Confession

Confession means to acknowledge, to make known, to declare, to express faith in, a thing. In this case, one is to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. According to the scriptures, this is to be a public confession, made with one’s mouth. Christ himself says, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also 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).

Now let us observe a few things. Firstly, Christ said, “Whosoever”. It doesn’t matter who they may be, if a person will confess Christ before men, he in turn will confess one before the Father in heaven. Christ is simply saying, ‘You confess me and I will confess you’: isn’t that fair enough? It would seem that it is. On the other hand, he makes it just as emphatic that whosoever denies him before men will be denied before the Father in heaven. That is, whosoever will reject him and his will on earth will be rejected at the judgment.

Paul says, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom 10:10). There are two things that we need to notice in this passage. To begin with, Paul says that this confession must be made with the mouth, and we have a scriptural example that we are going to use a little later to verify this. Secondly, the writer states that both the belief and the confession are unto salvation, or in the direction thereof. No, one is not already saved just because he believes in the Lord, and the same is true of the confession that Christ is the Son of God. But the next step does put one into Christ and that is baptism: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3,4). Likewise: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:26,27).

Let us now turn to the book of Acts to read a scriptural example of the public confession of faith. Philip had been directed to go and teach the eunuch the truth and the record says: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza which is desert’. And he arose and went; and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of Ethiopia, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto certain water: and the eunuch said, See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:26-39).

In the foregoing reading it isn’t difficult to see what happened. The angel of the Lord commanded Philip to go to a place where he would find a certain man. Note though, the angel did not go himself but sent a gospel preacher to relay the message. Philip found a religious man on his way back home after having been to Jerusalem to worship. No doubt he was actually a Jew, or a Jewish proselyte, since the gospel had not yet been preached to the Gentiles. He was reading the scriptures, even though he didn’t realize that he was reading about Jesus Christ. Philip joined him, taught him the truth, and assisted him in his obedience to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in order to obey the truth he had to be a believer, had to confess Christ as the Son of God, and then had to be baptised for the remission of his sins. Only after this, was he able to go on his way rejoicing as a Christian. The matter of confessing Christ is but another step in the direction to salvation. “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Tim 6:7).

Paul says: “Thou, O man of God, flee those things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou also art called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Tim 6:11,12).

James says: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). We ought to confess our sins: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Let us as brethren and sisters try and follow the character of Paul: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air” (1 Cor 9:24-26).

We are in the last days before our Lord’s coming to set up God’s Kingdom on the earth: are we really ready? As Peter says, “For it is better, if the will of God be, that ye suffer for well doing” and, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 3:17; 4:17).

Paul says: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (1 Timothy 4:2-8).

May the Lord bless us all as we wait patiently for his coming.

Bro Joseph Oppong (Shama Junction, Ghana)