Day 32: Thursday, March 13

In this passage, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” His disciples answer, and after hearing their replies, Jesus then rephrases his question, this time directing it to his disciples, asking, “But who do you say that I am”?

The disciple Peter musters up the courage to answer the question. He says: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” This use of the word “confession” is a bit confusing because that noun conjures up imagery of a witness on the stand confessing to certain prior bad acts under the relentless cross-examination of Perry Mason.

Why, for example, could not Peter’s words be considered to be a “profession” of faith rather than a “confession” of the very being of Jesus? After all, a “profession” is accurately defined as an affirmative declaration, avowal, or affirmation of something one believes, whereas a “confession” is more of an admission or disclosure of something.

We tend to think of a “profession” as being something positive and a “confession” as being something negative, such as in a debate where the “pro” side is in favor of a certain proposition where the “con” side is against it.

The Apostle Paul sheds some light on confession, writing to the Church in Rome: “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

St. Augustine of Hippo provides a bit more guidance. While recognizing that the Christian life most certainly involves a confession of sin and a free acknowledgment, before God, of the truth one knows about one’s self, St. Augustine tells us that a “confession” is a public acknowledgment (the Latin verb, Confiteri meaning “to acknowledge”) to God about the truth one knows about God through faith.

Randy Minchew