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The Second Article Comments: For centuries, the Christian church has confessed in the creeds that Jesus is our Lord, but what do we mean by this? What many Christians mean when they say Jesus is Lord is that Jesus Christ is the one who tells us what to do. They view Jesus as the kind of Lord who places heavy burdens on us and issues harsh demands. This is not how we should look at Christ. The little word ‘Lord’ in the creed simply means Redeemer. Jesus the Lord is the one who has rescued us from sin, death, the devil and every evil. Before Christ came, we had no Lord. There certainly are many pretenders to the throne, but not one of them is a true Lord. They are all tyrants, jailers who hold us captive. And we, of course, contribute to the problem. Our own sins bind us, and we are unable to set ourselves free. But God has had mercy upon us. He sent Christ to rescue us. In the Large Catechism, after saying that Christ our Lord is the One who has rescued us, Luther writes, “The parts of this article that follow only explain and underscore the manner and the means by which the redemption came about, that is, how much it cost Christ, what He underwent, and what He risked in order to regain us and bring us back under his rulership. They declare ... that He suffered, died, and was buried in order to make satisfaction in my stead and pay what I owed, not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood. All this He did in order to become my Lord. For He did none of this for Himself, nor did He need to.” This article is at the center of the Christian faith. It tells us who Christ is and what He did for us. Notice that the center is not about us and what we should do, but about what God did through Christ. He sent His only Son into the world. The Son of God became a human being and was born of the Virgin Mary. His mission was to do what we do not do. He took our place under the Law and kept the commandments perfectly. His sacrifice is also something we cannot do. We cannot take away God’s just anger over our sins through our own deaths. Some people think that when they say Jesus is only a man it has little effect on the truth of the Christian faith. They are mistaken. For Christ is able to accomplish His mission only because He is fully God and fully man. He did not come simply to teach us God’s truth, like other prophets. He came to suffer and die for us. His sacrifice is worth enough to cover all sins of all people only because He is God. If He were only a man, our sins would still be on our shoulders for Christ would not be able to carry them for us. It is also true that if He were only God, our sins would still be on our shoulders. Since God cannot suffer and die, then the death the Gospels report would be just an illusion. While He was here on earth, Christ won a place for all people in His Kingdom. After His earthly ministry was done, He was given a position of authority that is above all others. He now uses that authority and is at work to bring us into His kingdom. He rescues us from the kingdom of darkness and brings us into His kingdom where He continues to protect us from our spiritual enemies. After we become Christians how does Christ rule over us? He does, of course, give us instructions on how we should live. This is because He knows that if He is not in control then we will be lead astray by His enemies and wind up discarding His gifts and trying to put other things in their place. Christ is a wise Lord, who has our good in mind. When He tells us how we should live, it is because He wants to bless us and others through us. Christ does not rule us from the outside by holding a big stick over our heads. He lives in us enabling us to treasure His gifts. His gifts are so abundant that they overflow and we become a blessing to others. This infuriates Christ’s enemies and they place obstacles in our paths and seek to misdirect us to substitute gifts. Christ gives us eyes to see the schemes of our spiritual enemies. He gives us His Spirit so we can overcome temptation and follow the instructions of our generous and kind Lord. Jesus works through us to carry out his good and gracious will. He helps us to be his willing agents in blessing others. He wants all people to come under his gracious rule and remain there. Knowing this, we, with the Spirit’s help, point others to Christ and encourage them to treasure his wonderful gifts.