LIFE TOGETHER: AN INTERACTIVE STUDY OF 1 CORINTHIANS

JESUS CHRIST

In the Nicene Creed, which we recite each week at Divine Liturgy, we profess our belief

In one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light; true God of true God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end.

St. Cyprian of Carthage recites some of the most significant Scriptural statements about Jesus Christ:

Paul wrote to the Colossians: ‘Who is the image of the invisible God, the First-Born of every creature’ (Colossians 1:15)…In the Apocalypse, too: ‘I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end’ (Revelation 1:8)…That He is also both the Wisdom and Power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:…‘Christ, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God’ (1 Corinthians 1:24).

Orthodoxy rejects the false Christ presented by other religious groups because, as St. Irenaeus wrote:

Jesus is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, Lord, King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word…He is the Holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the clouds as the Judge of all men; - all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.