The Word Which Man Must Confess

By Christopher Gerdes
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος “In the beginning was the Word.”(John 1:1), John begins his
Gospel account with the first word of Genesis in order that the hearer is forced to reckon with the
relationship between the Word, who “became flesh” (John 1:14), and man, who is created to
confess. God is shown to be one who speaks in the beginning, ‫הים‬ ִ ֖ ‫ל‬
ֹ ֱ‫מר א‬ ֥ ַ ‫ ו‬God said”
ֶ ‫“ֹיא‬and
(Genesis 1:3). God speaks, that is God communicates himself into the world, God reveals
himself through his speaking, through His Word. In the beginning before creation the first word
ֹ ֑ ‫הי‬
is ‫אור‬ ִ ,֣ ְ [Γενηθήτω
‫י‬ φῶς] “let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).
John begins with the Word in whom we have life, this ζωὴ “life” is the φῶς τῶν
ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει “light of man, and the light shines in the darkness”
(John 1:4-5). Immediately after inspecting the light and seeing that it was good, God ‫דל‬ֵ ֣ ְ‫ו ַי ַב‬
“separated/distinguished” the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:4). John adds that the darkness
has not κατέλαβεν “overcome” it, the victory is won in the life death and resurrection of Jesus.
In John’s retelling of the creation narrative he immediately goes from Γενηθήτω φῶς to
Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, from “let there be light” to “there was a man, an
apostle from God!” (John 1:5-6). John jumps directly from the speaking of the Word from God
to the confessor of that word, ἄνθρωπος “a man”, specifically an ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ
“apostle/sent one from God”, a Preacher/Confessor a μαρτυρίαν “witness” (John 1:7). The
purpose of this Preacher/Confessor, and indeed of all Confessors is ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ
φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν διʼ αὐτοῦ “to bear witness about the light, that all might believe
through him.” (John 1:7). The whole purpose of John’s Gospel is as a witness a confession
concerning Jesus Christ, the light of the world (John 20:30-31).
John then continues to clarify John the Baptist’s confession; αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ
Ἰωάννου “this is the testimony of John.” The evangelist wants to make certain that John the
Baptist is not mistaken for the Christ, so that he says καὶ ὡμολόγησεν καὶ οὐκ ἠρνήσατο, καὶ
ὡμολόγησεν ὅτι ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ὁ χριστός “he confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am
not the Christ.”(John 1:20). The Baptist also confesses that he is not Elijah, nor a prophet, but
instead he is a voice; ἐγὼ φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· εὐθύνατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου “I am the
voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord”(John 1:23; Isaiah
40:3). In contrast to these negative confessions the Baptist points his finger and confesses “ἴδε ὁ
ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου” “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world!”(John 1:29). The Baptist’s confession was not just preaching it was a
μαρτυρίαν “witness” with the purpose of [ἵνα] φανερωθῇ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθον ἐγὼ ἐν
ὕδατι βαπτίζων “for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to
Israel.” (John 1:31).
The Baptist serves as the preemptive witness to who Jesus truly is as seen completely in
His crucifixion and Resurrection. It is here in the very first Chapter of John’s Gospel, with the

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very first figure, the first witness that we see the three witnesses which John will later write
about in his first epistle.
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water
only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies,
because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the
water and the blood; and these three agree (1 John 5:6-8).
It is first the Baptist who shows the three fold focus, when he baptizes with water but
points to the one who will come baptizing with the Holy Spirit. And also John emphasizes the
blood, by pointing to Jesus and confessing: Behold the Lamb (John 1:29).
The Baptist ἐμαρτύρησεν “witnessed” to both the Person and work of Jesus Christ, in his
confessions, that Jesus was the eternally begotten Son of God,1 and that Jesus would be the
Passover lamb, Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice.2 He also ἐμαρτύρησεν “witnessed” by
what he speaks and by what he does, he is both a Preacher of repentance and a Baptizer, and he
was a Martyr in the narrow sense, that is one who bears witness through his death. He is
especially shown to be a pastor in Luke’s account where his preaching is mentioned at the
beginning of the account and at the end of the account, while in between you have his
exhortations to holy living. Luther picked up on the Baptist’s office as a preacher;
John the Baptist suffers by comparison with Christ, as he himself says: “I am not
worthy to untie the thong of His sandals.” And yet he is deserving of praise
because of his office, in which he speaks of Christ with his mouth, points to Him
with his fingers, and leads the people away from himself to Him who is the sole
Life and Light of mankind. In brief, he is not the Light; he is a servant and a
witness to Christ. His duty is to preach how and in whom I am to believe. He is a
witness to the Light. 3

There is a similar pattern throughout the Old Testament of God revealing himself to a
man so that he might make confession of who God is, or what God is doing. This is especially
clear in the prophets. Beginning even with Noah who Confessed by his building the Ark.
Abraham is significant in this regard also because he received the promise but had to wait
a long time for its manifestation. As Abraham awaited the promised seed he was given many
opportunities to confess the faith, sometimes he failed to confess but other times his confession
was strong. When Abraham went in to Egypt because of the famine, his confession was not of
God because he did not confess his “fear love and trust in God above all things” but instead he
said that Sarah was his sister so that his life might be spared (Genesis 12:1-20). Nor did he

1
That Jesus is the eternally begotten Son of God “ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεται ἀνὴρ ὃς ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτός μου
ἦν” (John 1:30) and “κἀγὼ ἑώρακα καὶ μεμαρτύρηκα ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ“ (John 1:34).
2
That Jesus is the atoning sacrifice “ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου” (John 1:29).
3
Martin Luther, vol. 22, Luther's Works, Vol. 22 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-4, ed. Jaroslav Jan
Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999,
c1957), 22:vii-66.

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confess true faith when seeing that God had not given him a son, accepted Hagar from Sarah as
his wife to produce a son (Genesis 16:16). And again Abraham made a third false confession
when he again said Sarah was his sister, so that Abimelech took her to be his wife (Genesis 20:1-
18).
Conversely Abraham also made faithful confessions such as when he left his homeland
and went to Canaan (Genesis 12:1-8). Also when he allowed Lot the first choice of the land in
which he would settle (Genesis 13). When Lot had been taken captive by king Chedorlaomer,
Abraham faithfully went out to defeat him and redeem Lot from slavery. Upon returning
Abraham did not keep for himself any of the spoils from the war but returned his portion to the
king of Sodom, minus the tenth which he gave to Melchizedek (Genesis 14). Abraham also
makes confession by obedience to God’s word, in his being circumcised along with his whole
house (Genesis 17). And by faithfully interceding for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
before the Lord that he might have mercy on them for the sake of the righteous.
Abraham’s greatest confession comes at the end of his life after he had received the
promised seed. It came when God determined to test Abraham, to give him an opportunity to
make confession of the Lord, by demanding that he offer Isaac as a sacrifice. However this test
occurred after Abraham had walked with God for some time, and after God had spoken to
Abraham for many years, reiterating His promises again and again. So that, Abraham made
confession by setting aside all false Gods and clinging entirely to the promise that God had given
him. By his obedience to the command of God Abraham confessed the certainty of the promise.
Abraham may not have known how God would do it but he knew that God keeps his promises,
even in the face of death, for as John the evangelist says “the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
Abraham’s confession is that God has power over death; somehow Abraham and Isaac
were going to walk back down that mountain after Abraham had sacrificed Isaac to the living
God (Genesis 22).
One may also turn to the Prophets and the Apostles to find men who must preach, who
are driven into such situations in which they simply must make a confession. Often they are
prompted by God to make confession, that is to preach, beginning with the words, “Thus says the
LORD.”4 Note especially Moses, who sets the mold for all future prophets. Moses was called
by the Lord to be his mouthpiece, to be his preacher, his prophet, to lead his people.
Moses was called to make a confession before Pharaoh, also to make a confession before
Israel. As were all of the prophets through whom God called his people to true confession of
faith, a true confession of who God is, through his mighty works of Creation and redemption.
We have briefly looked at men who were called into an office of confessing/preaching, but
they do not stand alone as the Confessors of the Church but are distinguished in the way that they
4
Exodus 4:22; 5:1; 7:17; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:3; 11:4; 32:27; Joshua 7:13; 24:2; Judges 6:8; 1 Samuel 10:18; 15:2; 2 Samuel
7:5, 8; 12:7, 11; 24:12; 1 Kings 11:31; 12:24; 13:21; 14:7; 17:14; 20:13, 14, 28, 42; 21:19; 22:11; 2 Kings 1:4, 6, 16; 2:21,
3:16, 17; 4:43; etc.

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confess by their office in which they serve the congregation, so that it is by their confession that
they catechize, and reprove the faithful in their confession of faith.
All of the faithful also make a confession of the faith through their words and deeds within
their vocations. Fathers are to teach their children the confession of the faith, as they wake in the
morning, as they walk, as they eat, and as they lie down at night. Specifically the Israelite
Fathers were to teach their children the “creed” of Israel; ‫חד׃‬ָֽ ֶ‫הינו ְיה ָ֥וה׀ א‬
ֵ ֖ ‫ל‬
ֹ ֱ‫אל ְיה ָ֥וה א‬
ֵ ֑ ָ‫ר‬
‫מע‬ְַ ֖ ‫ש י‬
‫ש‬ ְ
“hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4) along with the Ten
Commandments. But it was not just the ‫אל‬ ֵ ֑ ָ ‫שר‬ ‫ש ֖ ַי‬
ְ ‫מע‬ ְ “Hear O Israel” that they were to
confess but they were also to confess the mighty works of God to redeem
them from slavery and to bring them to life in the promised land.
When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies
and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then
you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD
brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and
wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his
household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might
bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the
LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our
good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be
righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD
our God, as he has commanded us’ (Deuteronomy 6:20-25).

It is the responsibility of the fathers to pass on the confession of the faith to their sons,
that is they are to confess to their sons and naturally in the sight of their sons, so that their sons
might imitate them and join in the corporate confession of faith. It is in this way that the faith is
handed over, or “traditioned” to the next generation. This then became the model for the
handing over of the Faith in the Church, with the Bishop being the father and the son being the
priest to whom the faith is imparted, succeeding from the Apostles down to the present
It should be noted that their confession is not independent of the Word of God but is a re-
speaking of the Word. It is created by the Word which creates. The Word creates the confession
but is also the content of the confession through whom we have life. This life which we are
given through baptism, is a life of witness, a life lived in the water and the blood, along with the
Holy Spirit, and these three by their nature testify, as to who Jesus is. This life in the Holy Spirit
is a wholly new life which is diametrically opposed to the Old Adam. This life in the Holy Spirit
is a life which is shaped by the Word, and informed by it. Life in the Holy Spirit is continually
μεταμορφοῦσθε “transforming” man into the image of Christ so that we have the same mind
among us, the mind of Christ, who is the head of the Church (Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18,
Colossians 3:10).

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 Conversely the life of the Old Adam takes pleasure in the word of Satan, and is shaped by
the preaching of the Devil, the preaching of unbelief and doubt. In the garden the Serpent
preached this doubt and unbelief to Eve, and Adam, with the question; ” Did God actually say?”
(Genesis 3:1). This propensity for the preaching of Satan then becomes the characteristic image
and likeness of Adam in which Seth and all sons of Adam are conceived and born (Genesis 5:3;
cf. Psalm 51:5).
In the Gospels there are many who make confession of who Jesus is, especially Peter, but
those who do not hold the office are also plentiful, for example the centurion at the Crucifixion
who confesses “ἀληθῶς οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος υἱὸς θεοῦ ἦν.” (Mark 15:39). It is perhaps
noteworthy that this is the first and only confession of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God which
Jesus allows to stand in the Synoptics. Each of the prior confessions Jesus had quieted, but this
confession alone is complete because it comes by the Holy Spirit at the place of God’s revelation
of his identity the cross.
Thus it is the Crucifixion and Resurrection which as the full manifestation of God’s
steadfast love, and faithfulness which becomes the testimony of the water, blood and the Holy
Spirit. So it is in the cross that we most perfectly come to know God. It is in the cross that the
Word of the prophets finds its fulfillment. Upon the Cross Jesus suffers the curses which Israel,
and all people earned by our distrust, and unbelief. It is upon the Cross, at the death of Jesus that
the blood, water and the Holy Spirit flow out, to become witnesses to you that your sins are
forgiven. Therefore by the testimony of these three witnesses we are then assured of the Word
of the Lord, the word of the Absolution, that our sins are forgiven.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word creates and sustains
life in Christ, the Word. But finally the Word which is preached creates an active life which is
lived out, in bearing witness, in mercy works, and in the life of the community. This life which
the Word creates is a life which is completely void of self-centeredness. The word which is
preached makes us partakers of the divine essence, so that in the Word we are drawn outside of
ourselves, and we are given life, life which is mobile, life which bears witness to who we are,
just as the fruit of a tree bears witness to what kind of tree it is and also whether the tree is
healthy or diseased. So man who has heard the preached word and has received life must by
nature be active. This man is active in doing the will of God which is to keep the Ten
Commandments. He is also proclaiming the gospel that is making confession both by his words,
which re-say what the divine word handed over, and by doing good works.
Wingren notes that “it is contrary to the meaning of the word to restrict the term
‘preaching’ to the proclamation which takes place in the regular service of worship, set within
the framework of a liturgy.”5 Preaching and confession have more bases in who we are as
baptized members of the Body of Christ than an activity which is bound to a particular place or
time. We cannot help but confess because the Word which we hear preached takes root and
grows quickly breaking out and over flowing, flooding our lives with the salvation of Israel.
5
Wingren 14.

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That word which breaks in and creates new life in us burst forth in our confession, both what we
say and what we do, how we love God and how we love our neighbor. Just as those who were
healed could not keep silent about what Jesus had done for them in healing them so also those
who have been born to new life in the waters of baptism cannot help but confess what Jesus has
done in making us to be his own.
This is the way that Paul preaches when he constantly reminds his churches who they are
in Christ so that they might see their lives conformed more and more to Jesus. In this way Jesus
remains at the center of our preaching and at the center of our confession. Always remembering
that the Word which we preach is a creative Word which cannot be contained nor overcome, but
must be confessed. When the Lord sets men as witnesses to the Word, they must bear witness to
the Word just as the Baptist did through his preaching and through his baptizing.

Bibliography

Martin Luther, vol. 22, Luther's Works, Vol. 22 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-
4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works
(Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1957).

Wingren, Gustaf. The Living Word. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1960.

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