Sunday, August 12, 2018

When the Church Confesses "Jesus is Lord"...



1. implying that the Christ of faith was none other than the Jesus of history (Acts 2:34-36),

2. acknowledging the deity of Christ (Jn. 20:28; Phil. 2:6, 9-11)

3. admitting the Lord’s personal rights to absolute supremacy in the universe, the church and individual lives (Acts 10:36; Rom. 10:12; 14:8; 1 Cor. 8:6; Jas. 4:15),

4. affirming the triumph of Christ over death and hostile cosmic powers when God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9; 14:9; Eph. 1:20-22; Col. 2:10, 15) and therefore also the Christian’s hope of resurrection (1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:14),

5. epitomizing the Christian message (kerygma; cf. Rom. 10:8-9; 2 Cor. 4:5) and defining the basis of Christian teaching (didache); cf. Col. 2:6-7),

6. declaring everyone’s accountability to the Lord, the righteous judge (1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8),

7. making a personal and public declaration of faith (Rom. 10:9), which testifies to their being led by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), and

8. repudiating their former allegiance to many pagan ‘lords’ and reaffirming their loyalty to one Lord through and in whom they exist (1 Cor. 8:5-6; 1 Tim. 6:15; [1 Thess. 1:9]).”

-- Murray J. Harris, New International Commentary on the Greek New Testament on 2 Cor. 4:5

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