Matthew 10:32

Mat_10:32

Shall confess Me before men.

I. The nature of that confession which Christianity requires. An open avowal of the Person and Messiahship of Jesus. A conscious adherence to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. A declaration of the benefits received. Zealously promoting the cause of Christian truth.

II. The honourable distinction with which a steady course of Christian fortitude will be crowned. By an act of reparation. By an approving plaudit. By making them the partakers of His glory. Learn: That the human heart is, by nature, decidedly hostile to the spirit of the gospel. That entire change is essential to a scriptural confession of Christ. That the Christian cannot ultimately be a loser by suffering for righteousness sake. (Omricicon.)

Confession of Christ

I. What does our text require? Our confession of Christ before men. The subject of this confession. The persons before whom this confession is to be made. The manner in which this confession is to be made-verbally, practically, passively. Why? Because it falls in with the nature and design of Christianity, to prove your sincerity, in order to be useful, and because He deserves it.

II. What it ensures? His confession of us. More than recognition. The confessor before whom this confession is to be made; the season when this confession shall be made. (W. Jay.)

Confessing Christ

I. A great duty recommended to us.

1. What is meant by our confession of Christ.

2. What by confessing Him before men.

II. A suitable reward and encouragement annexed to it. What is implied in Christs confessing us before His Father. To confess Christ aright is

(1) To acknowledge and adore the Divinity of His Person;

(2) To believe the Divinity of His doctrine;

(3) To acknowledge and rely upon the all-sufficiency of His merits and mediation for us;

(4) To show the efficacy of our belief upon our lives. We must confess Christ both before good men and bad men. (Matthew Hole.)

Mutual confession of Jesus Christ and His disciples

I. This confession of Christ by men.

1. Before we can speak openly of Christ according to His true character, we must know and appreciate Him. Knowledge is ability to confess; appreciation is disposition to confess; both are power.

2. This confession is variously made.

(1) In season it is a verbal acknowledgment of Christ;

(2) By the observance of His ordinances;

(3) By the reception of His disciples and servants, especially of such as most represent Him;

(4) By the worship of His holy name;

(5) By the endurance of shame and persecution for His sake;

(6) By living to Him and living for Him.

II. The confession of men by Jesus Christ.

1. It is connected here with the confessing of Christ by men.

2. It is both present and future.

3. It is full and complete. Lessons: secret discipleship can never fulfil our duties, or exhaust our obligations. (S. Martin.)

The duty of confessing Christ before men

I. The duty specified (Rom_10:10).

1. To confess Christ before men is to show that we are uniformly influenced by a supreme regard to His will (Tit_1:16; Luk_6:46; Joh_15:14; Neh_5:1).

2. To publicly attest the reality of those hopes and joys which Christianity professes to inspire, and claims as peculiarly her own.

3. To manifest a decided attachment to His people (Mat_10:40; Mat_25:40).

II. The difficulties attendant on this duty. Such a decided and consistent testimony to Christ will be attended with difficulties (Mat_10:36).

1. Common temptations.

2. Ridicule.

3. Calumny.

III. The promise annexed to the discharge. Christ will confess His people; it is not said He will do so before men; by striking interpositions of providence. While they are partially confessing Him on earth, He is graciously confessing them in heaven. (E. Cooper.)

Double confession

I. Mans confession of Christ. It implies

(1) Knowledge of Christ;

(2) Belief in Christ;

(3) Love to Christ:

(4) Reception of Christ. Its characteristics.

1. It is a personal confession.

2. It is a public confession.

3. It is an honourable confession-me.

II. Christs confession of man.

1. It is a return for our confession.

2. It is a personal confession.

3. It is a confession on the greatest occasion.

4. It is a confession before the greatest Being. (T. O. Griffiths.)

Confessing Christ

Something more than fifty years ago there was a small dinner party at the other end of London. The ladies had withdrawn, and under the guidance of one member of the company the conversation took a turn, of which it will be enough here and now to say that it was utterly dishonourable to Jesus Christ our Lord. One of the guests said nothing, but presently asked the hosts permission to ring the bell, and when the servant appeared he ordered his carriage. He then, with the courtesy of perfect self-command, expressed his regret at being obliged to retire; but explained that he was still a Christian. Mark the phrase, for it made a deep impression at the time-Still a Christian. Perhaps it occurs to you that the guest who was capable of this act of simple courage must have been a bishop, or at least a clergyman. He was not. The party was made up entirely of laymen, and the guest in question became the great prime minister of the early years of Queen Victoria. He was the late Sir Robert Peel. (Canon Liddon.)

The greatest King

On a certain occasion one of the bravest officers of Frederick the Great declined the kings invitation to dinner, because he intended next morning to receive the Holy Communion. The next time he was present at the royal table the king and his guests began to rally him for his scruples, and to mock at the sacred ordinance. The old man rose, saluted the king, who was no man to be trifled with, and told him respectfully but firmly that there was a greater King than Frederick, and that he never allowed that Holy One to be insulted in his presence. The courtiers looked on in amazement, trembling for the safety of the general; but Frederick, instead of resenting the rebuke, clasped the hand of his brave servant, and expressed his sorrow that he could not believe so firmly, or declare his faith so fearlessly. (Canon Ashwell.)

Confessing Christ:-Signing the Scotch Covenant

As the hour drew near, people from all quarters flocked to the spot, and before the commissioners appeared, the Greyfriars Church and Churchyard, Edinburgh, were densely filled with the gravest, the wisest, and the best of Scotlands pious sons and daughters, The long roll of parchment was brought, the meaning and purpose of the covenant explained. Then a deep and solemn pause ensued: not the pause of irresolution, but of modest diffidence, each thinking every other more worthy than himself to place the first name upon the sacred bond. An aged nobleman, the venerable Earl of Sutherland, at last stepped slowly and reverentially forward, and with throbbing heart and trembling hand, subscribed Scotlands Covenant with God. All hesitation in a moment disappeared. Name followed name in quick succession, till all within the church had given their signatures. It was then removed into the churchyard, and spread out on a level gravestone. Here the scene became still more impressive. The intense emotions of many became irrepressible. Some wept aloud: some burst into a shout of exultation; some after their names added the words till death; and sonic, opening a vein, subscribed with their own warm blood. When every particle of space was filled there was another solemn pause. The nation had framed a covenant in former days, and had violated its engagements; if they too should break this sacred bond, how deep would be their guilt! Such seems to have been their thoughts, for, as if moved by one spirit-the One Eternal Spirit-with low, heart-wrung groans, and faces bathed in tears, they lifted up, with one consent, their right hands to heaven, avowing by this sublime appeal that they had now joined themselves unto the Lord in an everlasting covenant, which should not be forgotten. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The confession of Christ

Some confess, but believe not, as hypocrites; others believe, but confess not, as timorous and Peter-like professors in the days of persecution; others do neither confess nor believe in Christ, as atheists; others both confess and believe, and they be true Christians. (D. Willet.)

The best use of the mouth

Had the faith of the heart been sufficient, God would not have given thee a mouth. (Chrysostom.)

The sin of denying Christ

I. What is meant by denying of Christ before men? It is

(1)to deny His mission and Messiahship;

(2) to disown Him for the Son of God and Saviour of the world; and

(3) not to receive Him for the person annointed and appointed of God for the redemption of mankind. It is (a) to deny the Divinity of Christ; (b) the Incarnation or manhood of Christ; (c) the satisfaction of Christ for sin; (d) the resurrection of Christ; (e) the authority of Christ over His Church and kingdom.

II. What are the motives or inducements that lead men thus to deny Christ? The two principal are

(1) Fear of persecution;

(2) Hopes of preferment. Both clap a wrong bias upon the mind, that turns it from Christ to Belial.

III. How, OR in what manner, is this denying done?

(1) Sometimes in verbis, by words and oral expressions;

(2) Sometimes in scriptis, by blasphemous writings; and

(3) sometimes in operibus, by wicked works.

IV. What is meant by Christ denying of when before his father in heaven? It must be His disowning the deniers of Him, as false and deceitful followers of Him, the misery whereof is inexpressible. (Matthew Poole.)

Interest deposed and truth restored

I. How many ways Christ and his truths may be denied; and what is the denial here chiefly intended.

1. By erroneous, heretical judgment.

2. By oral confession.

3. By our actions and practice.

II. What are the causes inducing men to deny Christ in his truths.

1. The seeming supposed absurdity of many truths.

2. Their unprofitableness. To be pious is the way to be poor.

3. Their apparent danger.

III. How far a man may consult his safety in time of persecution without denying Christ.

1. By withdrawing his person.

2. By concealing his judgment.

IV. What it is for Christ to deny us before his father in heaven.

1. The action itself-He will deny them.

2. The circumstance-Before His Father, etc. A mans folly will be spread before the angels.

V. The uses which may be drawn from the truths delivered.

1. Confess Him in His truth.

2. In His members.

3. The baseness of a dastardly spirit. (R. South, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 10:32-33. Whosoever, &c. — As a further encouragement to you to cast off all unnecessary cares and fears, to trust in God, and arm yourselves with courage to encounter, and resolution to endure whatever persecutions, injuries, or other trials he in his providence may permit to befall you, be assured, whatever you may now suffer for your fidelity to me, it will, on the whole, be most amply rewarded. For whosoever shall confess me — That is, publicly acknowledge me for the promised Messiah, receiving my whole doctrine for the rule of his faith and practice, obeying all my precepts, relying on my promises, revering my threatenings, and imitating my example: him will I confess before my Father — Him will I own as my true disciple in the presence of my Father at the day of final judgment, and will claim for him the rewards which my Father has promised to such. But whosoever shall deny me — Whosoever shall be ashamed or afraid to acknowledge his relation to me, or shall not confess me before men, in the sense now mentioned, him will I also deny, &c. — As having any relation to me, in that awful day. “There is an unspeakable majesty in this article of our Lord’s discourse. Although he was now in the lowest state of humanity, he declares that his confessing us before God is the greatest happiness, and his denying us the greatest misery that can possibly befall us.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Confession and Denial; history of the kingdom of God, and judgment of the world.

Fifth warning and comfort. Mat_10:32-33

32Whosoever therefore [Every one, therefore, who]44 shall confess me before men, him will I confess also [also confess, κἀγώ] before my Father which [who] is in heaven 33[in the heavens].45 But whosoever [whoever] shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which [who] is in heaven [in the heavens].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_10:32. Every one, therefore, who shall confess [acknowledge] Me; ὁμολογή σειἐνἐ μοί,—literally: confess in Me.46 “This corresponds with the idea of ἐν Χριστῷ εῖναι.” So also in Luk_12:8. [The ἐν is not equivalent to in behalf of Me, as Owen explains, but it shows the ground or root of the confession, namely, a living union with Christ. He does not mean a mere outward confession of the mouth, but a genuine and consistent confession of the whole life. “He will not confess the confessing Judas, nor deny the denying Peter,” because the confession of the former was hypocritical, the denial of the latter a transient weakness, followed immediately by the deepest repentance.—P. S.]

[Him will I also confess … him will I also deny, etc.—It is worthy of notice, as Alford suggests, that both here and in the Sermon on the Mount, Mat_7:21-23, the Saviour, after mention of the Father, describes Himself as the Judge and Arbiter of eternal life and death.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Every genuine and earnest testimony for Christ is a confession, while every unchristian deed is a denial. “The world, in its indifference and hesitation between heaven and hell—or, rather, in its antagonism to God, under the pretence of morality—condemns only two things: secular crimes and heavenly virtues, or the manifestations of faith; nay, the latter incur its special ire, as it considers them the worst of crimes. Hence our testimony for Christ must always be in face of the opposition of the world, which readily seizes upon it and treats it as a crime; thus converting our profession into a confession.” Let it, however, be also remembered, that every genuine confession is not merely concerning Christ, but in Christ—concerning all revelation, and concerning the new state of matters which this revelation is designed to inaugurate.

2. This confession of Christ on the part of His people indicates the contrast between the import of the judgment of the world and the cause of Christ. On the other hand, the confession of His people on the part of Christ before the Father, marks the contrast between the humble estate of Christians here, and the glory to which they are called. In both instances, the contrast is infinite; but it is the faith of His people on the one hand, and the love of the Saviour on the other, which influences the confession.—Again: Denial on the part of Christ, implies denial of the kingdom of heaven, of love, and of life. Accordingly, this virtually implies the judgment. Substantially, it is equivalent to the verdict, “I never knew you,” Mat_7:23; only with increased intensity, since it applies to His messengers and witnesses, who were specially commissioned to make confession of Him. Any Christian element in such persons shall be utterly ignored, since it had not led to that true confession which is the victory over the world. They are unregenerate, and hence remain unacknowledged.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The glorious presence of God in Christ, the ground on which Christians are called to make confession: 1. It is a revelation which brings everything to light, and hence fills the Christian with joy in the word; 2. by it the whole life of believers is preserved and completed; accordingly, they are also encouraged wholly to own Jesus.—The kingdom of God and the Christian life as summed up in the word confessing. 1. Our course here may be summed up as either a confession or a denial of Christ; 2. so also the judgment to come,—it is either a confession or a denial on the part of Christ.—As Christ is to us before men, so shall we be to Him before His Father in heaven.—Unutterable cowardice and vileness of the man who attaches greater value to the judgment of men than to that of our Father in heaven.—A genuine confession is a confession both in the Lord and of the Lord.—A genuine confession must be in accordance with what we confess: 1. It is an outward manifestation which must also increasingly appear in the life; 2. it is a life which ever proves a manifestation of the faithfulness of God.—The administration of God will be sealed and confirmed by this, that Christ shall confess His own before His Father.—The great promise attaching to Christian faithfulness.

Starke:—Christ is not only denied with the lips, but also by an ungodly life.—Zeisius: Woe to all apostates.

Heubner:—The judgment of Christ alone is decisive.

[Quesnel:—To confess Jesus Christ is to follow His precept and example; to suffer for His sake; to love, teach, and practise His doctrine.—We refer this great truth to the times of the martyrs, because we will not ourselves be martyrs for the truth. It belongs to all times and all believers, every one in his proper way.—To appear before the tribunal of God without having Christ for our Advocate, and, on the contrary, to have Him there as a witness and a judge, how can we think of it and not expire with horror!47—P. S.]

Footnotes:

[44] Mat_10:32.—[Πᾶς οὖν ὅστις, Lange: Jeder nun, der; while in Mat_10:33 we have simply ὅστις, without πᾶς.—P. S.

[45] Mat_10:32.—̓Εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς both here and in Mat_10:33.

[46][De Wette and Alford: A Hebraistic or rather Syriac mode at expression for, shall make Me the object of his acknowledgment among and before men.—P. S.]

[47][Dr. Adam Clarke (Com. on Mat_10:33) appropriates the last sentence from Quesnel literally, without any acknowledgment.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew

THE KING’S CHARGE TO HIS AMBASSADORS

Mat 10:32 - Mat 10:42.

The first mission of the apostles, important as it was, was but a short flight to try the young birds’ wings. The larger portion of this charge to them passes far beyond the immediate occasion, and deals with the permanent relations of Christ’s servants to the world in which they live, for the purpose of bringing it into subjection to its true King. These solemn closing words, which make our present subject, contain the duty and blessedness of confessing Him, the vision of the antagonisms which He excites, His demand for all-surrendering following, and the rewards of those who receive Christ’s messengers, and therein receive Himself and His Father.

I. The duty and blessedness of confessing Him {Mat 10:32 - Mat 10:33}.

The ‘therefore’ is significant. It attaches the promise which follows to the immediately preceding thoughts of a watchful, fatherly care, extending like a great invisible hand over the true disciple. Because each is thus guarded, each shall be preserved to receive the honour of being confessed by Christ. No matter what may befall His witnesses, the extremest disaster shall not rob them of their reward. They may be flung down from the house-tops where they lift up their bold voices, but He who does not let a sparrow fall to the ground uncared for, will give His angels charge concerning them who are so much more precious, and they shall be borne up on outstretched wings, lest they be dashed on the pavement below. Thus preserved, they shall all attain at last to their guerdon. Nothing can come between Christ’s servant and his crown. The tender providence of the Father, whose mercy is over all His works, makes sure of that. The river of the confessor’s life may plunge underground, and be lost amid persecutions, but it will emerge again into the brighter sunshine on the other side of the mountains.

The confession which is to be thus rewarded, like the denial opposed to it, is, of course, not merely a single utterance of the lip. So far Judas Iscariot confessed Christ, and Peter denied Him. But it is the habitual acknowledgment by lip and life, unwithdrawn to the end. The context implies that the confession is maintained in the face of opposition, and that the denial is a cowardly attempt to save one’s skin at the cost of treason to Jesus. The temptation does not come in that sharpest form to us. Perhaps some cowards would be made brave if it did. It is perhaps easier to face the gibbet and the fire, and screw oneself up for once to a brief endurance, than to resist the more specious blandishments of the world, especially when it has been christened, and calls itself religious. The light laugh of scorn, the silent pressure of the low average of Christian character, the close associations in trade, literature, public and domestic life which Christians have with non-Christians, make many a man’s tongue lie silent, to the sore detriment of his own religious life. ‘Ye have not yet resisted unto blood,’ and find it hard to fulfil the easier conflict to which you are called. The sun has more power than the tempest to make the pilgrim drop his garment. But the duty remains the same for all ages. Every man is bound to make the deepest springs of his life visible, and to stand to his convictions, whatever they be. If he do not, his convictions will disappear like a piece of ice hid in a hot hand, which will melt and trickle away. This obligation lies with infinitely increased weight on Christ’s servants; and the consequences of failing to discharge it are more tragic in their cases, in the exact proportion of the greater preciousness of their faith. Corn hoarded is sure to be spoiled by weevils and rust. The bread of life hidden in our sacks will certainly go mouldy.

The reward and punishment of confession and denial come to them not as separate acts, but as each being the revelation of the spiritual condition of the doers. Christ implies that a true disciple cannot but be a confessor, and that therefore the denier must certainly be one whom He has never known. Because, therefore, each act is symptomatic of the doer, each receives the congruous and correspondent reward. The confessor is confessed; the denier is denied. What calm and assured consciousness of His place as Judge underlies these words! His recognition is God’s acceptance; His denial is darkness and misery. The correspondence between the work and the reward is beautifully brought out by the use of the same word to express each. And yet what a difference between our confession of Him and His of us! And what a hope is here for all who have tremblingly, and in the consciousness of much unworthiness, ventured to say that they were Christ’s subjects, and He their King, brother, and all! Their poor, feeble confession will be endorsed by His. He will say, ‘Yes, this man is mine, and I am his.’ That will be glory, honour, blessedness, life, heaven.

II. The vision of the discord which follows the coming of the King of peace.

It is not enough to interpret these words as meaning that our Lord’s purpose indeed was to bring peace, but that the result of His coming was strife. The ultimate purpose is peace; but an immediate purpose is conflict, as the only road to the peace. He is first King of righteousness, and after that also King of peace. But, if His kingdom be righteousness, purity, love, then unrighteousness, filthiness, and selfishness will fight against it for their lives. The ultimate purpose of Christ’s coming is to transform the world into the likeness of heaven; and all in the world which hates such likeness is embattled against Him. He saw realities, and knew men’s hearts, and was under no illusion, such as many an ardent reformer has cherished, that the fair form of truth need only be shown to men, and they will take her to their hearts. Incessant struggle is the law for the individual and for society till Christ’s purpose for both is realised.

That conflict ranges the dearest in opposite ranks. The gospel is the great solvent. As when a substance is brought into contact with some chemical compound, which has greater affinity for one of its elements than the other element has, the old combination is dissolved, and a new and more stable one is formed, so Christianity analyses and destroys in order to synthesis and construction. In Mat 10:21 our Lord had foretold that brother should deliver up brother to death. Here the severance is considered from the opposite side. The persons who are ‘set at variance’ with their kindred are here Christians. Perhaps it is fanciful to observe that they are all junior members of families, as if the young would be more likely to flock to the new light. But however that may be, the separation is mutual, but the hate is all on one side. The ‘man’s foes’ are of his own household; but he is not their foe, though he be parted from them.

III. Earthly love may be a worse foe to a true Christian than even the enmity of the dearest; and that enmity may often be excited by the Christian subordination of earthly to heavenly love. So our Lord passes from the warnings of discord and hate to the danger of the opposite-undue love.

He claims absolute supremacy in our hearts. He goes still farther, and claims the surrender, not only of affections, but of self and life to Him. What a strange claim this is! A Jewish peasant, dead nineteen hundred years since, fronts the whole race of man, and asserts His right to their love, which is strange, and to their supreme love, which is stranger still. Why should we love Him at all, if He were only a man, however pure and benevolent? We may admire, as we do many another fair nature in the past; but is there any possibility of evoking anything as warm as love to an unseen person, who can have had no knowledge of or love to us? And why should we love Him more than our dearest, from whom we have drawn, or to whom we have given, life? What explanation or justification does He give of this unexampled demand? Absolutely none. He seems to think that its reasonableness needs no elucidation. Surely never did teacher professing wisdom, modesty, and, still more, religion, put forward such a claim of right; and surely never besides did any succeed in persuading generations unborn to yield His demand, when they heard it. The strangest thing in the world’s history is that to-day there are millions who do love Jesus Christ more than all besides, and whose chief self-accusation is that they do not love Him more. The strange, audacious claim is most reasonable, if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for each of us, and that each man and woman to the last of the generations had a separate place in His divine human love when He died. It is meet to love Him, if that be true; it is not, unless it be. The requirement is as stringent as strange. If the two ever seem to conflict, the earthly must give way. If the earthly be withdrawn, there must be found sufficiency for comfort and peace in the heavenly. The lower must not be permitted to hinder the flight of the heavenly to its home. ‘More than Me’ is a rebuke to most of us. What a contrast between the warmth of our earthly and the tepidity or coldness of our heavenly love! How spontaneously our thoughts, when left free, turn to the one; how hard we find it to keep them fixed on the other! How sweet service is to the dear ones here; how reluctantly it is given to Christ! How we long, when parted, to rejoin them; how little we are drawn to the place where He is! We have all to confess that we are ‘not worthy of’ Him; that we requite His love with inadequate returns, and live lives which tax His love for its highest exercise, the free forgiveness of sins against itself. Compliance with that stringent law, and subordinating all earthly love to His, is the true elevating and ennobling of the earthly. It is promoted, not degraded, when it is made second, and is infinitely sweeter and deeper then than when it was set in the place of supremacy, where it had no right to be.

But Christ’s demand is not only for the surrender of the heart, but for the giving up of self, and, in a very profound sense, for the surrender of life. How enigmatical that saying about taking up the cross must have sounded to the disciples! They knew little about the cross, as a punishment; they had not yet associated it in any way with their Lord. This seems to have been the first occasion of His mentioning it, and the allusion is so veiled as to be but partially intelligible. But what was intelligible was bewildering. A strange royal procession that, of the King with a cross on His shoulder, and all His subjects behind Him with similar burdens! Through the ages that procession has marched, and it marches still. Self-denial for Christ’s sake is ‘the badge of all our tribe.’ Observe that word ‘take.’ The cross must be willingly and by ourselves assumed. No other can lay it on our shoulders. Observe that other word ‘his.’ Each man has his own special form in which self-denial is needful for him. We require pure eyes, and hearts kept in very close communion with Jesus, to ascertain what our particular cross is. He has them of many patterns, shapes, sizes, and materials. We can always make sure of strength to carry the one which He means us to carry, but not of strength to bear what is not ours.

IV. We have the rewards of those who receive Christ’s messengers, and therein receive Him and His Father.

Our Lord first identifies these twelve with Himself in a manner which must have sounded strange to them then, but have heartened them for their work by the consciousness of His mysterious oneness with them. The whole doctrine of Christ’s unity with His people lay in germ in these words, though much more was needed, both of teaching and of experience, before their depth of blessing and strengthening could be apprehended. We know that He dwells in His true subjects by His Spirit, and that a most real union subsists between the head and the members, of which the closest unions of earth are but faint shadows, so as that not only those who receive His followers receive Him, but, more wonderful still, His followers are received at the last by God Himself as joined to Him, and portions of His very self, and therefore ‘accepted in the Beloved.’ Our Lord adds to these words the thought that, in like manner, to receive Him is to receive the Father, and so implies that our relation to Him is in certain real respects parallel with His relation to the Father. We too are sent. He who sends abides with us, as the Son ever abode in God, and God in Him. We are sent to be the brightness of Christ’s glory, and to manifest Him to men, as He was sent to reveal the Father.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:32-33 God accepts the one who acknowledges Jesus publicly in the context of trial and persecution (10:16-25). These verses pertain to a person’s pattern of life (see 7:13-27) and not to a single confession or a single denial. For example, Judas acknowledged Jesus in individual instances yet was damned (26:23-24), whereas Peter denied Jesus (see 26:69-75) yet was saved.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 10:32. Ἐν, in, on) i.e., when the question is raised concerning Me. This ἐν Ἐμοὶ” “on Me,” differs from Με,” “Me,” and αὐτὸν,” “him,” in the next verse; cf. Luk 12:8-9.—ἀνθρώπων, men) Our Lord is speaking especially of persecutors.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_10:32 f. Πᾶς οὖν, κ.τ.λ.] Nominative, like Mat_10:14.

ἐν ἐμοί] is neither a Hebraism nor a Syriac mode of expression; nor does it stand for the dative of advantage; nor does it mean through me (Chrysostom); but the personal object of confession is conceived of as the one to whom the confession cleaves. Exactly as in Luk_12:8. Similar to ὀμνύειν ἐν, Mat_5:34.

In the apodosis, notice the order: confess will I also him (as really one of mine, and so on).

ἔμπροσθεν … οὐρανοῖς] namely, after my ascension to the glory of heaven as σύνθρονος of the Father, Mat_26:64; comp. Rev_3:5.

Mat_10:32-33 contain, as an inference from all that has been said since Mat_10:16, a final observation in the form of a promise and a threatening, and expressed in so general a way that the disciples are left to make the special application for themselves.

The address, which is drawing to a close in Mat_10:33, pursues still further the same lofty tone, and that in vivid imagery, in Mat_10:34, so full is Jesus of the thought of the profound excitement which He feels He is destined to create.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 10:32-33 . Solemn reference to the final Judgment . οὖν points back to Mat 10:27 , containing injunction to make open proclamation of the truth. πᾶς ὅστις : nominative absolute at the head of the sentence. ἐν ἐμοὶ , ἐν αὐτῷ : observe these phrases after the verb in Mat 10:32 , compared with the use of the accusative με , αὐτὸν in the following verse: “confess in me,” “deny me,” “confess in him,” “deny him”. Chrysostom’s comment is: we confess by the grace of Christ, we deny destitute of grace. Origen (Cremer, Catenae , i. p. 80) interprets the varying construction as indicating that the profit of the faithful disciple lies in fellowship with Christ and the loss of the unfaithful in the lack of such fellowship. ( ὅρα δὲ , εἰ μὴ τὸ πλεονέκτημα τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ὁμολογοῦντος , ἤδη ὄντως ἐν χριστῷ δηλοῦται , ἐκ τοῦ , “ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ ” ὁμολογεῖν · τὸ δὲ κακὸν τοῦ ἀρνουμένου , ἐκ τοῦ μὴ συνῆφθαι τῇ ἀρνήσει τὸ “ ἐν ἐμοὶ ,” ἢ τὸ “ ἐν αὐτῷ ”.)

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The necessity and reward of open confessing Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men--despising the shame.

him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven--I will not be ashamed of him, but will own him before the most august of all assemblies.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men] That is, whosoever shall acknowledge me to be the Messiah, and have his heart and life regulated by my spirit and doctrine. It is not merely sufficient to have the heart right before God; there must be a firm, manly, and public profession of Christ before men. "I am no hypocrite," says one; neither should you be. "I will keep my religion to myself" i.e. you will not confess Christ before men; then he will renounce you before God.

We confess or own Christ when we own his doctrine, his ministers, his servants, and when no fear hinders us from supporting and assisting them in times of necessity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(32) Shall confess me.—Literally, make his confession in and for me; and so in the corresponding clause. The promise points forward to the great day when the Son of Man shall be enthroned in His kingdom, and then before His Father and before the angels of God (Luk_12:8) shall acknowledge His faithful servants. The words are remarkable (1) in their calm assertion of this final sovereignty, and (2) in extending the scope of the discourse beyond the apostles themselves to all who should receive their witness.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. shall confess me] Literally, confess in me: make me the central point and object of his confession.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But whosoever shall deny me before men,.... Deny that he is a disciple of Christ, and that Christ is his Lord and master, act contrary to him, deliver things repugnant to his mind and will; which for a disciple to do to his master was a very heinous crime with the Jews:

"if (say they (n)) Rabbi Jochanan, "deny" Rabbi Eleazar, his disciple, he will not "deny" Rabbi Jannai, his "master".''

Some regard may be had here to Peter's after denial of Christ; and this proviso be supposed, "except he repent", as he did. Moreover, to deny Christ, is to drop, or oppose any of those truths which regard his person, office, and grace; or to hide and conceal them from men, through fear, shame, or cowardice of mind: and even not to confess him, through fear of men, is interpreted, by Christ, a denial of him; and such who deny him in any form and shape, either by words or deeds,

him, says he,

will I also deny before my Father which is heaven; he will deny them to be disciples, or that they belong to him; he will deny that he ever knew them, loved or approved of them; he will declare in the presence of his Father, his disapprobation of them, his indignation against them, that they are workers of iniquity; yea, he will do more, he will banish them from his presence, and send them into everlasting burnings.

(n) Juchasin, fol. 80. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Ver. 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me] A bold and wise confession of Christ is required of all his, who are therefore said to be marked in their foreheads, Rev 7:3, an open place: and they that will not profess him shall be sorted with such as through excess of pain, and defect of patience, gnaw their own tongues, Rev 16:10. Antichrist takes it in as good part, if his bond-slaves receive his mark in their hand only; the which, as occasion serveth, they may cover or reveal, Rev 13:16. He lets his use what decption they will, so it may help to amplify his kingdom. It was a watch word in Gregory XIII’s time, in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, "My son, give me thy heart." Dissemble, go to church, do what ye will, but Da mihi cor: be in heart a Papist, and go where you will. Christ will endure no such dealing. He will have heart and tongue too, Rom 10:9, he will be worshipped truly, that there be no halting; and totally, that there be no halving. We may as well (saith Zwinglius) do worship at the altar of Jupiter or Venus, as hide our faith for fear of antichrist? {a} "He that is not with me is against me," saith our Saviour. He likes not these political professors, these neuter passive Christians, that have fidem menstruam, faith for a month, as Hilary said of some in his time, that have religionem ephemeram, flexible religion, as Beza saith of Balduinus the French apostate, that can turn with the times, comply with the company, be (as the planet Mercury) good in conjunction with good, and bad with bad. These are they that do virtutis stragulam pudefacere, put honesty to an open shame, as the philosopher could say, And shall these men’s faith "be found to praise and honour and glory?" 1Pe 1:7. It is not likely.

{a} Ad aras Iovis aut Veneris adorare ac sub antichristo fidem occultare.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me ... - The same word in the original is translated “confess” and “profess,” 1Ti 6:12-13; 2Jo 1:7; Rom 10:10. It means to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, and our dependence on him for salvation, and our attachment to him, in every proper manner. This profession may be made in uniting with a church, at the communion, in conversation, and in conduct. The Scriptures mean, by a profession of religion, an exhibition of it in every circumstance of the life and before all people. It is not merely in one act that we must do it, but in every act. We must be ashamed neither of the person, the character, the doctrines, nor the requirements of Christ. If we are; if we deny him in these things before people; if we are unwilling to express our attachment to him in every way possible, then it is right that he should “disown all connection with us,” or deny us before God, and he will do it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As this is a time for you publicly to own me, so there will be a time (in the day of judgment) for me to confess and publicly own you, before the angels of God (which Luke addeth to this sentence, Mat 12:8): as men deal with me in this life, so I shall deal with them in that day. Our Saviour speaketh much the same thing, as repeated by Mar 8:38; Luk 9:26; only there instead of whosoever shall deny me, it is, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words. Christ requireth of us not only a believing on him, but an external profession: nor that only, but a confession of him, which signifieth a profession of him and his gospel in the face of opposition and enemies: see Rom 10:10; 2Ti 2:12. It is dangerous, either through shame or fear, to withhold our public owning and acknowledgment of Christ, and his truths, when we are called to it; much more to deny them; but the guilt is greater when it is through shame, for where fear is the cause the temptation is more high. This text must be understood of those who persist in such denial, for Peter denied his Master, yet was graciously upon his repentance received by him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32. Whosoever — Whether of yourselves who preach, or of those who hear your preaching. Shall confess me — Shall acknowledge in the face of persecution that I am his Lord and Master. Him will I confess — It requires courage and truthfulness to confess one amid enemies and despisers, however glorious he may be. So it requires constancy and truthfulness to confess an unworthy and humble creature before a company of grand and glorious persons. The former courage is displayed toward Christ by the Christian in this world. In recompense, Christ will display the latter constancy and truth in the day of final judgment.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 32, 33. (2) The result of confessing and of denying Christ. (Cf. ver. 24, note.)

Whosoever; every one... who (Revised Version); Mat_7:24, note. Therefore. Summing up the thought of vers. 24-31, that he who suffers with Christ is only receiving such treatment as he ought to expect, and is never forgotten. Shall confess me (omologhsei en emoi).

Omologein en occurs only in this verse (twice) and in the parallel passage, Luk_12:8 (cf. Bishop Westcott, on 1Jn_2:23). Though the exact phrase is doubt less due to Hebrew influence (cf. Ewald, f. 2), yet its choice here is determined by an instinctive feeling that it expresses the union of him who confesses with him who is confessed, while the plain accusative makes no such implication, but only sums up the confession. Bishop Westcott ("Canon," p. 275, edit. 1870) quotes Heracleon"s comment on Luk_12:8. "With good reason Christ says of those who confess him in me (omologhsei en emoi), but of those who deny him me (arnhshtai me) only. For these even it" they confess him with their voice deny him, since they confess him not in their action. But they alone make confession in him who live in the confession and action that accords with him; in whom also he makes confession, having himself embraced them, and being held first by them" (Clem. Alex., "Strom.," 4:9, Fragment 50 in Sir. A. E. Brooke"s edition of Heraeleon). Before men (twn anyrwpwn); ver. 17, note, and Mat_6:1, note. Him. Not in any position of emphasis in the Greek. Will I confess also (cf. Rev_3:5) before my Father. Not merely "the Father," but him who is in the closest relationship to me; the thought is of salvation as well as of creation. Which is in heaven. In nature, love; in position, majesty and omnipotence.

He that knows Christ will confess him.

In these days there are many among us who are, at heart, disciples of the Lord Jesus, but who shrink from confessing him before men. Their character and conduct have been long watched by those about them, and the signs of Divine change and renewal have been recognized. And vet they remain but "secret disciples." Like one who is introduced to us by St. John, who chose the quiet night hour, when the city hum was stilled, and only a stray traveller passed along the street, and he could hope to be unrecognized. There are many who have to be classed with Nicodemus. Quiet, timid souls, half afraid of their own thoughts, they seek Jesus, as it were, by night. To such this text appeals. To confess Christ would be the very thing to help them realize their condition. Confessing ought not to be a difficult thing. No man need hesitate to acknowledge that he loves the loveliest and serves the holiest.

I IN WHAT WAYS DOES CHRIST EXPECT YOU TO FULFIL THIS DUTY?

1. Whatever form or order Christ"s Church may take, it always has some way in which open and public confession can be made. In that way the duty comes home to us, according to the Church to which we belong. Somehow Christ must be openly and publicly acknowledged before witnesses.

2. You must help in Christian service, and so confess Christ"s Name. If you are made "a new creature in Christ Jesus," be sure that he has some work for you to do, some place for you to occupy, some mission for you to accomplish.

3. You must live such a godly life as shall of itself constantly confess Christ. If you do not check the movements of heart-piety, you will find it wants to push out into the light and show itself in holy living. When the spring is purified, all the rivulets that run from it flow clear and pure. When the leaven is put in the meal, it will not keep still until the whole is leavened. Let religion have as much room and power as it may please. Do not let timidity, any more than sin, or passion, or evil habit, check it from its natural and befitting expressions.

II BY WHAT HINDRANCES MAY YOU BE KEPT FROM OBEDIENCE?

1. The sense of responsibility attaching to making public profession. But that is to forget that responsibility ennobles a man.

2. A sense of personal unworthiness because Christian experience seems so limited.

3. A fear of the possibility of dishonouring Christ by backsliding and sin. But that is to mistrust God"s power to keep you unto the end. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever shall confess me - Publicly acknowledge me for the promised Messiah. But this confession implies the receiving his whole doctrine, Mark viii, 38, and obeying all his commandments. Luke ix, 26.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The conclusion:

v. 32. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.

v. 33. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.

A solemn reference to the final judgment. A confession of Christ in word and deed, an open proclamation of the truth and a steadfast defense of the truth, is demanded for every follower of Christ. This is all the more necessary, since we confess by the grace of Christ, and He wants to give every one that believes in Him this grace. In denying Him, therefore, we prove ourselves destitute of all grace and lacking faith entirely. As He will stand by those with an open confession and defense that cheerfully confess Him here, so will He turn from those who by their denial of Him cut themselves off from the grace of God. There is no neutral ground; for every one the choice is only between confession and denial.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. That not to confess Christ, in his account, is to deny him: and to deny him, is to be ashamed of him.

2. That whosoever shall deny, disown, or be ashamed of Christ, either in his person in his gospel, or in his members, for any fear of favour of man, shall with shame be disowned, and eternally rejected by him at the dreadful judgment of the great day.

Christ may be denied three ways;

doctrinally, by an erroneous and heretical judgment; verbally, by oral expressions; vitally, by a wicked and unholy life.

But woe to that soul that denies Christ any of these ways!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. Whosoever will confess me before men. To confess Christ does not mean to accept some particular creed, but to publicly acknowledge the Lord, and to live before men as his servant. It implies, 1. A confession of faith in him with the lips, such a confession as Peter made, Matt. 16:16, and the eunuch, Acts 8:37. Paul describes this confession in Rom. 10:10. 2. An acknowledgment of Christ by obedience and by giving the life to his service. Confession is a demonstration of faith, (1) by public acknowledgment, and (2) by an obedient life. A verbal acknowledgment of Christ is not enough if the life is a denial, for then it shows that the acknowledgment was a lie. The two must correspond. Him will I confess. Christ sitting on the throne of judgment promises to acknowledge as his own faithful brother every one who has thus acknowledged him before men.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues to instruct his disciples about the reasons why they should not be afraid of the persecution that they might experience.

everyone who confesses me ... I will also confess before my Father

"whoever confesses me ... I will also confess before my Father" or "if anyone confesses me ... I will also confess him before my Father"

confesses me before men

"tells others that he is my disciple" or "acknowledges before other people that he is loyal to me"

I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven

You can make explicit the information that is understood. AT: "I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven that that person belongs to me" (See: Ellipsis)

my Father who is in heaven

"my heavenly Father"

Father

This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

he who denies me ... I will also deny before my Father

"whoever denies me ... I will also deny before my Father" or "if anyone denies me ... I will also deny him before my Father"

denies me before men

"denies to other people that he is loyal to me" or "refuses to acknowledge to others that he is my disciple"

I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven

You can make explicit the information that is understood. AT: "I will deny before my Father who is in heaven that this person belongs to me" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

confess

heaven

God the Father

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

32. ὁμολογήσει ἐν ἐμοί. Confess in me: make me the central point and object of his confession.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. ὁμολ. ἐν ἐμοί] A Hebraistic or rather perhaps Syriac mode of expression (De Wette) for, ‘shall make me the object of His acknowledgment among and before men.’ The context shews plainly that it is a practical consistent confession which is meant, and also a practical and enduring denial. The Lord will not confess the confessing Judas, nor deny the denying Peter; the traitor who denied Him in act is denied: the Apostle who confessed Him even to death will be confessed. Cf. 2Ti 2:12. We may observe that both in the Sermon on the Mount (ch. 7:21-23) and here, after mention of the Father, our Lord describes Himself as the Judge and Arbiter of eternal life and death.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 32. Every one, therefore, who shall acknowledge Me before men, I also will acknowledge him before My Father which is in the heavens.] Lk. has: “And I say to you, Every one who shall acknowledge Me before men, also the Son of Man will acknowledge him before the angels of God.” ὁμολογεῖν ἐν occurs only here and in Luk 12:6. It is an Aramaic and Syriac idiom. Cf. even Moulton, p. 104: “It seems best not to look for any justification of this usage in Greek.”—τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς] See on 5:16.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Confess me [ομολογησει εν εμοι] . A peculiar but very significant expression. Lit., "Confess in me." The idea is that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him. "Abide in me, and being in me, confess me." It implies indentification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or verbal acknowledgment. "Not every one that saith unto me 'Lord ! Lord !' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." The true confessor of Christ is one whose faith rests in him. Observe that this gives great force to the corresponding clause, in which Christ places himself in a similar relation with those whom he confesses. "I will confess in him." It shall be as if I spoke abiding in him. "I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me" (Joh 17:23).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.