We come now to the part of the Apostle’s Creed whereby the focus is on Jesus Christ. Note that this is the longest section in the Creed. The length reflects the fact that Jesus Christ is central to the Christian Faith – no Christ, no Christianity!
Now let’s see how the Creed presents Him:
(A) He is called Jesus (meaning “God is Savior”). It identifies Him as a historical person, Mary’s son from Nazareth in Galilee, a Jewish ex-carpenter who worked for three years as a rural rabbi and was put to death by the Roman authorities about AD 30. The four Gospels describe his ministry in some detail.
S(B) He is called Christ (literally “the anointed one”). This is a title that describes the office Jesus will occupy. It identifies Jesus as God’s appointed Savior-King for whom the Jews had long been waiting. Since Christ was expected to set up God’s reign and be hailed as the ruler of the world, to call Jesus Christ was to claim for Him a decisive place in history and a universal dominion which all men everywhere must acknowledge.
Also, the title Christ expresses the claim that Jesus fulfilled all three ministries for which men were anointed in Old Testament times, being prophet (a messenger from God) and priest (one who mediates with God for us by sacrifice) as well as being king (one who rules our life by God’s standard and for God’s glory). Jesus in the office of prophet, priest and king meets all our actual needs as sinners in rebellion against God.
First, we are ignorant of God and need instruction—for no satisfying relationship is possible with a person about whom you know little or nothing. Second, we are estranged from God and need reconciliation—otherwise, we shall end up unaccepted, unforgiven, and unblessed, strangers to His fatherly love and exiles from the inheritance which is in store for those who are his children. Third, we are weak, blind, and foolish when it comes to the business of living for God, and we need someone to guide, protect, and strengthen us. Now in the person and ministry of the one man, Jesus Christ, this threefold need is completely and perfectly met! Hallelujah!
(C) He is called God’s only Son. This identifies Mary’s boy as the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word who was the Father’s agent in making the world and sustaining it right up to the present (John 1:1–4; Colossians 1:13–20; Hebrews 1:1–3). In simple words, He is not just man, but God as well!
(D) He is called “our Lord”. If Jesus is God the Son, our co-creator, and is also Christ, the anointed Savior-King, now risen from death and reigning at God’s right hand, then He has a right to rule us, and we have no right to resist His claim. As he invaded space and time in Palestine nearly 2,000 years ago, so He invades our personal space and time today, with the same purpose of love that first brought him to earth. “Come, follow me” was His word then, and it is so still.
Is He, then, your Lord? You cannot say the Apostle’s Creed and call Jesus “our Lord” in church till you have first said “my Lord” in your heart! Have you?
Further Reading:
• Read Jesus is both God and Man by Stuart Olyott, available at Shalom Resource Library.
Questions for Thought:
• Can I have Jesus as my priest to represent me before God without Him being my prophet to teach me and my king to rule me?
WEI En Yi
[Adapted from and based on J.I. Packer’s Growing in Christ]