The view of a cert.iin cb.ss of crili<;,l ~, ; • ■■ i • ■ IMtz- mann, Zeitsehr. f. wiss. Theol. xxi. p. " ' i' : i IH-^lnrij of Dogma,, i.p.T)n.2\\\mA\,. Teaclii,, , ., : ..l n.)
that Mt 161*- are not authentic ult.i ■ Imt a
subsequent addition intended to cain •.■ ihr .[..jmiiic and
constitutional situation of a later age. is not one that com- mends itself to those who do not accept the views as to the composition of the First Gospel which are represented by these writers and by Holtzmann in particular. There is no textual ground for objecting to the authenticity of the words, while there are very strong psychological grounds for accepting such words as true. See the admirable remarks of Prof. Bruce, Expos. Gr. Test., in loo.
(2) If Jesus laid great stress upon the confession of Himself, the importance of such confession is not less prominent in the teaching of the Apostles. Even if baptism ' into the name of tlie Lord Jesus ' did not imply an explicit confession of Jesus as Lord (though this seems by no means improbable), at all events the Christian baptism which meets us constantly from the earliest days of the Church (Acts, passim) clearly involved, in the relations of Christianity whether to the Jewish or the Gentile world, a confessing of Christ before men. St. Paul makes very plain his conviction that, in order to salvation, believing with the heart must be accompanied by confession with the mouth (Ro lO"- "), though he also enlarges our conception of the forms which confession may take when he linds a confession of the Christian gospel not only
in words spoken but in liberal gifts cheerfully bestowed for the service of the Church (2 Co 9"). In 1 Timothy he commends the young minister of the Church in Ephesus because lae had ' confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses' (6'-), and finds in this matter the perfect example for Christian imitation in the 'good confession' which Clirist Jesus Himself witnes.sed before Pon- tius Pilate (v.'3) ; w'hile in 2 Tiuiothy we have an evident reecho of the Lord's own language in the warning, ' If we shall deny him, he also will deny usM2'=).
In the Epistle to the Hebrews Jesus is described as ' the Apostle and High Priest of our confession ' (3'), and that confession the author exhorts his readers to hold fast (4''' 10=3). j^, j^ijg Joliannine Epistles, as we have seen, confession begins to assume a more theological form than heretofore, but the writer is not less emphatic than tho.'^e who have preceded him in insisting upon its spiritual value. In one place it is said to be the prool of the presence of the Spirit of God (1 Jn 4-), and in another it becomes not the proof merely, but the very condition of the abiding of man in God and God in man (v.^*).
iii. The reason for the importance attached to confession.— When we ask why such supreme value is set upon confession by Christ and His Apostles and all through the NT, there are various considerations which suggest themselves. (1) Con- fession is nothing else than the obverse side nf faith. The two necessarily go tojjether, for they are really one and the same spiritual magnitude in its inward and outward aspects. The word of faith, as St. Paul says, is at once in the mouth and in the heart (Ro 10*), and whatever value belongs to faith as a vital and saving power neces- sarily belongs to confession also. (2) It is the evidence of faith. Like all living things, faith must give evidence of itself, and confession is one of its most certain and convincing signs. Accord- ing to St. Paul, it belongs to the very spirit of faith to believe and therefore to speak (2 Co 4") ; and if the readiness to confess Christ begins to fail, we may take it as a sure evidence that faith itself is failing. How significant here are the words of Jesus to St. Peter just before He warned him of the sifting trial whieh was near at hand, ' Simon, Simon, behold Satan asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat : but I made sup- plication for thee that thy faith fail not' (Lk 2231- 52)^ (3) jf j^ „ f^gf gj courage and devotion. A hard test it often is ; witness St. Peter's fall. But it is liy hard trials that the soldier of Christ learns to endure hardness, and gains the unflinch- ing strength which enables him to confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses (1 Ti 6'^), and not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord (2 Ti 1*). (4) It has a wonderful poiver to quicken faith. It both begets faith and quickens faith in others, as we shall see presently ; but what we are speaking of now is its reactive in- fluence upon the believer himself. It is a matter of common experience that nothing transforms pale belief into strong full-blooded conviction like the confession of belief in the presence of others. Something is due to the shaping power of speech upon thought, but even more to the definite com- mittal of oneself before one's fellows, and the kindling influences which come from the contact of soul with soul. And it is not till men have publicly confessed their belief in Christ that faith rises to its highest power, so that ' belief unto righteousness' becomes 'confession unto salva- tion ' (Ro 10'"). It is to the psychological ex- periences that were naturally attendant on the public confession of Christ that we must attribute much of the language used in the NT with regard