CONFESSING CHRIST
by John Grubb
Gods plan to save man from his sins includes the confession of our belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. People can know of our faith in Jesus Christ only if we confess Him. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked His disciples, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? (Matthew 16:13-19). People were not sure that Jesus was really the Messiah. Some thought He was John the Baptist. Others thought He was Jeremiah, Elijah, or one of the prophets. But Simon Peter was sure that Jesus was the Christ. He confessed: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (v.16). Jesus told Peter he would be blessed because he made this confession: Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who Is in heaven (v.17). Every person who makes this same confession Peter made will be blessed.
When we confess that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, we are confessing His deity. John wrote: In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God (John 1:1).
He then explains who the Word is: The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John
When we make the good confession
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we are accepting His authority (Matthew 28:18-20). Our authority is not Moses, or Elijah, or one
of the prophets. We must listen to Jesus
Christ (Matthew 17:5). We will be
judged by Him and His Word at the Last Day (John
When we confess Christ, we are also
submitting ourselves to be His servants. Paul wrote: But
God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set
free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Romans
In addition to the occasion at Caesarea Philippi when Peter confessed Christ, he also made it clear on other occasions that he believed Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (John 6:69).
Many others also confessed Christ. John the Baptist confessed Christ as The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world! (John 1:29). After Philip had preached Christ to him, the
Ethiopian eunuch confessed, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts
There were others who did not
confess Christ. The parents of the blind
man healed by Jesus would not confess Him (John
One cannot become a Christian
unless he confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Romans 10:9,10).
One day, everyone will confess Christ (Romans
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