Credo: A 12-part series on the creed
Editor's note: This article is the second of 12 in a new series on the Creed by Deacon Matthew Newsome. Explore the series.
Last month we began our 12-part exploration of the Apostles’ Creed by examining the first article: “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” This month we take a look at the second article of the Creed, expressing our faith in “Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.”
Different aspects of Christ’s life and ministry are treated in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh articles, but this month our particular focus will be on the Person of Jesus. The second article of the Creed is short, but relates three important facts: Jesus is the Christ, He is God’s Son, and He is Lord.
Belief in God is foundational to our faith. To be any kind of person of faith is to acknowledge that there is a God, and we’re not Him. What makes Christians unique is our faith in Christ. The most fundamental doctrines that all Christians must acknowledge to be worthy of the name are the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Holy Trinity: that is, that the one God exists as three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that God the Son took on human nature and became man. Both of these essential doctrines are revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
The Word made flesh
When the Second Person became incarnate (which we will discuss more next month), the name given to Him by the angel was “Jesus” (Lk 1:31). In and of itself, this may not appear significant. “Jesus” was among the most common Jewish male names at the time.
We might have thought Gabriel would have instructed Mary to name her son “Emmanuel” after the prophecy in Isaiah (Is 7:14, cf. Mt 1:23), which means “God-with-us.” As the Word made flesh, Jesus is indeed God-with-us, but His proper name is “Yeshua.”
This Hebrew name means “God saves” (CCC 430) and to the people of Israel it served as a reminder of the fact that they should look to no one but God for their salvation. Only God is their stronghold and their savior (Ps 62:6).
The same name can be rendered in English as “Joshua.” It is the name borne by the successor of Moses who led Israel into the Promised Land. By bearing the same name, the Word incarnate is telling us that He is the ultimate successor of Moses. He is the prophet Moses foretold God would raise up to guide His people (Deut 18:15). He is the answer to the petition, the expectation and the hope of every Jewish parent who named their son “Yeshua.” He is God’s salvation come into the world.
Priest, Prophet and King
If the name “Jesus” was given by the angel Gabriel, where does the name “Christ” come from?
The Greek “Christos” is a translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” meaning “anointed one.” To be anointed was a sign not only of God’s favor, but of a special mission. Saul and
David were anointed as kings of Israel. Aaron was anointed as a priest. Elijah received an anointing as God’s prophet. All of these figures are messiahs, or anointed ones. But from ancient times Israel had an expectation of a final and definitive Messiah who would be their liberator. Some looked for multiple Messianic figures to fulfill the various roles of priest, prophet and king. Jesus fulfills all three (CCC 436).
When Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, the Father’s voice was heard proclaiming, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). Sons share the same nature as their fathers. Human parents beget human children, not dogs or chickens. Mother cats give birth to kittens, not chipmunks. While all human beings can claim to be God’s children in a metaphorical sense, because we have God as our maker, Christians have the grace of being God’s adopted children as members of the Body of Christ. But Christ alone can claim to be the Son of God by nature. Thus we profess in the Nicene Creed that He is “begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”
Christ is Lord
God’s nature is expressed in the name He revealed to Moses, YHWH (Ex 3:14), “I AM.” God’s nature is existence itself – that means to share in God’s nature is to share His being. Thus, as God’s Son, Jesus can truly say, “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30) and “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).
This makes Jesus more than any human priest, prophet or king. He is not merely one favored by God. He is God incarnate, and so is rightly called Lord or “Kyrios” in Greek. The Catechism teaches, “By attributing to Jesus the divine title ‘Lord,’ the first confessions of the Church’s faith affirm from the beginning that the power, honor, and glory due to God the Father are due also to Jesus” (CCC 449). His divinity is demonstrated in a most profound way by the Resurrection, after which the Apostle Thomas acclaims Jesus as “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).
The union of human and divine nature in the Person of Jesus Christ has implications we will continue to unpack over the course of the coming months.
Affirming our faith in Jesus as Lord and God is something we can and should do every day, as expressed most beautifully in the traditional prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This simple prayer, modeled after the publican’s prayer in Luke 18:13, expresses perfectly three essential truths: who we are (sinners), who Jesus is (God), and what we need from Him (mercy).
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University. He is the author of “The Devout Life: A Modern Guide to Practical Holiness with St. Francis de Sales,” available now from Sophia Institute Press.
