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We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. His first advent was not an unexpected response to human sin, but part of God’s eternal plan and purpose. At the appointed time, the Father sent the Son into the world to reveal God, fulfill the promises and prophecies of Scripture, and accomplish our redemption.
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. In becoming human, the Son did not cease to be God. Jesus Christ is one Person who is fully God and fully human. He possesses a complete divine nature and a complete human nature, united without confusion or division.
Jesus lived a genuinely human life, yet He remained entirely without sin. He experienced hunger, weariness, sorrow, temptation, suffering, and death, but He always obeyed the Father.
He came to Israel as the promised Messiah, fulfilling the promises God had made through the prophets. Although He was rejected and crucified by sinful men, who remained responsible for their actions, His death was neither an accident nor a defeat. It took place according to God’s predetermined plan and accomplished the purpose for which Christ came.
In willing obedience to the Father and in love for sinners, Jesus gave His life as the perfect sacrifice for sin. He bore the judgment sinners deserved, dying as the righteous substitute for the unrighteous. His death fully accomplished the work necessary for our redemption.
Jesus bodily arose from the dead on the third day. He rose in the same body in which He had been crucified, now glorified and no longer subject to death. His resurrection confirms His identity, demonstrates the sufficiency of His saving work, and assures believers of their future bodily resurrection.
Jesus ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. He is Head of the Church and continues to intercede for those who belong to Him.
Supporting Scriptures
God’s Eternal Plan
I Peter 1:18-20; Acts 2:22-24; Acts 4:27-28
The Incarnation and Virgin Birth
Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:30-35; John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-8
Fully God and Fully Human
John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 2:14-18; Hebrews 4:15
Christ’s Substitutionary Death
Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 3:23-26; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24; I Peter 3:18
The Bodily Resurrection
Luke 24:36-43; John 20:24-29; I Corinthians 15:3-8, 20-23; Philippians 3:20-21
The Ascension and Christ’s Present Ministry
Acts 1:9-11; Ephesians 1:20-23; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1
Layman's Terms
Jesus Christ has always been God. At a particular point in history, He also became truly human without ceasing to be God.
He was born of a virgin, lived without sin, willingly died in the place of sinners, physically rose from the dead, and returned to the Father. He now represents believers before the Father and will one day give them resurrected bodies like His glorified body.
Further Study
Fully God and Fully Human
Jesus is not partly God and partly human. He is fully God and fully human. His divine and human natures are united in one Person without being mixed together or divided.
Jesus did not alternate between acting as God and acting as a man. Everything He did was done by the one Person, Jesus Christ. His two natures help us understand how He could experience genuine human weakness and suffering while remaining the eternal Son of God.
Why the Virgin Birth Matters
Jesus’ conception was the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. He did not have a human father, yet He was truly born into the human family through Mary.
The virgin birth demonstrates that salvation is God’s work. It also testifies that Jesus is the promised Son of God who entered humanity without sharing in our sin.
A Substitutionary Sacrifice
Jesus did not die merely as an example of love or as a victim of injustice. He willingly died in the place of sinners. He bore the judgment our sins deserved so that everyone who trusts in Him may be forgiven and reconciled to God.
Because Jesus was without sin, He did not die for wrongdoing of His own. The righteous One suffered for the unrighteous in order to bring us to God.
A Bodily Resurrection
Jesus’ resurrection was physical and historical, not merely spiritual or symbolic. The tomb was empty, His disciples saw and touched Him, and He ate in their presence.
His risen body was the body that had been crucified, now glorified and no longer subject to death. His resurrection assures believers that death has been defeated and that they also will be raised bodily when He returns.
Memory Verse
John 1:14
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