Although much of the New City Catechism so far has been establishing the reality of our sin and condemnation that makes the gospel necessary, we finally arrived at that good news in the previous question, where we confessed that there is indeed a way for us “to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor.” The answer: “Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer.” Without having named that Redeemer, our present question is certainly the logical one to now ask: Who is the Redeemer? 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer. Even His very name testifies to this fact. Christ is not Jesus’ last name; it is His title. It is the Greek version of the Hebrew derived title, Messiah. Both mean anointed one, so we can use them interchangeably. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s servants would be anointed with oil for particular tasks (i.e. David’s being anointed as king). The oil was a physical symbol of God’s Spirit being given to them in order to accomplish their purpose. In this way, David, as the anointed king of Israel, was a christ, a messiah.

Yet the Old Testament is also littered with prophesies that spoke of a coming king from David’s lineage. By the first century, this promised king was referred to as the Christ. The people of Israel awaited the Messiah, this Son of David, with great anticipation. In fact, Jesus (or Joshua, meaning Yahweh saves) became a popular name by which the Jews expressed their hope and longing for God’s rescue from their oppressors.

As the Christ, Jesus is the redeemer of humanity that was first promised in Genesis 3:15. He is the Serpent-Crusher who would destroy the power of sin in the world and free us from the curse of death. He came as the suffering servant, God incarnate, who died for the forgiveness of our sins (Isaiah 53) and to inaugurate the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31). To call Jesus the Christ, therefore, is to declare Him as the Savior, the defeater of sin and the mediator between God and man.

Thus, no one can believe in Jesus Christ without also believing in Jesus as Christ. Jesus cannot be received as a mere teacher whenever He explicitly claimed to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). As the Christ, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, to be the Lamb of God who bears our sins away from us and upon Himself. Believing in Jesus Christ means looking to Him for salvation, for the forgiveness of our sins that we could never earn.

The catechism also calls Jesus Lord. Indeed, “Jesus is Lord” is likely the earliest creed and confession of the church. Of course, this is very Scriptural language since the phrases “Jesus Christ our Lord” or “the Lord Jesus Christ” are used constantly throughout the New Testament epistles. This is crucial because to declare that Jesus is Lord is an affirmation of His deity, that He is the eternal Son of God. It is a declaration of His authority, His supremacy, His glory. If Jesus is Lord, no one else is (at least not ultimately), not even Caesar. If Jesus is Lord, we owe Him our allegiance and our very lives. To be a Christian means submitting to the will of Jesus. It means becoming His servant.

Indeed, to be a Christian is to proclaim, “Jesus is Lord,” to surrender ourselves fully into His hand. What we do, what we say, what we see, what we hear, what we taste, what we touch must all be done for the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Nothing less will do. C. T. Studd, who left his life of wealth and privilege to “run a rescue shop within a yard of hell” by going to unreached places with the gospel, summarizes the entire message of this study well: “If Jesus is God and He died for me, no sacrifice I could make would be too great.”

It is also worth noting that this answer is pulled largely from Question 21 of the Westminster Shorter, which answers:

The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person for ever.

Of course, that Jesus is both truly man and truly God is not as prominently emphasized here in the New City because Questions 21-23 will parallel Questions 15-17 of the Heidelberg Catechism in addressing the hypostatic union more fully. I say more fully because it is not neglected here, for we read that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man. As the eternal God who has also become human, Jesus is solely and uniquely qualified and bear in Himself the penalty for our sins, but we will explain that further in the following question.