Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

Christian Confession 

Romans 10:9-10  NKJV

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

The necessity of confession is so plain that there can be no denial.  But two questions have risen.

What is the confession required and what is it to “confess Jesus as Lord”? 

When confession is studied, it must be determined “what it is”, and “how public is it to be”.  Confession can never be considered separate from baptism.  In 1st century Christianity a person was not accepted as a disciple separate from baptism.  Any consideration of confession assumes this. 

But what is the baptized person’s confession?  It is to faith in the Gospel.  This in Romans 10:9 is to “confess with the mouth Jesus is Lord.”  There is absolutely no doubt Paul is using the term “Lord” in this scripture to identify Jesus as the “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” of the Old Testament.  This opens for us the nature of confession. 

The Lord of Israel is the Triune God of Covenant love - the One who alone is Savior of His people.  This answers both questions.  What is confession?  It is to be able to have faith in the true God of the Scriptures.  Who is the Lord?  He is the Triune God of creation, salvation, and providence. 

If a Christian is asked, “What do you believe?” most will answer “I believe the Scriptures.”  But this is no answer.  For the issue is “what do the Scriptures teach?” 

For the Reformed and Presbyterian Church officer the Westminster Confession of Faith with the Larger and Shorter Catechism are a statement of what he believes the Scriptures teach.  He does not claim they are inspired. Neither does he have to agree with every word taught there.  They are his confession.

In the past every major denomination had a confession of faith.  When a Christian was asked what they believed, they had a confession to define the system of doctrine they accepted. 

Any of the Christian creeds, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Episcopalian of the past would have - and will now - separate the true Church from the false. 

There has ever been a difference between true and false believers.  Our confessions identify us.

Deuteronomy 32:31

³¹ For their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves being judges.