“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
These are the basic “creeds” of the Bible. The Jewish people who are active in their religion still recall this verse daily: “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Of course, they also recall that the Name of God is too holy to speak, so they substitute “LORD” for “Yahweh,” the Name revealed to Moses that indicated He is the “I AM.”
When Christians say that Jesus, the man from Nazareth, IS Lord, we are saying that this child of Mary baptized by John IS Yahweh, whose way was prepared by the voice crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3).
What difference does it make to say that? Well, the point is to believe it. And what difference does it make to believe this? For one, it results in salvation from the judgment we deserve from our sin. The Lord Jesus saves us from eternal death.
That is true but it sounds so utilitarian, so self serving. It’s more about being in relationship with God our Creator, who designed us for a relationship with him that would last forever. That’s the point.
Any time you get to know someone, you learn their name and their background and what makes them tick. The creeds of the churches come from the creeds of the Bible, but more than anything they are like a “curriculum vitae” of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who wants to have us in relationship with himself.
