On the Fourth Article

199. How came it to pass that Jesus Christ was crucified, when his doctrine and works should have moved all to reverence him? The elders of the Jews and the scribes hated him, because he rebuked their false doctrine and evil lives, and envied him, because the people, which heard him teach and saw his miracles, esteemed him more than them; and hence they falsely accused him, and condemned him to death. 200. Why is it said that Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate? To mark the time when he was crucified. 201. Who was Pontius Pilate? The Roman governor of Judæa, which had become subject to the Romans. 202. Why is this circumstance worthy of remark? Because in it we see the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and He is the desire of the nations. Gen. xlix. 10. 203. Why is it not only said in the Creed that Jesus Christ was crucified, but also added that he suffered? To show that his crucifixion was not only a semblance of suffering and death, as some heretics said, but a real suffering and death. 204. Why is it also mentioned that he was buried? This likewise is to assure us that he really died, and rose again; for his enemies even set a watch at his sepulchre, and sealed it. 205. How could Jesus Christ suffer and die when he was God? He suffered and died, not in his Godhead, but in his manhood; and this not because he could not avoid it, but because it pleased him to suffer. He himself had said: I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. John x. 17,18. 206. In what sense is it said that Jesus Christ was crucified for us? In this sense: that he, by his death on the cross, delivered us from sin, the curse, and death. 207. How does holy Scripture speak of this deliverance? Of deliverance from sin: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Ephes. i. 7. Of deliverance from the curse: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Gal. iii. 13. Of deliverance from death: Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Heb. ii. 14, 15. 208. How does the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross deliver us from sin, the curse, and death? That we may the more readily believe this mystery, the Word of God teaches us of it, so much as we may be able to receive, by the comparison of Jesus Christ with Adam. Adam is by nature the head of all mankind, which is one with him by natural descent from him. Jesus Christ, in whom the Godhead is united with manhood, graciously made himself the new almighty Head of men, whom he unites to himself through faith. Therefore as in Adam we had fallen under sin, the curse, and death, so we are delivered from sin, the curse, and death in Jesus Christ. His voluntary suffering and death on the cross for us, being of infinite value and merit, as the death of one sinless, God and man in one person, is both a perfect satisfaction to the justice of God, which had condemned us for sin to death, and a fund of infinite merit, which has obtained him the right, without prejudice to justice, to give us sinners pardon of our sins, and grace to have victory over sin and death. God hath willed to make known to his saints what is the riches of the glory of this mystery of the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. i. 26, 27. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Rom. v. 17. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and, death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Rom. viii. 1-4. 209. Was it for us all, strictly speaking, that Jesus Christ suffered? For his part, he offered himself as a sacrifice strictly for all, and obtained for all grace and salvation; but this benefits only those of us who, for their parts, of their own free will, have fellowship in his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Phil. iii. 10. 210. How can we have fellowship in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ? We have fellowship in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ through a lively and hearty faith, through the Sacraments, in which is contained and sealed the virtue of his saving sufferings and death, and, lastly, through the crucifixion of our flesh with its affections and lusts. I, says the Apostle, through the law, am dead to the law, that I may live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal. ii. 19, 20. Know ye not, that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Rom. vi. 3. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. 1 Cor. xi. 26. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Gal. v. 24. 211. How can we crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts? By bridling the affections and lusts, and by doing what is contrary to them. For instance, when anger prompts us to revile an enemy and to do him harm, but we resist the wish, and, remembering how Jesus Christ on the cross prayed for his enemies, pray likewise for ours; we thus crucify the affection of anger.