Essentials of the Faith - Pt 2

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1-3 ESV).

Today we begin our look at “The Essentials of the Faith” with a brief examination of the deity of Christ. It may take us a while to explore each of these. And, while I do not want us to wander to far from the daily inspiration and encouragement which has always been my goal for Morning Devotionals, I do want us to give each of the essentials a fair and representative treatment. There has been so much confusion concerning this doctrinal essential through the centuries. It is no wonder that the Apostle John felt it important enough to deal with in our reading today. Jesus makes it clear as well. He simply says, “I AM the Alpha and the Omega” (cf. Revelation 1:8). J. I. Packer gives us more insight: “Here are two mysteries for the price of one — the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” The early church considered the Incarnation to be one of the most important truths of our faith. Because of this, they formulated what has come to be called the Chalcedonean Creed, a statement which sets forth what we are to believe and what we are not to believe about the Incarnation. This creed was the fruit of a large council that took place from October 8th to November 1st, in AD 451, in the city of Chalcedon and “has been taken as the standard, orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ since that day by” all the major branches of Christianity. There are five main truths with which the creed of Chalcedon summarized the biblical teaching on the Incarnation. These are the heart of doctrine concerning who Jesus is.  Jesus has two natures. He is God and man.  Each nature is full and complete. He is fully God and fully man.  Each nature remains distinct. There is vitality in each.  Christ is only one Person. He is distinct from the Father and the Spirit, but he is one.  Things that are true of only one nature are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ. A proper understanding about these basics is important. Tomorrow we’ll dig a little deeper. Today, understand and believe that Jesus is all of God and all we ever could need. If you want to know God, know Jesus. He has revealed himself to us completely.