Ways Of Confession

Qui confitebitur me coram hominibus, confitebor et ego eum coram Patre meo. Qui autem negaverit me coram hominibus, negabo et ego eum coram Patre meo, qui in cælis est.  Ac si diceret, quales mihi testes eritis coram hominibus, ut vita, moribus, confessione me indefessi praedicetis in terris, tali vos, apud Patrem, cujus et filii estis, testimonio in coelis commendabo. Ad hoc quippe totum valet quod praemiserat, ut in hoc testimonia fidei permanentes usque ad palmam martyrii fortiter decertarent. Quatuor siquidem modis in divinis litteris confessio dicitur, et duobus locis. Est itaque confessio laudis, est et gratiarum actio, quae semper fit in coelis; tertia vero confessio peccatorum, quae nunquam proficue fit nisi in terris: quarta est, de qua hic agitur, in martyrio coram hominibus, in tempore; et unusquisque eam recipiat coram Patre et coram sanctis angelis in aeternitate. Quae negatio vel confessio, non tantum verbis accipienda est, quam et in omnibus bonis operibus et puritate cordis. Unde e contrario Christus electis: Venite, inquit, benediciti Patris mei, et reprobis: Discedite a me, operarii iniquitatis, quia nescio vos. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Liber VI Source: Migne PL 120.430c-d

He who confesses me before men, I shall confess before my Father. But he who denies me before men, I shall deny him before my Father in heaven. ' 1  As if He said: As you are witnesses to me before men, that by your life, by your conduct, so you preach a ceaseless confession of me on earth, so I will commend you with testimony in the heavens to my Father, whose sons you are. And for this He makes them entirely capable, as He has said, that even to the palm of martyrdom they may strive strongly persisting in the witness of faith. There are four ways in which the Divine Scriptures speak of confession, and in two places. There is the confession of praise and the action of thanksgiving, which shall always be in heaven; then the third is the confession of sins, which cannot happen unless on earth, and the fourth is what we have already mentioned, martydom before men in the world. And each one is received in the presence of the Father and the holy angels in eternity. Thus denial or confession is not only to be understood as a matter of words, but as every good deed and purity of heart. So alternately Christ said to the elect: 'Come, blessed of my Father,' and to the wicked: 'Begone from me, workers of iniquity, I do not know you.' 2 Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 6 1 Mt 10.32-33 2 Mt 25.3