LD 11 - Jesus Our Savior

God is a Trinity. And throughout the history of Christianity this truth has shaped theological study. The Creed teaches us to worship God the Father as our creator and provider. With the Spirit we also worship "Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord."

To worship and serve God's Son we must know him. The Creed organizes two important ways in which Scripture makes him known to us. First we can know him through his names: Jesus (LD 11), Christ (LD 12), God's only begotten Son, our Lord (LD 13). Second we can know him through his works in both states of humiliation (LD 14–16) and exaltation (17–19). If this approach sounds overly scientific, don't worry. We use a similar approach to get to know others, even those closest to us.

But there is a difference. Studying the names of others usually won't help us know them better; our names aren't descriptive. By contrast, names in Scripture—and especially names of God in Scripture—reveal his nature and character. The Son of God is called Jesus because God wants us to know, first of all, that he is a Savior of sinners.