The Good Confession

            The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have gotten a couple of things right—really right.  One is Lord’s Supper and the other is the Good Confession.  The Good Confession says:  we confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and we proclaim Lord and Savior of the world.  We have used this Good Confession or some variant of it for 200 years.  Why am I so bold as to say it’s one of the things we got right?  I’m glad you asked:

            The Good Confession is Biblical.  Some Christian groups load up their followers with long and complicated statements of faith which people must either adhere to or find some other place to worship.  Other groups expect a highly emotional testimony of conversion in order to justify membership.  The titles of the Good Confession are all biblical:  Christ (Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21), Son of the Living God (1 John 4;15), Lord (Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:5-11), and Savior (Acts 4:5-12).  The Good Confession asks no more and no less than that which the New Testament expects believers to confession. 

            The Good Confession is personal and communal.  I said that we had used the good confession or some variant of it.  That’s because sometimes we say, “We” and sometimes we say, “I.”  These words belong to the whole church yet, to claim Jesus as Lord and Savior is to claim Jesus as one’s own Lord and one’s own savior. 

            The Good Confession is simple.  An ancient rabbi was once asked to explain the whole of a sacred text “while standing on one foot.”  His entire answer deserves attention but, why the request that he give it while standing on one foot?  Because religious people have a habit of going on and on for a long time.  The Good Confession can be spoken in a single breath and yet it still says so much.