Meditation Monday #8: The Apostles Creed: "I believe in ...Jesus Christ...who suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified..." and Lord's Day 15 (Heidelberg Catechism)

Meditation Monday #8: The Apostles Creed: 

 "I believe in ...Jesus Christ...who suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified..." and Lord's Day 15 (Heidelberg Catechism)

Marissa Namirr and Joy Dudley

Here is the YouTube episode by the same title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CrrmH80jys&ab_channel=GospelGal

"I believe in God the Father Almighty,

Maker of Heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified..." ~The Apostles' Creed

And Lord's Day 15 in the Heidelberg Catechism teaches:

Jesus Christ suffered for us:

Question 37 asks:
What do you confess when you say
that he suffered?
And answers: During all the time he lived on earth,
but especially at the end,
Christ bore in body and soul
the wrath of God against the sin
of the whole human race. 1
Thus, by his suffering,
as the only atoning sacrifice, 2
he has redeemed our body and soul
from everlasting damnation, 3
and obtained for us
the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life. 4

1.Is 53; 1 Tim 2:6; 1 Pet 2:24; 3:18.
2.Rom 3:25; 1 Cor 5:7; Eph 5:2; Heb 10:14; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10.
3.Rom 8:1-4; Gal 3:13; Col 1:13; Heb 9:12; 1 Pet 1:18, 19.
4.Jn 3:16; Rom 3:24-26; 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 9:15.

And of His suffering, Co-author of the Catechism, Caspar Olevianus writes:



 

And Ursinus, his co-author writes, "By the term passion we are to understand the whole humiliation of Christ, or the obedience of his whole humiliation, all the miseries, infirmities, griefs, torments and ignominy to which he was subject, for our sakes, from the moment of his birth even to the hour of his death, as well in soul as in body. The principal part of his sorrows and anguish were the torments of soul, in which he felt and endured the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind. By the term passion, however, we are to understand chiefly the closing scene, or last act of his life, in which he suffered extreme torments, both of body and soul, on account of our sins. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." "Surely he hath borne our griefs. He was wounded for our transgressions." "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him." (Matt. 26:38; 27:46. Is. 53:4, 5, 10.) What, therefore, did Christ suffer? 1. The privation or destitution of the highest felicity and joy, together with all those good things which he might have enjoyed. 2. All the infirmities of our nature, sin only excepted: he hungered, he thirsted, was fatigued, was afflicted with sadness and grief, &c. 3. Extreme want and poverty; "The Son of man hath not where to lay his head." (Matt. 8:20.) 4. Infinite injuries, reproaches, calumnies, treacheries, envyings, slanders, blasphemies, rejections and contempt; "I am a worm, and no man; and a reproach of many." "He hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him." (Ps. 22:6. Is 53:2.) 5. The temptations of the devil; "He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15.) 6. The most reproachful and ignominious death, even that of the cross. 7. The keenest and most bitter anguish of soul, which is doubtless a sense of the wrath of God against the sins of the whole human race. It was this that caused him to exclaim, upon the cross, with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" as if he should say, Why dost thou not drive away from me such severe anguish and torments? Thus we see what, and how greatly Christ has suffered in our behalf.


III. WHAT WAS THE IMPELLING CAUSE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST? The cause which moved God to give his Son for us was: 1. His love towards the human race. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." (John 3:16.) 2. The compassion of God towards those who were fallen in sin and death. "According to his mercy he saved us." (Titus 3:5.) 3. The desire and purpose of God to revenge and repair the injury of the devil, who, in contempt and reproach of God, turned us from the Most High, and spoiled his image in us"

The Catechism teaches that Christ suffered under Pilate as judge for a particular reason.

Question 38 asks:
Why did he suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge?
And answers:
Though innocent, Christ was condemned
by an earthly judge, 1
and so he freed us
from the severe judgment of God
that was to fall on us. 2

1.Lk 23:13-24; Jn 19:4, 12-16.
2.Is 53:4, 5; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13.


Of His suffering under Pilate, Olevianus writes:

And Ursinus writes, "Mention is made of Pilate in the passion of Christ: 1. Because Christ obtained from this judge the testimony of his innocence. 2. That we might know that he, though declared innocent by this judge, was nevertheless condemned, and that by a regular judgment. 3. That we might be impressed by the fulfillment of prophecy. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is." "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." (Ez. 21:27; Gen. 49:10.) The name of Pilate is then mentioned that we may be fully certain, that Jesus is the Messiah that was to come; for then already the sceptre was taken away, because he was condemned by a Roman judge.

But why was it necessary that Christ should suffer under a judge, and be condemned by the ordinary course of the law?

1. That we may know that he was condemned of God himself, on account of our sins, and that he has, therefore, made satisfaction to God for us, that we may not be condemned by his severe judgment, just as he suffered death for us, that we might be delivered from it. For he who directs, and presides over ordinary judgments is God himself.

2. That Christ might obtain a testimony of his innocence from the very judge by whom he was condemned. Therefore it was not proper that he should have been secretly carried away by the Jews, nor put to death by a tumult; but when there was a lawful process and trial, and an investigation of all the accusations brought against him, the Father willed, first, that he should be examined that his innocence might thus be made to appear. Secondly, that he should be condemned that it might appear, that he being before declared innocent, was now condemned, not for his own, but for our crimes; and that thus his unjust sentence to death might be in the place of our most righteous condemnation. Thirdly, that he should be put to death, as well that the prophecies might be fulfilled, as that it might be made manifest that both the Jews and Gentiles were the executioners of this wicked deed. This circumstance, therefore, in the passion of Christ is to be carefully considered that we may know that this Jesus who was condemned by Pilate is the Messiah, and that we, through him, are delivered from the severe judgment of God.

Hence we are now led to ask, What is it to believe in Jesus Christ, who suffered under Pontius Pilate?

To this we reply, that it does not merely include a historical faith, but it involves such a belief in Christ as leads us to confide in his passion. It is therefore to believe, first, that Christ, from the very moment of his birth, endured, and sustained miseries of every kind; and that he, especially at the closing period of his life, suffered under Pilate the most severe torments both of body and soul, and that he felt the dreadful wrath of God, in making a satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and in appeasing the divine anger which had been excited by sin. It is also to believe, in the second place, that he endured all this in my behalf, and has thus satisfied also for my sins by his passion, and merited for me remission of sins, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life"

The Catechism goes on to explain why Jesus suffered crucifixion.

Question 39 asks:
Does it have a special meaning
that Christ was crucified
and did not die in a different way?
And Answers:
Yes.
Thereby I am assured
that he took upon himself
the curse which lay on me,
for a crucified one
was cursed by God. 1

1.Deut 21:23; Gal 3:13.

With regard to Christ's crucifixion Olevianus writes:

And Ursinus writes, "The death of the cross is an aggravation of the punishment of Christ, and a confirmation of our faith. For if Christ was crucified, then he has taken upon himself the curse, because the death of the cross was a figure, or sign of the curse; and not only so, but he has also endured the curse for us, inasmuch as he was righteous in himself.

...God, therefore, willed that his Son should endure the punishment of such an ignominious death, for these most satisfactory reasons: 1. That we may know that the curse which was laid upon him was due on account of our sins; for the death of the cross was accursed of God, according to what is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." (Deut. 21:23.) 2. That the punishment might thus be made the heavier, and that we may, so much the more, be confirmed in faith, confidently believing that Christ, by his death, has taken upon himself our guilt, and endured the curse in our behalf that he might deliver us therefrom. Paul teaches this when he says, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree." (Gal. 3:13.) 3. That we may be excited to greater gratitude, considering what a detestable thing sin is, inasmuch as it could not be expiated unless by the most bitter and ignominious death of the only begotten Son of God. 4. That there might be a correspondence between the truth and the types. This was necessary in order that we may know that the types are all fulfilled in Christ. For the ancient sacrifices, which shadowed forth the sacrifice of Christ, were laid upon the wood, and before they were burned, they were lifted up on high by the priest, that it might be signified thereby that Christ should be lifted up upon the cross, that he might offer himself a holy sacrifice to the Father in our behalf. The same was adumbrated in Isaac who was laid upon the wood for the purpose of being sacrificed by his father. Finally, the brazen serpent, which Moses set upon a pole in the wilderness, was a type of Christ, as is evident from the application which Christ himself made of it when he said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John 3:14; 12:32.) 

What, therefore, is it to believe in Christ crucified? It is to believe that Christ was made subject to the curse for me; that he might deliver me therefrom."

Sources:

*The Apostles Creed

*The Heidelberg Catechism

*The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on The Heidelberg Catechism

*Exposition of the Apostles Creed: Caspar Olevianus