“…If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes, one is justified, and with the mouth one confesses, and one is saved” (Romans 10:9,10).
Confessing our faith is a part of what is required of us for our salvation by Jesus Christ. He said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32,33).
To “confess” something is to accept it. This means that we openly believe that thing to be true. So if we believe in Jesus Christ and are followers of His teachings, He expects us to openly confess our faith. We would not be his friends at all if we were no more than casual friends, and would abandon him when it might be unpopular, or even dangerous, to become one of his people.
It is perfectly reasonable for us to be asked to confess “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9) before we are baptized. The confession of our faith is no less a prerequisite than faith for the forgiveness of our sins. But don’t forget: The confession that Paul calls a “good confession” (1 Timothy 6:12) is not just a one-time act, ticked off the list as nothing more than one of the “steps of salvation.” Our confession before our baptism is a beginning whole life He will accept Christ from that point forward, in deed as well as word. And we don’t dare go back on the promise we made when we first began to accept Christ. “Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed through heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, Let us hold fast to our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).
Dag Hammarskjöld once said, “Never deny your experience or conviction for the sake of peace and tranquility.” The idea is not to cause trouble just for the sake of being aggressive, nor does it mean being obnoxious to other people by being aggressive in your presence. Our confession of faith is simply a matter of being genuine and authentic. I call it “courageous honesty.” We don’t have to hide the truth of who we really are. When questioned – or even threatened – we need to be able to say what Martin Luther said, “I stand here; I can do no more. God help me. Amen!”
“Weak men cannot be honest” (François de La Rochefoucauld).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
