The Apostles’ Creed: “…and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord…”

The Apostles’ Creed: “…and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord…”

God has a Son.

God did not have a son. He has a Son, and He always has had a Son, since before the world began.

In fact, it is essential to the identity of the one true God that He has, and always has had, a Son.

In the beginning, in Genesis 1, God said, “Let us make man in our image.”

The book of Proverbs ponders the question, “Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name?”

The world did not know the name of the Son of God until the fullness of time came, when God sent forth His Son into the world. And now we know: His name is Jesus, and He is the only begotten Son of God.

When Christians proclaim that we believe “in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,” we are declaring three things:

First, that our hope and trust are in Jesus. The Christian isn’t simply stating in the Apostles’ Creed that he believes Jesus existed, or even just that he believes Jesus died for sinners. The Christian proclaims that he believes Jesus died for him, and that his only comfort in life and in death is being known by Jesus his Savior.

Second, we proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. Even more than earthly sons reflect the image of their earthly fathers, the Son of God, Christ Jesus, is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature. Putting our hope and trust in Jesus Christ is what sets Christians apart from every worshiper of every false god. Many say that Jews, Muslims, and Christians all worship the same God. But that is not and cannot be true, because whoever denies that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God denies God Himself. He is the image of the invisible God; in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form; to deny Jesus Christ is to deny the one true God.

Third, the Christian proclaims in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus is Lord;

He is our Master. We worship and serve Him.

He is our King: we obey His commandments, and we trust that He can and will save us from our sins, from death, and from the kingdom of Satan.