And in Jesus - Part 1: Conception, Birth, and Suffering
After completing the lesson the student will be able to:
Describe the biblical meaning of the word “redemption”
Describe the meaning of the name and title “Jesus Christ”
Describe the meaning of the biblical phrase “only begotten Son”
Explain why the virgin conception is so important for Christianity
SECOND ARTICLE OF THE APOSTLES CREED (fill in the blanks using your Small Catechism)
And in _______________ Christ ___________ only Son, our ___________; Who was ________________ by the ___________ _____________, born of the _______________ ___________; ___________________ under ___________________ Pilate
I ________________ that Jesus Christ, true God, _______________ of the ________________ from eternity, and ___________ true _________, born of the ______________ Mary, is _________ Lord;
Remember from our previous lesson, that there is a difference between just knowing something and believing something. The “I believe” in these statements is meant to mean more than “I know about these things” but rather “I trust that this is true and my only hope to save me.” The Second Article is about God the Son and His work of redemption. Redemption is a wonderful word that means ‘to buy back, or to ransom, to release from captivity, to deliver, or to acquit’. Why does it especially apply to Jesus Christ? He saved us by becoming a human being, and as a man He became our substitute for the penalty of our sin. Today’s lesson will focus on the fact that Jesus is both truly God and truly man. Jesus is a unique person. From the Bible we learn that He possessed two natures, God and man. Thus, He was both God and man.
To show this: look up the following verses in your Bible and write how they speak of Jesus as being truly God or possessing the quality or attributes of God.
Now let us focus on passages that speak to Jesus as being truly human—what do they tell us about Jesus?
Scripture most often refers to our Lord and Savior as Jesus Christ. The name Jesus is a translation of the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua (Joshua=Jesus). Joshua means “Jehovah saves” and thus Jesus means the same thing.
Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word “Messiah” which means “The Anointed One.” The word Christ is not so much a name as it is a title, for it really refers to the office He holds or the work which He does. An “office” means a position of authority or a work. It is also used to describe someone’s function, role or task. For example your Mom and Dad have the “offices” of Mother and Father. It describes what they do and who they are. Their office has certain authorities and rights with it, like receiving honor and obedience from their children.
Jesus holds the office of Messiah, hence He is called the Christ. In Old Testament times, priests and kings were anointed with oil, and this served as a visible sign to all the people that these individuals were set apart for a particular work.
The Bible teaches that God is One God (Dt 6:4), but three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt 28:16-20). We will talk more over this as we continue but here is the crucial point to remember: There is one God, yet distinct persons. With our finite human minds, it is impossible to fully understand, but it is the teaching of Scripture; it is how God has revealed himself to us.
In Luther’s explanation to the Second Article of the Creed, he uses the phrase “begotten of the Father.” This can be very confusing to many Christians. What does “begotten” mean? In fact, because of this language, Jews and Muslims often accuse Christians of teaching that Jesus was the product of a physical relationship between God and Mary! Let’s look at what Scripture says. We will consider two words: “begotten” and “son.”
Begotten
The term begotten only occurs in one place (John 3:16) and it carries a variety of meanings. Most often we think of the term to mean “to bring forth” or to “to produce.” We especially apply the term referring to parents bringing forth a child. However, the term is much broader than merely a child brought forth from two parents. The word begotten also means “be sent from.” Theologically, Jesus being begotten does not mean Jesus was created, rather, it means that He was sent by the Father.
Son
Similarly the term Son has a theological meaning. Matthew 3:16-17 says, “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Immediately upon being baptized, God declares His pleasure in His beloved Son. When referring to Jesus as the Son of God, we know that it does not mean God has sexual relations with Mary. So what does it mean? The early church wrestled with this question by examining what Scripture taught and they concluded that the term is rightly understood as a relational term.
The term “Son” is to be understood as referring to the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The Father loves and cares for the Son and the Son loves and gives glory to the Father. So why is this so important? Because if at some point before he was born to Mary, Jesus didn’t exist, then He is not God! God is eternal. And if Jesus is not God, than his death means nothing for the forgiveness of our sins. But, Jesus is God, and, because He is God, His death means that all of our sins are forgiven on His account!
Jesus Christ is the God-Man: Virgin Conception
Jesus is fully divine and fully human, except without sin. He is 100% divine and 100% human. How is that even possible? It’s a mystery! It is very difficult - even impossible - for us to wrap our minds arounds this truth. Jesus was conceived in a way unlike any other human - and we call this the Virgin Conception. This is critical to our understanding of our salvation. No ordinary human could pay the price for our sins since they had sin themselves. In order to pay the penalty, a person had to be perfect. The only person who was perfect, who had no sin, was Jesus. The word incarnation describes how God the Son came down to earth and took on human flesh yet without sin. Every Christmas we celebrate the incarnation of the Son of God.
