Nowadays, people tend to put the cart before the horse when it comes to being born again by the Holy Spirit. Preachers after almost every sermon, out of rote ask the congregation that those who wants to be born again should come to the front and make the confession that Jesus Christ is the Lord, in a literal attempt to comply with Romans chapter 10, verse 9. However, literally complying with this verse is taking the Scriptures out of context, and putting the cart before the horse, while the following verse, which is Romans chapter 10 verse 10 puts everything into proper context.
- Out of the abundance of the heart speaketh the mouth Mathew 12:33-37; Luke 6:45; Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 10:11;
- Romans 10:9-10; If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
- The conversion of Cornelius the centurion by Peter in Acts chapter 10.
Change starts from the heart, there is first the giving of a new heart of flesh by God (Eze.11:19; Eze.36:26; Jer.31:33; Heb.8:10), from this heart of flesh, speaketh the mouth, confession that Jesus Christ is the Lord. The heart transplantation by the Physician (God) is then followed by the renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2), which results in the modification of behaviour, that is manifested in change in the person, doing good deeds. This new person’ behaviour is then instinctive in nature, as if he is born with it. This is what being born again (John 3:3) of the Spirit and water entails. New birth; the giving of a new heart of flesh by God, makes the person receptive (the opening of the inner ears) to the word of God and the understanding of the knowledge of the word of God. This is when the word of God which is Light (John 1:7), shines, brings illumination (John 1:5) into the darkness (sin), in which a person was (is) living. This is the blind receiving sight (Isaiah 32:3; Isaiah 35:5; Mathew 11:5-7; Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1,2; Isaiah 58:6), the opening of the inner eyes. The making of a person receptive to the word of God as a result of God giving the person a new heart, preparing the ground and planting the seed (Hebrews 12:2) is exemplified by the account in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 10 – when God told Cornelius the centurion that he should send for Simon Peter to come and preach to him. And when Peter came; God had already prepared the ground (done a heart transplantation on Cornelius), this new heart was receptive to the word of God or the explanation of the Good News (Acts 8:26-40) that Peter brought, the inner ears of Cornelius were opened to hear it. It is after all these that from the abundance of Cornelius’ heart, his mouth speaketh and makes the confession that Jesus Christ is the Lord, that is the horse before the cart.
