The Apostles Creed | Jesus Christ The Only Begotten Son of God
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son; our Lord.
The problem of being over 2000 years removed from the events of the New Testament (and even more for the events of the Old Testament) is we can begin to feel question the historical nature of the events. Instead, we reduce the Bible as a mere collection of stories designed to encourage people to live moral lives. This analysis couldn’t be further from the truth as it only arose the further away from the events they occurred and embodies doubt without reason. When we proclaim we believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, we proclaim faith in an actual person who walked this earth.
Proclaiming the Lordship in Jesus Christ means we put our faith and trust in an actual person who died on the cross as an actual event and derives authority from a true and triune God. In short, we do not get to reinterpret the person or teachings of Jesus Christ to say what we feel they should. Lordship involves submission to a higher authority. No matter how we want something to be true, in submitting to the nature of Jesus as Christ, the ruler and King, we lay our will down before Him. Furthermore, we acknowledge that, while others may claim to have a way to everlasting life, only Jesus makes this possible to approach the Father by merit of being His one and only Son.
The Exclusivity of Jesus Christ
The way to the Father is through the Son. Jesus then, as the only Son of God, provides the only path to the Father. Furthermore, Jesus and the Father stand is unison with one another, having coexisted for all eternity (with the Holy Spirit), present a path to restored relationship between God and man. But this path occurs distinctly by grace through the works of Jesus Christ on the “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7 ESV) Jesus declares His exclusive authority to provide salvation for mankind while simultaneously welcoming people from anybody who would come to Him as Lord.
Yet, we must not fall into the trap that the exclusivity of Jesus Christ involves any type of standard that subclasses of people will be outright rejected. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11 ESV) There is no room for any kind of bigotry or racism in the body of Christ as all will be made equal in the eyes of the Lord. Jesus Christ, as the one and only Son, holds the power to save people from the consequences of their sin. No other path will lead to eternity. All other beliefs will lead a person to an eternity in hell. This is not spoken to shame those who do not follow Christ but rather to encourage them that there is no standard in which they can disqualify themselves from being eligible to follow Jesus. The only hope a person has for eternity comes from Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who seeks to rescue the lost and turns sinners into saints.
Christ as The Messiah
We must also bear in mind that Christ is not the last name of Jesus but instead functions as a title that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, and the King. Walking in obedience to Jesus involves submitting to the complete Lordship and Kingship of Jesus Christ. Not only is Jesus the only eternally begotten Son sent by the Father but He is the Christ, the King over all creation. “‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” (Colossians 1:15-18, ESV) Jesus should be the foundation of our lives as He is the one who saves us from our sins, paid our debt in pull, and advocates on our half to the Father. Jesus is no mere story or fictional superstitious character who helps us be nice but He is a real figure of the God made flesh in human history and expanding throughout all eternity who came to rescue people to Himself.
Jesus defines the term of our salvation and His personhood. When we come to Jesus with a list of demands of how we believe Jesus should act, we approach God with an arrogance that we can define the things God loves and God hates or we imply that God needs us. In truth, Jesus is the ruler and the Messiah and we need Him. God manages the universe with ease and without our help. We, likewise, managed to bring sin into a paradise. Jesus, as a real figure is not defined by us but, in our submission to Him, we allow God to define and redeem our identity for His glory. Jesus came in a real point in history to rescue His people from their sin. Yet, for however real the historic Jesus is, He is more than a human figure but the God made flesh to rescue mankind from their sins.
