2. One Lord Jesus Christ

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I’d like to begin tonight by showing you a picture of our esteemed Associate Minister, Brian. He is - as you know - a very wise, learned, somber, and serious man… A scholar and teacher of the Bible, a pastor to many who takes seriously his work.

So here he was last week. SLIDE

When Brian texted me this image I responded to ask if he had slapped any heretics today?

I asked that because Santa Clause is sometimes called Saint Nicolas.

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Now Saint Nicolas was a Christian leader in the early centuries of the church - he was alive at the time of the council of Nicaea (the council which gave rise to this Creed we are studying).

And the legend goes (and, by the way I say ‘legend’ because the legend is almost certainly not true)… the legend goes that St Nicolas was so enraged with Arius the heretic he slapped him before the watching crowds.

Now, as far as I’m aware Brian hasn’t done any slapping (of heretics or otherwise) and AGAIN I’m very sorry to say (because it is a great story) that that story probably isn’t true.

But it gets us back in time and back in our minds to the council of Nicea.

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If you weren’t here last week I would really recommend listening back to Brian’s talk from Sunday past. He introduced this Council of Nicea…

It was one of the early church councils, called by the Emperor Constantine, to help the church address a PROBLEM.

The problem was the teachings of this influential heretic, Arius who believed (and taught) that Jesus (the Son of God) was NOT (as the phrase goes) coexistent and coeternal with the Father.

Arius’ thinking went like this…

Sons are born to their Fathers.

Jesus is the Son of God the Father.

Therefore there must have been a time when Jesus was ‘born’, or ‘begotten’ and ‘created’ or (somehow) ‘generated’.

Therefore there must have been a time when the Son WAS NOT.

But this is out of step with the Bible… and (if it were true) would actually undermine our salvation. We could have no confidence in knowing God, and being saved, and experiencing eternal life - if Arius were right.

Gladly though…. Arius is not right… and the Council of Nicea showed that…. Defended the gospel… and (amongst other things) laid the ground work for this Creed we call the Nicene Creed an we are celebrating 1700 years of its inception this year - 2025.

Just before we dive into the heart of the Creed - this second section on Jesus the Son…

You might be asking - why do we even need or want creeds like this?

There are number outs creeds and confessions…. We frequently recite another ancient Creed in this church - the Apostles Creed. We as denomination also have a longer document - the Westminster Confession of Faith which (we believe) sums up BIble teaching.

But some people might respond (somewhat smugly) and say “well I have no Creed but the Bible!”) The Bible is my Creed, I don’t need anything else…. After all the Bible is God’s Word and Creeds are just man-made.

That is true of course…. Our supreme standard…. The only RULE in the end of faith and life IS the Bible.

But of course the next question is… well what does the Bible teach? How can we capture or sum up or teach its central messages?

RIFF - ask a ‘Bible only’ Christian what do they believe about Baptistm? And they’ll start to create a creed.

Anyway… look again at the Creed - it’s on your service sheet.

RIFF - a word different here or there / translations from Greek (just like the NT)

We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth,of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And his kingdom will have no end

That is a long and rich section… we’re going to pick out three essential things.

Jesus is IN ETERNITY - BEGOTTEN

IN ESSENCE - DIVINE

and ON EARTH - THE SAVOUR

So let’s crack on, here’s no. 1

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1. In Eternity - Begotten

so again, we read…

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.

The important phrase here is ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN.

Last week, in the first section of the Creed we began to look at GOD - we saw that he is One God, but in THREE PERSONS - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

RIFF - this is mysterious but wonderful - God is relational at the very heart of his being.

Each person of the Trinity is FULLY GOD. But each person of the Trinity is also distinct from the others.

For example…

The Father is not the Son

And the Son is NOT the Father.

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The word used here to describe the Son is the Greek word μονογενής

MONOGENES - It’s often translated One and Only SOn, or Only Begotten Son…

For example…

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John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Or the verse we read earlier…

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John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Or this from 1 John 4:9

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1 John 4:9 NIV

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

PAUSE - BREAK OFF…

Now, think it through…

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God the Father cannot be a Father unless he has a Son (because that’s what it means to be a Father). If I go around saying that I’m a dad…. And someone says to me “oh that’s nice how many kids do you have?’ And I say ‘none’ - they’ll be escorting me off with the little men in white coats because what I’m saying makes no sense. One of the things which is unique about the FATHER is that he has a SON.

Likewise one of the unique markers of a SON is that he has a FATHER WHO BEGAT him (who generated him).

So far Arius would have been tracking with us… he would have agreed… but here’s where the division starts to come.

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Arius argued (and let me quote him now)…

That the Son (Jesus) “did not exist prior to his begetting.”

If you went far enough back (says Arius) to a time before all worlds… before all ages…. Back to a time that was (perhaps even) before time as we know it existed… you would reach a point when Jesus- the Son of God did not exist. And then at some point AFTER that the Father became a Father by begetting the Son.

In other words… Arius thinks Jesus is a bit like me…

SLIDE - DAD

I Am a SON…. I have a Father - his name is John. There was a time before I was born - when I was NOT a son (because I did not exist). But of course at that time too… my Father was not a Father.

Now that is all true of ME… but if that is also true of God then we have some MAJOR issues…

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If there was as time when the Son did not exist… then that was also a time when the Father was not a Father.

Arius’ God, in other words is a God who changes in himself.

But Scripture says that God does NOT change.

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Malachi 3:6 NIV

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Or James 1:17 SLIDE

James 1:17 NIV

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

And Specifically when it comes to the Son (Jesus) - Hebrews 13:8 SLIDE

Hebrews 13:8 NIV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Theologians also have an important doctrine called the SLIDE Aseity of God - this just means that God is entirely self sufficient and self existent… he does not need to rely on anyone else for his existence… he is eternally self existent…

But of course if Jesus is a created being - even one created before all worlds… even one through whom everything else was created… well that means (as, again Arius said) there was a time when the Son was Not. But that means Jesus is not eternal… which means Jesus (the Son) is NOT God - not fully God at least, not God in the sense that the Father is God.

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And so the Nicene Creed now turns the screws on Arius and his ideas… just to make that he can’t sneak his ideas through by the back door on some technicality.

There are four explanatory phrases - which make it very clear what ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN means.

You’ll actually recognise some of these phrases from that famous Christmas Carol ‘O come all ye faithful’.

First…

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God From God

You’ll see versions of the Nicene Creed where this is translated God OF God.

This is not a superlative… like we use the phrase Holy of Holies… of King of Kings.

God FROM God is probably a more helpful translation.

Listen to Kevin de Young explain what this means….

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Jesus Christ is God from God, and the fact that God is used in both halves of the formula suggests that the Son is the same kind of God as the God from which he comes. The phrase also communicates that the Son is not a part of God. He is wholly God of wholly God. KEVIN DE YOUNG

Just in case there is any misunderstanding… the Creed throws in another phrase.

Second we get…

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Light from Light

We read (just this morning) in John’s gospel…

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John 1:4 NIV

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

LIGHT is a title that the Bible gives to God.

For example 1 John 1.5 SLIDE

1 John 1:5 NIV

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Light is a kind of divine title.

The Son is not a lesser light than the Father.

But then the Creed throws in a THIRD statement… and again, here’s Kevin de Young to explain why.

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The Son is “very God of very God.” This clause is crucial, especially with regard to the Arian controversy. The defenders of Arius might have said that the Son was God of God. They might have affirmed that Jesus Christ was God and that he came from God. They might have affirmed these statements because they reckoned the Son to be a different sort of God than the Father. But the Arians would not have said that the Son is “very God,” for that implies that the Son is no less God than the Father (“very” is an archaic way of saying “truly”). KEVIN DE YOUNG

So there’s a our next phrase True God from True God

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True God from True God

Or - to use the Old Language “very God from Very God”.

This piggy backs again from John chapter 1….

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John 1:1 NIV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Do you see? Three times three phrases which are like equal equations… hammering hoe the point that the Father and the Son are co-equal, co-existent, co-eternal…

What is on one side of the equation (for ther Father) is on the other side of the equation (for the Son).

GOD from GOD

LIGHT from LIGHT

TRUE GOD from TRUE GOD

Now we get to the crux… the next phrase.

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Begotten, not made.

You see for Arius… when it comes to begetting for God worked just like begetting for people…

In other words if the Son s the son and the Father is the Father there must have been a time - a moment - a point at which the Father begat the son - and if that’s he case the Son must not be eternal… cannot be God in the same way or to the same extent that the Father is.

But the Nicene Creed says - don’t limit God! He isn’t a creature like us…

There is mystery here yes… it can be hard to understand (sure) - but what did you expect, we’re talking about ALmighty God after all. Jesus is begotten… he is the Son… but he is ETERNALLY the son and ETERNALLY begotten - he has simply always been the son…. Just as the Father has always been the Father and the Spirit the Spirit.

He was in eternity begotten.

This is mysterious but should lead us to wonder and WORSHIP!

Listen to Kevin de Young again….

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The Christ child we worship in the manger is none other than “very God of very God,” the only begotten Son who is from the Father but was not created or made by him. Many of us have been reciting Nicene theology since before we could read or write. We know it to be true. We know it to be glorious. We know it to be beautiful. And so we sing. KEVIN DE YOUNG

God of God, Light of Light lo he abhors not the Virgin’s womb. Very God begotten not created

O COME LET US ADORE HIM

Secondly - here’s the next crunch point (we’ve already begun to touch on it - -so more briefly now).

The Son is…..

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2. In Essence - Divine

This is really a confirmation of what we have already been seeing - so we can be brief here…

SO - go back to the Creed once again….

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We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father. 

That word essence is the Greek word SLIDE (ὁμοούσιος) homoousios

That’s a two part word - homo (meaning the same as) and ousia meaning essence or being.

Now look, much ink is spilled over this word - it was put into the creed to make sure that Arius and his heretic friends could NOT sign up to it.

For our purposes tonight let me just quote Kevin de Young again to help us see what it means for us…

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The Nicene Creed: What You Need to Know about the Most Important Creed Ever Written 3 One Substance

” For the Son to be homoousios with the Father means that they possess the same “Godness.” Whatever “stuff” goes into being God, or whatever attributes make God to be God, the Son is God in this way. The Lord Jesus Christ is one in essence—or one in being, coessential, or consubstantial—with the Father.

But thridly now… as we begin to draw all of this to a close - why does it matter?

Why does it matter that Jesus is in Eternity (always) Begotten… or in his very Essence - truly divine?

Well partly it’s just about understanding Jesus righty… but more than that it has a HUGE bearing on our salvation.

That brings us to our final point this evening…

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3. On Earth - the Saviour

See now how the Creed goes on?

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For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

Do you see that the Creed goes STRAIGHT on to talk about Jesus’ work of salvation?

“for us mean nd for our SALVATION” (he came down)…

And how is our salvation from sin achieved? Well it’s through his miraculous incarnation - Jesus takeson flesh… it’s through his sacrificial death - on the cross… where he pays for the sin of the world… it’s through his glorious ressurecction where he is raised from death, defeating death and the powers of evil….

And now we wait for him to return - we take this glorious gospel to as many as will hear it and receive it so that they might repent and believe and become adopted as children of God BEFORE that great and glorious day when he will come again to judge the living and the death and bring in his eternal reign.

In other words the Creed jumps straight from WHO Jesus (the Son) IS…. to speak about WHAT he (the Son) Does - his work of Salvation.

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And her’s the thing… he can only do what he does because he is who he is.

And so here in the incarnation we have a saviour who is FULLY GOD.

(RIFF - not a bit God, not partially God, not a lesser God…)

He is also - and this is a subject for another day… he is also - by taking on flesh - FULLY MAN.

And both of those things are important. If one or other of those thigns were not true… JESUS (the Son) could not be our saviour.

The second one is obvious I guess… we tend to think about that more frequently I guess… if Jesus is not fully man, how can he be our representative? In order to stand in OUR place and die OUR death and pay for OUR sins - he must be one of us - he must be human.

But the first poitn is every bit as crucial… Jesus is a man, but he is also GOD. If he weren’t God he would be (well) just another sin-stained human int he line of Adam… he would have his own sin to atone for so couldn’t atone for the sin of others…

Equally how could a mere man bear the sins OF THE WORLD and satisfy God’s justice. He could not.

But gloriously… becuase Jesus IS very God of very God… because he is Begotton but not made… because he and the Father are of the same essence…

Or, as Jesus himself says it in John 10:30 SLIDE

John 10:30 NIV

I and the Father are one.”

because of that he can indeed be our saviour on earth.

BREAK OFF

I really hope this evening has not seemed like some dry theological lecture about a 1700 year old creed… actually the topic is older than that - the topic is timeless becuase God is timeless and ageless…

I hope all of this stretches our minds and warms our hearts and leads us to worship God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

O come let us adore him.

Let’s pray.