Saying you belong to him

Both translations on this site say confess. The Greek word behind it means standing up for someone in public: saying out loud that you belong together. That doesn't only happen in church, but before men: at work, in your family, among friends. And Jesus promises that he will then stand up for you before the Father.

Jesus also names the other side: deny. That word returns later with Peter, who said three times that he didn't know Jesus. Yet Jesus took him back. So this saying is no threat to someone who stumbles once. It is an invitation not to hide whose you are.