Sunday, August 17, 2014

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Confessing Christ

Confessing Christ 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
“…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).
In these sublime words the Apostle Paul sets forth God’s simple plan of salvation. He calls it, in the preceding verse, “The word of faith, which we preach.”

But often babes in Christ are urged to get to their feet in public testimony on the basis of the words: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth . . . thou shalt be saved.” Thus new Christians are given to feel that a heart faith is not enough to make them secure; that not until they have risen in public testimony are they saved and safe.

But what, then, does the Apostle mean by these words? Does he not plainly say, “If thou shalt confess… thou shalt be saved?” Yes, but here again, as with so many other passages, a traditional meaning has been superimposed upon the actual words of Scripture. What does the English word “confess” mean? Why, nothing more than to “acknowledge,” to “admit.” And this is exactly what the original Greek word means too, nor does Romans 10:9,10 say anything about confessing before men.

The trouble is that the idea of confession has been changed to profession — even public profession — and multitudes have followed the tradition of the fathers instead of examining the Word to see what it actually says. And so “the Word of faith” has been corrupted.
But does not the Apostle clearly say “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth… thou shalt be saved?” Indeed! And he adds, “and shalt believe in thine heart!” Now let us ask: Is it with that physical organ which pumps blood into our veins that we believe on Christ as our Savior? Oh, no! You say that is merely a figure of speech; somehow the heart is associated with believing. Exactly! Then you would insist that it is with the physical mouth we must confess! Can mutes not be saved then?

As if anticipating the misinterpretation of his words, the Spirit-inspired Apostle adds:
“For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Vers. 11,13).
This is “the Word of Faith, which we preach.”

To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

6 comments:

  1. I believe what is written in the Word of God and to be saved from sin and death in Hell, all we have to do is believe that Jesus Christ was born, died, and risen again. He died for me and anyone who would believe. Public confession is not necessary but not wrong either. Good blog today. Have a nice Sunday and hope you are feeling better.

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  2. You confession your sin to God. Your changed life is for the public.
    Great post!
    I hope you are feeling much better now. Have missed you posting.

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  3. I like this post. I believe that we confess Christ with not only our words, but how we live our lives as well. A true disciple of Christ follows in His footsteps.

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  4. Yep...great post Sparky! Thanks for the thoughtful post..and the smiles.

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  5. Very good post today. Our former pastor had preached on these verses many times and he believed we didn't have to stand and make a public confession. All we had to do is tell just one person.
    I get the idea from the other's comments that you've been sick. I know you haven't written much lately and I have missed you, but I didn't know you were ill. I hope you're feeling better. Take care.

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  6. We had baptism this morning and it was so precious as the children, youth and adults proclaimed their faith. Some days I come home from church and shake my head at the "institution," and I wonder how long I can tolerate the formality and the hypocrisy, but today was refreshing. Thanks for sharing your views. I always appreciate them!

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