Understanding the Bible From A to Z: People, Places, and Facts to Make the Bible Come Alive by Ron Rhodes

Author:Ron Rhodes [Rhodes, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reference, Religion, Biblical Reference, General, Christian Theology, Apologetics
ISBN: 9780736917650
Amazon: 0736917659
Goodreads: 1069421
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 2006-02-28T22:00:00+00:00

3. Eternal Son of God. Perhaps no name or title of Christ has been so misunderstood as "Son of God." Some have taken the term to mean that Christ came into existence at a point in time and that He is in some way inferior to the Father. Some believe that since Christ is the Son of God, He cannot possibly be God in the same sense as the Father.

Such an understanding is based on a faulty conception of what "Son of..." meant among the ancients. Though the term can refer to "offspring of," it carries the more important meaning, "of the order of." The phrase is often used this way in the Old Testament. For example, "sons of the prophets" meant "of the order of prophets" (1 Kings 20:35). "Sons of the singers" meant "of the order of singers" (Nehemiah 12:28 NASB). Likewise, the phrase "Son of God" means "of the order of God," and represents a claim to undiminished deity.

Ancient Semitics and Orientals used the phrase "son of..." to indicate likeness or sameness of nature and equality of being. Hence, when Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, His Jewish contemporaries fully understood that He was making an unqualified claim to be God. Indeed, the Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he [Christ] must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God" (John 19:7; see also 5:18). Recognizing that Jesus was identifying Himself as God, the Jews wanted to kill Him for committing blasphemy.

Scripture indicates that Christ's Sonship is an eternal Sonship. It is one thing to say that Jesus became the Son of God; it is another thing altogether to say that He was always the Son of God. We must recognize that if there was a time when the Son was not the Son, then-to be consistentthere was also a time when the Father was not the Father. If the First Person's designation as "Father" is an eternal title, then the Second Person's designation as "Son" must be so regarded.

Clear evidence for Christ's eternal Sonship is found in the fact that Christ is represented as already being the Son of God before His birth in Bethlehem. For instance, Hebrews 1:2 says God created the universe through His "Son"-implying that Christ was the Son of God prior to the Creation. Moreover, Christ as the Son is explicitly said to have existed "before all things" (Colossians 1:17; see verses 13-14). As well, Jesus, speaking as the Son of God (John 8:54-56), asserts His eternal preexistence before Abraham (verse 58).

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