Confess Jesus: What It Means to Boldly Declare Him as Lord
- Declaring Jesus as Lord means pledging loyalty to him as King and rejecting every rival claim to rule your life.
- Early Christians treated this confession as the “good confession,” rooted in Scripture and voiced before witnesses.
- In the Roman world, confessing Jesus challenged Caesar’s lordship and could cost believers their lives, as with Polycarp.
The emperor Octavian happened to be the emperor when Jesus was born as his subject in the Roman Empire. We can see his image on a coin which also includes the phrase, “Divi F.” What does that mean? Well, it’s simply an abbreviation for the Latin phrase Divi Filius, which means “Son of God.” You see, Jesus was born into a world where there was already someone else claiming to be the Son of God.
In this article, we’re going to talk about what it means to say Jesus is Lord. What does it mean to confess Jesus as the Lord Christ? The succinct answer is this:
Confession of Jesus as Lord is a declaration of allegiance to Jesus as King and a rejection of all other claims of lordship.
Now, that word “lord” isn’t used in the modern world as much. In the English language in America, it’s almost solely used in religious settings. In the greater English-speaking world, it’s still used of certain political figures, but it’s not an everyday kind of word.
Not so just a few hundred years ago. So, if you open your King James Bible, you’ll see that the word “lord” appears many times. The word that is translated “lord” in the New Testament is kurios, and what you see is that it’s used of God, of Jesus, and then of various earthly figures. So, you might have a slave speak to his master as kurios, as lord. There are many different kinds of lords that a person could encounter in the ancient world, and it’s in this setting that the early Christians made what’s called the “good confession.” 
So, what is the good confession? Well, Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12 to Timothy, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” The good confession is the admission that Jesus is Lord, and I am not, and no one else is.
“The good confession is the admission that Jesus is Lord, and I am not, and no one else is.”
Peter made the good confession at Caesarea Philippi when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter made that same confession later when he was preaching the first gospel sermon and he said that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah—both kurios and Christos, the Lord Christ.
See, in the Roman world, to confess that Jesus is Lord meant that you were making him King of your life. In many senses, it was saying, “Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not.” It meant that you were subject to him above all others and that there is no earthly king to whom you give that kind of allegiance.
Now, in our day, most of us don’t have to think about earthly kings, but we really have to dethrone ourselves. And so, to say Jesus is Lord is to say, “I am not.”
The early church came up with what we often call creeds, these statements of faith. The word “creed” is just an adaptation of the word credo, which means “I believe.” You see various creeds in the ancient world. You also see them in the New Testament.
So, in Acts chapter 8, you have the Ethiopian eunuch offering what might be one of the earliest Christian creeds, which is, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” To be willing to say publicly that you believe that Jesus is Lord and to pledge your life to him—that is the great confession.
“To be willing to say publicly that you believe that Jesus is Lord and to pledge your life to him—that is the great confession.”
In the second century, there was an important leader named Polycarp who was literally to be burned at the stake for his faith. He could escape death if he’d simply be willing to do two things: first of all, say, “Caesar is Lord,” and second of all, burn some incense. His fellow Christians begged him, “Look, just go ahead and do those simple things, and you can escape.” But he refused.
Before he died, this is what he said: “For 86 years I have been serving him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?”
Polycarp made the good confession, and he lived it. The good confession is the public pledge of allegiance that says no government, no earthly ruler is my king, but Jesus the Messiah is the Lord of heaven and earth.
