The Incarnation
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son our Lord...
Who is Jesus? Is he the Christ? Is he the Son of God? Is he God? What is he for you? How do you respond to the above line from the Apostles’ Creed?
He who is called Jesus
Briefly we know that the Jesus we know as the Christ was born in Palestine about 4BC. He grew up in Nazareth within a Jewish family. He was baptised by John the Baptist, a prophet of the time. In his thirties he embarked upon a teaching-healing ministry, which lasted about 3 years. He incurred the hostility of some of the leaders within his own community who gained support of the occupying power to have him executed. He is said to have been raised from the dead to appear among his disciples. His followers refer to him as Jesus Christ.
He who is called the Christ
Christ is the Greek word for Messiah, which is Hebrew for the anointed one. The Jews believed that the Messiah was the anointed King who would bring in the reign of God and the fulfilment of all his promises. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am.” They replied naming various prophets and past leaders. This could have led to a rigorous but inconclusive debate. However, Jesus then asked, “And, who do you say I am?” This is a question we all have to answer from our own experience of Jesus in our lives. Simon Peter’s answer was,” You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” What is your answer?
He who is called God’s only Son
Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of God, says Jesus (Matthew 5.9). While he no doubt means that peacemakers are God like in character, the Creed is telling us that Jesus is not just a Son of God, but the only Son of God. Read the Gospel of John and note all the references to God as Father and Jesus as Son, summarised by William Barclay thus: “Jesus Christ is the only Son of God because he is the love of God incarnated in a human person, and because between him and God there is that perfect bond of love which is at one and the same time the bond of perfect unity and the dynamic of perfect obedience”.
He who is called Lord
By 200 BC it had become customary in the Hebrew community to never pronounce what is God’s proper name in Scripture, Yahweh but to say Adonai or Lord instead. This avoided a possible violation of the commandment not to take His name in vain. Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner points out that where “Lord” appears in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life on earth, it is in the sense of master, teacher, prophet etc. It was after the Resurrection that the followers of Jesus called him “Lord”, meaning the “Divine One”.
The Creed calls us to remember the Jesus we knew before the Resurrection, so that following him thereafter we might use human authority to imitate his outpouring of love, instead of trying ourselves to assume his glory before our time.
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