Romans 1:4 Jesus Christ our Lord
This term Jesus Christ out Lord or the Lord Jesus Christ was the 1st confession of the church (Acts 2:36) The first creed was the simple statement, “Jesus is Lord.” It was the fundamental confession for all who believed (Rom 10:9) (Ligon Ducan) The title Lord is the most exalted title given to Jesus. The title kurios (“lord”) was used of imperial power and authority. The church faced a crisis when it was required to recite the formula Kyros Kaisar ("Caesar is Lord") in giving a loyalty oath to the emperor. According to the ancient view the emperor was lord over the World Empire and lord over the cosmos. Hence many Christians chose to die rather than utter the loyalty oath. This refusal to call Caesar “lord” did not come out of revolutionary civil disobedience, but from reluctance to render to Caesar that which did not properly belong to him. Absolute authority, dominion, and power belonged to Christ, who alone reigns as cosmic Lord.
Three aspects to the title of Jesus The name Jesus refers to His saving His people; the designation Christ , to His being anointed for that purpose; and that of Lord, to His sovereign authority. (Acts 2:36, Luke 2:11).
The Savior Jesus He is Jesus – This the title of his earthly work (Matt 1:21)This is His human Name. A title of His humiliation. The demons always referred to Jesus Christ by this name alone (Luke 8:28, 4:34, Mark 1:24) (Carr) Jesus is his proper name. It identifies Him as an historical person, not a pious figment of imagination, and when Paul repeatedly uses his name, Jesus, he is using a name which itself was given by divine revelation. Just as God told John the Baptist's parents to name their son, John, (Luke 1:13). God also told Jesus’ parents to name their son, Jesus, (Matt 1:21, for a specific reason (Acts 13:23). Jesus is Gk for Hebrew Yeshua, which means God saves. He saves His people. So Jesus’ proper name was going to signify His work. Notice, even in Jesus His person and His work are tied together. His name describes His nature and speaks of His work. (Duncan) Jesus’ humanity is absolutely essential to His work as a Savior. He had to be born a man and die as a man to redeem man (Gal 4:4).
The Selected Christ He is Christ – this is the title of his anointing (John 20:31, Matt 16:16). Christ is not His last name, but a title. Jesus is God's appointed and anointed one. Christ is the Gk for the Hebrew "the Anointed One” or the Messiah (Acts 10:38, Luke 4:16-30, Is 61:1). This name is His official title. Prophets (1 Chron 16:27, 2 Kings 2:6-14), Priests (Ex 30:30, Lev 8:12, Ps 133:2) and Kings (1 Sam 10:1-7, 16:10-13, Ps 89:20) were anointed by God in the OT symbolizing His presence, power and authority rested on them. Jesus was anointed by God at his baptism with a voice the dove descending upon him. God told John the Baptist to look for the one coming to Israel on whom the spirit would descend (John 1:29-34). To be the Christ. God’s anointed, Jesus had to fulfill all the prophecies of the Messiah and all three of these roles. Jesus as Messiah is a Prophet, (Deut 18:15-19); Priest, (Psa. 110:4); and King, (2 Sam. 7:12-13). Grudem suggests: The Prophet spoke God’s words tp the people (Nathan 2 Sam 7:2), The Priests offered sacrifices prayers and praise to God (Abiathar 1 Sam 30:7), the king ruled over the people as God’s representative (David 2 Sam 5:3). Jesus fulfilled these offices: 1) As Prophet Christ reveals God to us and speaks God’s words to us. Jesus unlike other prophets was not a mere messenger of the revelation of God, but he himself was the source of revelation from God (rather than “Thus says the Lord”, Jesus said, “I say to you”.) 2) As a Priest Christ is the perfect sacrifice for us, he continually brings us into the presence of God, and he petitions to the Father on our behalf. He offers a sacrifice to God on our behalf and is himself the sacrifice that is offered. He is the perfect sacrifice for sin. His was not the blood of animals, but his own blood (Heb 10:4, 9:26, 4:14). As a priest his work continues. He continually brings us into God’s presence, so that we no longer need the Jerusalem temple (Heb 9:24). He has gone to the heavenly equivalent of the holy of holies into the very presence of God (Heb 6:19-20). Jesus continually prays for us (Heb 7:25, Rom 8:34) He not only stands as our representative, but he makes specific requests for us. In Christ, we have a perfect exalted man who sympathizes with our weaknesses praying for us (Heb 4:15-16).
In Jesus Christ is found the One who had been promised before the foundation of the world. He is the Messiah the Savior of the world (Carr). He is the Messiah about whom the OT prophesied, and for whom the Jews had long been waiting. For the apostles to announce Jesus as the Christ, was a colossal claim. They affirmed that he is the Messiah unique in His place in history and universal in his dominion, and that Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies about the Messiah, acknowledging that he was the one appointed by God as our prophet, priest, and king. And so, when you say Jesus Christ, you are not simply saying the name of person of Jesus, but you are indicating something about Him, through His title, you are saying that you believe He is the Messiah. (Duncan) He is ‘the Christ’, promised and prepared for by God’s word and by the prophets, and now manifested to the world. (Shaff).
The Sovereign Lord He is Lord This is the title of His exaltation. This word reminds us that He is the victor over death and the grave and that He is the resurrected and exalted One. He is to be honored, feared, obeyed and served. He is Lord, Acts 2:36. He is ‘our LORD’, Lord of the Universe, co-equal with God the Father (John 5:19-23; John 14:7-9; Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9), Creator of all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2-3), and of us, and the One who has bought us with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20). (Pett) In the Septuagint the term Lord Gk Kyrios is the term that is used for Jehovah in the OT. The disciples knew that the Gk word was used of God. Yet knowing this they did not hesitate to use the Gk Kyrios for a title for Jesus therefore indicating that in their view Jesus is Jehovah. The early Christians would not give the title Lord to any other (Phil 2: 5-11) because to do so would have been repudiating Christ. Death of Polycarp 2-22-156 He as asked what harm it would do to call Caesar Lord . . . burn incense and save his life. He refused. In the area just before his death he said, “for 86 years I have been Christ’s slave, and he has done me no wrong; how can I blaspheme my king who saved me”. For Polycarp to say Caesar was Lord meant that he was God. If he called Caesar Lord then Jesus could not have been his Lord and could not have been a Christian. (Boice). The Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) used the term kurios to translate the Hebrew word Adonai, which was a title for God Himself. The Hebrew word Yahweh, which was the ineffable “name” of God, was too sacred to be used frivolously, even in worship. When a public reader came to Yahweh in the liturgy, the substitute word pronounced in its place was Adonai. Adonai was the title that indicated God’s absolute authority and power... Psalm 8 begins in the NIV “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” A strict rendering from the Hebrew would be, “O Yahweh, our Adonai, how excellent. . . .” Yahweh is the “name” of God; Adonai is the “title” of God. This would be compared somewhat with the expression, President Woodrow Wilson. “Woodrow” was Wilson’s name; “President” was his title, which indicated his role or function... (Sproul).
John Stott suggest 6 implications that result in Jesus being our Lord:
1) Intellectually: Jesus is Lord of our mind, our thinking. He is our teacher. Not being with us physically, he teaches us through Scriptures. That is why we must be men and women of the book. Left to ourselves we will stray in to many kinds of false thinking just as the world does. But through regular study of the Bible, through the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit we come to think as Jesus thinks and thus can begin to act like Jesus acts. Jesus is Lord of our mind.
2) Ethically: Jesus is Lord of our wills and moral standards. Discipleship implies obedience and obedience expresses absolute moral commands that we are to obey. To refer to Jesus as Lord is not enough. He still says to his followers, “Why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46-49) We cannot make the absolute relative to make if more palatable, but we must hold up the absolute and adjust our behavior to adhere to it if Jesus is truly the Lord of our wills.
3) Vocationally: Jesus is Lord of our time. The Lord is our profession, career, job, and ambitions. We can plan our life and future as if our relationship to Jesus is detached from those plans. Before Paul met Jesus he was pursuing his own desires and passions. His career was not in line with the Lordship of Christ, but according to his own desires to rise up the Pharisaical ladder of success. At his conversion Jesus now became his savior and Lord. He instructed him in his new “career” path. A path that would bring Glory to Jesus, not Saul. Rather than kill Christians, he was to call men, specifically Gentiles, to Christ. (Acts 26:16-18). If Jesus is Lord of our vocation, then we must regard whatever we do as a calling and a form of service to Jesus ( Eph 6:5-8, Col 3:17).
4) Ecclesiastically: Jesus is Lord of the Church. This Lordship is twofold: Order and opportunity. When members of the church pursue their own desires and agendas without regard to Biblical guidelines for the church or a for their brothers or sisters in Christ, they are not living out the Lordship of Christ over the church. Also, when members skirt their responsibilities within the church. They disregard the fact that if Jesus is their Lord, then they must serve one another with in the church if Jesus is the Lord of the Church. They must serve the body of Christ as Jesus serves it, lovingly and sacrificially (Eh 5:22-27).
5) Politically: Jesus is Lord of those outside the church. He is Our Lord and he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. There is no king over him and there is not Lord above him. He is the Lord of life and Lord over all nations (Ps 96: 1-10. Act 17: 22-31). Jesus Christ is Lord. He has spoken form heaven to reveal what true righteousness s. both for individuals and nations and that those who disregard him do so at their own peril and must one day give an account (Phil 2:10).
6) Globally; Jesus is Lord of missions. Jesus has been given all authority (matt 28:18-20). He has commanded us to go in his authority to proclaim his Lordship to a world who rejects him as Lord. He has commissioned every believer to go and proclaim that He is Lord. It is as Lord over our lives that he tells us to go; We know him as Lord. Because of his love was manifest to us and because of our love for him, we delight in proclaiming his love. Those who name him as Lord, proclaim him as Lord. (Adapted from Stott).
"Jesus Christ our Lord," brings us into fellowship with all the saints. "Our Lord,"—with David, and Thomas, and Mary Magdalene, and Paul, we have the same Lord that you had. Yes, and we seem to join with all the goodly fellowship of the prophets, and the whole company of the apostles, and the noble army of martyrs, as we say, "Jesus our Lord." Yes, and all the great company who served their Master here with patience, and labored for him with diligence, and have now gone to their reward,—we are one with all of them, we have "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." This term, "Jesus our Lord," seems to draw a circle round all the elect of God, the whole host of the redeemed out of every nation, and kindred, and tribe, and tongue, and people in every land and every age. It seems to remind me of a kind of clanship which exists among all believers. Just as the old Highland clansmen, when they saw the head of the clan, all felt intense enthusiasm at the very sight of him, for he was the great center and meeting place for all the divers families in the clan, and with him leading them they rushed forward to victory or death with the utmost enthusiasm, so, when I look you in the face, beloved, we may differ very greatly in station, in ability, and in a thousand things, but your Lord is my Lord, so we are brothers and sisters in him, and we clasp hands around him, and say, "Jesus our Lord." This one peerless name wakes us all to enthusiasm and holy daring stirs our very blood as nothing else can, and we feel a closer tie than ever to all the saints. This one touch of grace has made us all akin. The blessed name of "Jesus our Lord" has banded us all together in one holy brotherhood,. (Spurgeon).