We have been giving consideration to the fact that God has placed certain conditions on His promise for eternal salvation. The reality of this promise is seen when Paul told Titus, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Tit. 1:2). The reality of conditions required in order to receive this promise can be seen in the words of Jesus when He said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). We have already discussed, hearing God’s word, believing God’s word and repentance of our sins as conditions that must be met. In this article we wish to give consideration to the subject of confession.
Let us start by looking at clear proof that confession is a condition of salvation. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans said, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10). Note that Paul said “if” one confesses with the mouth and believes in their heart they shall be saved. The opposite of that is that if they do not do those two things, they will not be saved. Note also that in verse ten it states that confession in made “unto” salvation. The preposition that is translated “unto” is the one that indicates going toward or in order to get, or in other words that confession will precede the salvation mentioned. Jesus Himself said, “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” (Matt. 10:32-33). On a few occasions Peter told the Lord He was wrong about something and one would be doing the same if they were to say that confession was not a condition of salvation, for the Lord stated clearly that it is. There is no doubt that confession is required in order to be saved, thus it is a condition of salvation.
Our next step is to consider just what is to be confessed. Over the years we have heard all kinds of things that one must confess in order to be saved, but the question is, what does the word of God require that we confess? Actually, there are two things that must be confessed. One is a confession that precedes becoming a child of God and the other is a confession that is made by an erring child of God. Included in the conditions that have to be met to become a saved person is the confession that one believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Notice that Jesus said that one had to confess “Him” before man (Matt. 10:32) and Paul said that one had to confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus (Rom. 10:9). A blessing was placed upon Peter by the Lord after Peter had confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16-17). The Ethiopian treasurer confessed, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:37). Jesus said that “…if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). That has to be confessed before men. That is a condition of salvation. The apostle John tells us that at one point, “…among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:42-43). These chief rulers were not saved men.
The second confession that must be made is one that saved people who have gone astray have to make. As children of God, we have conditions that must be met in order to go to heaven for eternity. Contrary to the belief of many, a child of God can so sin as to be eternally lost. Peter said, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning” (II Pet. 2:20). Paul said that we can stand before God unblameable and unreproveable, if we “…continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…(Col. 1:22-23). John, writing to Christians said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:8-9). James tells Christians to “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
Thus, it is certain that confession is a prerequisite to or condition of salvation. In other words one cannot go to heaven without confessing Christ in order to become a child of God and while living the Christian life, confessing our sins as we find ourselves failing to live up to the perfect standard that was set by our Lord in His life on earth. So far, we have looked at four conditions that must be met in order to be saved, but we have not reached salvation yet.