0314 THE OTHER GOOD CONFESSION

THE OTHER GOOD CONFESSION

Most of us are familiar with Peter’s statement that is called “The Good Confession.” It says, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)

Peter also gives this confession. It is worded a little differently and is more thorough, but contains details that are worth scrutinizing and meditating on.

John 6:68-69 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Let’s break these confessions down and see their components. Jesus is:

1. The Christ. The word means the “anointed one.” Anointing is a word with a couple layers of meaning. There is literal anointing with oil, such as happened to Aaron the high priest. The oil was poured over his head, and it was symbolic of God’s special blessing on him. Remember the 23rd Psalm? “You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.” Oil was a healing balm, often with a overwhelming, pleasant aroma. But there is another layer of meaning behind being anointed. It is that the Holy Spirit is the one covering, pouring over, bathing, christening (see the word Christ in that word?), and specially marking and empowering the one who is being anointed. It’s on an invisible, spiritual level that God is blessing the one who is anointed. Another detail of this is that he is THE Christ, not just AN anointed one, but THE anointed one. God has uniquely gifted this person to be one in a generation, or one in all of history. Not just A Christ, but THE Christ. He had been long awaited, predicted, expected, looked for, anticipated, prayed for, and speculated about. The single most important person in history is THE CHRIST.
2. The son of the living God. The son is subservient to the father. But the son is also of the same essence as the Father, and in a sense is also God. We know a Trinitarian formula, in which we refer to the “Father, Son and Spirit.” Jesus said, even in this chapter, that he and the Father are one. So that’s the Son of God. Again, there is one more little detail. The God of whom he is Son is living! There are plenty of idols and gods in the world. But only one is truly LIVING. So we are saying he is in this current time alive, and he is God. Especially after the resurrection, the detail that he is alive is of critical importance.
3. The words of eternal life. He has the words. John opens his gospel saying that Jesus actually IS the Word, the representation of God to mankind, the intermediary communication between heaven and earth. What’s more, he HAS the words. What He says comes from God Himself, and it leads to eternal life. If we heed what Jesus says, we live with him in heaven forever. And not just SOME words of eternal life, but THE words. Just as Jesus is THE way, THE truth and THE life. So we can absolutely trust what Jesus has to say to bring us eternal life.
4. The Holy One of God. Holy means set apart, sanctified, separate, above and beyond. The One. He is The One who is all those things. There is none like Him. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, full of wisdom and truth. And if he is THE one, then there is no other. And He is of God, not of the earth and not of the evil one.

Paul tells Timothy about “the good confession” in his letter. He tells Timothy that he made “the good confession” with regard to eternal life in the presence of many witnesses. He continues in saying that Christ Jesus “in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession.” The good confession that Jesus seems to have given was when He was asked if He was the king of the Jews, and Jesus said, “You have said so.” Paul goes on to say this about Jesus: “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

To “confess” means to “say the same thing,” or to “agree with.” Con = with. Fess = say. When we say the same thing about Jesus that the Father says about His Son, then we are saved. Just as when we confess our sins, we say what God says about them. Confession and repentance lead to salvation.

Watch what you say. Your words could condemn or save you. Let us confess Christ with our words. Amen.