Bible Study › Lesson 6 of 8
Confessing Christ
Faith that stays private is not the faith the Bible describes. Jesus expects those who believe in Him to say so. This lesson looks at what the Scriptures mean by confessing Christ, what is confessed, and what Jesus said is at stake.
32Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. 33But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
What does Jesus promise to the one who confesses Him before men, and what does He say about the one who denies Him?
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He will confess that person before His Father in heaven. The one who denies Him, He will deny before the Father. Jesus ties what we say about Him here to what He will say about us there. It is hard to read this as optional.
9that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
What is to be confessed with the mouth, and what does Paul say confession leads to?
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That Jesus is Lord. Paul says belief in the heart is unto righteousness, and confession with the mouth is unto salvation. He puts believing and confessing side by side, each with its own result. He does not treat the one as a substitute for the other.
15“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
When Jesus asked the apostles who they said He was, what did Peter confess?
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That He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is the confession in its simplest form... not a creed, not a list of doctrines, but a statement about who Jesus is. Everything else in the Christian faith rests on it.
42Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
These rulers believed in Jesus. Why did they not confess Him?
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Because of the Pharisees, so they would not be put out of the synagogue. John says they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Here are people who believed and stayed silent, and the Scriptures do not commend them for it. Belief that will not speak is a belief that something else outranks.
12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses. 13I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession in His testimony before Pontius Pilate:
What had Timothy done before many witnesses, and who else does Paul say made the good confession?
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Timothy had confessed the good confession before many witnesses. Paul says Christ Jesus made the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Timothy's confession was public, with people watching, and Paul puts it in the same breath as what Jesus did on trial for His life.
15If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
What does John say about the person who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God?
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God abides in him, and he in God. Confession is not a formality. John connects it directly to fellowship with God Himself.
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Who will eventually confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?
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Every tongue. Every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. The question is not whether a person will ever confess Jesus as Lord. Everyone will. The question is whether he does it now, willingly, while it counts for salvation, or later, when it is simply the truth being acknowledged.
In short
Jesus said He will confess before His Father those who confess Him before men, and deny those who deny Him. Paul said confession with the mouth is unto salvation. What is confessed is who Jesus is: the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord. The rulers in John 12 believed and would not say so, and the Scriptures explain why... they cared more about what men thought than what God thought.
Every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord one day. The person who hears the gospel, believes it, and repents is now ready to say it out loud, before others, the way Timothy did. The next lesson takes up what the Scriptures say comes next... baptism, what it is, and what it does.
Go deeper: Can The Sinner's Prayer Really Save Us?