The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 1: Article 2

by the Council of Trent

ARTICLE II.

"AND IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD."

The great blessings which flow from the belief and profession of this article.That wonderful and superabundant are the blessings which flow to the human race, from the belief and profession of this article we learn from these words of St. John; "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God abideth in him and he in God;"^[1] and also from the words of Christ our Lord, proclaiming the Prince of the Apostles blessed for the confession of this truth; "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood have not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven."^[2] This sublime truth is the most firm basis of our salvation and redemption.

But as the fruit of these admirable blessings is best known by considering the ruin brought on man, by his fall from that most How we may learn to estimate their value.happy state in which God had placed our first parents, let the pastor be particularly careful to make known to the faithful, the cause of this common misery and universal calamity. When Adam had departed from the obedience due to God, and had violated the prohibition, "of every tree of Paradise thou shall eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat, for in what day soever thou shalt eat it, thou shalt die the death;?^[3] he fell into the extreme misery of losing the sanctity and righteousness in which he was created; and of becoming subject to all those other evils, which are detailed more at large by the holy Council of Trent. ^[4] The Pastor, therefore, will not omit to remind the faithful, that the guilt and punishment of original sin were not confined to Adam, but justly descended from him, as from their source and cause, to all posterity. The human race, having fallen from their elevated dignity, no power of men or angels could raise them from their fallen condition, and replace them in their primitive state. To remedy the evil, and repair the loss, it became necessary that the Son of God, whose merits are infinite, clothed in the weakness of our flesh, should remove the infinite weight of sin, and reconcile us to God in his blood. The belief and profession of this our redemption, as God declared from the beginning, are now, and always have been, necessary to salvation. In the sentence of condemnation, pronounced against the human race immediately after the sin of Adam, the hope of redemption was held out in these words, which denounced to the devil, the loss which he was to sustain by man's redemption: " I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." ^[5] The same promise he again often confirmed, and more distinctly signified his counsels to those chiefly whom he desired to make special objects of his predilection: amongst others to the patriarch Abraham, to whom he often declared this mystery, but then more explicitly when, in obedience to God's command, he was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac: " Because," says he, " thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake; I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore. Thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." ^[6] From these words it was easy to infer that he, who was to deliver man kind from the ruthless tyranny of Satan, was to be descended from Abraham; and that, whilst he was the Son of God, he was to be born of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. Not long after, to preserve the memory of this promise, he renewed the same covenant with Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. When in a vision Jacob saw a ladder standing on earth, and its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending by it, ^[7] he also heard the Lord saying to him, as the Scripture testifies; " I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land, wherein thou sleepest, I will give to thee and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in thee and thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." ^[8] Nor did God cease afterwards to excite in the posterity of Abraham, and in many others, the hope of a Saviour, by renewing the recollection of the same promise; for, after the establishment of the Jewish republic and religion, it became better known to his people. Many types signified, and prophets foretold the numerous and invaluable blessings which our Redeemer, Christ Jesus, was to bring to mankind. And, indeed, the prophets, whose minds were illuminated with light from above, foretold the birth of the Son of God, the wondrous works which he wrought whilst on earth, his doctrine, manners, kindred, death, resurrection, and the other mysterious circumstances regarding him; ^[9] and all these as graphically as if they were passing before their eyes. With the exception of the time only, we can discover no difference be tween the predictions of the prophets, and the preaching of the apostles, between the faith of the ancient patriarchs, and that of Christians But, we are now to speak of the several parts of this Article.

" Jesus"] This is the proper name of the man-God, and signifies Saviour; a name given him not accidentally, or by the judgment or will of man, but by the counsel and command of God. For the angel announced to Mary his mother: " Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus." ^[10] He afterwards not only commanded Joseph, who was espoused to the Virgin, to call the child by that name, but also declared the reason why he should be so called: " Joseph," says he, " Son of David, fear not to take Mary thy wife, for that which is born in her is of the Holy Ghost; and she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins," ^[11] In the Sacred Scriptures we meet with many who were called by this name the son of Nave, for instance, who succeeded Moses, and, by special privilege denied to Moses, conducted into the land of promise, the people whom Moses had delivered from Egypt; ^[12] and Josedech, whose father was a priest. ^[13] But how much more appropriately shall we not deem this name given to him, who gave light and liberty and salvation, not to one people only, but to all men, of all ages to men oppressed, not by famine, or Egyptian, or Babylonish bondage, but sitting in the shadow of death and fettered by sin, and riveted in the galling chains of the devil to him who purchased for them a right to the inheritance of heaven, and reconciled them to God the Father In those men, who were designated by the same name, we recognise so many types of Christ our Lord, by whom these blessings were accumulated on the human race. All other names, which were predicted to be given by divine appointment to the Son of God, are to be referred to this one name Jesus, ^[14] for whilst they partially glanced at the salvation which he was to purchase for us, this fully embraced the universal salvation of the human race.

"CHRIST"] To the name "Jesus" is also added that of "Christ," which signifies the "anointed;" a name expressive of honour and office, and not peculiar to one thing only, but common Jesus. to many; for, in the old law priests and kings, whom God, on account of the dignity of their office, commanded to be anointed, were called Christs; ^[15] Priests, because they commend the people to God by unceasing prayer, offer sacrifice to him and deprecate his wrath. Kings, because they are entrusted with the government of the people, and to them principally belong the authority of the law, the protection of innocence, and the punishment of guilt. As, therefore, both seem to represent the majesty of God on earth, those who were appointed to the royal or sacerdotal office, were anointed with oil. ^[16] Prophets also were usually anointed, who, as the interpreters and ambassadors of the immortal God, unfolded to us the secrets of heaven, and by salutary precepts, and the prediction of future events, exhorted to amendment of life. When Jesus Christ our Saviour came into the world, he assumed these three characters of Prophet, Priest, and King, and is, therefore, called " Christ," having been anoint ed for the discharge of these functions, not by mortal hand, or with earthly ointment, but by the power of his heavenly Father, and with a spiritual oil; for the plenitude of the Holy Spirit, and a more copious effusion of all gifts, than any created being is capable of receiving, were poured into his soul. This the prophet clearly indicates, when he addresses the Redeemer in these words. " Thou hast loved justice, and hatest iniquity . therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness before thy fellows." ^[17] The same is also more explicitly declared by the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord," says he," is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me; he hath sent me to preach to the meek." ^[18] Jesus Christ, therefore, was the great prophet and teacher, ^[19] from whom we have learned the will of God, and by whom the world has been taught the knowledge of the Father; and the name of Prophet belongs to him pre-eminently, because all others who were dignified with that name were his disciples, sent principally to announce the coming of that Prophet who was to save all men. Christ was also a Priest, not, indeed of the tribe of Levi, as were the priests of the old law, but of that of which the prophet David sang: " Thou art a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech." ^[20] This subject the Apostle fully and accurately developes in his epistle to the Hebrews.^[21] Christ not only as God, but as man, we also acknowledge to be a King: of him the angel testifies; " He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." ^[22] This kingdom of Christ is spiritual and eternal, begun on earth, but perfected in heaven: and, indeed, he discharges by his admirable providence the duties of King towards his Church, governing and protecting her against the open violence and covert designs of her enemies, imparting to her not only holiness and righteousness, but also power and strength to persevere. But, although the good and the bad are contained within the limits of.this kingdom, and thus all by right belong to it; yet those, who, in conformity with his commands, lead unsullied and innocent lives, experience, beyond all others, the sovereign goodness and beneficence of our King. Although descended from the most illustrious race of kings, he obtained not this kingdom by hereditary or other human right, but because God bestowed on him as man all the power, dignity, and majesty of which human nature is susceptible. To him, therefore, God delivered the government of the whole world, and to this his sovereignty, which has already commenced, all things shall be made fully and entirely subject on the day of judgment. ^[23]

" HIS ONLY SON"] In these words, mysteries more exalted with regard to Jesus are proposed to the faithful, as objects of their belief and contemplation that he is the Son of God, and true God, as is the Father who begot him from eternity. We also confess that he is the second person of the Blessed Trinity, equal in all things to the Father and the Holy Ghost; for, in the divine Persons nothing unequal or unlike should exist, or even be imagined to exist; whereas we acknowledge the essence, will and power of all to be one; a truth clearly revealed in many of the oracles of inspiration, and sublimely announced in this testimony of St. John: " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God." ^[24]

But, when we are told that Jesus is the Son of God, we are not to understand any thing earthly or mortal of his birth; but are firmly to believe, and piously to adore that birth by which, from all eternity, the Father begot the Son; a mystery which reason cannot fully conceive or comprehend, and at the contemplation of which, overwhelmed, as it were with admiration, we should exclaim with the prophet: " Who will declare his gene ration?" ^[25] On this point, then, we are to believe that the Son is of the same nature, of the same power and wisdom with the Father; as we more fully profess in these words of the Nicene Creed: " And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, born of the Father before all ages, God of God, true God of true God, begotten, not made, unsubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made." Amongst the different comparisons employed to elucidate the mode and manner of this eternal gene ration, that which is borrowed from thought seems to come near est to its illustration; and hence St. John calls the Son " the word:"^[26] for as the mind, in some sort looking into and under standing itself, forms an image of itself, which Theologians ex press by the term " word;" so God, as far, however, as we may compare human things to divine, understanding himself, begets the eternal Word. Better, however, to contemplate what faith proposes, and, in the sincerity of our souls, believe and confess that Jesus Christ is true God and true man as God, begotten of the Father before all ages as man, born in time of Mary, his virgin mother. Whilst we thus acknowledge his twofold nativity, we believe him to be one Son, because his divine and human natures meet in one person. As to his divine generation he has no brethren or coheirs; being the only begotten Son of the Father, whilst we mortals are the work of his hands: but, if we consider his birth as man, he not only calls many by the name of brethren, but regards them as brethren they are those who, by faith have received Christ the Lord, and who really, and by works of charity, approve the faith which they internally profess; and hence it is that he is called by the Apostle: " the first born amongst many brethren." ^[27]

"OUR LORD"] Of our Saviour many things are recorded in Scripture, some of which clearly apply to him as God, and some as man; because from his different natures he received the different properties which belong to each. Hence, we say with truth, that Christ is Almighty, Eternal, Infinite, and these attributes he has from his divine nature: again, we say of him that he suffered, died, and rose again, which manifestly are properties compatible only with his human nature.

Besides these, there are others common to both natures; as when in this article of the Creed, we say: "our Lord;" a name strictly applicable to both. As he is eternal, as well as the Father, so is he Lord of all things equally with the Father; and, as he and the Father are not, the one, one God, and the other, another God; but one and the same God; so likewise he and the Father are not, the one, one Lord, and the other, another Lord. As man, he is also, for many reasons, appropriately call ed " our Lord;" and first, because he is our Redeemer, who delivered us from sin. This is the doctrine of St. Paul: " He humbled himself," says the Apostle, " becoming obedient unto death; even to the death of the cross: for which cause God hath also exalted him, and hath given him a name, that is above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those that are in heaven, on earth and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father." ^[28] And of himself he says, after his resurrection: " All power is given me in heaven, and on earth." ^[29] He is, also, called "Lord," because in one person both natures, the human and divine, are united; and though he had not died for us, he had yet deserved, by this admirable union, to be constituted common Lord of all created things, particularly of those who, in all the fervour of their souls, obey and serve him.

Matter for exhortation supplied by this Article.It remains, therefore, that the pastor exhort the faithful to the consideration of these his claims to the title of "our Lord;" that we, who, taking our name from him are called Christians, and who cannot be ignorant of the extent of his favours, particularly in having enabled us to understand all these things by faith, may know the strict obligation we, above all others, are under, of devoting and consecrating ourselves for ever, like faithful servants, to our Redeemer and our Lord. This we promised when, at the baptismal font, we were initiated and introduced into the Church of God; for we then declared that we renounced the devil and the world, and gave ourselves unreservedly to Jesus Christ. But if, to be enrolled as soldiers of Christ, we consecrated ourselves by so holy and solemn a profession to our Lord, what punishments should we not deserve were we, after our entrance into the Church, and after having known the will and laws of God, and received the grace of the sacraments, to form our lives upon the laws and maxims of the world and the devil; as if, when cleansed in the waters of baptism, we had pledged our fidelity to the world and to the devil, and not to Christ our Lord and Saviour! What heart so cold as not to be inflamed with love by the benevolence and beneficence exercised towards us by so great a Lord, who, though holding us in his power and dominion, as slaves ransomed by his blood, yet embraces us with such ardent love as to call us not servants, but friends and brethren?"^[30] This, assuredly, supplies the most just and, perhaps, the strongest claim to induce us always to acknowledge, venerate and adore him as "our Lord."

1. 1 John iv. 15.
2. Mat xvi 17.
3. Gen. ii. 16, 17.
4. Sess. 5. Can. 1. & 2. Sess. 6. Can. 1. & 2.
5. Gen. iii. 15
6. Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18.
7. Gen. xxviii. 12.
8. Gen. xxviii. 13, 14.
9. Is. vii. 14; viii. 3; ix. 5; xi. 1 - 53 per totum. Jer. xxiii 5: xxx. 9. Dan. vii. 13; ix. 21.
10. Luke i. 31.
11. Matt. i. 20, 21.
12. Eccl. xlvi. 1.
13. Agg. i. 1.
14. Is. vii. 14; viii 8; ix. 6. Jer. xxiii. 6.
15. 1 Kings xii. 3; xvi. 6; xxiv. 7
16. Lev. viii. 30. 3 Kings xix. 15, 16.
17. Ps. xliv. 8.
18. Is. lxi. 1.
19. Deut. xviii. 15.
20. Ps. cix. 4. Heb. v. 5.
21. Heb. v. & vii.
22. Luke i. 33.
23. 1 Cor. 15. 25-27.
24. John i. 1.
25. Is. liii. 8.
26. John i. 1.
27. Rom. viii. 29.
28. Phil. ii. 8-11.
29. Matt, xxviii. 18.
30. John xv. 14.