Galatians 4:4–5 “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
After the affirmation that there is only one Lord, the eternally begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Apostles’ Creed summarizes the life of Christ from His incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary to His death and burial. As we read throughout the New Testament, these events—as well as His resurrection and ascension—are crucial to our salvation.
Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary,” in the words of the creed. This gives us the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ, which might be more accurately called the “virgin conception of Jesus Christ.” According to Luke 1:35–38, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary the virgin so as to create the human nature of our Lord in the process of the Son of God’s taking on human flesh. The result was that the person of the Son of God is the person of Christ. Jesus is truly divine and truly human, having none of the stain of sin that marks every other human being born in Adam.
Next, the creed says that Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” Pilate, of course, was the governor of Judea who oversaw the execution of Jesus and was a real historical figure. The inclusion of Pilate in the creed reminds us that the events it describes are not myths but happened in real space and real time. Furthermore, during the trial of Jesus, Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd clamoring for His death, declaring, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). The church has long recognized that with these words, Pilate said more than he knew. Jesus is the true man, the fullest embodiment of what it means to be human and the head of a new humanity whose God-ordained destiny is eternal life with our Creator (1 Cor. 15:22).
Having been tried under Pontius Pilate, Jesus was convicted of rebellion against the Roman Empire even though He was guiltless. Consequently, He was “crucified, dead, and buried,” as the Apostles’ Creed states. Looking to the New Testament, we see that to confess the crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus is to do more than simply recount historical facts. It is to affirm what God was doing in the atonement behind the scenes. Paul explains in Galatians 3:10–14 that Christ bore the divine curse against the sin of His people, satisfying the wrath of God so that those who trust in Jesus are restored to a right relationship with God. The body of Jesus was then buried, Joseph of Arimathea’s taking care to prepare it properly out of respect for the Savior (Matt. 27:57–60).
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Coram Deo Living before the face of God
At the heart of the message concerning Jesus Christ is the cross, the suffering and death of Jesus on our behalf. If we have not proclaimed the cross and how it satisfies divine justice, then we have not actually proclaimed the gospel. Our fundamental problem is sin and how it separates us from God and His blessing, and the only way to be restored to that blessing is through the sin-bearing sacrifice of Jesus.
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