Apostles’ Creed (part 3)

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And in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. // Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, // Born of the Virgin Mary.

    • Eccl 11:1–11. Is there anything new under the sun? Is there anything where we might say, “Look! This is new?” God in the flesh.
    • “And” I believe in Jesus Christ …
      • God the Father and Jesus the Son are not one and the same but forever distinct from one another. The unity is not a fusion/blending.
      • Yet, God the Father and Jesus the Son are not independent of one another. “God is eternally the Father of the Son, and the Crucified is eternally the Son of the Father. They can never be separated; when they are not acknowledged together, neither is worshiped or glorified at all.”[1]
    • The Father sends the obedient Son and the Son freely goes by his own initiative. And in so doing reveals God, not someone different, but someone more fully revealed.
      • But not completely. For example, God’s holiness is not a theme developed in speaking of Jesus. Illustration: “On a visit to the theater, we are all familiar with the way in which, in any drama, things known about a key character in acts 1 and 2 can be transfigured by things that only come to light in act 3. The change in our perception may be and often is radical and once we have experienced it, we can never back and see acts 1 and 2 in the same way again.”[2] And if you stumble into the play at act 3, with no prior knowledge of the play, “We would almost certainly become one of those annoying people who whisper their questions (loudly) to the person sitting next to them through the remainder of the performance. … [We are] “uninformed and malformed if we do not know our Old Testament well.”[3]
  • Jesus Christ
    • A story, a name, a title. Jesus—everything is centered in a particular time and place. And Jesus is given titles: “Christ”, “only Son,” “our Lord.”
    • The Christ Event: 2 Tim 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ …”
      • The Master Story of Phil 2:6–11. “Because he was in the form of God, he humbled himself.”
      • “[Jesus] is Emmanuel, God in the highest, God with us and for us, God become like us and one of us, but without sin.”[4]
      • Rich avenues of exploration include the “I Am” statements in John that are rooted in God’s name YHWH.  “Lord” as it connects to “Adonai” “YHWH” and “Kyrios.”
      • Jesus as prophet, priest, and king. Lord. “I Am.” And various titles. Especially here, “Christ” — Messiah, the anointed one. See Acts 2:36 and Col 1:18ff.
      • Atonement—Exchange Formula. See 2 Cor 5:21, 8:9; Heb 9:13–14.
    • God alone is the creator of all things (John 1 & Heb 1).
    • God alone has authority over all things (Phil 2).
    • God alone is worshiped (Matt 28).
    • Therefore, “all deity (Col 2:9).
  • The Nicene Creed’s purpose was to expound upon the nature of the Son due to contextual controversies.
  • What is the Holy Spirit’s role in the story of God?
    • Gen 1:1–2 The Spirit hovers over creation.
    • Ps 104:30 “When you send forth our spirit, they are created.”
    • Gen 2:7 God breathes spirit into the clay, and it becomes a living being.
    • Isa. 32:15 God’s Spirit is poured out over all flesh connected to the restoration of Israel. See also Isa 11:2; 51:11; 61:1; 63:10–11; and Joel 2:28). The Holy Spirit brings about restoration and connected to the holiness of God and the holiness required of God’s people.
    • “So when the Spirit broods over the womb of Mary, we see a picture of God’s creative work happening all over again.”[5]
    • Referencing Origin’s imagery of an iron rod placed in fire, Ben Myers states, “Jesus is truly human: nothing but iron. He is truly divine: nothing but fire. Jesus is so permeated by the divine presence that every part of his humanity is filled with divine energy. He is born of a woman: he is conceived by God’s Spirit. He is human: he is divine. He is iron: he is fire.”[6]
    • And the story continues with Elizabeth (Lk 1:41). And in us Rom 8:11. And it is the same Spirit (Acts 1:12; 2:1–4) where we find the conception of the Church.
  • Virgin Mary
    • The Creed is not designed to answer questions about biology but to give witness to a mystery. (See Matt. 1:20, Lk. 1:35).
    • How many turning point stories can you name that hinged on the birth of a child? The child carried the very promise of God. Especially women who, it is miraculous that they conceived.
      • Sara
      • Rachel
      • Samson’s mother (Judg. 13)
      • Hannah
      • Elizabeth
      • Mary
      • Isa 54:1–3, 13
    • Paternity—our paternity is like his paternity
      • Born of God (John 1:11–12).
      • Born from above (John 3).
      • Rom. 1:3–4 “concerning [God’s] Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness and by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

[1] Harned, Creed and Personal Identity, 49. See Appendix A.

[2] Hart, Confessing and Believing, 71.

[3] Hart, Confessing and Believing, 71.

[4] Harned, Creed and Personal Identity, 51.

[5] Myers, The Apostles’ Creed, 44.

[6] Myers, The Apostles’ Creed, 44–45.