"He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'"(Matt 16:15-16)

The first person I ever baptized was a young lady in a church I was visiting. After my sermon, she came forward and expressed her desire to commit her life to Christ and be baptized. Caught off-guard, I spoke to her for a moment, said a prayer, and was about to head to the baptistry when something stopped me. "Oh yeah," I thought, "I haven't gotten her confession!" Fortunately, the Bible pattern was followed that day, but often confession is relegated to the position of being the other thing we have to do before we're saved. Such a vital act deserves no such treatment. Let us consider why confession is important.

God tells us our salvation hinges on confession. Paul clearly links the two when he tells us "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"(Rom 10:9-10). Here confession and faith are coupled as essential parts of us gaining the salvation available through Jesus. Who could deny its importance? Yet Jesus tells us further, "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven"(Matt 10:32). If we hope to have Jesus on our side before the Father, we must be willing to be on His side by confessing Him here on earth. Confession, as revealed in these Scriptures, is a pivotal point in our spiritual lives without which salvation is simply unavailable. How fortunate I did not forget it that day! Yet how sad that we so often assign it a position behind the other acts needed for salvation! Consider also that Peter's confession "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" became the foundation of Christ's church. "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it"(Matt 16:16, 18). Catholic claims aside, Jesus tells us plainly that His church is built on a simple yet vital statement-that He is the Christ, the Son of God. Without affirming it, what hope do we have of entering the church built on it, or the salvation available through Him?

There is great significance in a public acknowledgement of faith. Having examined the evidence, the wreckage sin has brought in our lives, and the depth of God's love for us, we come to faith in Jesus as the Christ. Yet confession demonstrates another level of willingness to truly follow the Lord. We may come to quietly believe a political view, that we love someone, or that we have a flaw in us. Yet it is something different to confess that publicly and acknowledge what we have come to believe. Paul told Timothy to "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses"(1 Tim 6:12). If we truly believe in Jesus, we will be unafraid to state that before others. Yet how sad to believe it and be unwilling to own Him before men! The eunuch certainly had no problems: "Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God'"(Acts 8:37). Whether there are many witnesses or just one, confession means a true faith, unashamed to speak what it has come to know.

But confession is also a commitment that must be honored. When we marry, we make a series of vows to verbalize the love and commitment we make to one another. Later, when struggles come in a marriage, we can look back and say "Well, I made a commitment. I promised." Similarly, confession is a vow we make to follow the Lord in whom we believe no matter what. When the Hebrew Christians began to waver in that commitment, they were told, "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession"(Heb 4:14). He points them back to the confession they made of their faith in Christ. Perhaps in struggles in our faith, we need to be reminded of the statement we made of faith in Christ. Were we lying? Did we not sincerely confess our belief? "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful"(Heb 10:23). God has kept His end of the commitment. Have we?

The Bible paints confession as a pivotal moment in which we choose to acknowledge the Lord for all He is. It is not something to be hurried through or checked off a list. May we ever understand and teach the great importance of confession. May we never be ashamed of Jesus. Most of all, may we remember and hold fast our confession, the most important words we will ever say. ___Jacob Hudgins