The Sonship of our God

The Sonship of our God

By Stuart Pattico

Many people have struggled to understand how Jesus could be God's Son, yet God at the same time. I hope this article will remove any confusion on the subject.

Let us first understand that there is One God (Deuteronomy 6:4). This One God is described as follows:

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." (1 John 5:7)

There are not three God's, but rather the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are the One God Deuteronomy 6:4 speaks of. This article concentrates on One of the Divine Three - the Word. The Word is more commonly known as the Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ (John 1:14,18). The Father does all things through the Son (e.g. the Creation of the world (Colossians 1:16), and the reconciliation of mankind (Colossians 1:20)) and hence the Son is subject to the Father, and the Father is the head of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3). As we will see, the Son is the expression and ultimate Revelation of the Father. The Holy Spirit brings us the presence of the Father and the Son (John 14:23). He is the One who convicts the world (John 16:8) and who empowers believers (Acts 1:8). It is by the power of the Holy Spirit, that what the Father does through the Son comes to pass (Job 26:3, Psalm 104:30). The Spirit proceed from both the Father and the Son (John 14:16, 16:7). The Spirit is a Person just like the Father and Son (note the use of 'He' and 'Him' throughout John 14,16). We now turn our attention to the Son.

There are two main Greek words used for son in the New Testament. They are 'teknon' and 'huios'. Teknon denotes a child (as produced, or given birth to). It gives prominence to the fact of birth. Huious primarily signifies the relation of offspring to parent and not simply the birth as indicated by teknon. It stresses the dignity and character of the relationship, used metaphorically of prominent moral characteristics, or generally demonstrating the behavior or character of another (Matthew 4:44-45, 23:15,31, Mark 2:19,3:17, Luke 6:35, 10:6, 20:36, John 17:12, Acts 4:36, Romans 8:14, Ephesians 2:2). Jesus Christ is NEVER called the 'teknon' of God (i.e. one whom God has given birth to or brought into existence) but is always referred to as the Huios of God (huious Theou). Hence, the expression "the Son of God" is used of Jesus as a manifestation of His relationship with the Father or the expression of His character (compare Hebrews 1v3 "the express image of His person..."). This is what it means when Christ is called the Word (John 1v1). He is the perfect and ultimate expression and revelation of the Father (John 1:18, 14:9). So then, the title "the Son of God" has no reference at all to Christ being created by God or having a beginning for the Bible is very clear the He existed from everlasting (Micah 5:2). Rather, the title refers to His eternal relationship with the Father, His character and essence - i.e. that of God. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, and is revealed as such in both the old (Proverbs 30:3, Isaiah 9:6, Psalms 2:7)and new testaments (John 20:31 etc.)

The only begotten Son of God

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the Son of God in a way that nobody else is. God has many sons (Job 1v6, John 1v12), yet Jesus is called His 'only begotten Son" (John 3:16). What does this mean? The Greek for 'only begotten' is 'monogenes'. It means the only one (monos) of the family (genos). So when used with reference to the Son of God, it means that He is the only Son that is of the same essence/nature/form (Philippians 2:6) as the Father, i.e He is of the same Godhead/Deity (Colossians 2v9). Hence, it bears witness to the Deity of Christ. There are many Scriptures that show that Jesus is God. Here are just a few:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and THE WORD WAS GOD" (John 1:1)

"the Word became flesh..." (John 1:14)

"For in Him [Jesus] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9)

"And Thomas answered and said unto Him [Jesus], My Lord and MY GOD" (John 20:28)

"But unto THE SON He saith, Thy throne O GOD..." (Hebrews 1:8)

"unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counceller, THE MIGHTY GOD..." (Isaiah 9:6)

"..GOD was manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16)

"Christ came, who is over all, GOD blessed for ever" (Romans 9:5)

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from EVERLASTING" (Micah 5:2)

"That all men should honour the Son, EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER " (John 5:23)

(The phrase 'the only begotten Son' should not be confused with Psalm 2:7, which has reference to Christ's resurrection (Acts 13v33) when He became the first begotten from the dead (Revelation 1:5).)

Jesus Christ - the Firstborn

In Hebrews 1:6, Jesus is called 'the Firstborn'. In Colossians 1v15, He is called 'the Firstborn over all creation'. The Bible declares that Christ has existed from everlasting (Micah 5v2, i.e. He has no beginning or end). So what do we make of this title 'the Firstborn'? Psalm 89:27 (which in its ultimate prophetic fulfilment has reference to Jesus the Messiah) says, "Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." The phrase 'firstborn' here, has nothing to do with being first one to be born. The verse says that God would MAKE him (i.e. put him into the position /place/authority of) the firstborn. So we see that the title 'the Firstborn' may have nothing to do with the order of birth, but to a position of pre-eminence - 'the highest of the kings of the earth'. This is the sense in which the title is used of Christ who is Lord of all (Acts 10:36) and simply means that He is the Pre-eminent One.

Written by Stuart Pattico.

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