A Trinitarian Confession: “You Are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”

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Perhaps the most basic scriptural confession of the Christian faith is that “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9–10; 1 Corinthians 12:13), related to Christ’s resurrection. There are many other creedal statements in Scripture, such as “God is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:24; 1 Corinthians 8:4), related to God’s essence, or “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2), related to Christ’s incarnation. One such simple confession is succinctly profound, that which the Father revealed to Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16–17; see also Martha in John 11:27) Peter speaks perhaps better than he knows. At first glance, the confession may seem to be simply a christological (related to the doctrine of Christ) statement, but it is more. It is a trinitarian (related to the Trinity) confession no less.[1]

Why is the statement, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, a trinitarian statement? How so? As Son entails the Father, so Christ entails the Spirit. “Son” is indicative of the “Father,” even as “Christ” is a pneumatological (related to the doctrine of the Spirit) expression. It’s obvious that “Son” entails the Father; the connection to the Spirit may not be so obvious to all. Nevertheless, Jesus was anointed or christened by the Spirit at his baptism (Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3). Every confession of Jesus as the “Christ” reminds us that the Father poured out his Spirit on the Son. When you rightly confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, you confess the Trinity as well. Though not found jointly as a phrase in Scripture, whenever you see the “Jesus Fish” bumper sticker of ΙΧΘΥΣ (ichthus)—Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, θεοῦ υἱός, σωτήρ ‘Jesus Christ, God’s Son, saviour’–, just know that the same applies.

These considerations bring me to a final thought. I have heard the question put whether we should be God-centered or Christ-centered. The way the question is framed makes it seem that you must be one or the other. Upon further reflection, I think this a false polarization. First, let’s remember that to be God-centered is to be Trinity-centered, at least in Christian perspective. Second, it is our knowledge of Christ that leads us to a knowledge of the Father. In knowing Jesus as God and the Father as God by the Spirit of God, we find ourselves in Christ and therefore fixed on him and fixed on the Trinity. It is not a question of whether Christ as the God-man or the Trinity as the three-in-one needs to be our primary focal point. Rather, in being Christ-centered we become Trinity-centered. Christ is our entrance into the Trinity.

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[1] In my readings, the closest I have come to someone saying what I am getting at is Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012): 30.