On the Second Article

129. How are we to understand the names Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Son of God is the name of the second Person of the Holy Trinity in respect of his Godhead: This same Son of God was called Jesus, when he was conceived and born on earth as man; Christ is the name given him by the Prophets, while they were as yet expecting his advent upon earth. 130. What means the name Jesus? Saviour. 131. By whom was the name Jesus first given? By the Angel Gabriel. 132. Why was this name given to the Son of God at his conception and birth on earth? Because he was conceived and born to save men. 133. What means the name Christ? Anointed. 134. Whence came the name Anointed? From the anointing with holy ointment, through which are bestowed the gifts of the Holy Ghost. 135. Is it only Jesus, the Son of God, who is called Anointed? No. Anointed was in old time a title of kings, high-priests, and prophets. 136. Why, then, is Jesus, the Son of God, called The Anointed? Because to his manhood were imparted without measure all the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and so he possesses in the highest degree the knowledge of a prophet, the holiness of a high-priest, and the power of a king. 137. In what sense is Jesus Christ called Lord? In this sense: that he is very God; for the name Lord is one of the names of God. 138. What says holy Scripture of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John i. 1. 139. Why is Jesus Christ called the Son of God, Only-begotten? By this is signified that he only is the Son of God begotten of the substance of God the Father; and so is of one substance with the Father; and consequently excels, beyond comparison, all holy angels and holy men, who are called sons of God by grace. John i. 12. 140. Does holy Scripture call Jesus the Only-begotten? It does. For instance, in the following places of the Evangelist John: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John i. 14. No man hath, seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. John i. 18. 141. Why in the Creed is it said further of the Son of God that he is begotten of the Father? By this is expressed that personal property by which he is distinguished from the other Persons of the Holy Trinity. 142. Why is it said that he is begotten before all worlds? That none should think there was ever a time when he was not. In other words, by this is expressed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God from everlasting, even as God the Father is from everlasting. 143. What mean in the Creed the words Light of light? Under the figure of the visible light they in some manner explain the incomprehensible generation of the Son of God from the Father. When we look at the sun, we see light: from this light is generated the light visible every where beneath; but both the one and the other is one light, indivisible, and of one nature. In like manner, God the Father is the everlasting Light. 1 John i. 5. Of him is begotten the Son of God, who also is the everlasting Light; but God the Father and God the Son are one and the same everlasting Light, indivisible, and of one divine nature. 144. What force is there in the words of the Creed, Very God of very God? This: that the Son of God is called God in the same proper sense as God the Father. 145. Are not these words from holy Scripture? Yes. They are taken from the following passage of John the Divine: We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us [light and] understanding, that we may know the true God, and be in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John v. 20. 146. Why is it further added of the Son of God in the Creed that he is begotten, not made? This was added against Arius, who impiously taught that the Son of God was made. 147. What mean the words, Of one substance with the Father? They mean that the Son of God is of one and the same divine substance with God the Father. 148. How does holy Scripture speak of this? Jesus Christ himself speaks of himself and of God the Father thus: I and the Father are one. John x. 30. 149. What is shown by the next words in the Creed, By whom all things were made? This: that God the Father created all things by his Son, as by his eternal Wisdom and his eternal Word. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made which was made. John i. 3