The Apostles' Creed: Jesus Christ, Fully Man

The Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

Amen.

The Word

John 12:32-33 (CSB) As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.

The Belief

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit

Matthew 1:18–25 (CSB)
¹⁸ The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.

²⁰ But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

²³ See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her

²⁵ but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

Big facts:

• it was the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit that conceived Jesus Christ within Mary
• the Roman Catholic Church will still teach that Mary is and will forever be a virgin. However, we know from the Bible that Joseph and Mary had at least 6 more children after Jesus:

Mark 6:3 (CSB) Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us? ” So they were offended by him.

born of the Virgin Mary

Why is this so important? Why was it so important for Mary to be a virgin when she conceived Christ?

It was one of the many Messianic prophecies from Isaiah some 400 years before the birth of the Messiah:

Isaiah 7:14 (CSB) Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

There have been times in church history where it was important that Mary was a virgin or not. One pastor exclaimed, "If we scientifically proved that Mary was not a virgin, then my faith in Christ would not waiver."

To which another pastor replied, "If Mary was not a virgin, that would make God a liar. Which he is not."

This supernatural, Godly, out-of-this-world, almost fantasy-fiction yet absolute, theological fact is a base, primary tenet of the Christian faith.

Believe everything else but this? Congrats, you are not a Christian. You are some historical cult or sect (and not a new disbelief) but you cannot call yourself a Christian.

suffered under Pontius Pilate

So why this is important?

This makes the life and death of Jesus Christ--apart from any other myth or story in history--and historical fact.

The Roman-Greco empire, the greatest empire in history and for all the gods they loved to worship, was a godless, God-hating nation.

Yet, in their history books, state this one fact: Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, suffered under Pontius Pilate.

There will be some hivemind atheists and agnostics who will try to deny the historical Jesus. But to do that would make you look foolish to not only the world but to other sensible atheist.

Attack the Christ from every angle just reinforces Romans 1:18-25. To attack Christ from an historical angle makes you look dumb and stupid.