DEFINE YOURSELF BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES!
The word confession is an important word in the Bible. It is the Greek word homologéō. It is a compound word combining homoú, "together" and légō, "speak to a conclusion." Thus, when this word is used in scripture, it means to say about ourselves what God says about us.
For instance, in Hebrews 4:14 it says “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” So extending this verse to include our definition of homologéō, it would read like this...
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast saying about ourselves what God says about us.”
Let’s do this to another passage. In Hebrews 10:23 it says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Again, using our extended definition again of the word homologéō, we can understand the verse this way...
“Let us hold fast saying about ourselves what God says about us and our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
1 Timothy 6:12 also uses homologéō a couple different ways when it says, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Defining the word confession again in the passage, we can understand it like this...
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called, having said about yourselves what God says about you in the presence of many witnesses.”
My point about all of this is this: We need to underscore the fact that we are called as Christians to know what the Bible says about us and use that language when describing ourselves.
Too many times, believers say things about themselves like this...
- I’m so stupid
- I’ll never be successful
I’m not pretty
I have no friends
God can’t forgive me
I’m always sick
I’ll always be depressed
Nowhere in the Bible does God say any of these things about His children. On the contrary, the Bible is full of positive truths about believers and makes these things available to those who are motivated to search them out.
Here’s my favorite...
Romans 10:10 it reads, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” To be consistent with our exercise above in defining homologéō, let’s substitute “confession” in this verse with our definition...
“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth we say about ourselves what God says about us unto salvation.”
UNDERSTANDING SALVATION
Let’s go deeper...
As we have noted, the key to this and other passages, is to say what God says about us. Notice the word “salvation” here. Our confession is what brings us into this experience.
Let’s not take for granted that we understand the word, “salvation” here. It may mean more than we think!
The Greek word here for salvation is sozo. This definition of this word is extensive. It basically describes a person who has been set free from enemy control (kind of like a hostage rescue) and taken to a place of peace, rest and great blessing.
In the New Testament, the word sozo is used to describe being forgiven of sin, spared from divine retribution, healed, delivered, prospered, restored and made whole.
Other definitions of sozo include,
- To liberate one from enemy captivity
- To rescue from danger and destruction
- To heal and make whole
- To bring one to safety
- To preserve and protect
- To forgive of sin
- To deliver from the penalties of judgment
- To keep and preservation
- To bring one into a prosperous position
- To restore what was taken
Here are a few examples of how this word is used in the Bible:
- Matthew 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save (sozo) His people from their sins.
1 Corinthians 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save (sozo) those who believe.
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save (sozo) to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Mark 5:23 And begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed (sozo), and she will live.
Acts 14:9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed (sozo).
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save (sozo) the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Luke 6:9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save (sozo) life or to destroy?
Luke 8:36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed (sozo).
Matthew 9:22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well (sozo) from that hour.
Mark 5:28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well (sozo).
Mark 6:56 Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well (sozo).
• Luke 8:50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.
Now back to Romans 10:10 and our confession leading to salvation...
What’s amazing is that the scripture reads that we start experiencing all of this sozo when we start saying about ourselves what God says about us (homologéō). Literally, our confession is the pathway to experiencing everything that God has in store for us in sozo!
SIX CONFESSIONS FROM THE BIBLE
Which leads me to Romans 8:31-39 – our main passage in the title...
From these verses, I want to give you, as the subtitle of this writing suggests, Six Biblical Confessions You Can Say Over Yourself and Your Family:
1. A CONFESSION OF THE GREATNESS OF GOD
From V31: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
2. A CONFESSION OF MY OWN ABILITY
From V32: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
• SAY THIS OUT LOUD: “I have everything I need right now to be victorious in life”
3. A CONFESSION OF MY COMPELTE FORGIVENESS
From V33-34a: Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?
• SAY THIS OUT LOUD: “God has forgiven me and no one has a right to condemn me”
4. A CONFESSION OF MY GOOD STANDING WITH GOD
From V34b: It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
- SAY THIS OUT LOUD: “God is for me and He greater than all those against me”
• SAY THIS OUT LOUD: “Jesus Christ is saying good things about me in heaven right now”
5. A CONFESSION OF MY ABSOLUTE VICTORY
From V35-37: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
• SAY THIS OUT LOUD: “Every trial in my life is an opportunity to prove that I am more than a conqueror”
6. A CONFESSION OF UNCONDITIONAL GODS LOVE FOR ME
From V38-39: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• SAY THIS OUT LOUD: “Nothing can keep God from loving me”
If you change your language, you will change your life! Discover what God has said about you in the Bible and keep on saying those things about yourself!