Beth-El Baptist Church Searching The Scriptures

11/04/2007

Greg Tomlinson


What do you mean by Jesus is the Son of God?


There can be much confusion about whether or not Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and what exactly does it mean. To some, Jesus being the Son of God means nothing more than that He was a human being as all men are son's of God. It is important to understand what was meant by Jesus being the Son of God as opposed to us being a son of God.


  1. Who applies the term “the son of God' to Jesus?

Matthew 4:1-7; 8:28-32; 14:23-33; 27:38-44, 54

Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39 Luke 1:26-37; 4:1-12, 41; 8:27-33

John 1:29-34, 45-51 Acts 8:27-37; 9:17-22

2 Corinthians 1:19


Many people identified Jesus as the Son of God. Satan, his demons, the disciples of Jesus, the Pharisees, the crucifying centurion, Mark (the author of the Gospel of Mark), Gabriel (God's angel), John the Baptist and others.


  1. Did Jesus ever apply the term to Himself?

Matthew 26:63-65 Mark 3:10-12

Luke 22:66-71 John 1:45-51 cmp Genesis 28:10-19

John 5:25-27; 9:35-41; 11:1-4


Jesus directly and indirectly attributed the identification of 'Son of God' to Himself many times. Every time someone referred to Jesus as the Son of God, He did not refute the statement. He did tell the demons not to mention it. This is not a refutation of the statement but an acknowledgment of it. Jesus wanted the testimony about Himself to come from those who trusted in God, not from those who were known to be fighting against God.


  1. How did people understand the term's meaning?

Luke 1:26-37

John 1:29-34; 3:12-21; 10:27-39; 11:23-27; 19:7; 20:31

Romans 1:3-5 cmp Acts 2:22-24

Galatians 2:19-21 Ephesians 4:11-15

Philippians 2:13-16 Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:1-3; 10:24-31

1 John 5:20-21


The term came to be identified with many other terms. It was used as an identifier of Jesus as 'the Lamb of God' and as 'the Christ'. Its most powerful meaning though was found in its link to Jesus being 'God' in flesh. For this, Jesus was called a blasphemer and was crucified.


It was true then as it is true today. Anyone who claims to be the 'Son of God' as in the only begotten is indicating that they are God who is manifest in the flesh (John 1:1, 14; 1 Timothy 3:16) and they would be making blasphemous statements, unless of course he was telling the truth. Since Jesus was resurrected from the dead, this gave an absolute confirmation that Jesus truly was the Son of God, or God in flesh. Therefore for Jesus to lay claim to being the Son of God was not blasphemous but was a statement of truth. Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer for telling the absolute truth as verified by God, the creator of the heavens and the earth.


  1. How is this different than the way it could be used of us?

John 1:12-13; 3:16 Romans 8:14-22

1 John 3:1-3; 5:1-5, 10-15


Whereas Jesus is the Son of God by nature, indicating that he has the same personal character and essence of God because he was “begotten”, those who have entrusted their eternal salvation to the person and the works of Jesus Christ are 'sons of God' by adoption. By nature we are not children of God nor are we worthy of being called children of God, but Jesus is by nature the Son of God, the ONLY Son of God.



Summary:


The identification of Jesus as the 'Son of God' is taken to mean that Jesus shares the same nature and character of Yahweh Elohim (LORD God) of the Old Testament. This is nothing short of saying that Jesus is 'God manifested in the flesh' (1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus is divine and is the creator and sustainer of everything.