In Jesus, God really became one of us and thus our brother; nevertheless, he did not cease to be God at the same time and thus our Lord. The Council of Chalcedon in the year 451 taught that the divinity and the humanity in the one person Jesus Christ areContinue Reading
“For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven” (Nicene Creed) [456-460] In Jesus Christ, God reconciled the world to himself and redeemed mankind from the imprisonment of sin. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). In Jesus, God took onContinue Reading
“You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am” (Jn 13:13). [446-451, 455] The early Christians spoke as a matter of course about the Jesus as “Lord”, knowing that in the Old Testament this title was reserved as a form of addressing God. Through manyContinue Reading
When Jesus calls himself “God’s only-begotten Son” and Peter and others bear witness to this, the expression means that of all men only Jesus is more than a man. [441-445, 454] In many passages of the New Testament Jesus is called “Son”. At his baptism and his transfiguration, the voiceContinue Reading
The brief formula “Jesus is the Christ” expresses the core of the Christian faith: Jesus, the simple carpenters’s son from Nazareth, is the long-awaited Messiah and Savior. [436-440, 453] Both the Greek work “Christos” and the Hebrew word “Messiah” mean the “Anointed one”. In Israel kings, priests, and prophets wereContinue Reading
Jesus means in Hebrew “God saves.” [430-435, 452] In the Acts of the Apostles Peter says, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12) This is essentially the message that all missionaries brought to people.Continue Reading
Without the Gospels we would not know that God sent his Son to us men out of his infinite love, so that despite our sins we might find our way back to eternal fellowship with God. [422-429] The reports about the life, death, and the Resurrection of Jesus are theContinue Reading
God does not just look on as man gradually destroys himself and the world around him through the chain of reaction of sin. He sends us Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer, who snatches us from the power of sin. [410-412, 420-421] “No one can help me” – this maximContinue Reading
No. Man is deeply wounded by original sin and is incline to sin. Nevertheless, with God’s help he is capable of doing good. [405] In no single case are we obliged to sin. In fact, however, we sin again and again, because we are weak, ignorant, and easily misled. AContinue Reading
Sin in the strict sense implies guilt for which one is personally responsible. Therefore the term “Original Sin” refers, not to a personal sin, but rather to the disastrous, fallen state of mankind into which the individual is born, even before he himself sins by a free decision. [388-389, 402-404]Continue Reading
