A DECLARATION OF FAITH (1977)
CHAPTER FOUR -- GOD IN CHRIST
1 (1) God sent the promised Deliverer to his people.
2 Jesus, the long
expected Savior,
3
came into the world as a child,
4
descended from David,
5
conceived by the Holy Spirit,
6
born of Mary, a virgin.
7 He lived as a Jew
among Jews.
8 He
announced to his people
9
the coming of God's kingdom of justice and peace on earth.
10 We affirm that Jesus was born of
woman
11
as is every child,
12 yet
born of God's power
13 as was
no other child.
14 In the person
and work of Jesus,
15 God himself
and a human life
16 are
united but not confused,
17
distinguished but not separated.
18 The coming of Jesus was itself
19 the
coming of God's promised rule.
20
Through his birth, life, death, and resurrection,
21 He brings about the
relationship between God and humanity
22 that
God always intended.
23 (2) Jesus lived a truly human life.
24 Jesus was what we are.
25 He grew up in a family and a
society
26
troubled by the common problems of the world.
27 His knowledge was limited
28 by his
time and place in history.
29 He
felt deeply the joy of friendship
30 and the
hurt of being rejected.
31 Jesus
prayed,
32
struggled with temptation,
33 knew
anger,
34
and was subject to suffering and death.
35 He was like us in every way
except sin.
36 Jesus was what we should be.
37 He served his Father with
complete trust
38 and
unwavering obedience.
39 He loved
all kinds of people
40 and
accepted their love.
41 In
constant dependence upon the Holy Spirit,
42 Jesus allowed no temptation or
threat to keep him
43 from
loving God with his whole being
44 and his
neighbor as himself.
45 We recognize in Jesus what God
created us to be.
46 He exposes
our failure to live as he lived.
47 He demonstrates the new
humanity
48 God promises to give
us through him.
49 (3) Jesus was God in the flesh.
50 Jesus Christ overthrew evil
powers
51
that enslaved and degraded people,
52 yet he
made no use of power to protect himself.
53 He healed those who were sick
in body and mind,
54 yet he
did not avoid pain and suffering for himself.
55 He commanded his followers to
place loyalty to him
56 above
loyalty to family and country,
57 yet he
lived among them as a servant.
58
Jesus taught with authority,
59
challenging many time-honored customs and ideas,
60 yet he
submitted to humiliation and death
61 without
a word on his own behalf.
62 He
forgave sinners,
63 yet he
was counted among sinners.
64 We recognize the work of God in
Jesus' power and authority.
65 He
did what only God can do.
66 We
also recognize the work of God in Jesus' lowliness.
67 When he lived as a servant
68 and
went humbly to his death
69 the
greatness that belongs only to God was manifest.
70 In both his majesty and
lowliness
71 Jesus is the eternal
Son of God,
72 God himself with
us.
73 (4) Jesus died for sinners.
74 Religious leaders hated Jesus
75 because
he criticized their hypocrisy
76 and
reproved their neglect of justice and mercy.
77 They charged him with blasphemy
and sedition
78 when he
claimed to speak and act with God's authority.
79 One of Jesus' followers
betrayed him.
80 Others abandoned
and denied him
81 because
they were afraid to stand with him.
82 Civil authorities condemned him
83 because
he provoked unrest among the people.
84 He was sentenced, mocked,
beaten,
85
and crucified as a common criminal.
86 We confess that in the execution
of Jesus
87 the sin
of the human race reached its depths.
88 The only innocent one was
condemned and put to death,
89 not by
sinfulness of one nation,
90 but by
the sinfulness of us all.
91 In
the presence of Jesus,
92 who
lived out what God wants us all to be,
93 we were
threatened beyond endurance.
94
Blinded by our rebellion against our Creator,
95 we
killed his Son when we met him face to face.
96 We believe that in
the death of Jesus on the cross
97 God achieved and
demonstrated once for all
98
the costly forgiveness of our sins.
99 Jesus Christ is the
reconciler between God and the world.
100 He acted on behalf of sinners
as one of us,
101
fulfilling the obedience God demands of us,
102
accepting God's condemnation of our sinfulness.
103 In his lonely agony on the
cross
104 Jesus felt forsaken by
God
105
and thus experienced hell itself for us.
106 Yet the Son was never more in
accord with the Father's will.
107
He was acting on behalf of God,
108
manifesting the Father's love that takes on itself
109 the
loneliness, pain and death
110 that
result from our waywardness.
111
In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,
112 not
holding our sins against us.
113
Each of us beholds on the cross
114 the
Savior who died in our place,
115 so
that we may no longer live for ourselves,
116 but
for him.
117 In him is our only
hope for salvation.
118 (5) Jesus is our living Lord.
119 Jesus was dead and buried,
120 but
God raised him from the dead.
121
The risen Lord appeared to his followers.
122 They recognized him as their
Master
123
who had been crucified.
124 Before
Jesus left them,
125 he
commissioned them to proclaim to all people
126 the
good news of his victory over death,
127 and
promised to be with them always.
128 We are certain that Jesus
lives.
129 He lives as God with
us,
130
touching all of human life with the presence of God.
131 He lives as one of us with
God.
132 Because he shares our
humanity
133 and
has bound us to himself in love,
134 we
have an advocate in the innermost life of God.
135 We declare that Jesus is Lord.
136 His resurrection is a decisive
victory
137 over
the powers that deform and destroy human life.
138 His lordship is hidden.
139 The world appears to be
dominated by people and systems
140 that
do not acknowledge his rule.
141
But his lordship is real.
142 It
demands our loyalty and sets us free
143 from
the fear of all lesser lords who threaten us.
144 We maintain that ultimate
sovereignty
145 now
belongs to Jesus Christ
146 in
every sphere of life.
147 Jesus is
Lord!
148 He has been Lord from
the beginning.
149 He will be Lord
at the end.
150 Even now he is
Lord.