I Believe in Jesus ChristThe Apostles' Creed (3/13)

This article was first published in French at TPSG.

We believe in Jesus. This is what distinguishes us from adherents to other world religions. But does the average Christian know precisely what he believes about Jesus? The Apostles’ Creed, when closely examined, gives us words to anchor our faith. Each of its lines concerning Jesus articulates a fundamental doctrine, so we do well to examine them closely. 

The Creed in Context

But before doing so, we may ask ourselves why we read six lines of the Creed concerning Jesus Christ, but only one concerning the Father and one concerning the Spirit. Do the latter feel overshadowed by Jesus? Is there rivalry among the persons of the Trinity? Understanding the Creed in its cultural context provides one answer to this quandary. The heresies that were arising during the period when the Creed was composed tended to attack the nature of Christ’s identity. It was therefore essential to clearly articulate what the Scriptures taught concerning the Son, in order to protect the Church from those who sought to destroy it.

Jesus Reveals the Father

The second reason, however, is more theological than historical. This seeming over-representation of the Son points at the nature of the relationships within the Trinity. The Father is the invisible God. The Son is the Infinite God-Man, who took on a human nature, with all that that entailed, in order to explain God to us. 

John 1:18 - “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

John 14:9-11 - “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me.”

The Spirit Glorifies Christ

Now, let’s consider the Spirit. Is the third person of the Trinity being forgotten? Don’t get me wrong, I read Francis Chan’s book “Forgotten God,” and I appreciated some of his insights. But I would argue that the Holy Spirit has not been forgotten. His mission is to glorify the Son. So, if you are worshipping Jesus Christ, you are giving honour to the Spirit. Jesus operated in tandem with the Spirit at his conception (Mt 1:20), his baptism (Mk 1:10), his earthly ministry – teaching, casting out demons and healing the sick (Lk 4:18), and even in his death and resurrection (Rm 8:11). Jesus, moreover, prepared his disciples for the work the Spirit would do among them in John 14:13-15:

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

John Piper puts it this way: 

The Spirit is shy; he is self-effacing. When we look toward him, he steps back and pushes forward Jesus Christ. Therefore, in seeking to be filled and empowered by the Spirit we must pursue him indirectly—we must look to the wonder of Christ. If we look away from Jesus and seek the Spirit and his power directly, we will end up in the mire of our own subjective emotions. The Spirit does not reveal himself. The Spirit reveals Christ.

Consider John 15:26, in which Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit. 

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

So, to put it simply, the members of the Trinity do not compete for our attention. The Bible is by nature Christocentric, so we should be as well. Let us, therefore, turn our attention to the first line about Jesus in the Apostles’ Creed, and consider how each name or title, when closely examined, reveals an aspect of his identity.

Jesus 

Jesus is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua, and it means “God saves.” He was given this name at birth, as prescribed by the angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream, “Because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). This name speaks in part of his humanity, as it was the name he bore his entire earthly life. As a baby, as a boy among his friends, and throughout his earthly ministry, he was known as Jesus of Nazareth (Jn 18:5), as the carpenter’s son (Mt 13:55), and thus, probably, as Yeshua ben Yosef. 

Christ

Christ is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word Messiah, or Anointed One. So, it was not his middle name or last name, but rather his title. He didn’t bear this title his entire life. Progressively, during his earthly ministry, those closest to him began to realize that he was their long-expected Messiah. Jesus one day asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mk 8:27-30, Mt 16:13-20). Martha of Bethany also perceived that Jesus was the Messiah: “Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.” (Jn 11:27)

Yet, even then, these disciples were a product of their culture, and their understanding of what the Messiah ought to be was limited. Peter seemed to believe that Jesus ought to overthrow the Romans and set up his kingdom then and there. That’s why at Jesus’ arrest, he attempted to chop off the head of Malchus, one of the servants of the high priest (Jn 18:10-11). He missed and only took off his ear, but it wasn’t for lack of zeal! It was only after the death and resurrection of Jesus that his disciples came to grasp the meaning of his Messiahship. Jesus was the suffering servant of Isaiah, and not a conquering military hero.

His Only Son

You would think the doctrine of the Sonship of Jesus Christ would be uncontested among believers. Yet a heresy exists, which I have personally heard taught by an evangelical pastor, that affirms that I am just as much a son of God as Jesus is. The implication is that because the Bible calls Jesus our brother, we are his equals. The question then arises, is there a difference between the Sonship of Jesus Christ and the sonship of every believer? 

The Bible does call Jesus our brother (Hb 2:11). And the Scriptures give us the freedom, the invitation, to call God our Father (Rm 8:15; Ga 4:4–6). But here’s the difference: Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son, the only begotten Son who is co-equal with the Father. This doctrine is called divine filiation. We, on the other hand, are sons by adoption. We’ve been brought into the family of God. Praise God! As Thomas Aquinas put it, “We become sons in the Son.” But we have not been declared gods. Far from it! We should be leery of any teaching that exalts man and abases Christ to the point of making us his equals. 

Our Lord

Of all that the creed declares concerning Jesus, this might be the most subversive: “Our Lord.” Because all subjects of the Roman Empire were required to declare their allegiance to the emperor by swearing that “Caesar is Lord.” This unfettered allegiance to Christ flew in the face of Rome’s alleged tolerance for the pantheons of all their subjects. For Rome could tolerate worship of many gods, including those of their vanquished foes. But they had no concept for the singular, undivided worship of the One True God. This is why they accused the early Christians of being atheists, because they had no visible, tangible gods to bow down in front of. They also had no shrines, temples or images, but rather met simply in homes.

Walking in His Footsteps

Now that we better understand the importance of this first line concerning Jesus in the Creed, the question arises, what difference should these truths make in our lives? I would like to propose the following as points of application:

1. The better we know Jesus, the better we can love and serve him.

Or, inversely, if our knowledge of Jesus is riddled with false and shallow teaching, we will be hampered in our ability to truly know and love him. We need to drink from pure, unpolluted waters, as revealed in Scripture, to appreciate Christ in all of his glory and grow in our affections for him as a result. 

2. The better we know Jesus, the better we can make disciples.

Whether you’re a pastor or Sunday school teacher shaping the minds of your hearers, or a mother or father discipling your children, you will only transmit that which you have taken hold of for yourself. When I think in particular of the next generation, I am sobered by the realities that young people are being confronted with. Our kids are growing up in culture that is either ignorant at best, or hostile at worst, to the claims of Christ. We want to equip our youth to articulate their faith. Especially when it comes to the person of Jesus Christ. The Creed provides a framework, a starting point, from which to teach them.

3. The better we know Jesus, the better we can walk in his footsteps.

These four aspects of the Son’s person provide an example for us to follow as we pursue Christ-likeness:

• Jesus saves; he sends us out into the world to bear witness of the Savior (Mt 28:18-20). 

• Christ reigns only by first enduring the cross; we, too, will only reign with Christ if we first suffer with him (2 Ti 2:12). 

• The only Son perfectly obeyed our Heavenly Father (Hb 5:8); we can obey him through in union with Christ (Jn 14:23).

• Our Lord bowed before no other (Mt. 4:19); we can give him undivided love and loyalty.