A
Muslims (and others) think Christians are crazy for believing Jesus is God's Son!
They know for sure God did not mate with some female entity to produce any offspring.
Christians know for sure that God did not create any Son of God.
“He was clothed with a robe dripped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” (Rev. 19:13).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him …” (John 1:1-3).
Because of their religious teaching, the Jews of the NT believed:
Messiah = Christ = Son of God.
“We have found the Messiah (which is translated the Christ)” (John 1:41).
“Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63).
“Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (Mark 14:61).
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16).
Did the Jews actually believe that God somehow created His “equal”, a Son of God?
The answer is “No”, and is explained in (B) below.
First, let’s consider Gabriel
He appeared to Joseph in a dream …
"... you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)
And he was also sent to Mary …
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son,
and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest
… that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:31-35).
Please note that Gabriel did NOT say the baby to be born was the Son of God.
The baby was just to be called Jesus, the Son of the Highest, and the Son of God.
Robert is not really (a) Robert … he is a male human being called Robert.
God has given us actual names for the Word (the Logos) so we can relate to
the Second “Person” of the Triune Godhead.
(A) From the Catholic Encyclopedia … “The word ‘son’ was employed among the Semites
to signify not only filiation, but other close connection or intimate relationship ...”.
(B) From the Jewish Encyclopedia … “Yet the term (Son of God) by no means carries the idea
of physical descent from, and essential unity with, God the Father. The Hebrew idiom conveys
nothing further than a simple expression of godlikeness.”
Four usages in the OT for the term “Son of God”, and none of them mean co-equality with God:
(1) -- The angels are the sons of God. The old story in Gen 6:2, says that the sons of God saw
the daughters of men and were fatally attracted to them. Job 1:6, tells of the day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. It was a regular title for the angels.
(2) -- The nation of Israel is the son of God. God called his son out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1).
In Exodus 4:22, God says of the nation, "Israel is my first-born son".
(3) -- The king of the nation is the son of God. In 2 Sam 7:14, God’s promise to the king is,
"I will be his father, and he shall be my son."
(4) -- In the later books, which were written between the Testaments, the good man is the son of God.
In Sirach 4:10, the promise to the man who is kind to the fatherless is:
"So shalt thou be a son of the Most High, and he shall love thee more than thy mother doth.”
In all these cases above the term "son" describes someone who is specially near and close to God.
Daily Study Bible (Mark 3:7-12)
“When we meet this title in the simplicity of the gospel story we are not to think in terms of
philosophy or theology or of the doctrine of the Trinity; we are to think of it as expressing
the fact that Jesus' relationship to God was so close that no other word could describe it ...”
“Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).
This is an expression of exceptional love and immense compassion enjoyed by the most holy ones of God alone.
Since Jesus was "fully man", could Father God regard this "Son" as being an equal member of the Trinity?
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
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