Romans 10:10 Is Not Synonymous Parallelism: Proving Mouth Confession Is a Distinct Condition, Not a Poetic Byproduct

Romans 10:10 is not Synonymous Parallelism in Hebrew Literature

In my previous article, I established early Christians writings on Romans 10 and showed it was not viewed as Synonymous Parallelism (some even viewed confession as a mandatory step), in this article I will be going over why Romans 10:10 is not Synonymous Parallelism, using other examples of Hebrew Parallelism.

If you don't know what Hebrew Parallelism is, in the Hebrew Language, and in the Bible for example.

"According to the logical interrelation of the members there are distinguished three kinds of parallelism:

(1) The synonymous, in which the same sentiment is repeated in different but equivalent words:(Ps. xxv. 5; comp. ib. exiv.; Num. xxiii. 7-10; Isa. lx. 1-3; etc.). "Shew me thy ways, O Lord; Teach me thy paths"Frequently the second line not merely repeats but also reenforces or diversifies the idea:(Prov. i. 31);"They shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices"(I Sam. xviii. 7; comp. Isa. xiii. 7, lv. 6 et seq.; Ps. xcv. 2). "Saul hath slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands"

(2) The antithetical, in which the parallel members express the opposite sides of the same thought:(Prov. xi. 3; comp. ib. x. 1 et seq.; Isa. liv. 7 et seq.; Ps. xx. 8, xxx. 6). "The integrity of the upright shall guide them, But the perversity of the treacherous shall destroy them"Frequently there are one or more synonymous elements in both members, thus making the contrast more emphatic:(Prov. xxix. 27; comp. ib. x. 5, xvi. 9, xxvii. 2). "An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, And he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked"

(3) The synthetical (called also constructive and epithetical), in which the two members contain two disparate ideas, which, however, are connected by a certain affinity between them:(Prov. i. 7; comp. ib. iii. 5, 7; Isa. l. 4; Ps. i. 3, xv. 4)."The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction"" - Jewish Encyclopedia

There's three types, the one we'll be going over is Synonymous Parallelism and Synthetic Parallelism.

Proverbs 3:11 “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:”

Solomon parallels the chastening of the Lord, with his correction.

So, if Romans 10:10 is Synonymous Parallelism, then Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Just means the confession of the mouth is a byproduct of belief, and not a separate condition.

This is from The Expositor's Greek Testament.

Verse 10: "καρδίᾳ γὰρ πιστεύεται εἰς δικαιοσύνην , στόματι δὲ ὁμολογεῖται εἰς σωτηρίαν . The parallelism is like that in the previous verse, though the order of the clauses is reversed. To be saved one must attain δικαιοσύνη , and this depends on heart-faith; such faith, again, leading to salvation, must confess itself. To separate the two clauses, and look for an independent meaning in each, is a mistake; a heart believing unto righteousness, and a mouth making confession unto salvation, are not really two things, but two sides of the same thing. The formalism which seems to contrast them is merely a mental (perhaps only a literary) idiosyncrasy of the writer. It is true to say that such a confession as is meant here was made at baptism; but to limit it to baptism, or to use this verse to prove baptism essential to salvation, is, as Weiss says, unerhörter Dogmatismus"

This is from The Meyer's NT Commentary.

"Romans 10:10 . Elucidation of Romans 10:9 . With πιστ . and ὁμολ . Jesus is not to be supplied as subject (Hofmann), which is not even in accordance with the linguistic usage of the N. T., for 1 Timothy 3:16 has a singular poetical style; but the contents of the faith and of the confession are understood, according to Romans 10:9 , entirely of themselves . “ With the heart, namely ( γάρ ), one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confesses unto salvation .” In the style of Hebrew parallelism the thought is thus expressed: “With the faith of the heart is united the confession of the mouth to the result that one obtains righteousness and salvation.” The righteousness obtained through faith would, forsooth, fall to the ground again, and would not be attended by salvation, if faith had not the vital force to produce confession of the mouth (which speaks out of the fulness of the heart); see Matthew 10:32 ; comp. 2 Corinthians 4:13 . We have thus here no merely formal parallelism, but one framed according to the actual relation of the dispensation of salvation; and in this case, moreover, Paul observes the genetic sequence in καρδίᾳ … στόματι , because he is now no longer dependent on Romans 10:8 ."

[Actual Hebrew Parallelism]

Psalms 25:4-5 “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

(The Jewish Encyclopedia cites this as xxv. 5.)

Psalm 114

When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?

Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

Numbers 23:7-10

And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Proverbs 1:31 “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”

1 Samuel 18:7

“And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

Isaiah 13:7

“Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:”

Isaiah 55:6

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:”

Psalms 95:2

“Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.”

In every one of those verses, the second line repeats, reinforces, or diversifies the first.

Now, let's look at the entirety of Romans 10, before going to Romans 10:10.

Romans 10:1-9

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

The chapter opens with Paul establishing Israel being unsaved, this is important to keep in mind as he will contrast what keeps them unsaved with how you are saved.

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

This is an important verse to keep in mind, as it's culmination is in Romans 10:10.

Paul contrasts between two righteousness, the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of God.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Salvation is freely accessible, and Paul is about how to contrast about the works of the law to the simplicity of Christ.

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

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:)

This is an interesting verse, as this is the first verse which mentions the heart, and it says in thine heart (internal), and it will later contrast verses which speak of your explicit mouth.

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;

The word of faith, how to be saved, it's in your mouth and it's in your heart.

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.

A two step formula, believe and confess to be saved. Now, Romans 10:10 is going to elaborate on this.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

1. Why would Paul mean the mouth as a synonym for the heart when the verses preceeding this in verses 6 and 8 are to rhetorically set up Verse 9, and what is the point of verse 9? If Romans 10:10 is parallelism, then why does verse 9 sound like it contains two conditions?

And 2.

The verses following it are illogical if believing alone is the end all be all for salvation.

For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Okay, this sounds like believing is enough but keep reading.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Calling means prayer, and he later establishes prayer results in salvation.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Paul directly establishes you're saved if you believe and call upon God.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

He then writes the evangelism process from verse 14 to 17 about what makes the calling possible. The Apostle Paul works backwards from salvation (calling) to believing, and how you are able to believe.

Diodore of Tarsus in the 4th century wrote this as commentary on Romans 10:14.

“Necessarily he set forth “those who call upon him.” For God does not give grace indiscriminately, and to those who do not wish it, he does not supply it so much that they do not at least ask and pray to the benefactor. But lest anyone say that many do not call upon the Lord Jesus not because of unbelief and ingratitude but because of ignorance, he shows through what follows that God also took away the excuse of their ignorance, sending evangelists and heralds exhorting and calling them to the request for the gift. Therefore he added what follows.”

If believing alone results in salvation, then why write the entire calling process? Paul links believing directly to calling upon God for salvation. Not being ashamed for believing on him is directly linked to calling upon God for salvation.

The idea Romans 10:10 is Synonymous Parallelism only contradicts Paul later in this verse.

3. If we grant the argument that Romans 10:10 is Synonymous Parallelism, then how is one saved by believing and calling upon God?

If believing alone is enough for salvation, and calling upon God requires to believe (Romans 10:14-17) then how can you be saved by calling, if you had already believed?

Calling is preceded by believing in verse 14, yet calling itself results in salvation (Romans 10:12-13).

If confession is the byproduct of the salvation of believing such as Expositor and Meyer teach it to be, then why is calling given as an independent way to be saved, and it is preceded by believing?

And why do the evangelism verses after Romans 10:13 even include calling, if the mouth is simply a byproduct of believing?

And talking again about Romans 10:14, we can clearly understand its rhetorical purpose.

Verse 13 talks about calling resulting in salvation; verse 14 works backward from salvation to believing, to being able to believe by hearing the word of God, and a preacher, etc.

If we take the strongest counterargument I can think of, that is, "The calling of verse 13 is just an automatic action that happens upon believing," then why would Paul use the word calling specifically?

Paul takes an Old Testament verse from Joel 2:32, just as he did from Habakkuk 2:4 in Romans 1:17, and applies it to the Christian.

The problem is, if this calling is an automatic process, why would Paul devotionally apply Joel 2:32 to get his message across?

Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

In the Old Testament, calling is not automatic; it has to be done.

Psalms 18:3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Psalms 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Psalms 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.

Psalms 80:18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

Psalms 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

Psalms 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

Psalms 91:15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

Psalms 99:6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.

Psalms 105:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Psalms 116:2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

Psalms 116:13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalms 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalms 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Why would Paul take a word that has been historically connected to prayer, and then a verse later in Romans 10:13 take a verse from Joel 2:32, which is using the Old Testament meaning of calling to mean prayer, and then use that for his theology of calling being an automatic process that happens upon believing?

Finally, there is one last problem I want to deal with.

If the Apostle Paul says Romans 10:10

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Why does he say righteousness despite portraying righteousness as the same thing as salvation in Romans 3-5?

Because it's a call back to verses 1-4.

1Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

3For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves UNTO the righteousness of God.

4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

What Paul is saying is that when you believe unto righteousness, you are submitting yourself unto the righteousness of God. It's a callback to Romans 10:3 and Verses 4.

When you believe you are submitting yourself unto God

When you call/confess you say the "I do's" and it results in salvation.

[synthetic parallelism verses as cited by Jewish Encyclopedia]

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

(Note: the Jewish Encyclopedia quotes the first line with “wisdom,” while the KJB reads “knowledge.” The KJB wording is used here.)

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:7 “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”

Isaiah 50:4 “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”

Psalms 1:3 “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Psalms 15:4 “In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.”

[Other verses that follow the same pattern (my own examples, not cited by the Jewish Encyclopedia)]

Psalms 23:1 “(A Psalm of David.) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Psalms 37:4

“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

Those verses are closer to Romans 10, than the other list of verses as Romans 10:10 on its own sounds like Synonymous Parallelism but if you read in its surrounding context, it cannot be Synonymous Parallelism.

[Conclusion]

Hebrew Parallelism is in the Bible, but Romans 10:10 is not Synonymous Parallelism.

The idea of it being Synonymous Parallelism falls apart once you analyze the preceding verses and what the following verses would look like if Romans 10:10 is viewed as Synonymous Parallelism instead of Synthetic Parallelism.

It's closer to Synthetic Parallelism than anything, but even then I'd say it's not a perfect match.

(I believe the calling of Romans 10:13 to be synonymous with confession)

Sources:

PARALLELISM IN HEBREW POETRY:

Thank you to Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., I. M. Casanowicz.

God bless you all.

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11902-parallelism-in-hebrew-poetry

The Expositor's Greek Testament

https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/egt/romans-10.html

Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/hmc/romans-10.html