Romans 10:8-11 (RSV)
"But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, 'No one who believes in Him will be put to shame.'"

There are many Christians who insist that adhering to a particular distinctive doctrine or observing a certain practice will be a testing truth that will determine whether one is saved or lost. In the final analysis, if one has to do something or give assent to a distinctive doctrine in order to be saved, then salvation is no longer by grace, but by works. Our works will not determine our salvation. There is nothing one can do to earn God's grace. It is a gift. All one has to do is believe that Jesus Christ freely provides this gift and accept it. We are saved by grace and kept saved by it, not saved by grace and kept saved by works.

It was Jesus' work to provide the righteousness we need. It was Jesus' work to receive the curse of the broken covenant. We are required to believe in Him, and in doing so we enter by faith, and not by works, into the blessings of the Gospel. So salvation is brought about through faith, or belief, in Christ.

Our belief in Christ, if we are to have a life-transforming experience and relationship with Him, must mean a total faith in Him as our Redeemer. The kind of trusting faith that an infant has in its mother while being cradled in her arms. And if we have this kind of relationship with Christ, we are made complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), and the result is good fruit.