and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

People from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem were going out to him, and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

He confessed -- he did not deny but confessed -- "I am not the Christ!"

(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.

However, God's solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from evil."

Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,

If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.