Day 18: The Doctrine of Christ — Person and Work

Scripture Reading:

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” – 1 Timothy 2:5–6, LSB

At the center of Christian doctrine stands the person and work of Christ. If we are wrong about Him, we are wrong about everything. The church’s very life depends on knowing Christ rightly.

The Bible reveals that Jesus is fully God and fully man. John declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Paul adds, “In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). Yet this eternal Son “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Only by being both God and man could Christ mediate between God and sinners.

John Calvin wrote, “Unless Christ had been true God, His death could not have had such efficacy; and unless He had been true man, He could not have possessed the faculty of dying” (Institutes, 2.12.3). The person of Christ is essential to our salvation.

Equally essential is His work. Christ obeyed the law perfectly on behalf of His people. He bore their sin on the cross, suffering God’s wrath in their place. He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death forever. R.C. Sproul explained, “The heart of the gospel is the cross of Christ, and the heart of the cross is the substitutionary atonement” (The Truth of the Cross, p. 37).

Doctrine protects us from reducing Jesus to a moral teacher or political figure. Heresies throughout history have denied either His divinity or His humanity, undermining the gospel. The early church rightly insisted at Chalcedon (AD 451) that Jesus is one person with two natures, fully God and fully man, “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.”

The work of Christ is likewise under attack today. Many want a Jesus who inspires but not a Savior who redeems. But Scripture insists: “Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18).

Beloved, the person and work of Christ are not optional doctrines. They are the very center of our faith. To know Him is to know life eternal (John 17:3). Doctrine keeps us from false Christs and anchors us to the true Savior revealed in Scripture.

Personal Reflection

1. Why is it essential that Jesus is both fully God and fully man?

2. How does Christ’s substitutionary atonement show the necessity of His work?

3. What dangers arise when people redefine Jesus apart from Scripture?

4. How can your worship and faith be deepened by meditating on Christ’s person and work?