Romans 10:9-10 is a passage frequently used in contexts related to being forgiven of one’s sins and being declared righteous by God.
The requirements are:
(1) Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord
(2) Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead
In this discussion, we’re going to focus on the first requirement, confessing with your mouth Jesus as Lord. I’ve heard so many people define this as “making Jesus the Master of your life,” in essence, being ready to obey Christ. And the reason that I’m writing this is to explain why that is a wrong understanding of that verse.
First, let’s look at the word Lord. Using The Strongest NASB Exhaustive Concordance, we can see that “Lord” is rendered over 600 times in the New Testament. In all but maybe 10 times, it comes from the Strongs #2962 (kurios). This word means “lord or master” and could be used generally as a sign of respect (like the word “sir”; see 1 Peter 3:6 and Revelation 7:14) or it can refer to a person having authority over another (like a master over slaves; see Matthew 18:25,27,31,32). At this point, it does us well to understand a little bit of Bible history in order to discern which meaning we should attribute to this word when it’s used in the context of a title for Jesus. The Old Testament (originally written in Aramaic and Hebrew) was rendered into a Greek version commonly known as the Septuagint.
From Ligonier.org, we read:
In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the Greek word kurios (“lord”) is used to translate the Hebrew YHWH or Adonai. Both Hebrew words refer to the Lord God, and so the Greek kurios, “lord,” became the most important title for God in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
When kurios is used in this sense, it conveys the idea of “one who is absolutely sovereign.” It is a majestic title, conveying God’s sovereignty and divine power. The question now for us is: “Does the New Testament use the word kurios in this way to refer to Jesus?” The answer is yes. Today’s passage gives us one of the clearest examples of this usage. In Philippians 2, Paul is discussing the temporary humiliation that God the Son endured in order to become incarnate and bear our sin. As a result, God the Father highly exalted Him, giving Him the name that is above every name (v. 9).
We must note that the name given to Jesus here is not His birth name “Jesus.” Rather, the name given to Jesus reflects the sovereignty and power that is due to God and to Him alone. This sovereignty is conveyed by the title “Lord,” which is mentioned in verse 11. The point is not that the Son was not worthy to bear this title before the incarnation. Rather, the point is that now, at His incarnation, the Son is permanently united with a human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, and He has become all the more worthy to bear the divine title after temporarily setting aside His glory in order to bear our sin.
So, we clearly see that, when used of Christ, this word takes on special significance just as kurios did when it was translated and used of God in place of YHWH and Adonai in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint). What happens when people use a wrong definition of “lord” to apply to Jesus is that we end up with an error referred to as “Lordship salvation,” which essentially says that you cannot be saved unless you have accepted Jesus as your Lord (which, for them, means “master”) and Savior. So, they have twisted Scripture (out of ignorance) and are now requiring people to submit to Jesus as their master (in obedience) in order to be saved. That is clearly a work, and that is not found anywhere in Scripture.
But I also think that establishing the wider context of these verses is important in coming to an understanding of the passage itself. Let’s look at the wider context of Romans 10:1-16,
10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), 7 or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
Over and over, this passage contrasts attempting to achieve righteousness before God by obedience to the law vs by faith. Over and over, the action word of choice is to believe (used six times). Righteousness is not achieved through the law, and those who continue to use this passage to teach that we need to submit to Christ in obedience in order to be made right before God are completely missing the thrust of the passage and are pushing people back into trying to achieve righteousness by works. As Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Dear Chelsea 
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