I.
INTRODUCTION
My
beliefs in and about Jesus Christ and reasons of my beliefs are solely rested
upon the truth recorded in the Holy Scripture. Since Scripture is inerrant in
its autograph and in transmitting God’s truth, what it says about Jesus Christ
is inerrant too. I believe that Jesus Christ is who the Bible says He is, an eternal
truth which could not be refuted. As Bruce Milne believes how the authority of
the faith is verified, I too believe that my personal faith towards Jesus
Christ is vindicated and echoed by the Creeds, the historical confessions of
spiritual giants, the mind of the Church, Christians’ experiences and reasoning,
and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.[1]
Jesus
Christ has been the centre figure throughout the entire Bible. He is acknowledged
of His transcendent nature in His pre-existence, divinity and eternity. I
believe in sayings of the early Fathers that since Bible proclaiming nobody has
ever seen God the Father, thus the Lord, the Angel of the Lord or the Commander
of the Army of the Lord etc whom the Old Testament people encountered is indeed
the manifestation of the very person of Jesus Christ.
II.
JESUS
CHRIST IN THE BIBLE
Jesus
Christ is pronounced in Genesis as the coming offspring of Eve who will crush
the head of the Serpent (the Liar or the Satan). He is portrayed in Isaiah 9:6 as
the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of
Peace. Isaiah 42 depicts Him as a Servant chosen by God to proclaim and
establish God’s justice over the earth. Isaiah 53 further depicts Him as a
suffered Servant of the Lord who took up our infirmities and carried our
sorrows. Daniel titles Him the Ancient of the Days and Isaiah called Him
Immanuel. The psalmists call upon Him as the Savior, the Lord, the Horn of
salvation or the Deliverer. He is generally referred to as the Messiah or the
Anointed, the Branch which signifies the restorer or deliverer of Israelites.
Each and every of these names of Jesus Christ speaks of His image and His
functions.
In
the Synoptic Gospels, He is seen as an earthly man who possessed supernatural
power of God to perform signs and wonders, proclaiming the coming of the
Kingdom of God, healing the sick, confronting the power of Satan, delivering
people from the oppressions of the devils, pardoning the sins of many and
raising the dead. He taught and reinterpreted the Law of Moses with great
authority and people were amazed of His mighty works. In Gospel of John, He
acclaimed Himself to be the Son of God in relation to the heavenly Father, and even
equal Himself to God.
In
Epistles, He is described by Paul as a cosmic and infinite Christ who rules
over all the authorities on earth and of heaven. In Revelation, he is the coming
Supreme Judge. Jesus Christ is constantly referred by His followers as the Lord,
for His doings and sayings are understood to be exclusively attributed to God.
He is also constantly referred to as the Savior, where the tile is used in Old
Testament only for God.[2]
III.
THE
PERSONHOOD OF JESUS CHRIST
I
believe Jesus Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity. He is indeed God and He
co-exists and relates with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as three
distinctive Persons in the Beginning throughout the Eternity.
I
believe that Jesus Christ is the preexisted Son of God and He is the Word
through which God creates the world (John 1:1-3). He is self-existed,
unchangeable and self-sufficient with God. He unites with God the Father and
God the Holy Spirit in Oneness in term of their common beings in divine nature
and character. The Trinity involves actively and cooperatively in their purpose
and mission towards the Creation and the mankind.
The
New Testament authors clearly proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and
He is equal to God, and He is indeed the very Godhead Himself (John 10:30). He
is the Alpha and He is the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the
End (Revelation 22:13), and He is the firstborn from among the dead. Jesus
Christ plainly refers Himself in John as “I AM”, and relates His identity to a self-existed,
pre-existed and self-revealed God found in the Old Testament when God revealed
Himself to Moses as “I AM what I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
The
Apostles’ Creed which is known as the Creed of Creeds, a statement of faith of
early Christians towards our Lord Jesus Christ, proclaiming Him to be God’s
only Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate in crucifixion, died and rose after the third day of His death,
has ascended to heaven sitting on the right hand of the Father and will come on
earth again to judge the living and the death.
The
Nicene Creed in AD325 asserts that Jesus Christ is the “true God of true God”,
who is of one substance with the Father. The Trinity were said to be three
persons sharing one divine essence and life.[3] The council of Chalcedon
in AD451 declared that Jesus is made up of the same essence as the Father. He
is made up with two natures without confusion, without change, without division
or separation. It is believed that Jesus is the same “Godness” as the Father, having
the complete divine attributes and being of God.[4] He possesses within Him the
equal glory and power with the Father.
The
testimonies of Scripture, the early Fathers and the Creeds identify Jesus as the
Second Person in the Trinity. I believe in Creeds because those statements have
been witnessed by early Apostles and Church Fathers who were either seen or
heard from Jesus’ disciples directly or indirectly, and the formation of their
dates are very close to the writings of the New Testament canon.
IV.
THE
INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD
I
believe Jesus Christ as the begotten Son of God who was incarnated in the
course of human history. He was born in Bethlehem of virgin birth from his
earthly mother Mary who had been overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit
(Luke 1:35). He walked on earth as other normal Jewish men for thirty-three
years under the law (Galatians 4:4). His birth is both of divine and of human
nature. From the divine dimension, the incarnation is the sovereign act of God[5] without any involvement of
a human father. His birth indicates God’s ultimate reign over the world and the
humanity. He was born with the divine will which comprehended the will of the
Father and had the desire to do what the Father asked of him. From the human
dimension, he was Word became flesh (1 John 4:2) and born as a complete human
being, tempted in every life aspect, yet in his human will he chose to obey God
and did not sin throughout his days on earth (Hebrew 4:15; 2Corinthians 5:21).[6] Apostle Peter demonstrated
Jesus as a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:19).
I
believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Firstly, the Heavenly Father
acknowledges Him as His beloved Son (Matthew 3:17). Secondly, Jesus Himself
testifies of His identity as the Son of God in many instances, and He called
God “abba Father” (John 17:1), which is never used by other Israelites before. Jesus
Christ seems to possess strong conviction and awareness that He is from above
and He is the Son of God. Thirdly, He demonstrates heavenly authority both in
His teaching and His supernatural acts (inclusive of raising the dead,
forgiveness of sins etc) which neither rabbis nor religious leaders of His day
ever have possessed. Unlike others, He receives revelation from God directly
and He teaches the truth with the real experiential knowledge with God (John
7:16; 8:38).
John
1:18 clearly states that no one has ever seen God the Father, but it is through
the incarnated Son of God that one can perceive the image of God. John 14:9
Jesus reaffirms that whoever sees Him sees God the Father. In Colossians 1:15
we are told that Christ is God’s humanly presence, and He is the image of the
invisible God. The Bible has ample examples showing us that an autonomous man
is unable to understand or perceive God with his corrupted insight and mind. It
is through the incarnated Son of God that God speaks to His people in these end
times, demonstrating the power, wisdom, authority, glory, majesty and holiness
of God (Hebrews 1:1-2). Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, both the nature
and the image of God are revealed to us. Jesus Christ is the One we meet in
Scripture as well as the One we encountered in our history.[7]
V.
JESUS
CHRIST AND HIS CRUCIFIXION ON THE CROSS
I
believe Jesus Christ has taken up the cross of a sinner and died of a sinner’s
death for our sin, though he is perfectly holy and without sin. In the Garden
of Gethsemane, he was greatly distressed and agonized by the pains of facing
death, yet he chose to submit under the mighty hand of God and took up the cup
of sufferings and went ahead onto the Cross (Mark 14:32-42). His shed blood has
cleansed us and through his death he opened a new way for us to access to God
(Hebrews 10:19-22). His death is a substitute death for us and we are thus spared
from eternal death.
Jesus
Christ was betrayed by his own disciple Judas Iscariot, handed by Jewish
religious leaders unto the hands of the Romans’ procurator Pontius Pilate, who
delivered him to be mocked and humiliated (dressed in a purple robe, placed on
head a crown of thorns, with a scepter of reed in his right hand, being spat,
slapped and struck) by the Romans soldiers and flogged in front of the public,
and finally was crucified on the Cross in Golgotha (Mark 14:43-15:41). I
believe that He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our
iniquities (Isaiah 53: 5-6). It is for the sin of mankind that He has to be
sacrificed on the Cross to bear our trespasses. He who has no sin had made by
God to be sin for us so that we can become the righteousness of God. He has
become the curse so that we are redeemed from the curse of the law. Before
Christ’s crucifixion, sin is cleansed through sacrificial offerings given to
God on the altar. After Christ’s once and for all High Priest’s offering of Himself
as a righteous and blameless sacrifice, we are redeemed and justified in Him
(Hebrews 2:17; 5:1-2; 9:11-14).
Jesus
Christ died of the most humiliated death which is reserved only for the
despised criminal of that age, and He was crucified with the two thieves
hanging besides him. He came to serve, suffer under many circumstances and to
give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 8:31; 10:45). He was buried in a tomb
which was bought by Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57-61).
VI. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
I
believe that Jesus Christ rose from the death by the power of the Holy Spirit
on the third day of his death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was witnessed
by an empty tomb where he was buried. The resurrection of Christ is a bodily
resurrection. The same body which is crucified, died and buried is the same
body which is raised by the power of God unto resurrection. The body is
transformed into glorious form and is dominated by the Spirit and is thus
incorruptible.[8]
The Apostles’ Creed has affirmed the belief that Christ’s resurrection is
indeed of the body.
After
the resurrection and before his ascension to heaven, he had appeared to more
than five hundred people of his days (1 Corinthians 15:7-8). The disciples have
indeed seen and touched His resurrected physical body and He even claimed this
body to be of flesh and of bones (Luke 24:39). Jesus stayed on earth for forty
days witnessing the Kingdom of God and assuring his disciples of the coming of
the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and Counselor who will continue his ministry
on earth (Acts 1:1-5).
I
believe that through the atonement of sin done on the Cross with the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ, that he had willingly become our substitution and
offered by God as a sin offering for all. In Romans 10:9 we are told that if we
confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God
raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. He bore our sin and we are set free
from the power of the darkness, death and eternal judgment. We were once at
enmity with God but through Christ’s death and resurrection we are reconciled
to God and are given a new identify and a new life in Him. We are restored to
be the children of Light. The ultimate purpose of sacrificial act of Christ on
the Cross is to reconcile us and bring us back in our relationship with God and
to place us once again as God’s children in His Kingdom (1 Peter 3:18), so that
we can enjoy everlasting peace with God through His grace (Romans 5:1-2).
I
believe that Jesus Christ had indeed obtained the keys of death and Hades, and
he had overcome the power of death and all spiritual forces beneath the earth,
on earth and above heavens (Revelation 1:17-18; Philippians 2:10). He has
triumphed over death and darkness. Ephesians 1:22 says that all thing are
placed by God under Christ’s feet. He was appointed to be head over everything
for the church. His fullness fills everything in every way. He was not just
physically lifted up on the Cross before the people, but through his
willingness to go through humiliation and sufferings, he was spiritually
exalted before the eyes of the world.[9]
VII.
THE
SAVIOR FOR ALL MEN
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior and
Lord for all human beings. The incarnated Son of God is the Lord of all in the salvation
plan and purpose of a Triune God. Through incarnation, Jesus Christ emptied
himself and humbled as a man and subordinates his will under the divine will of
God. He chose to be in the flesh in order to accomplish the work of redemption
for all mankind.
The
Bible has been conveying the message of Jesus Christ being the One and Only
Savior for the world, both for the Jews and for the Gentiles. Prophet Isaiah
has pronounced so in Isaiah 43:11. In Acts 4:12 the apostles firmly declared
that salvation can be found in no other places as there is no other name under
the heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. It is only God who
can offer salvation for all mankind. John 3:16 and 1 John 4:14 make known to us
that it is out of the love for the world that God has indeed sent His Son to
save us, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but possess eternal
life.
I
believe that Jesus Christ has fulfilled His Messiahship (Luke 2:26-32) as reveled
in the Old Testament prophecies and was offered as a Passover Lamb by dying for
the sinners on the Cross. I believe too that His death on the Cross is in the
mind of God as Jesus had foretold the disciples of His death several times in
the Synoptic Gospels.[10] His death is of a
voluntarily act in obeying the will of the Father who sent Him on earth (John
12:27). His love for the Father and for the people God has entrusted to Him
compels him to yield his life on Calvary for the unworthy sinners (John 3:16;
Romans 5:8). By being a Passover Lamb of God, he signifies the new exodus through
whom God uses to deliver a new community out of the darkness of a sinful world.
VIII. THE SECOND COMING OF
CHRIST
Jesus
Christ has ascended to heaven after resurrection and is now sitting at the
right hand of the throne of God. He becomes the Mediator between men and God
(1Timothy 2:5-6), interceding for the salvation of all men, and whoever call
upon His name and received Him as the personal Savior and Lord shall be redeemed
from this sinful and evil world and are saved from eternal judgment and condemnation
of the end. Jesus Christ is both the representative of God and the
representative of man.[11]
I
believe in the promise of His word that Christ will return on the Day of
Judgment. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ will signify the end of this age,
and the beginning of the new heaven and the new earth. There will be separation
of His good and evil servants on the day of His return, and He will judge among
all peoples. I believe that His second coming will be a glorious hour when all
knees shall bow and all tongues shall confess that Jesus Christ is truly the
Son of God, the Lord and the King. Multitudes from all nations will come before
the throne of God for worship (Revelation 7:9-10).
The angels declared in Acts 1: 11 affirming
the resurrected Jesus, Whom has ascended to heaven will be the same one descending
from heaven in the exact manner in coming future (Acts 1:11). The book of
Revelation echoes him as the one who will come with the cloud under the witness
of every eye, including those who persecute him (Rev 1:7). The Second Coming of
Christ will be a definite future event which all believers shall await
expectantly. A New Heaven and a New Earth shall be established upon the coming
of the Lord on the Day of His Judgment.
IX.
CONCLUSION
The
Bible is the ultimate authentic source concerns about the truth of Jesus
Christ. Throughout the generations, many believers and followers of Christ
through their personal relationship with God and their faith or experiences,
will witness that Jesus Christ is truly what the Bible says who He is, the
Savior and the Lord of all men. He is not a God far away, but the God who dwell
in our midst, full of glory and power, love and grace. I truly believe that as
He lives, those who profess Him as the Lord and Savior shall live forever.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bloesch,
Donald G. Jesus Christ: Savior & Lord.
Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1997.
Dunzweiler,
Robert J. Understanding the Bible. Hatfield:
Interdisciplinary Biblical
Research
Institute, 2000.
Edwards,
James R. Is Jesus the Only Savior. Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing
company, 2005.
Emmanuel,
Mano. To Faith Add Understanding: Kohuwela
: Colombo Theological
Seminary,
2009.
Geisler,
Norman L. The Battle for the Resurrection.
Nashiville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989.
McFarlane,
Graham W.P. Christ & The Spirit .Cumbria:
Paternoster Press, 1996.
Milne,
Bruce. Know the Truth. Nottingham:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1998.
Paterson,
David. The Word Became Flesh.
Glasgow: Paternoster Press, 2003.
Stott,
John. The Cross of Christ. Leicester:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1987.
Wells,
David F. The Person of Christ.
Westchester: Crossway Books, 1984.
[1] Bruce Milne, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian
Belief (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 1998), 26-29.
[2] James R.
Edwards, Is Jesus the Only Savior (Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing company, 2005), 49-50.
[3] Robert J.
Dunzweiler, Understanding the Bible:
Essays in Theology and Apologetics (Hatfield: Interdisciplinary Biblical
Research Institute, 2000), 89.
[4] Mano Emmanuel, To Faith Add Understanding: An Introduction
to Christian Doctrine (Kohuwela : Colombo Theological Seminary, 2009), 106
& 134.
[5] David Peterson,
The Word Became Flesh: Evangelicals and
the Incarnation (Glasgow: Paternoster Press, 2003), 80.
[6] David F. Wells,
The Person of Christ (Westchester:
Crossway Books, 1984), 42.
[7] Graham W.P.
McFarlane, Christ & The Spirit: The
Doctrine of the Incarnation According to Edward Irving (Cumbria:
Paternoster Press, 1996), 12 & 55.
[8] Norman L.
Geisler, The Battle for the Resurrection
(Nashiville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), 21-50.
[9] John Stott, The Cross of Christ, (Leicester:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1987), 205.
[10] Stott, The Cross of Christ, 16-47.
[11] Donald G.
Bloesch, Jesus Christ: Savior & Lord
(Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 158.
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