What Happens at Confession?

[Hansc]

Romans 10:9-10
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.


So what happens at confession? To be clear, I'm refering to the confession of Christ, not the confession of sin.

How do you see it?

[Benjie]

You proclaim His name to men, thereby ensuring that He will claim you to His father.

Or was the question deeper than this?

[Titus]

I looked up the word translated confess there.
1) to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent
2) to concede
a) not to refuse, to promise
b) not to deny
1) to confess
2) declare
3) to confess, i.e. to admit or declare one's self guilty of what one is accused of
3) to profess
a) to declare openly, speak out freely
b) to profess one's self the worshipper of one
4) to praise, celebrate


There's some of all this going on there, isn't there? You concede or surrender, make a promise, a declaration, admission of guilt praise and celebration...all that is happening when we confess Jesus as savior. It's an open expression of what has happened in our hearts. Note the two things are tied together confession and belief. Do you think this is saying that salvation is not attained unless both happen? Haven't really thought about that before.

[Hansc]

You proclaim His name to men, thereby ensuring that He will claim you to His father.

Or was the question deeper than this?

You're right in what you say, but there are several things that happen. There are several good answers. We will get into that, hopefully a little later today, I'm a little pressed for time right now.

Want I was trying to get at was that at confession we are saved.

At confession we are born again.
At confession we are placed into the body of Christ

At confession we are placed into the "Church." (Church being the mystical body of Christ, compossed of ALL members of His body and NOT any one denomination)
At confession we become a pillar in the temple of God.

At confession we become a brick in the church Christ is building.
To become a brick in the church Christ is building, one MUST confess Him as Lord.

Christ is building His Church upon the confession of faith.
Christ is NOT building His church upon Peter.

The confession of faith is the foundation, basis or rock upon which Christ builds.
Peter is NOT the foundation, basis or rock upon which Christ builds.

The confession of faith in Christ is the rock upon which Christ builds His Church.

When Christ spoke to Peter about building His Church, He was NOT refering to Peter the man, but rather what Peter just did, confess Christ as Lord.

Christ's mention of building the Church was in response to Peter's confession of faith, not a reference to Peter becoming the foundation.



Bottom line:

The Church is built upon the rock of our confession of faith in Christ.
The Church is NOT built upon Peter.
Peter is NOT the rock upon which Christ builds His church.

[BobRyan]

Romans 10:9-10
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.


So what happens at confession? To be clear, I'm refering to the confession of Christ, not the confession of sin.

How do you see it?

In the Calvinist model - regeneration (the new birth ) precedes confession and also belief.

IN the Arminian model we get what you find in Romans 10 - with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation.

In Matt 7 Christ said that a good tree brings forth good fruit.

In confession we bring forth good fruit showing that we have a new heart - we have chosen to believe.

in Christ,

Bob

[Titus]

Bob why are you beating this anti-Calvin drum. This is not a Calvinist website. While a few of the regulars here believe in Eternal Security, not all do, and believing in ES does not make one a Calvinist.

[Benjie]

Bob why are you beating this anti-Calvin drum. This is not a Calvinist website. While a few of the regulars here believe in Eternal Security, not all do, and believing in ES does not make one a Calvinist.

I can vouch that not all here believe in ES.

[Benjie]

You're right in what you say, but there are several things that happen. There are several good answers. We will get into that, hopefully a little later today, I'm a little pressed for time right now.

Want I was trying to get at was that at confession we are saved.

Hmm. Is there a qualifier here? By qualifier I mean: you are assuming a genuine heart change, correct? I have seen people claim and confess Christ that were far from saved based on their heart.

Bottom line:

The Church is built upon the rock of our confession of faith in Christ.
The Church is NOT built upon Peter.
Peter is NOT the rock upon which Christ builds His church.

No doubt!!

[Titus]

I can vouch that not all here believe in ES.

I knew that you could.

[BobRyan]

Bob why are you beating this anti-Calvin drum. This is not a Calvinist website. While a few of the regulars here believe in Eternal Security, not all do, and believing in ES does not make one a Calvinist.

I have never argued that OSAS makes one a Calvinist. My point with Calvinism (And I assume there are some interested Calvinists somewhere on this forum" is that their view is helpful by contrast to the Arminian (free will) concept. Those of us on the Arminian (free will ) side of that discussion need to know an objective Bible-based position that supports our view - when we see one.

in Christ,

Bob