There are three great confessions that an individual must make to achieve the coveted goal of salvation.
- The Confession of Christ. This confession, which must be made prior to baptism, is like the others—absolute for salvation. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10). The Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be baptized and was told by Philip: “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest” (Acts 8:36-37a). The eunuch then made the greatest confession of all. “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (v. 37b). He was then baptized into Christ (v. 38). That is not the end of verbally acknowledging Christ—it is just the beginning! We continually confess Him as Lord and Christ as we tell others about him (Mat. 28:19).
- The Confession of Life. Our everyday life must confess, what we verbally profess. Succinctly, we must live it! Jesus taught that this determines his reply to God: “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” (Mat. 10:32-33). Notice, Jesus is not talking about mouth confession only, but more so a way of a God-directed life before men (Mat. 5:16). Moreover, Jesus promised the unwavering faithful in Sardis that he would one day confess their name “before my Father, and before his angels” (Rev. 3:5). Let us also hope for such a day!
- The Confession of Sins. Many Christians pray to God never acknowledging their sins while others repetitiously pray, “Lord forgive me of my sins,” without having any conscious thought of the sins committed. In the area of swearing, unclean things, unclean people, and oaths; the sinner of old was told, “when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing” (Lev. 5:1-5). God wanted them to confess the wrong they knew they had committed, “in that thing.” Sure, we confess that we might have unknowingly sinned. But, we too, should honestly confess known violations of God’s Word and avoid child-like blanket statements such as, “My many sins” and “If I have sinned.” We are told, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all as, “My many sins” and “If I have sinned.”
