Jesus is Lord. This is an early confession of the church and it comes across as an important theme in Paul's theology and in the lectionary epistle readings for Year C. The readings beginning on the First Sunday in Lent leading up to Palm Sunday are as follows (Rom 10:8-13, Phil 3:17-4:1, 1 Cor 10:1-3, 2 Cor 5:15-21, Phil 3:4-14, Phil 2:5-11) in the RCL. The First Sunday in Lent the Rom 3:8-13 poses a challenging interpretation. It is easy for us as modern Christians to pick out the phrases "confess Jesus Christ as Lord" and "be saved" and interpret these individualistically. While it is true that Jesus comes to bring us into a relationship with God that is personal, that relationship cannot be understood outside of the context of the covenant relationship that we enter into by faith into the community of faith. This is the text:
But what does it say?
8 “The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 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. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom 10:8-13.
I strongly recommend the treatment of this text by N.T. Wright in his book "Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision". Wright correctly directs his readers into an understanding of justification, as God's eschatological definition, of who in fact are part of his chosen people. This lectionary reading leaves out v 5 which is critical to Paul's line of reasoning, it is a quote from Deut 30 where God reinstates the covenant with Israel. The lines in v8 are also taken from this Old Testament passage. The context is the covenant relationship of Israel. Admittance into that covenant is the confession that Jesus is Lord, and that that God has raised him from the dead. This is why the "everyone" is so important and why the irrelevance of ones ethnicity, "there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all" is such a dramatic statement. Admission into the covenant people will no longer be limited only to those that keep the law, or are ethnically part of one group or another. Jesus having fulfilled the requirements of the law offers salvation to all who will come.
More importantly for us today has been our tendency to think of church as something that is nice to go to, but certainly not essential to salvation. This thinking is detrimental to our spiritual life. Entrance into the community according to this text is through the confession that Jesus is the Christ and that God has raised him from the dead. This is signified via the water's of baptism (both the Ethiopian eunuch story as well as Peter's Pentecost sermon illustrates this) and we are sustained by the Presence of Christ at the Table in Holy Communion. The importance of being part of the assembly, the church, goes beyond any socialization, teaching, or experience in worship we may enjoy. It is grounded in the reality that it is through the church that we are spiritually nourished and sustained because we are exhibiting what it means to be the body of Christ in the world. We are part of the new covenant people of God. This confession that Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus is what now through faith binds us together as Christians.
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