Jesus Christ

“Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”

— Matthew 16:16 (ESV)

Jesus Christ is the eternal second person of the Trinity who took on humanity at his incarnation, born of the virgin Mary. He is the God-man: fully God and fully man in his one person, who came to reveal God and accomplish the redemption of mankind through his atoning death and resurrection. The name “Jesus” (from Hebrew Yeshua, “Yahweh saves”) identifies him; the title “Christ” (Greek Christos, “anointed one,” equivalent to Hebrew Messiah) identifies him as the one the Old Testament anticipated. The study of his person and work is called Christology.

Confessional Definition

The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession states that “it pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus… to be the mediator between God and man; the prophet, priest, and king; head and saviour of the church.”¹ To fill that office, the Son of God “did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin,” so that “two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person… which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.”² In that human nature, now united to the divine, Christ “was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure, having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” fully furnished for his threefold work as Prophet, Priest, and King.³

Biblical Basis

Scripture presents Christ as existing prior to his incarnation: he was active in creation (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17) and speaks of the glory he had with the Father “before the world existed” (John 17:5). “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14): Scripture teaches that the eternally pre-existent Son took on flesh and was born in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7-8; cf. 1 John 4:2-3), of a virgin, a doctrine well attested in the New Testament.

His earthly life is recorded across the four Gospels: baptized “when he was about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23), tempted by the devil yet obedient where Israel had failed, performing miracles and “signs,” teaching in parables, and living a sinless life in complete obedience to the Father’s will. Scripture also presents him under the titles of Prophet, Priest, and King, and as the Suffering Servant (Isa. 53) and the Second Adam (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:20-22).

His life culminated in his substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection “on the third day” (1 Cor. 15:3-4; cf. Acts 2:32), and his exaltation “at the right hand of God,” given “the name above every name” (Phil. 2:9). Scripture promises his return to judge both believers and unbelievers (Matt. 24-25; cf. 1 Thess.), the parousia Christians call the Second Coming.

Related Doctrines

References

The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689), chap. 8, “Of Christ the Mediator,” para. 1. ↩
The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689), chap. 8, “Of Christ the Mediator,” para. 2. ↩
The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689), chap. 8, “Of Christ the Mediator,” para. 3. ↩