David: I went back through just this Romans 10:9 verse today and actually deep into some grammar text books to check myself on a few things. To get into all of this would be a lot more work writing for crickets and pasting materials too extensive to make much sense for this medium.
Here are a few basics as I currently see it:
- It's a 3rd class conditional statement. As such there is only potential being put forth from the "if" through the "then" [final] clause. IOW to say the final clause absolutely takes place is more than the conditional language says.
- The final clause "will be saved" sounds absolute, and I'm not currently saying it isn't, but there is reason in the grammar itself that suggests even this absolute interpretation may be taking the language beyond what it actually says. There are also other reasons, like the verbs structures.
- The verbs believe and confess are aorist tense. As such they are saying nothing about time. They don't tell us in themselves whether the verbs are continuous, lasting, momentary, or intermittent. All they say in this conditional statement is that they might take place and if they do, then they can just be viewed as a summary, or a snapshot with no real time detail as just stated. Also, the choices for interpreting these verbs only tell us that if they occur, then one choice simply tells us that the occurrence took place, and the other choice is that a state was entered into. These 2 choices are difficult to choose between and there is extensive overlap in them. Neither interpretation says anything about whether the belief or confession or state will last.
- I'm not going to get into the "and" that lies between believe and confess, but there is even a choice to be made there as to how to translate this, and it's not a minor issue. But it doesn't seem to have a lot of bearing on the OP topic for now.
- If we take all of this into account - what the 3rd class condition is and is not saying, and the lack of time detail in the verbs, I see a lot of room for other Scriptures to fit in between the "if" and the "then." So, we're basically back to square one in the debate about loss of salvation, vs. osas, vs. never really saved or whatever anyone else wants to throw out and try to back up with other Scriptures.
- Bottom line, although the future tense in the final clause does sound absolute in English and may be under certain other conditions per other accurately interpreted Scripture, using this verse itself to make a case for one view vs. another seems to take the interpretation beyond the language. I wouldn't use this verse as a pillar for my position in the debate. Such is usually the case, isn't it...
On a side note, but related, what position do you have on all 3 of these scenarios being stated in Scripture given details that could or do support them, or not? IOW, there are indications of eternal security under certain conditions, never saved but in the pews anyway, and loss of salvation in the commands and warnings. You've probably covered this, but there's a lot of posted material and I'd rather not go back through it all.
One thing I was reminded of when someone referred to Romans 8 was how Paul says that God foreknew those who would love Him, and He predestined them... We both know that's another obedience statement that's well fits into all the others. Those verses are about God's Salvation Plan and it's specifically pointing out that it is for those that will believe/obey/love Him. IOW, He's looked down through history and created a Plan to save those He knows will obey Him. This is what Jesus told the woman in John 4 where He repeated "worship" multiple times and the word means to bow in obeisance - Jesus said these who will reverentially obey God are the ones God is seeking.
