To know God means to know who God is and what God does as Triune Lord – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the last chapter our focus was on knowing God the Father as Lord in his work of creation. In this chapter our focus is on knowing God the Son as Lord in his work of redemption.[1] The second and largest section of the Creed presents the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

       who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,

       suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;

       he descended to the dead,[2] On the third day he rose again;

       he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

       and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

The Person of the Son

A Christian is someone who repents of their sin and believes in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. This requires understanding the meaning of the names and titles: Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, and our Lord.[3]

Jesus Christ

Jesus is the proper name of an historic person who lived in the early first century in Jewish Palestine when it was part of the Roman Empire. The four Gospels tell us his parents were Joseph and Mary from Nazareth in Galilee where he worked as a carpenter. He was a rural rabbi for three years before being put to death by Roman authorities around AD 33.

Jesus’ Greek name Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) is derived from the Hebrew name Yeshua (ישע‎), meaning “to deliver; to rescue; to save.” Before his birth, an angel told Jesus’ parents to name him Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21).

Christ is not Jesus’ family surname. It is a title taken from the ancient Jewish Scriptures that refers to God’s promised Anointed One, the Messiah, the one through whom God promised to deliver his people, Israel.[4] Christ is from the Greek Χριστός (Christos) meaning Anointed One, a Greek translation of the Hebrew title Messiah mashiah (מָשִׁיחַ).[5]

Through the Old Testament prophets, God made a New Covenant with Israel in which he promised that he would forgive them, give them new hearts by his Spirit, and establish his universal kingdom on earth through his Messiah, the Christ.[6]

God’s Only Son

Jesus, who is the Christ, the Messiah, is also described in the Bible as God’s only Son. Throughout the Old Testament, the term “son of God” refers to people who have a special relationship with God, including the first human, Adam (Luke 3:38), the nation of Israel (called God’s “firstborn son” (Ex. 4:22, Hos. 11:1)), and the kings of Israel.[7]

But when the New Testament refers to Jesus as the “Son of God,” it’s referring to a unique sonship that is only shared by the one eternal second person of the Trinity. When the Creed calls Jesus God’s only Son, it’s echoing Scriptures like “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).[8] Jesus’ title as God’s only Son affirms his deity and equality with God the Father – that he is as truly and fully God as the Father is God.

The Scriptures present Jesus as the eternal, preexistent Son of the Father who shares the same essence and being as the Father.[9] This means that the Son and the Father are One God. Paul teaches that Jesus was God’s Son before his incarnation in the first century (Rom. 1:3-4, 8:3). He is the eternal Son through whom God created all things (Heb. 1:2, John 1:1-3).

The Bible teaches that God’s only Son, the second person of the Trinity with a fully divine nature, took on a human nature in his incarnation and now has both natures. As the God-man, Jesus Christ will have both natures for eternity.

Therefore, he is one person who possesses two natures: a divine nature and a human nature. Each nature is inseparably united in his one person, but each nature also keeps its unique properties so his divine and human natures are never fused or blended in any way.[10]

According to his eternal, divine nature, Jesus Christ is always all-knowing, all-powerful, and always present everywhere – like the Father and the Spirit. However, according to his human nature, he also experiences the fullness of his humanity, including not knowing everything and experiencing weakness and temptation. (Luke 2:52, Mark 12:32, Heb. 2:17-18, 4:14-16)

The Nicene Creed was written in response to many theological controversies regarding how best to understand this mysterious biblical teaching that Jesus Christ is both divine and human.[11] Heresies emerged contending that if Jesus Christ is fully God, he cannot also be fully human. And if Jesus Christ is fully human, he cannot also be fully God.[12] To help clarify a biblical view of Jesus divine and human nature, the Nicene Creed includes these carefully chosen words:

And [we believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,

begotten from the Father before all ages,

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,

begotten, not made;[13] of the same essence as the Father.

Through him all things were made.

After centuries of doctrinal controversy regarding the biblical teaching on Jesus’ person and natures, in 451 AD, the historic ecumenical Council of Chalcedon issued the Chalcedonian Definition stating that Jesus is "perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man.”[14]

Our Lord

Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, is also given the title Lord in Scripture.[15] Lord is the personal, covenant name of God that tells us that God speaks with supreme authority, he is in sovereign control of all things, and his transforming love and presence is always with us as his covenant people. Perhaps the most fundamental affirmation of Christian belief in the New Testament is the statement “Jesus is Lord.” (Rom. 10:9, 1 Cor. 12:3)[16]

Similar to his title as God’s only Son, his title Lord is another strong affirmation of Jesus’ deity. The good news Peter proclaims at Pentecost is that because of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension, God made him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).[17]

The Humiliation of the Son

The first phrase, I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, describes who Jesus Christ is, his person. The remaining affirmation describes his work, what Jesus Christ did for us and for our salvation.

And I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

       who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,

       suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;

       he descended to the dead, On the third day he rose again;

       he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

       and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

The work of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord can be described as his humiliation and his exaltation. His humiliation includes his birth, life, and death. His exaltation includes his resurrection, ascension, and coming return.

His Birth

The next phrase in the Creed describes the Son of God’s first act of humiliation: “who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” [18] In the first century, the eternal Son of God entered this world in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and by an act of supernatural power called the virgin birth. (Isa. 7:14)[19]

Something miraculous happened in the first century. The eternal Son of God entered the world he created and took on the fullness of humanity by assuming both a human body and a human soul.[20] Now the resurrected and ascended Christ is at the right hand of God the Father as the God-man with two natures and one body forever.

His virgin birth confirms that Jesus, though not less than human, was more than human – he was also divine. It also affirms that Jesus, as God’s only Son, did not inherit the original sin of Adam, so he was completely free from all sin.[21]

His Life

So far in the Apostles’ Creed, there has been no mention of original sin or the Fall of man that resulted in a corrupt humanity and world that is ruled by Satan and hostile to God. (John 12:31, 14:30, 2 Cor. 4:4, 1 Jn. 5:19) But now we read the words: He suffered under Pontius Pilate.[22]

Under Roman occupation, the Jewish authorities could not execute Jesus. So after they condemned him for confessing that he was the Christ, God’s anointed Savior-King, they passed him on to their governor, Pilate, to carry out his execution.

Although the apex of Jesus’ suffering was when he was put to death on a cross under Pontius Pilate, the Scriptures teach that Jesus suffered for us throughout his whole life

Paul presents Jesus as the second man and the last Adam. (1 Cor 15: 45-47) When the first man, Adam, was tempted in the garden, he failed to obey God, resulting in eternal death for humanity. (Rom. 5:12-14) But when the second man, Jesus, was similarly tempted throughout his life (see especially Matt. 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13) he perfectly obeyed God resulting in eternal life for humanity. (Rom 5:18-19)

Jesus did battle with every spiritual enemy that defeated us and held us captive. He faced every kind of temptation known to humanity from the world, the flesh, and the devil. But unlike us he never sinned, so that through his suffering to obey, he could earn a perfect righteousness for us before God, completely obeying all of God’s commands in thought, word, and deed.[23]

His Death

When describing Jesus’ death, the Creed says, He was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.[24] This affirmation echoes Paul’s teaching that seems to be a standard summary of the good news in the first century: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [and] that he was buried” (1 Cor. 15:3-4a).

Paul includes the death and resurrection of Christ as being “of first importance” in understanding the heart of the Christian gospel. Jesus’ crucifixion was the means of his death and Jesus’ burial was its proof. The central message regarding Jesus death is that it is “for our sins,” meaning that Jesus died as our substitute, in our place.[25]

Paul adds to his phrase “Christ died for our sins” the phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures” referring to God’s promises revealed to Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures to rescue his people and the world after Adam and Eve sinned. Through the prophet, Isaiah, God promised a Suffering Servant who would rescue his people. (Isaiah 53:6-11)

As God’s promised Suffering Servant, Jesus willingly offered himself up to God for us as not only our substitute in his life, but also in his death. (Acts 2:22-23, Rom. 5:9, Gal. 3:13, Phil 2:8, Heb. 9:11-12) When Jesus died on the cross, he did not simply experience the pain of physical suffering and death. He also suffered God’s curse for us, the full wrath and punishment of God that we deserve because of our sin. (2 Cor. 5:21

The Scriptures also present Jesus as our Victor through his death for us on the cross.[26] Soon after the Fall of humanity into sin, God promised that he would send the “seed of the woman” (Christ) to deliver a fatal blow to Satan and his rule over humanity and the world. (Gen. 3:15) Through his death on the cross, Jesus crushed Satan under his feet accomplishing for us a great victory over all the powers that held us in bondage: Satan, sin, and death.[27] (Matt. 4, Luke 10:19, Rom. 16:20, 1 Cor. 15:51-56, Eph. 6:10-17, 2 Cor. 2:14, Col. 2:11-15, 1 John 2:13-14)

 
Footnotes:

[1] In the next chapter our focus will be on knowing God the Spirit as Lord in his work as Restorer.

[2] This phrase is often translated, “he descended into hell.” We’ll explore the meaning of these affirmations in our study of Jesus’ death later in this chapter.

[3] Martin Luther writes, “Let this, then, be the sum of this article that the little word Lord signifies simply as much as Redeemer, i.e., He who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same. But all the points which follow in order in this article serve no other end than to explain and express this redemption, how and whereby it was accomplished, that is, how much it cost Him, and what He spent and risked that He might win us and bring us under His dominion, namely, that He became man, conceived and born without [any stain of] sin, of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, that He might overcome sin; moreover, that He suffered, died and was buried, that He might make satisfaction for me and pay what I owe, not with silver nor gold, but with His own precious blood.” The Large Catechism – The Book of Concord, Article II, section 31.

[4] The Ebionites were an early Jewish Christian sect that believed Jesus was chosen by God to be the Messiah but denied his divinity, pre-existence, virgin birth, and substitutionary atonement.

[5] The title Christ as the Anointed One may also refer to the claim that Jesus fulfilled three ministries for which men were anointed in the Old Testament: 1) prophet, 2) priest, and 3) king.

[6] The New Covenant is the culmination of the Covenant of Grace, through which God pledges to keep all his previous covenant promises (Jer. 31:31-34, Ezek. 36:24-28, Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:38-39), including the forgiveness of sin, a new heart, and a new world, through the Christ of the covenants.

[7] The Old Testament concept of “sonship” is connected to King David’s reign. God’s promised Messiah would be both a new king of Israel and a new David, thus he would be the Son of God. But the New Testament traces this theme back even further, earlier than David. The New Testament presents Jesus as the True Israel (Hos. 11:1, Matt. 2:13-15) Israel was the name God gave to Jacob, one of the sons of Abraham. And Paul teaches that Jesus is the second man and the last Adam. (1 Cor. 15: 45-47) This traces Jesus’ sonship back to creation: Jesus is son of God also because he is a son of Adam, the first man (Luke 3:37).

[8] Mark begins his gospel, writing, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). At Jesus’ baptism, and later at his transfiguration, God the Father spoke from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:16-17, 17:5).

[9] The Nicene Creed affirms the biblical teaching that Christ’s person is of the same essence as the Father’s and the Spirit’s. The Greek word homoousion (ὁμοούσιον) translated of the same essence means of the same being or status. It describes the equal ontological status (consubstantiality) of the three persons of the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[10] Theologians use the term hypostatic union (from the Greek: ὑπόστασις hypóstasis, "substance") to describe the inseparable union of Christ’s deity and humanity as one individual existence or one person. Christ’s hypostasis (person) exists in two natures (divine and human) and is not the same as the Father’s hypostasis (person) or the Spirit’s hypostasis (person). Christ’s hypostasis (person), with his two natures, is of the same essence and being (homoousion) as the Father’s hypostasis (person) and the Spirit’s hypostasis (person).

[11] Some of the more prominent heresies included: 1) Modalism (Sabellianism) taught that Jesus was not a distinct person, but one of three modes or manifestations of the one (monadic) God. 2) Arianism (A type of Subordinationism) denied the eternal, pre-existence of Jesus and taught that God the Father created (begat, birthed) him at a certain time before he created the world. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are modern-day Arians. 3) Adoptionism (Dynamic Monarchianism) denied the pre-existence of Jesus and taught that he was born an ordinary human and was endowed with supernatural powers (adopted) as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension –so Jesus is divine but not equal with the Father. 4) Apollinarism defended Jesus deity against Arianism, but went too far by denying the existence of Jesus Christ’s fully human (rational) soul in his human nature. Apollinarianism was condemned as heresy by the second ecumenical council, the Council of Constantinople (381 AD).

[12] The Monophysites taught the heresy that Jesus has only one divine nature, denying his full humanity. The Nestorians taught the heresy of Dyophysitism, which affirmed that Jesus has two natures, but denied the full hypostatic union of his two natures, thereby denying his full deity. Nestorianism was condemned as heresy by the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD (the third ecumenical council) when the council reaffirmed the Nicene Creed.

[13] It is difficult to describe accurately and biblically the unique, mysterious nature of the eternal relationship of the Son to the Father, and the meaning of the historic creedal affirmation that Jesus Christ is “begotten not made.” Some translations of John 3:16 read, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (NAS). Other New Testament translations read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his “only Son” (ESV) and his “one and only Son” (NIV). The debate is about the biblical meaning of the Greek word monogenēs (μονογενής) to describe Jesus. Some of those who believe the Greek word means “only begotten” argue from Scripture for the doctrine of “eternal generation,” that teaches that the Father eternally communicates the divine essence to the Son without division or change so that the Son shares all the attributes of deity with the Father, yet is also eternally distinct from the Father. Those who believe the Greek word monogenēs (μονογενής) simply means “only” or “one and only” as a description of Jesus Christ’s unique Sonship, sometimes argue against the doctrine of “eternal generation.”

[14] From the 5th century to today, all branches of Christianity have affirmed this historic definition as the biblical view of Christ’s person and natures. This carefully-worded statement repudiates the notion of a single nature in Christ, and affirms that he has two complete natures, Godhead and manhood, in one individual existence or one person.

[15] Like the title, Son of God, the title Lord has several meanings in the Bible, often referring to human rulers and authorities. But the Bible’s main teaching about God is that God is Lord.

[16] Paul alludes to Isaiah 45:23 and paraphrases it this way: “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).

[17] Martin Luther writes, “If now you are asked, What do you believe in the Second Article of Jesus Christ? answer briefly: I believe that Jesus Christ, true Son of God, has become my Lord. But what is it to become Lord? It is this, that He has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and all evil. For before I had no Lord nor King, but was captive under the power of the devil, condemned to death, enmeshed in sin and blindness.” The Large Catechism – Book of Concord, Article II, section 27.

[18] The Nicene Creed adds these phrases to the Apostles’ Creed: “For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human.” Some of these amplified statements in the Nicene Creed were probably added in response to other heresies like Docetism, important in Gnosticism, that taught Christ’s physical body was not truly human but just looked human (phantasm) like a ghost or an angel without true physical form.

[19] Belief in Jesus’ virgin birth is a necessary affirmation in orthodox Christian doctrine because it is integrally linked to the Scriptural revelation of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Carl F. H. Henry argues that the virgin birth is the “essential, historical indication of the incarnation, bearing not only an analogy to the divine and human natures of the Incarnate, but also bringing out the nature, purpose, and bearing of this work of God to salvation.” (Our Lord’s Virgin Birth,” Christianity Today, December 7, 1959, p. 20) The virgin birth is an analogy of salvation, indicating that salvation comes entirely by God’s grace, not by human decision and effort. Therefore, the affirmation of Jesus’ virgin birth is a necessary part of affirming Jesus’ incarnation, divinity, and the gospel.

[20] Westminster Shorter Catechism 22: “Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.”

[21] Even though the Scriptures reveal several clear truths about Jesus’ virgin birth, similar to the doctrine of the Trinity, there is still a degree of mystery that finite believers must embrace when seeking to understand the infinite Creator. When Mary asked the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:20), the angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called ‘holy’—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). God does not reveal any more details regarding exactly how Jesus’ conception was able to by-pass Mary’s sinful human nature so that his human nature remained freed from all sin. The Scriptures just tell us that the Holy Spirit “overshadowed” Mary in such a way that she became the bearer of the perfectly Holy One of God (Gal. 4:4); and her child, Jesus Christ, was without sin.

[22] One criticism of the Apostles’ Creed is that it contains no account of the life and ministry of Jesus, except to say that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. Among the earliest Christians it was customary to summarize Jesus’ life and ministry in the word: “suffering.” (Luke 24:26, Acts 17:3, Heb. 2:18, 1 Pet. 4:1) The Latin word in the Creed translated suffered is passus, from which the word “passion” is derived as a description of Christ’s suffering for our salvation.

[23] The New Testament emphasizes Jesus’ sinless life in all his behaviors, attitudes, desires, and motives. (John 8:29, 46; Romans 5:18ff.; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22-24) Jesus saves us by both his life and death. He lived the life we should have lived so that he could die the sinner’s death we deserve to die as our substitute, meeting all of God’s just demands for perfect righteousness. Before the cross, Jesus suffered for us as the Second Adam by resisting all the temptations to sin that defeated Adam and us, and by obeying God perfectly. Therefore, Jesus was the perfect, sinless lamb of God, who alone could pay the penalty for our sin and in our place. Jonathan Edwards writes “Every act of Christ’s obedience is propitious,” – not just the act of his death on the cross.

[24] The phrase “He descended to the dead,” also translated “He descended into hell,” refers to the realm of the dead where Jesus was after his death and before his resurrection. The English word hell is derived from Old English hel, helle in reference to a nether world of the dead. The Old Testament word for the realm of the dead is the Hebrew term Sheol ( שְׁאוֹל), and the New Testament word is the Greek term hades (ᾍδης). Both words refer to the realm of the dead who are waiting for the final resurrection and judgment day when Jesus returns. Another New Testament Greek word Gehenna (Γέεννα) refers to a cursed place of torment, often called hell. In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus teaches about two men who were in hades; a rich man who is in torment and Lazarus, also in hades, who is in a place of great blessing and honor called Abraham’s bosom. Therefore, the realm of the dead (hades) includes a place of torment (Gehenna) and a place of blessing (heaven). The Bible does not teach that Jesus went to Gehenna, hell, but to hades, the realm of the dead, just another way of saying, “Jesus truly died.” The Nicene Creed deleted this phrase as an unnecessary redundancy, since the creed already states that Jesus was “crucified, dead, and buried.”

[25] To make the biblical teaching on Jesus substitutionary death more clear, the Nicene Creed adds the words “for us” to the Apostles’ Creed’s statement “he was crucified.” it reads “He was crucified for us.”

[26] The Christ the Victor (Christus Victor) theory of the atonement seems to have been dominant during the Patristic Period of the Church Fathers (e.g. Irenaeus). Later, Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – 1109) clarified the biblical satisfaction theory of atonement, also called the penal substitutionary atonement.

[27] Martin Luther writes that he had been “captive under the power of the devil. I was condemned to death and entangled in sin and blindness … the devil came and led us into disobedience, sin, death, and all misfortune. As a result, we lay under God’s wrath and displeasure, sentenced to eternal damnation, as we had merited it and deserved it. There were no resources, no help, no comfort for us until this only and eternal Son of God, in his unfathomable goodness, had mercy on us because of our misery and distress and came from heaven to help us. Those tyrants and jailers have now been routed, and their place has been taken by Jesus Christ, the Lord of life, righteousness, and every good thing and every blessing. He has snatched us, poor lost creatures, from the jaws of hell, won us, made us free, and restored us to the Father’s favor and grace. As his own possession he has taken us under his protection and shelter, in order that he may rule us by his righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.” (Book of Concord, 434–435).