<p>2:23- see on Mt. 10:32.</p><p><em>Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father. He that confesses the Son has the Father also</em>- The Judaists were arguing that they were loyal to the Father, but His Son was not the Christ / Messiah. And yet they thereby were denying the Father, and did not 'have' the Father. &quot;The Son&quot; had to be 'confessed'. This is a theme of John's Gospel; that some claimed to believe in the Son, but would not &quot;confess&quot; Him for fear of the Jewish world around them (Jn. 12:42), seeing that any who &quot;confessed&quot; Jesus as Christ were excluded from the synagogue system (Jn. 9:22 s.w.). John the Baptist is held up as an example to be followed of confessing and not denying the Lord (Jn. 1:20); and Joseph and Nicodemus are presented as parade examples of Jews who progressed from secret faith to open confession. Confession of the Lord is essential for final salvation; denial of Him before men results in His denial of us (Mt. 10:32,33). The infiltrators would not openly confess the Son, and therefore remained in the synagogue system; but they were thereby effectively denying the Son, and yet they claimed some association with the church, appearing to be &quot;of us&quot; (:19).</p>