“Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before people, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.
Parallel translations
- WEB Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.
- KJV Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
- BSB Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.
- NKJV “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
- NLT “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Whoever publicly confesses Christ, He will acknowledge before the Father. Faithful confession now leads to Christ's affirmation in heaven.
Overview
Jesus links present confession of Him with future vindication: those who own Him before others He will own before His Father. Such confession is the outward fruit of saving faith (Rom. 10:9-10). The promise heartens persecuted believers, assuring them that Christ Himself will be their advocate at the final judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Rev 3:5He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
- Rom 10:9–10that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- Luke 12:8–9“I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God;
- 1 Jn 4:15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
- 2 Tim 1:8Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,
- Rev 2:13“I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. You hold firmly to my name, and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
- 1 Sam 2:30“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed.
- 1 Tim 6:12–13Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
- Matt 25:34Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
- John 9:22His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
- Ps 119:46I will also speak of your statutes before kings, and will not be disappointed.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 10:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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