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CONFESSION
In our study of the gospel plan of salvation, our previous lesson had to do with
the matter of repentance. On the day of Pentecost Peter told the inquierers what they must do was to
"repent and be baptized" (Acts 2:38). The matter of baptism will be taken up in
our next study. At this time we take up a step which naturally comes between repeentance
and baptism, and that is confession. "Confession of what?" one may ask. Here we are not dealing with confession
of sins, for the fact that one has repented demonstrates he is willing to confess
his sins. We are now interested in a confession of Christ as the Son of God.
Jesus said, "whoseover therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 10:32-33). Paul wrote,
"with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:10). After Paul had preached Christ to the Ethiopian
the man said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37, KJV)
IMPORTANCE Paul showed this when he wrote, "... and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God" (Phil. 2:11). Also as noted in the
paragraph above, the importance of confession is seen in that Christ will deny
those who refuse to confess him. It is also seen in that a confession of Christ
is "unto salvation" (Rom. 10:10). How shall one expect Christ to save him who
refuses to confess him as Lord? The apostle John wrote, "whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God" (1 John 4:15).
All of these passages point to the importance of confessing Christ.
MENTAL OR ORAL?
One may ask, "is it not sufficient for me to mentally assent to my faith in Jesus
as the Son of God?" We would certainly not deny the import of such a concept.
But is that all there is to it? We return again to the passage noted in Romans
10:10. Note there that the apostle says "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." If one truly believed Christ to be his Savior,
why would he not wast to orally confess him? Note two things in Romans 10:10-11.
Verse 10 says that belief is "with the heart." Then confession is "with the mouth."
If "silent confession" (i.e. without the mouth) is sufficient, why would not a
belief "without the heart" be the same? All would understand that such a belief
would not amount to much!
REWARDS OF CONFESSION We again return to Matthew 10:32-33. A great reward in confessing Christ is to
be found in his willingness to confess us before the Father! It would be a terrible
thing to have Christ deny us before the Father, and yet that is the consequence
of a failing to confess Christ before men.
We have been speaking of confessing Christ in the process of obeying the gospel plan of salvation. At the same time we need to understand that the entire life of the Christian is a confession of Christ as God's Son. The life that he lives; the words that he speaks - all of these are a continual "confession" of his faith in Jesus Christ. Without either an oral or a practical confession of Christ, there can be no salvation. - Bill Moseley |
