Reference: Son Of God
Easton
The plural, "sons of God," is used (Ge 6:2,4) to denote the pious descendants of Seth. In Job 1:6; 38:7 this name is applied to the angels. Hosea uses the phrase (Job 1:10) to designate the gracious relation in which men stand to God.
In the New Testament this phrase frequently denotes the relation into which we are brought to God by adoption (Ro 8:14,19; 2Co 6:18; Ga 4:5-6; Php 2:15; 1Jo 3:1-2). It occurs thirty-seven times in the New Testament as the distinctive title of our Saviour. He does not bear this title in consequence of his miraculous birth, nor of his incarnation, his resurrection, and exaltation to the Father's right hand. This is a title of nature and not of office. The sonship of Christ denotes his equality with the Father. To call Christ the Son of God is to assert his true and proper divinity. The second Person of the Trinity, because of his eternal relation to the first Person, is the Son of God. He is the Son of God as to his divine nature, while as to his human nature he is the Son of David (Ro 1:3-4. Comp. Ga 4:4; Joh 1:1-14; 5:18-25; 10:30-38, which prove that Christ was the Son of God before his incarnation, and that his claim to this title is a claim of equality with God).
When used with reference to creatures, whether men or angels, this word is always in the plural. In the singular it is always used of the second Person of the Trinity, with the single exception of Lu 3:38, where it is used of Adam.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they [were] beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose.
The Nephilim [were] upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them.
Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove. And they came up to the Jordan, he and all the {Israelites}, and they spent the night there before they crossed [over]. At the end of the three days the officers passed through the midst of the camp,
And it happened {one day} {that} the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst.
Have you not put a fence around him and his household and around {all that belongs to him} {on every side}? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock has increased in the land.
when [the] morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God. read more. All [things] came into being through him, and apart from him not one [thing] came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. A man came, sent from God, {whose name was} John. This one came for a witness, in order that he could testify about the light, so that all would believe through him. That one was not the light, but [came] in order that he could testify about the light. The true light, who gives light to every person, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, and the world did not recognize him. He came to his own [things], and his own [people] did not receive him. But as many as received him--to those who believe in his name--he gave to them authority to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a husband, but of God. And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So on account of this the Jews were seeking even more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own Father, [thus] making himself equal with God. So Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself except what he sees the Father doing. For whatever that one does, these [things] also the Son does likewise. read more. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself is doing. And greater works than these he will show him, so that you will be astonished. For just as the Father raises the dead and makes [them] alive, thus also the Son makes alive whomever he wishes. For the Father does not judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all [people] will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly I say to you that the one who hears my word and who believes the one who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. "Truly, truly I say to you, that an hour is coming--and now is [here]--when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and the ones who hear will live.
The Father and I are one." Then the Jews picked up stones again so that they could stone him. read more. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "We are not going to stone you concerning a good deed, but concerning blasphemy, and because you, [although you] are a man, make yourself [to be] God!" Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" '? If he called them 'gods' to whom the word of God came--and the scripture cannot be broken-- do you say about [he] whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not do the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. But if I am doing [them], even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may know and understand that the Father [is] in me and I [am] in the Father."
concerning his Son, who was born {a descendant} of David according to the flesh, who was declared Son of God in power according to {the Holy Spirit} by the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord,
For all those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For the eagerly expecting creation awaits eagerly the revelation of the sons of God.
But when the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order that he might redeem those under the law, in order that we might receive the adoption. read more. And because you are sons, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba! (Father!),"
in order that you may become blameless and innocent, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as stars in the world,
Fausets
Applied in the plural to the godly Seth's descendants (not angels, who "neither marry nor are given in marriage," Lu 20:35-36), "the salt of the earth" heretofore, amidst its growing corruption by the Cainites.(See SETH.) When it lost its savour ("for that he also (even the godly seed) is become flesh" or fleshly) by contracting marriages with the beautiful but ungodly, God's Spirit ceased to strive with man, and judgment fell (Ge 6:2-4). In Job 1:6; 2:4, angels. In Ps 82:6 "gods ... sons of the Highest," i.e. His representatives, exercising, as judges and rulers, His delegated authority. A fortiori, the term applies in a higher sense to "Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world" (Joh 10:36). Israel the type was Son of God (Ex 4:22-23; Ho 11:1). Faith obeying from the motive of love constitutes men "sons of God" (Jer 3:4; Ho 1:10). Unbelief and disobedience exclude from sonship those who are sons only as to spiritual privileges (De 32:5; Hebrew).
It (the perverse and crooked generation) hath corrupted itself before Him (Isa 1:4), they are not His children but their blemish, i.e. "they cannot be called God's children but the disgrace of God's children" (Ro 9:8; Ga 3:26). The doctrine of regeneration or newborn sonship to God by the Spirit is fully developed in the New Testament (Joh 1:12-13; 3:3,5; 1Jo 3:1-3; Ro 8:15; Ga 4:5-6). The Son of God, Antitype to Israel, is co-equal, co-eternal, co-essential (consubstantial) with the Father; by eternal generation (Col 1:15), "begotten far before every creature" (Greek), therefore not a creature. So Pr 8:22 (Hebrew), "Jehovah begat (qananiy related to Greek gennaoo) Me in the beginning of His way (rather omit "in"; the Son Himself was "the Beginning of His way", "the Beginning of the creation of God", Re 3:14) from everlasting ... or ever the earth was ... I was by Him as One brought up with Him. I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him" (Pr 8:22-31; Joh 1:1-3).
The Son was the Archetype from everlasting of that creation which was in due time to be created by Him. His distinct Personality appears in His being "by God ... brought up with God," not a mere attribute; "nursed at His side"; "the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father"; to be "honoured as the Father" (Joh 1:18; 5:20). Raised infinitely above angels; "for to which of them saith God, Thou art My Son, this day (there is no yesterday or tomorrow with God, His "today" is eternity from and to everlasting) have I begotten Thee?" and "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrew 1; Ps 2:7; 45:6-7). His divine Sonship from everlasting was openly manifested by the Father's raising Him from the dead (Ac 13:33; Ro 1:4; Re 1:5). Nebuchadnezzar called Him "the Son of God," unconsciously expressing a truth the significance of which he imperfectly comprehended (Da 3:25).
The Jews might have known Messiah's Godhead from Ps 45:6-7, and Isa 9:6, "a Son ... the mighty God, the Everlasting Father"; (Isa 7:4) Immanuel "God with us"; (Mic 5:2) "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." The Scripture-asserted unity of God was their difficulty (De 6:4), and also the palpable woman-sprung humanity of Jesus. Their supposing John the Baptist to be Messiah (Lu 3:15) shows they did not expect Messiah or Christ to be more than man (Mt 22:42-45). To Jesus' question, "what think ye of Christ, whose Son is He?" the Pharisees answered not the Son of God, but "the Son of David," and could not solve the difficulty," how then doth David in the Spirit call Him Lord?" in Psalm 110, "Jehovah said unto my Lord" ('Adonay), etc., i.e. the Lord of David, not in his merely personal capacity, but as Israel's Representative, literal and spiritual. Jesus quotes it "Lord," not "my Lord," because Jehovah addresses Him as Israel's and the church's Lord, not merely David's.
Had the Pharisees believed in Messiah's Godhead they could have answered: As man Messiah was David's son, as God He was David's and the church's Lord. The Sanhedrin unanimously (Mr 14:64) condemned Him to death, not for His claim to Messiahship but to Godhead (Joh 19:7; Lu 22:70-71, "art Thou the Son of God?" etc., Lu 23:1; Mt 26:63-66). So contrary to man's thoughts was this truth that, Jesus says, not flesh and blood, but the Father revealed it to Peter (Mt 16:17). The Jews thrice took up stones to kill Him for blasphemy
(1) in unequivocally claiming God to be peculiarly "His own Father" (idion patera): Joh 5:18. Again,
(2) in claiming divine pre-existence, "before Abraham was created ("began to be", genesthai), I am" (eimi): Joh 8:58-59. And
(3) in saying, "I and the Father are one" (hen, one "essence", not person): Joh 10:30-31,33.
The apostles preached His divine Lordship as well as Messiahship (Ac 2:36). His acknowledged purity of character forbids the possibility of His claiming this, as He certainly did and as the Jews understood Him, if the claim were untrue; He never would have left them under the delusion that He claimed it if delusion it were. But the Jews from De 13:1-11 (some thought Jesus specially meant, "if the son of thy mother entice thee," for He had a human mother, He said, but not a human father) inferred that His miracles, which they could not deny, did not substantiate His claim, and that their duty was to kill with holy zeal One who sought to draw them to worship as divine another beside God. They knew not that He claimed not to be distinct God, but One with the Father, One God; they shut their eyes to De 18:15, etc., and so incurred the there foretold penalty of rejecting Him. His miracles they attributed to Satan's help (Mt 12:24,27; Mr 3:22; Lu 11:15; Joh 7:20; 8:48; Mt 10:25).
Men may commit awful sins in fanatical zeal for God, with the Scriptures in their hands, while following unenlightened conscience; conscience needs to be illuminated by the Spirit, and guided by prayerful search of Scripture. The Jews ought to have searched the Scriptures and then they would have known. Ignorance does not excuse, however it may palliate, blind zeal; they might have known if they would. Yet Jesus interceded for their ignorance (Lu 23:34; Ac 3:17; 13:27). Deniers of Jesus' Godhead on the plea of God's unity copy the Jews, who crucified Him because of His claim to be God. The Ebionites, Cerinthians, and other heretics who denied His Godhead, arose from the ranks of Judaism.
The arguments of the ancient Christian apologists, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, etc., against the Jews, afford admirable arguments against modern Socinians; the Jews sinned against the dimmer light of the Old Testament, Socinians against the broad light of both Old and New Testament The combination in One, the Son of God and the Son of man, was such as no human mind could have devised. The Jews could not ascend to the idea of Christ's divine Sonship, nor descend to the depth of Christ's sufferings as the Son of man; so they invented the figment of two Messiahs to reconcile the seemingly opposite prophecies, those of His transcendent glory and those of His exceeding sufferings. The gospel at once opposes the Jews' false monotheism by declaring Christ to be the coequal Son of God, and the pagan polytheism by declaring the unity of God.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they [were] beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose. And Yahweh said, "My Spirit shall not abide with humankind forever in that he [is] also flesh. And his days [shall be] one hundred and twenty years." read more. The Nephilim [were] upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them.
And you must say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Israel [is] my son, my firstborn." And I said to you, "Release my son and let him serve me," but you refused to release him. Look, I [am about] to kill your son, your firstborn.'"
"Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is unique.
"If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes [about] that he spoke to you, {saying}, 'Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,' read more. you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God {is testing you to know whether you love} Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all [of] your inner self. You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the [one] redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so [in this way] you shall purge the evil from your midst. "If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter {or your wife whom you embrace} or {your intimate friend} in secrecy {says}, 'Let us go and let us serve other gods!' [gods] that you and your ancestors have not known, from [among] the gods of the people who are around you, {those near you or those far from you}, from [one] end of the earth and up to the [other] end of the earth, you must not give in to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall not have compassion, and you shall not cover [up] for him. But you shall certainly kill him; your hand shall be first against him to kill him and next the hand of all [of] the people. And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you from [the] land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. And all [of] Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and {they shall not continue to act} according to this evil thing in your midst.
"Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen, [and] to him you shall listen.
They [have] behaved corruptly toward him; [they are] not his children; [this is] their flaw, a generation crooked and perverse.
Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove. And they came up to the Jordan, he and all the {Israelites}, and they spent the night there before they crossed [over]. At the end of the three days the officers passed through the midst of the camp, read more. and they commanded the people: "When you see the Levitical priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God you must set out from your place and go after it.
And it happened {one day} {that} the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst.
Then Satan answered him and said, "Skin for skin! All that {that} man has he will give for his life.
I will tell the decree; Yahweh said to me: "You are my son; today I have begotten you.
Your throne, O God, [is] forever and ever. A scepter of uprightness [is] the scepter of your kingdom.
Your throne, O God, [is] forever and ever. A scepter of uprightness [is] the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you from among your companions [with] festive oil.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you from among your companions [with] festive oil.
I have said, "You [are] gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you.
"Yahweh possessed me, [the] first of his ways, before his acts {of old}.
"Yahweh possessed me, [the] first of his ways, before his acts {of old}. From eternity, I was set up from [the] first, from the beginning of the earth. read more. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs of {abounding} water. Before mountains had been shaped, before hills, I was brought forth. When he had not yet made earth and fields, or the first dust of the world, {when he established} the heavens, there I [was], {when he drew} a circle upon the face of the deep, {when he made} skies from above, when he founded fountains of the deep, {when he assigned} his limits to the sea, that waters shall not transgress his {command}, {when he marked} the foundations of the earth, I was {beside} him, a master workman, and I was delighting day by day, rejoicing before him {always}, rejoicing in the world of his earth, and my delight [was] with the children of humankind.
Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy [with] iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh; they have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged [and gone] backward.
And you must say to him, 'Take heed and be quiet! You must not fear, and your heart must not be faint because of these two stumps of smoldering firebrands, {because of the fierce anger of} Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you [are] the close friend of my youth?
{He answered}, saying, "Look, I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and there is no damage to them, and the appearance of the fourth [man] resembles the son of a god."
The number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or counted; and in the place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "Children of [the] living God."
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, [too] small to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go out for me, to be ruler in Israel; and his origins [are] from of old, from ancient days.
[It is] enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household?
But the Pharisees, [when they] heard [it], said, "This man does not expel demons except by Beelzebul the ruler of demons!"
And if I expel demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons expel [them]? For this [reason] they will be your judges!
And Jesus answered [and] said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal [this] to you, but my Father [who is] in heaven.
saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "David's." He said to them, "How then does David, by the Spirit, call him 'Lord,' saying, read more. 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet" '? If then David calls him 'Lord,' how is he his son?"
But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I put you under oath by the living God, that you tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!" Jesus said to him, "You have said [it]. But I tell you, from now [on] you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." read more. Then the high priest tore his robes, saying, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have just now heard the blasphemy! What do you think?" And they answered [and] said, "{He deserves death}!"
And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul!" and "By the ruler of the demons he expels the demons!"
You have heard the blasphemy! What {do you think}?" And they all condemned him {as deserving death}.
And [while] the people were waiting expectantly and all were pondering in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ,
But some of them said, "By Beelzebul the ruler of demons he expels demons!"
but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and [to] the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they are not even able to die any longer, because they are like the angels and are sons of God, [because they] are sons of the resurrection.
So they all said, "Are you then the Son of God?" And he said to them, "You say that I am." And they said, "Why do we have need [of] further testimony? For [we] ourselves have heard [it] from his mouth!"
[[But Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."]] And they cast lots to divide his clothes.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God. read more. All [things] came into being through him, and apart from him not one [thing] came into being that has come into being.
But as many as received him--to those who believe in his name--he gave to them authority to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a husband, but of God.
No one has seen God at any time; the one and only, God, the one who is in the bosom of the Father--that one has made [him] known.
Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.
So on account of this the Jews were seeking even more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own Father, [thus] making himself equal with God.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself is doing. And greater works than these he will show him, so that you will be astonished.
The crowd replied, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"
The Jews answered and said to him, "Do we not correctly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am!" Then they picked up stones in order to throw [them] at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple [courts].
The Father and I are one." Then the Jews picked up stones again so that they could stone him.
The Jews answered him, "We are not going to stone you concerning a good deed, but concerning blasphemy, and because you, [although you] are a man, make yourself [to be] God!"
do you say about [he] whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
The Jews replied to him, "We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God!"
Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt, that God has made him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified!"
And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, [because they] did not recognize this one, and the voices of the prophets that are read on every Sabbath, fulfilled [them] [by] condemning [him].
this [promise] God has fulfilled to our children [by] raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have fathered you.'
who was declared Son of God in power according to {the Holy Spirit} by the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord,
For you have not received a spirit of slavery [leading] to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
That is, [it is] not the children {by human descent} [who are] children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
in order that he might redeem those under the law, in order that we might receive the adoption. And because you are sons, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba! (Father!),"
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood
"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "This is what the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God's creation, says: