Q: Why must he be truly human and truly righteous?
A: God's justice demands
that human nature, which has sinned,
must pay for its sin;1
but a sinner could never pay for others.2
1 Rom. 5:12, 15; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16
2 Heb. 7:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:18
Q: Why must he also be true God?
A: So that,
by the power of his divinity,
he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity
and earn for us
and restore to us
righteousness and life.1
1 Isa. 53; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21
Q: And who is this mediator- true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous?
A: Our Lord Jesus Christ,1
who was given us
to set us completely free
and to make us right with God.2
1 Matt. 1:21-23; Luke 2:11; 1 Tim. 2:5
2 1 Cor. 1:30
Q: How do you come to know this?
A: The holy gospel tells me.
God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;1
later, he proclaimed it
by the holy patriarchs2 and prophets,3
and portrayed it
by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;4
finally, he fulfilled it
through his own dear Son.5
1 Gen. 3:15
2 Gen. 22:18; 49:10
3 Isa. 53; Jer. 23:5-6; Mic. 7:18-20; Acts 10:43; Heb. 1:1-2
4 Lev. 1-7; John 5:46; Heb. 10:1-10
5 Rom. 10:4; Gal. 4:4-5; Col. 2:17