With the change of season, the catechism and pre-confession classes have begun. The young people arrange with their minister to attend a pre-confession class in order to prepare themselves for their confession of faith, some enthusiastically, others less so. The first classes are spent on what confessing is, how it can and should be done. It is evident that confessing is not limited to the four walls of the church, but typically happens in the whole world. It is also not a one-time event, but a lifelong Christian work.

Confessing in Scripture is not a rare occurrence. In the Old Testament we read of a person having to confess “the sin he has committed” (Lev. 5:5). We read of Aaron who must put his hands on the head of the goat and confess “over it” all the iniquities of the people of Israel (Lev. 16:21). David says that he had confessed his transgressions to the Lord and received forgiveness for his iniquities (Ps. 32:5). At the dedication of the temple Solomon speaks in his prayer about confessing God’s Name (1 Kings 8:33, 35). Ezra, the priest, calls on the people to repent, to separate themselves from the heathen nations and to send away the foreign women. “Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will” (Ezra 10:11). Daniel too, out of solidarity with the people, makes confession of sins in his prayer (Dan. 6:10; 9:4).

In the New Testament confessing points also to Christ: “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32). In Luke this is expanded on: “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8). Here Christ adds that “he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:9).

When she saw the Christ child, Anna, the eighty-four-year-old widow, “began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). “Many…of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it” (John 12:42).

Action and Content⤒🔗

Confessing is not only an action, but also has content. We can differentiate between the action and the content of confessing. In Acts 23:8 it says, “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.” Here confession is about a difference in doctrine, shown in the faith statements of the two groups. Paul says it powerfully in Romans 10:9-10: “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 and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Through confessing one gives utterance to what lives in the heart.

It is surprising to read that confessing will even take place before the judgement seat of God. For there will come a time when “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Rom. 14:11). He who persists in unbelief in this life, will ultimately still confess—in the terrible reality of God’s wrath. 

Confessing is also a missionary action, according to Paul’s quotation in Scripture: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name” (Rom. 15:9) (the word here rendered “praise” may also be translated as “confess,” as does the KJV–ed.). The New Testament speaks of women “who profess godliness” (1 Tim. 2:10). Timothy had made “the good confession,” and that “in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:12). Even Christ himself, “in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession” (1 Tim. 6:13). 

Unfortunately, there can also be a false confession. In Titus we read about people who profess to know God but deny him by their works (Titus 1:16). In the letter to the Hebrews we are urged to “consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession” (Heb. 3:1). Here the emphasis is again on the content of our confession: Christ Jesus. Later in the same letter we are urged to “hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:14). In this way one can go through all of life, and even leave this life, because it is “a confession of our hope without wavering” (Heb. 10:23).

James speaks of confessing in the familiar text: “Confess your sins to one another” (James 5:16). John the apostle writes, “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), while a little further on he mentions that “whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15).

Touchstone←⤒🔗

Someone’s confession gives us an insight into their view of the apostolic doctrine and teachings. “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” (2 John 1:7). In this way confessions function as a touchstone. From someone’s confession it is obvious where his or her mind is. Is this person led by the Spirit from above, or by the spirit from the abyss? The last book of the Bible urges us to persevere in the faith, in spite of the great oppression of the last days. Christ says, “The one who conquers…I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” (Rev. 3:5).

Original Text←⤒🔗

What about the words that are obscured by our translation? The Hebrew language has a verb (jdh) which means “openly and freely confessing.” So, it is concerned with confessing your faith in public. It can also express the idea of “praising.” In Nehemiah 12:8 it is used this way to indicate songs of praise. The third nuance we see regularly in the Bible texts we have mentioned is “contritely confessing, acknowledging.”

New Testament Greek has a word that originally means “agreeing.” It concerns homo-logie, to say the same thing. In the New Testament this word took on several special connotations: “to speak openly about faith,” but also “to praise or thank,” as well as “to acknowledge guilt.” Old and New Testament, therefore, agree in the use of the word “confessing.”

Conclusions←⤒🔗

Now that we have an impression of how the Bible speaks about confessing, we can come to some conclusions:

• Confessing is an essential part of a living relationship with the Lord. That counts for every aspect of life: confession of guilt as a way to forgiveness of sin, singing praises and giving thanks to glorify God and publicly professing to serve God and Christ.

• Confessing is necessary for salvation. The opposite of confessing Christ is denying him. The Lord Jesus does not allow for a third way.

• In confessing, the heart and mouth must be in harmony. The mouth gives voice to what lives in one’s heart, and the heart must agree with what the mouth says. “With the heart one believes to righteousness and with the mouth one confesses to salvation.” The Lord wants us to speak out that which he works in our heart. We should not be silent when it comes to God’s Name.

• Scripture is clear that confessing does not come naturally to people. This is because the fall into sin was too deep and too destructive. Thus Peter is told that his confession was not revealed to him by “flesh and blood,” but by the Father in heaven (Matt. 16:17).

• Our walk and talk have to agree with our confession. With our works we can deny what we confess with our mouth.

• Confessing has a strong foundation: Christ, who came in the flesh, was crucified, died, was resurrected, and ascended. Persevering in confession cannot be done out of a religious feeling. Faith must be well rooted in Scripture. That is why the churches of the Reformation have given so much attention to the content of our confession. Century after century, emphasis has been given to the explanation of the Catechism in the afternoon service. A person must learn what the church confesses, and then to come to heartfelt and faithful confession himself.

• Our confession is a touchstone: it has to be pure. Saying “not doctrine but the Lord” is a false contradiction. “Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God” (2 John 9). We will not “have” the Lord if we do not “have” his teachings. He who is not scripturally pure in his confessing, could fall under the judgment of being a “deceiver” or even “antichrist” (2 John 7).

• Confessing comes with a cost. It can even be very costly. That is why we are called to persevere in confessing. Confessing the name of the Lord goes against our nature. But “he who conquers...I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”