A GOOD CONFESSION

In 1 Timothy 6:13 Paul said that Jesus, “before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.” The confession is found in Matthew 27:11: “Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest” (See also Mark 15:2 and Luke 23:3).

John goes into more detail (John 18:29-38). Pilate asked Jesus, “Art thou king of the Jews?” Jesus replied with a question, “Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it to thee of me?” With that question, Jesus put Pilate on trial. As governor, Pilate would have to decide whether to render his own judgment concerning Jesus, or to capitulate to the Jew making the accusation out of envy. Matthew 27:18 says of Pilate, “He knew that for envy they had delivered him.” Pilate knew this was not a political matter for him to deal with, but a religious dispute of the Jews. He had already said, “Take ye him and judge him according to your law,” but the Jews wanted Jesus put to death. Pilate said to Jesus, “Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done” (John 18:35). Jesus said to Pilate, “my kingdom is not of this world” (v.36). Pilate understood. The kingdom of heaven was spiritual in nature. It did not pose a threat to civil governments acting within their civil authorities. If it did, then Jesus would be guilty of insurrection under Roman law, but Pilate said, “I find no fault in him at all” (v.38).

Jesus had already made this good confession before the high priest. Ananias said to Jesus, “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said” (Matt. 26:63-64). There is no question what Jesus meant by his answer. As a Jewish idiom, it was an emphatic way to answer in the affirmative, much as we may say, “You said it!” To what was perhaps a non-Jewish audience Mark interpreted the answer, “The high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am” (Mark 14:61-62). We can dismiss the bold and uninformed affirmation some make that Jesus never claimed to be the Christ.

When Paul wrote of the “good confession” he was talking about the one Jesus made before Pilate, rather than Ananias. It was the same confession, but before the high priest, it was preliminary; before the governor, his confession would mean his crucifixion, and still, Jesus “witnessed a good confession.”

Jesus expects us to confess the same concerning him. In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus 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.” In Acts 8:36-37 we read, “They came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Some dismiss this confession because they do not find it in their new Bible versions, but the translators of their new Bibles are not so quick to dismiss it. The ones I have consulted include a reference to the confession in a footnote. It is not a translation issue, but a text issue. The newer versions are translations of a newer text derived from a small family of older manuscripts. The older Bibles are translations of an older text derived from a large family of later manuscripts.

The manuscripts are not the only witness. In the year AD 180 Irenaeus wrote that the believing eunuch said to Philip, “I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.” In the year AD 250 Cyprian wrote, “In the Acts of the Apostles: Lo, here is water, what is there which hinders me from being baptized? Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart you may.” Both of these New Testament quotations are older than the oldest New Testament manuscripts.

Paul wrote, in Romans 10:9-10, “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.” The confession in Romans 10:9 is a “one time” (aorist tense) confession. The confession is Romans 10:10 is a “continuous” (present tense) confession. We make the good confession before we are baptized, and we continue to make the good confession after we are raised to walk in newness of life.

Bill Boyd