Category: 2021 – The Apostles’ Creed

The Creed makes a turn here. Pontius Pilate is there to remind us that God acted at a particular moment in human history.  Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36.  While the mention of Pilate in the Apostles’ Creed may seem odd, it highlights Christ’s suffering as a historical event. 

The eternal Son entered our world, and a human court convicted Him of crimes He didn’t commit.  This event really happened.  Jesus, fully human, experienced real suffering at a specific point in history.

The words of the creed, “crucified, died, and buried,” serve as essential pillars of the Christian truth and point to the centrality of the cross as the symbol of the Christian faith.

The death of Christ is one of two central and essential dimensions to the work of Christ for our salvation.  The cross and the empty tomb represent these two dimensions clearly.

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While we’re now four months removed from Christmas, this fourth piece of The Apostles’ Creed takes us back to the miracle of Christmas and fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

We believe that Jesus Christ was “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” Through this confession, the early church Fathers appealed to the virgin birth as proof not that Jesus was truly divine as distinct from being merely human, but that he was truly human as distinct from merely looking human.

If Jesus is just a man, a human being like the rest of us, he shares our need for redemption—and he can’t redeem us.  He is part of the problem, not our solution.  On the other hand, if Jesus is God—and God alone—He has no point of contact with us.  He cannot relate to those who need redemption.  Jesus’ humanity provides that point of contact.  Therefore, we arrive at the conclusion that Jesus must be divine and human if He is to redeem us.

Yes, for Jesus to be Savior, He must be both God and man, and in order to achieve this union between God and humanity, Jesus must be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary!

Click here for more from Myers, Chandler, Packer, and Mohler