not Acts 16:31 or Romans 10:13. It is John 1:12. “But as many as RECEIVED HIM, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Did you know you can believe on Jesus Christ and still die lost and go to Hell? Simon the sorcerer did; look up Acts 8:13 and READ IT! You can even call on the name of the Lord and be lost. Those exorcists in Acts 19:13–15 did. But you can’t receive Jesus Christ and the free gift of God’s righteousness through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:15–18) and not be saved. You can believe without receiving, but you can’t receive without believing. The question is not can you be saved by praying, because the Scriptures say you can: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). That calling involves the mouth (Rom. 10:9–10). You are confessing Jesus Christ with your mouth and believing on Him with your heart. The prayer is expressing the faith of the sinner in Jesus Christ to save him. So the real question is what are you doing when you say the sinner’s prayer? If you are repeating it as a ritual (like they do in Russia and the Ukraine due to the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church), that’s not salvation. If you are relying on the prayer itself to save you, that’s not salvation. But if the sinner prays to receive Christ and express his faith in what Jesus Christ did for him, that will do it. Here’s a sinner who comes to Jesus Christ in sincerity and faith, and prays, “Dear God, I know I’m a sinner, and if you don’t do something for me, I’m headed for Hell. I’ve been told that your Son the Lord Jesus Christ can save me, so I’m going to trust Him right now. I believe He died on the cross to take away my sins and rose again to take me to Heaven. Right now I receive Him the best way I know how. Please save me, Lord Jesus, and help me to know I’m saved.” Do you think the Lord is going to tell that sinner, “No, I can’t save you because you just prayed and prayer is a work”? Do you really think the Lord is going to turn down a sinner who comes to Him like that after He said, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37)? From a practical standpoint, it is good for a sinner to pray when he gets saved because it can reinforce the believer’s assurance. The prayer gives him a tangible time to which he can point and say, “That’s the time and place when I trusted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.”" - Dr. Peter S. Ruckman, Gospel of Luke Commentary (The Bible Believer's Commentary Series), Chapter 18 2013.

“Then he continues, ‘If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved.’ And he renders the reason why the Son of God did these things, saying, ‘For to this end Christ both lived, and died, and revived, that He might rule over the living and the dead.’”

- Irenaeus, *Against Heresies*, Book III, Chapter XVIII

“With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Wherefore the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed; that is, the word of faith which we preach: for if thou confess the word with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. There is clearly described the perfect righteousness, fulfilled both in practice and contemplation.”

- Clement of Alexandria, *The Stromata*, Book IV, Chapter XVI

“For the word which we believe is near us, in our mouth, and in our heart; which they, being put in remembrance of, will learn to confess with their mouths that Jesus is the Christ; believing in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead, and being as those who hear, that ‘with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’”

- Peter of Alexandria, *The Canonical Epistle*, Canon V

“But in the flesh itself, the faith in His resurrection saves and justifies us. For, ‘If thou shalt believe,’ he says, ‘in thine heart, that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved;’ and again, ‘Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.’”

- Augustine, *On the Holy Trinity*, Chapter 17

“Even Pagans believe that Christ died. But only Christians believe that Christ rose again. ‘If thou confess with thy mouth,’ says the apostle, ‘that Jesus is the Lord, and believest in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ Again, because we are justified by faith in Christ’s resurrection, the apostle says, ‘He died for our offenses, and rose again for our justification.’”

- Augustine, *Reply to Faustus the Manichæan*, 29

“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: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. As far as he is saved, so far is he righteous.”

- Augustine, *A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter*, Chapter 51

“This is the word of faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

- Augustine, *Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John*, XVII.20

“For it is not the praise of the Christian faith that they believe that Christ died, but that they believe that He arose from the dead. Even the Pagan believeth that He died; and maketh this a charge against thee, that thou hast believed in one dead. What then is thy praise? It is that thou believest that Christ arose from the dead, and that thou dost hope that thou shalt rise from the dead through Christ: this is the praise of faith. ‘For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’”

- Augustine, *Expositions on the Psalms*, Psalm CII

“There is no need of fetching a circuit, and of trouble, and the vexation of the works of the Law, for the salvation is by a very short way. For such is faith, it holds salvation in a few short words. ‘For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ Now you see what this, ‘the Lord shall make a short word upon earth,’ is. And what is indeed wonderful is, that this short word carries with it not salvation only, but also righteousness.”

- Chrysostom, *Homily XVI on Romans ix.1*

“But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven (that is, to bring Christ down from above): or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 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. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

- Chrysostom, *Homily XVII on Romans x.1*

“If thou shalt believe that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And again, ‘The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart. Say not, Who shall ascend into heaven, or who shall descend into the abyss?’ or, who hath ‘brought Him again from the dead?’ Instead of a certain manner of life, He brought in faith.”

- Chrysostom, *Homilies on Ephesians*, on Ephesians 2:11–12

“The righteousness, he says, which is of faith saith thus, Say not in thy heart, Who hath ascended into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down: or Who hath descended into the abyss: that is, to bring Christ up from the dead? But what saith the Scripture? Thy word is nigh, in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach: because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart, that God hath raised Him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” - Hilary of Poitiers, De Trinitate, Book X, 68