Jesus is Lord

"Jesus is Lord" (Greek: Κύριος Ἰησοῦς, Kýrios Iēsoûs) is the shortest credal affirmation found in the New Testament, one of several slightly more elaborate variations. It serves as a statement of faith for the majority of Christians who regard Jesus as both fully man and God. It is the motto of the World Council of Churches.

Background
In antiquity, in general use, the term "lord" was a courtesy title for social superiors, but its root meaning was "ruler". Kings everywhere were styled "Lord" and often considered divine beings so the word acquired a religious significance. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek in the Septuagint at least two centuries before Christianity, Kurios was used for the divine tetragrammaton YHWH which was no longer read aloud but replaced with adonai, a special form of the Hebrew adon = "lord".

When in 27 BC Roman Emperor Octavian received the title of "Augustus" it carried religious overtones, suggesting a special relationship with the world of the gods, symbolised by the cult of the Emperor's "genius", a veiled form of emperor-worship. To refuse to honor the national gods was unpatriotic and akin to sabotage.

J. G. Davies comments that the Christian begins from the confession of Jesus as Lord – Jesus who is sovereign over the individual's relation to the state, "we must understand the state in the context of the command to love one's neighbour."

Credal phrases in the New Testament
In Pauline Christianity, J. N. D. Kelly points out creed-like slogans attributed to Paul the Apostle in Galatians, 2 Thessalonians, Romans and 1 Corinthians, though they never formed a fixed, standard creed. The most popular and briefest was "Jesus is Lord" found in ; and probably in the baptisms referred to in Acts 8:16; 19:5 and 1 Cor 6:11 since their being described as "in the name of the Lord Jesus" certainly seems to imply that "the formula 'Jesus is Lord' had a place in the rite". The phrase might be extended as "Jesus Christ is Lord" as in.

In the early days, the similar formula "Jesus is the Christ" was found, but this faded into the background when its original Messianic significance was forgotten. Of more long-term significance was the affirmation "Jesus is the Son of God". These were expounded upon by passages such as and  which describe Christ's work of salvation and the existence of witnesses to his resurrection and he goes on in the following pages to list another ten examples of passages which attach to the name of Jesus "selected incidents in the redemptive story".

Biblical passages
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Interpretation as a creed
Various Christian sects have argued over how to tell whether one is a Christian or not. They wrote creeds that acted as a sine qua non for membership within the fellowship. The statement "Jesus is Lord" has been described as the most basic Christian creed in existence.

of the New Testament Christian Bible says, "...if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved." From Matthew Henry's commentary on Romans Chapter 10: "The self-condemned sinner need not perplex himself how this righteousness may be found. When we speak of looking upon Christ, and receiving, and feeding upon him, it is not Christ in heaven, nor Christ in the deep, that we mean; but Christ in the promise, Christ offered in the word. Justification by faith in Christ is a plain doctrine. It is brought before the mind and heart of every one, thus leaving him without excuse for unbelief. If a man confessed faith in Jesus, as the Lord and Saviour of lost sinners, and really believed in his heart that God had raised him from the dead, thus showing that he had accepted the atonement, he should be saved by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him through faith. But no faith is justifying which is not powerful in sanctifying the heart, and regulating all its affections by the love of Christ. We must devote and give up to God our souls and our bodies: our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth. The believer shall never have cause to repent his confident trust in the Lord Jesus. Of such faith no sinner shall be ashamed before God; and he ought to glorify in it before men."

Social and political interpretations
During the first century, the phrase Jesus is Lord was used as a contrast to the popular greeting amongst Roman citizens—Caesar is Lord. Because early Jesus followers refused to swear allegiance to Roman empire (and its wars and merchants and kings), the empire saw their refusal as a social, religious, and political threat. In the Roman world emperors encouraged an imperial cult following, proclaiming and deifying themselves Lord and 'sons of god' and they were not open to being challenged. Emperors viewed their rule as divinely authorized and protected.

In first century social customs, honor must be proclaimed publicly, or it wasn't honor. For Judean-Christians to refuse to call Caesar 'lord' caused two problems for the empire. First, it was a public insult to the honor of the emperor and Rome. Worse, in proclaiming Jesus is Lord, these Judean-Christians were saying that their God deserved more honor than did Caesar who had beaten them in battle, destroyed Jerusalem (the seat of Yahweh the God of Israel), and made many of them slaves and refugees (see the First Jewish–Roman War). Second, it showed that the Judean-Christians believed Caesar did not rule by the power of the supreme God of the Cosmos (a form of patronage). In asserting 'Jesus is Lord' they were saying, instead, that Jesus (and YHWH) was the supreme God of the Cosmos, Jesus was the ultimate patron and redeemer, and Caesar was not.

Today, the assertion that "Jesus is Lord" is sometimes cited in order to sanction political action by Christians. But there are many different Christian groups with differing ideas as to how political Christianity should be. In the first century, religion and politics were inexorably mixed: both Rome and the Kingdom of Judah were theocracies (see theocracy). To assert one's religious views, then, would have had a subversive impact on the political system at that time. But many of these early Judean-Christians had no desire to be political in the way we know it today. The works of Paul the Apostle entreat citizens to try to blend in and not make waves,, and Jesus himself suggests the payment of taxes exacted by Roman Emperors (Mark 12:17).

The statement that 'Jesus is Lord' was about which God you worshiped, not which political party you voted for. Would you "feed the hungry, care for the sick, clothe the naked, and release the captives" as Jesus and the Prophet Isaiah demanded, or would you worship Caesar and gain power and authority through acts of empire? Proclaiming "Caesar is Lord" meant one was loyal to the power of the empire and was expected to reap its benefits through patronage. Proclaiming "Jesus is Lord" meant one was loyal to God who expects each of his followers to "love your neighbor." It was subversive, it was not about influencing the political process. It was about following Jesus Christ.

As a worldview
The apostle Paul wrote, "We do not preach about ourselves, but we preach that Jesus Christ is Lord and that we are your servants for Jesus." It is a mindset imperative not only in understanding Christianity, but the very nature of truth itself. Jesus is Lord goes beyond a mantra or political statement and represents a worldview. Christians believe that Jesus Christ represents ultimate truth, meaning and reality whether people choose to accept it or not. It embodies an anchor in a world that sets its mind on a postmodernist worldview.

This statement also represents a strong relevance to the present as indicated by the present tense. It also equates Jesus with eternal sovereignty. As humans cannot exist in the realm of eternity, Christians must deal and act in the present. C. S. Lewis stated, "Where, except in the present, can the eternal be met?" Christians believe the eternal can be met in the person of Jesus and it is here that the need for truth and coherence is met. -->