The 'Confession' Part

[AJB4]

I'm talking about the Restoration Movement 'five fingers' thing.

Hear, Believe, blah blah blah blah

Of course to hear and believe is a natural step, and it says clearly the 'repent and be baptized part' in Acts 2:38.

To hear and believe is a natural step, and to repent and be baptized is the order, but never is the 'confession' part said in the same breath and the 'repent and be baptized part'.

People use Matthew 10:32 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=10&v) as a proof-text, but just skimming over the chapter, it doesn't appear to have anything to do with baptism, and it's taken from a completely different place and situation. Why is it slotted in there?

[HeyHomie]

Why is it slotted in there?

Because where the Scriptures speak, we speak. Where the Scriptures are silent, we make something up.

I'm sure some patronizing and condescending poster will try to call me on it, but I stand by my statement from an earlier thread that much of what the RM practices isn't so much Scripture-based doctrine as it is a Good Idea™.

IMHO confession is slotted in there because Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and Jesus said that upon that rock (the confession, not Peter himself!) He'd build His church.

[ParsonJefferson]

I think we also have to acknowledge the fact that there are all kinds of different confession(s).

[Wordgazer]

What about Romans 10:10-11? It seems to have only two parts: "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation."

This does not appear to be confession of sin so much as a verbalization of what is already in the heart. The verbalization may be generalized, I think, to mean any way of outwardly showing the belief that is in your heart, for no one would say that a mute person can't be saved.

I know that I know that the moment I was saved was when, in the middle of a song the congregation was singing one Easter morning when I was 15, I looked up to heaven and whispered, "Ok, God, I'm yours." Simple as that. I believed at that moment that God had raised Jesus from the dead, and I was confessing, though not in so many words, that He had become "the Lord Jesus" in my heart.

I actually didn't understand I should be baptised till much later. When I did understand it, I was baptised immediately, because I now wanted to obey God. For me (though I know it doesn't always happen this way), understanding that I was a sinner, and repenting, actually happened about a week after that Sunday I described above; understanding of that came as I was reading the Bible with the new eyes of someone who wanted to do God's will. I suppose some may say that was when I was actually saved, but I felt saved that Sunday during the song.

I think Romans 10:10-11 is definitive for me. :angel:

[AJB4]

What about Romans 10:10-11? It seems to have only two parts: "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation."

This does not appear to be confession of sin so much as a verbalization of what is already in the heart. The verbalization may be generalized, I think, to mean any way of outwardly showing the belief that is in your heart, for no one would say that a mute person can't be saved.

I know that I know that the moment I was saved was when, in the middle of a song the congregation was singing one Easter morning when I was 15, I looked up to heaven and whispered, "Ok, God, I'm yours." Simple as that. I believed at that moment that God had raised Jesus from the dead, and I was confessing, though not in so many words, that He had become "the Lord Jesus" in my heart.

I actually didn't understand I should be baptised till much later. When I did understand it, I was baptised immediately, because I now wanted to obey God. For me (though I know it doesn't always happen this way), understanding that I was a sinner, and repenting, actually happened about a week after that Sunday I described above; understanding of that came as I was reading the Bible with the new eyes of someone who wanted to do God's will. I suppose some may say that was when I was actually saved, but I felt saved that Sunday during the song.

I think Romans 10:10-11 is definitive for me. :angel:
Nice story BTW ;)

But even if you can get a verse that says that confession saves, you don't know if it's talking about confession prior to baptism, after baptism, or even if it has anything to do with baptism at all. It can't be proven, because confession is never mentioned anywhere near the subject of baptism.