What is the Confession unto Salvation?

‍The apostles had been following Jesus long enough to have heard His great Sermon on the Mount, seen His healings, marvel at His parables, and participate with Him in miraculously feeding 5000. As they followed Him to Caesarea Philippi Jesus knew it was time for them to process all these things and come to some conclusions about Him. 

‍He started by asking them who the crowds thought He might be. They responded, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14). 

‍Then He asked the big, the key question, “But who do you say that I am?” They had probably been thinking about it, but they needed to say it out loud; their private faith needed a public expression. Peter confessed for all the apostles, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). 

‍Jesus was pleased and He famously responded, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:17, 18).

‍Some have mistakenly taught that Peter is the rock upon which the church is built, but Greek grammar (the New Testament was written in Greek) proves otherwise. “Peter” (Greek: petros, a throwable stone) is a different word from the “rock” (Greek: petras, bedrock) on which the church is built. The rock is not Peter, but is instead the “rock” is Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ which Peter made. And for the last 20 centuries, faith and confession have been the foundation both of salvation in Christ and of His church. 

‍Now, some have mistakenly thought that confession to be saved refers to some public confession of our personal sins. It does not. The inspired apostle Paul clears this up for us 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.”  In other words, when the Bible talks about confession as a part of salvation, it doesn’t mean confession of sin, rather it means a confession of faith in Jesus.

‍So, who do you say that Jesus is? If you believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, are you willing to publicly express that faith? Jesus said, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). And if you are ready to confess Him, are you willing to obey Him and be baptized into Him for forgiveness of sin?