Must a person confess the name of Jesus to be saved? Absolutely not! This particular difficult Bible text has often been lifted out of context to create a false pretext, which claims that a person must make public confession of their faith in Christ to be saved. That is totally unbiblical. The Church of Christ religious cult requires public confession of one's faith to be saved. If you follow the preceding link, you'll see that the Church of Christ also requires water baptism, and turning from your sins, to be saved. This is not the Gospel, which makes the Church of Christ a damnable religious cult. Run from this false religion!!!
Here is Scriptural proof that you don't have to publicly “confess” Christ to be saved...
John 12:42-43, “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”The Bible says “many” of the chief rulers believed on Jesus, but “THEY DID NOT CONFESS HIM.” This plainly shows that believing without confessing does not hinder salvation. The only requirement to receive the free gift of eternal life is that you come to God as a needy sinner, receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins. In several dozens Bible passages we are taught to simply BELIEVE to be saved. A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one. Please consider the following passages, which tell us simply to believe:
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
John 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”
Acts 16:30-31, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
Galatians 3:22, “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. ”What tremendous Scripture passages! In the beautiful Gospel of John we find the word “believe” mentioned 85 times, with no mention of confessing, repenting or turning from your sins to be saved. Oh how the Devil is a beautiful liar! Oh how Satan blinds “the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Again and again and again throughout the Holy Bible, we read that needy sinners were saved by simply BELIEVING. Nothing else was required. How about the Old Testament? Here are a few wonderful passages...
Genesis 15:6, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
Psalms 13:5, “But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.”
Habakkuk 2:4, “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”The Bible teaches that “ALL THE PROPHETS” (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Micah, Joel, et cetera), testified of salvation that faith alone in the Messiah...
Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”Salvation has always been by faith alone. There has always been only one saving Gospel. We must never base a doctrine upon one passage of Scripture.
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.”Confession unto salvation simply means that a person confesses because they are already saved. Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). We are saved by believing the Gospel—the 'Good News' that Jesus died, was buried and bodily resurrected three days later from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). It is because a man believes the Gospel in his heart, that he confesses with his mouth that he is saved. However, the Bible does not mean here that you MUST confess to be saved. We know this is true because of all the hundreds of Bible passages that teach that salvation is by faith alone.
The reason why so many false doctrines exist in the churches today, is because well-meaning people base their doctrines on one Bible verse. What they need to do is cross-reference the Bible, comparing Scripture with Scripture. It's like solving a standard picture puzzle. You compare one piece to another, looking for the flat edges of the puzzle first, and then work your way toward the center. Any time that we interpret a particular Scripture passage, we need to make sure that our suggested interpretation is in agreement with the rest of the Bible. When everything agrees, we know that we have the correct meaning.
“God has something He wants to give you. It is eternal life. He wrapped it in the most wonderful package you ever heard of. He put it in Jesus. People looked at Jesus. He had no form or comeliness; there wasn't anything about Him to be desired. And they didn't realize what was wrapped up in that package. They put Jesus on a cross. They nailed Him there. They killed Him. Then He rose from the dead, and He has been scarred ever since that time. If you could see Jesus today, the glorified, risen Son of God, you would find scars on His brow and scars in His hands. If you could look at His side you would find a wound there. His feet are scarred. But, say, He has wrapped in Himself a wonderful gift. God gives you eternal life when you take Him. Eternal life is wrapped up in Christ.” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Things I Have Learned: Chapel Talks,” pages 222-223; Bob Jones University Press, ©1945
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