The Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed
St John 1:1-18
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
In his Small Catechism of 1529 Dr Luther wanted to clear away all the dregs of medieval superstition present in other catechisms which distracted from the full and clear view of Christ Jesus and the holy Word of God. That he began with the Ten Commandments was unique among catechists, but it was intentional based upon his proper understanding of God’s self-revelation in His holy Word spoken to us in Law and Gospel. God’s Word to sinful men always begins with Law, which is His good and perfect will. The Law is not a measuring rod used to compare oneself with another, as exemplified by the Pharisee’s prayer in the Temple who thanks God that he is not like the rest of men. Rather the Law is a spit by which we are cut to the quick and laid bare before the holy fire of God’s wrath. Clean cut off with nowhere to turn. Save one.
Thus following on the heals of the Decalogue, the Creed is, for Luther, the Gospel. He does not concern himself with who or when it was written, but wholly embraces it as a pure and true presentation of the very nature and work of the blessed Holy Trinity, pro nobis, that is, for us. The Creed is the proclamation of the fatherly, divine goodness and mercy of the Triune God, who in love created you to be the object and recipient of His compassion and love. And who in love, for the sake of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord, does He continue to sustain you, providing all that you need both for this life and the life of the world to come. The latter being given by His Spirit, through His Word, who is begotten of the very essence of the Father.
This clear Gospel presentation comes into full view in the explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed as Luther concentrates only on the last words of the first and original Christian confession: Jesus Christ is Lord. Let’s take a look. Open your hymnals to page 322. The Creed. And once more, dear catechumens, we follow the course. What is the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, etc.” What does this mean? “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of His Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, etc.”
Jesus Christ is my Lord. For the Jewish Christian to call the Man Jesus of Nazareth Lord, was to afford to Him the title of the God the Old Testament. He was YHWH in the flesh. He who appeared to Jacob and wrestled with Him, held the thumb of His virgin Mother. He who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, which was not consumed, assumed the nature of humanity into His divinity without destroying it. He who sat enthroned atop the Ark of the Covenant between the cherubim, stooped to wash His disciples feet and reclined at Table with them to give them His very Body and Blood to eat and to drink, by which they have Life and Light.
For the Gentile Christian to confess Jesus as kyrios was more than a political statement. It was a terse confession offered in adoration to the One who is greater than Caesar and by whom all earthly governments hold power. Hence the divine irony of the Psalm: why do the Gentiles rage and the Jews plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Christ, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision (Ps 2:1-4). For what company does Christ have with Caesar? What fellowship does Light have with darkness? The darkness cannot comprehend the Light of Light begotten. The lordship of YHWH Sabaoth enfleshed is in direct opposition to the feigned lordship of Kyrios Kaiser. Perhaps now you may better understand the dire sadness of the Jews hateful allegiance, We have no king but Caesar.
As John says, He who was in the beginning with God, in whom and by whom and through whom all things were created in heaven and on earth, He who is the very Light and Life of men, the Word by which the Father spoke all creation into existence, that eternal Logos, the sole-begotten of the Father, condescended to His creation and became Man. That is to say, the Father who intimately knows His creation in love and gives her, as His good creation, of Himself, of His very essence, now sacrifices, if you will, even more, as He gives the One who shares His very essence and nature from all eternity, His sole-begotten Son, who comes from the Father full of grace and truth. He comes unto His own creation, not merely as the One by whom it was created, but as full partaker of His creation, taking on the form of a servant. He who was at the Father’s side from eternity, through whom the Father created, and in whose image man was made, came, for the sake of us men and for our salvation, down from heaven and was made Man Himself. As St Paul writes to the Colossians, In Him the fullness of the deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9).
Consider the profound significance of the deep theology of St John. He says that the Word is the Light and Life of men. Which is to say that He of whom the Father eternally said, You are my Son, today - that is, the eternal day - I have begotten you (Ps 2:7) is the self-same One who gives Light in the beginning, from the dawn of creation, if you will, even before the existence of the sun, moon, and stars! Life itself is known and lived only in and from and with Him. For in Him is not only bios, like bio-logy, that is, earthly, creative life, but zoe; eternal life, the very life of the Blessed Holy Trinity Himself! Such life you share with the Son of God who became Man in order to give you life in and with Himself and the Father, together with the Holy Spirit. Such does St John mean when he says, To all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He bestowed the right to be begotten as children of God.
And his is precisely what our Lord Jesus proclaims to Nicodemus concerning the one who receives entrance to the kingdom of God. It is not by the flesh, nor by one’s will, nor by the blood of man, but through the very act of being begotten from above by water and Spirit. Who is the One who begets from above, but the One who spoke all creation into existence through the One who is begotten from all eternity? And how does He beget, but through the One who is neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding? That is, the Holy Spirit! As was said concerning creation, the blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is intimately at work for your redemption and sanctification, as well. And you are made partakers in His Divine Life, the very life of the Holy Trinity, by being baptized into His Name! For the pneuma, the Spirit, breathes were He wishes, and you hear His sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is within everyone who is begotten of the Spirit (Jn 3:8). For faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rm 10:7).
Consider further: the Father who create all things in the beginning by and through the Word, who is Himself eternally begotten of the Father, of one substance with the Father, this eternal Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, displaying the very glory of the Father. And God the Holy Spirit, as we shall discuss next week, does not work independently from the other Persons of the Holy Trinity, but precisely in and through and by the Word which is Christ and the Word of Christ, to create and sustain faith in those who hear, where and when it pleases God the Father! Or to put it catechetically, the Law, the Torah, which is the very word and will of the Father, is revealed to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord. He is the very instantiation of the Father’s will and Word. He and the Father are one. If you have seen Him you have seen the Father. Thus all of our theology, all study and knowledge of God, is Christ-ology, which is study and knowledge of Christ. A knowledge which He Himself is and gives according to His Word by His grace and Spirit.
We shall close with this: St Athanasius, for whom the Creed is named, wrote a book called, On the Incarnation of the Word, in A+D 318. It begins by rejecting several erroneous views of creation and then presents the orthodox, Scriptural view of creation. This is a natural beginning to the discussion of the incarnation of the Son of God. Creation, the Incarnation, and the New Creation are intrinsically joined. Additionally in order to rightly understand the necessity of the Incarnation of the Word one must comprehend the consequences of the Fall into sin and man’s rejection of the image of God. And no one, but the very Word of God alone could restore, enliven, and enlighten the fallen creation, and man in particular, reconciling it to the Father, except the very Word Himself by whom all things were made.
Some have said that Athanasius’ view of the Incarnation of the Word leaves open the possibility of had the fall into sin not occurred, the Word would still have become Incarnate. This is speculation. And Athanasius understood the Incarnation as the Lord God prompted to action by humanity’s sinful condition.
Either way, the result is the same and Luther is right: Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of His Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord. He was conceived for you. He became Incarnate for you. He was born for you. He lived for you. He suffered for you. He died for you. He rose for you. He ascended for you. He will come again for you. His Holy Spirit is for you. His Word of forgiveness is for you. His mercy is for you. His love is for you. He life, His zoe, is for you. If the Word of God made flesh is for you, who or what can be against you? All of this is summed up and confessed in the great Ambrosian hymn, Savior of the Nations, Come. Let us sing!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
St John 1:1-18
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
In his Small Catechism of 1529 Dr Luther wanted to clear away all the dregs of medieval superstition present in other catechisms which distracted from the full and clear view of Christ Jesus and the holy Word of God. That he began with the Ten Commandments was unique among catechists, but it was intentional based upon his proper understanding of God’s self-revelation in His holy Word spoken to us in Law and Gospel. God’s Word to sinful men always begins with Law, which is His good and perfect will. The Law is not a measuring rod used to compare oneself with another, as exemplified by the Pharisee’s prayer in the Temple who thanks God that he is not like the rest of men. Rather the Law is a spit by which we are cut to the quick and laid bare before the holy fire of God’s wrath. Clean cut off with nowhere to turn. Save one.
Thus following on the heals of the Decalogue, the Creed is, for Luther, the Gospel. He does not concern himself with who or when it was written, but wholly embraces it as a pure and true presentation of the very nature and work of the blessed Holy Trinity, pro nobis, that is, for us. The Creed is the proclamation of the fatherly, divine goodness and mercy of the Triune God, who in love created you to be the object and recipient of His compassion and love. And who in love, for the sake of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord, does He continue to sustain you, providing all that you need both for this life and the life of the world to come. The latter being given by His Spirit, through His Word, who is begotten of the very essence of the Father.
This clear Gospel presentation comes into full view in the explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed as Luther concentrates only on the last words of the first and original Christian confession: Jesus Christ is Lord. Let’s take a look. Open your hymnals to page 322. The Creed. And once more, dear catechumens, we follow the course. What is the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, etc.” What does this mean? “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of His Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, etc.”
Jesus Christ is my Lord. For the Jewish Christian to call the Man Jesus of Nazareth Lord, was to afford to Him the title of the God the Old Testament. He was YHWH in the flesh. He who appeared to Jacob and wrestled with Him, held the thumb of His virgin Mother. He who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, which was not consumed, assumed the nature of humanity into His divinity without destroying it. He who sat enthroned atop the Ark of the Covenant between the cherubim, stooped to wash His disciples feet and reclined at Table with them to give them His very Body and Blood to eat and to drink, by which they have Life and Light.
For the Gentile Christian to confess Jesus as kyrios was more than a political statement. It was a terse confession offered in adoration to the One who is greater than Caesar and by whom all earthly governments hold power. Hence the divine irony of the Psalm: why do the Gentiles rage and the Jews plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Christ, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision (Ps 2:1-4). For what company does Christ have with Caesar? What fellowship does Light have with darkness? The darkness cannot comprehend the Light of Light begotten. The lordship of YHWH Sabaoth enfleshed is in direct opposition to the feigned lordship of Kyrios Kaiser. Perhaps now you may better understand the dire sadness of the Jews hateful allegiance, We have no king but Caesar.
As John says, He who was in the beginning with God, in whom and by whom and through whom all things were created in heaven and on earth, He who is the very Light and Life of men, the Word by which the Father spoke all creation into existence, that eternal Logos, the sole-begotten of the Father, condescended to His creation and became Man. That is to say, the Father who intimately knows His creation in love and gives her, as His good creation, of Himself, of His very essence, now sacrifices, if you will, even more, as He gives the One who shares His very essence and nature from all eternity, His sole-begotten Son, who comes from the Father full of grace and truth. He comes unto His own creation, not merely as the One by whom it was created, but as full partaker of His creation, taking on the form of a servant. He who was at the Father’s side from eternity, through whom the Father created, and in whose image man was made, came, for the sake of us men and for our salvation, down from heaven and was made Man Himself. As St Paul writes to the Colossians, In Him the fullness of the deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9).
Consider the profound significance of the deep theology of St John. He says that the Word is the Light and Life of men. Which is to say that He of whom the Father eternally said, You are my Son, today - that is, the eternal day - I have begotten you (Ps 2:7) is the self-same One who gives Light in the beginning, from the dawn of creation, if you will, even before the existence of the sun, moon, and stars! Life itself is known and lived only in and from and with Him. For in Him is not only bios, like bio-logy, that is, earthly, creative life, but zoe; eternal life, the very life of the Blessed Holy Trinity Himself! Such life you share with the Son of God who became Man in order to give you life in and with Himself and the Father, together with the Holy Spirit. Such does St John mean when he says, To all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He bestowed the right to be begotten as children of God.
And his is precisely what our Lord Jesus proclaims to Nicodemus concerning the one who receives entrance to the kingdom of God. It is not by the flesh, nor by one’s will, nor by the blood of man, but through the very act of being begotten from above by water and Spirit. Who is the One who begets from above, but the One who spoke all creation into existence through the One who is begotten from all eternity? And how does He beget, but through the One who is neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding? That is, the Holy Spirit! As was said concerning creation, the blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is intimately at work for your redemption and sanctification, as well. And you are made partakers in His Divine Life, the very life of the Holy Trinity, by being baptized into His Name! For the pneuma, the Spirit, breathes were He wishes, and you hear His sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is within everyone who is begotten of the Spirit (Jn 3:8). For faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rm 10:7).
Consider further: the Father who create all things in the beginning by and through the Word, who is Himself eternally begotten of the Father, of one substance with the Father, this eternal Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, displaying the very glory of the Father. And God the Holy Spirit, as we shall discuss next week, does not work independently from the other Persons of the Holy Trinity, but precisely in and through and by the Word which is Christ and the Word of Christ, to create and sustain faith in those who hear, where and when it pleases God the Father! Or to put it catechetically, the Law, the Torah, which is the very word and will of the Father, is revealed to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord. He is the very instantiation of the Father’s will and Word. He and the Father are one. If you have seen Him you have seen the Father. Thus all of our theology, all study and knowledge of God, is Christ-ology, which is study and knowledge of Christ. A knowledge which He Himself is and gives according to His Word by His grace and Spirit.
We shall close with this: St Athanasius, for whom the Creed is named, wrote a book called, On the Incarnation of the Word, in A+D 318. It begins by rejecting several erroneous views of creation and then presents the orthodox, Scriptural view of creation. This is a natural beginning to the discussion of the incarnation of the Son of God. Creation, the Incarnation, and the New Creation are intrinsically joined. Additionally in order to rightly understand the necessity of the Incarnation of the Word one must comprehend the consequences of the Fall into sin and man’s rejection of the image of God. And no one, but the very Word of God alone could restore, enliven, and enlighten the fallen creation, and man in particular, reconciling it to the Father, except the very Word Himself by whom all things were made.
Some have said that Athanasius’ view of the Incarnation of the Word leaves open the possibility of had the fall into sin not occurred, the Word would still have become Incarnate. This is speculation. And Athanasius understood the Incarnation as the Lord God prompted to action by humanity’s sinful condition.
Either way, the result is the same and Luther is right: Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of His Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord. He was conceived for you. He became Incarnate for you. He was born for you. He lived for you. He suffered for you. He died for you. He rose for you. He ascended for you. He will come again for you. His Holy Spirit is for you. His Word of forgiveness is for you. His mercy is for you. His love is for you. He life, His zoe, is for you. If the Word of God made flesh is for you, who or what can be against you? All of this is summed up and confessed in the great Ambrosian hymn, Savior of the Nations, Come. Let us sing!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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