Session 3

The Apostles Creed Study

1.      I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

“but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31 NKJV)

            There is so much in this short verse about Jesus and who He is.

Jesus is the Christ – He is the foretold and awaited Messiah who would come to recover and redeem all God created.

Jesus is the only Son of God – He is of the same nature and existed before time and was involved in the creation of all that is like the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Since Jesus is a Son we are made aware of the different workings of God and that there is a different relationship in the three persons of the Trinity.  Perhaps Jesus is referred to as a Son since He is the only Person of the Trinity to become human.  (Jesus is totally human and totally God.)

Jesus is our Lord – The first affirmation of faith of those who followed Jesus was simply “Jesus is Lord.”  When trouble comes why do we blame God?  When we disagree with scripture why is it scripture that always loses?  If Jesus truly is Lord than He not only has the truth, but IS THE TRUTH!  So the affirmation truly is:  “Jesus is Lord, and I am not!”

Even the word “our” shows that through Jesus our connections and relations have been changed since as Jesus is our Lord we join with those who affirm this and claim Jesus as their Lord.

What does the word believe mean?  (Look in a Bible dictionary.)

If “Jesus is Lord, and I am not!” how does that affect the way you live?

If someone asked what it means that Jesus is the only Son of God how would you respond?  (Realize that those who are Jewish, Muslim and Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity or that Jesus is the only Son of God.   They see this teaching as heresy.)

Please write who Jesus is to you.  How does that fit with the Creed?