The church confesses that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He is God incarnate. He is the Savior. He is the Lord of the church and of the world. He is the center not only of Christian faith but also, Scripture asserts, of the universe itself, the one through whom all things were made: “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). Christianity is a nonsensical enterprise apart from Jesus, its central figure, its source, ground, authority, and destiny.