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.
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that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair. And they took to them wives of all that they chose.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and they bore sons to them, the same were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
And Joshua rose up early in the morning. And they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp,
Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before LORD, that Satan also came among them.
Have thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has, on every side? Thou have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This man was in the beginning with God. read more. All things came to be through him, and apart from him not even one thing came to be that has come to be. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. A man came to be who was sent from God, his name was John. This man came for testimony so that he might testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. That man was not the light, but that he might testify about the light. He was the TRUE light coming into the world that enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own did not accept him. But as many as did accept him, to them he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were begotten, not from blood, nor from a will of flesh, nor from a will of man, but from God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Because of this therefore the Jews sought even more to kill him, because not only did he relax the Sabbath, but also he called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, except what he sees the Father doing. For whatever he may do, the Son also does these things in like manner. read more. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. And he will show him works greater works than these, so that ye may marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead and makes alive, so also the Son makes alive whom he will. For neither does the Father judge any man, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all would honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. The man not honoring the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, that he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life. And he does not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, that an hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
I and the Father are one. Therefore again the Jews took up stones so that they might stone him. read more. Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from my Father. Because of them, which work do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, We stone thee not about a good work, but about blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, make thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If he designated those men gods, for whom the word of God came to be (and the scripture cannot be broken), whom the Father made holy and sent into the world, do ye say, Thou blaspheme, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I am doing them, even though ye do not believe me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the him.
concerning his Son who was made from the seed of David according to flesh. He who was designated Son of God in power, according to a spirit of holiness, from a resurrection of the dead--Jesus Christ our Lord--
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born from a woman, born under law, so that he might redeem those under law, so that we might receive the sonship. read more. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
so that ye may become blameless and pure children of God, blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom ye shine as lights 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.
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that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair. And they took to them wives of all that they chose. And LORD said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he also is flesh. Yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. read more. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and they bore sons to them, the same were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
And thou shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says LORD, Israel is my son, my first-born, and I have said to thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou have refused to let him go. Behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born.
Hear, O Israel: LORD our God is one LORD.
If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou have not known, and let us serve them, read more. thou shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams, for LORD your God proves you, to know whether ye love LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cling to him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is as thine own soul, entices thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou have not known, thou, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, near to thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth, thou shall not consent to him, nor hearken to him. Neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shall thou spare, neither shall thou conceal him, but thou shall surely kill him. Thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw thee away from LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall no more do any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.
LORD thy God will raise up for thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brothers, like me. Ye shall hearken to him
They have dealt corruptly with him. [They are] not his sons, [it is] their blemish, a perverse and crooked generation.
And Joshua rose up early in the morning. And they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp, read more. and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall move from your place, and go after it.
Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before LORD, that Satan also came among them.
And Satan answered LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man has he will give for his life.
I will tell of the decree. LORD said to me, Thou are my son, this day I have begotten thee.
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of straightness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of straightness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions.
Thou have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions.
I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.
LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was, read more. when there were no depths. I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills. I was brought forth while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle upon the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when the fountains of the deep became strong, when he gave to the sea its bound that the waters should not transgress his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, a master workman. And I was daily [his] delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his habitable earth. And my delight was with the sons of men.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken LORD. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have gone away backward.
And say to him, Take heed, and be quiet. Fear not, nor let thy heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no harm. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said to them, Th
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which are little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee he shall come forth to me who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
It is enough for the pupil that he becomes like his teacher, and the bondman like his lord. If they have called the house-ruler Beelzebub, how much more those of his household.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons.
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Because of this they will be your judges.
And having answered, Jesus said to him, Blessed are thou, Simon Bar-jonah, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father in the heavens.
What does it seem to you about the Christ? Whose son is he? They say to him, Of David. He says to them, How then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, read more. The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I place thine enemies a footstool of thy feet? If David therefore calls him Lord, how is he his son?
But Jesus was silent. And having responded, the high priest said to him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus says to him, Thou have said. Nevertheless I say to you, Henceforth ye will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming in the clouds of the sky. read more. Then the high priest tore his garments, saying, He has blasphemed. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye heard his blasphemy. What does it seem to you? Having answered, they said, He is deserving of death.
And the scholars who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebub, and, By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.
Ye have heard the blasphemy. What does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death.
And as the people were expectant, and all pondering in their hearts about John, if perhaps he was the Christ,
but some of them said, He casts out the demons by Beelzebub, ruler of the demons.
but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. For neither can they die any more, for they are like the heavenly agents, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
And they all said, Therefore thou are the Son of God? And he said to them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What further need have we of testimony? For we have heard from his mouth.
And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. And dividing his garments, they cast a lot.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This man was in the beginning with God. read more. All things came to be through him, and apart from him not even one thing came to be that has come to be.
But as many as did accept him, to them he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were begotten, not from blood, nor from a will of flesh, nor from a will of man, but from God.
No man has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, being in the bosom of the Father, that man reported him.
Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to thee, If any man is not begotten from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to thee, If any man is not begotten from water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Because of this therefore the Jews sought even more to kill him, because not only did he relax the Sabbath, but also he called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. And he will show him works greater works than these, so that ye may marvel.
The multitude answered and said, Thou have a demon. Who seeks to kill thee?
Therefore the Jews answered and said to him, Do we not say well that thou are a Samaritan, and have a demon?
Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I am. Therefore they took up stones so that they might throw at him, but Jesus was hid, and went out of the temple, having passed through the midst of them, and thus passed on.
I and the Father are one. Therefore again the Jews took up stones so that they might stone him.
The Jews answered him, saying, We stone thee not about a good work, but about blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, make thyself God.
whom the Father made holy and sent into the world, do ye say, Thou blaspheme, because I said, I am the Son of God?
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ.
And now, brothers, I know that ye did it from ignorance, as also your rulers.
For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, not having known this and the voices of the prophets being read at every Sabbath, they fulfilled, having condemned him.
as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou are my Son, today I have begotten thee.
He who was designated Son of God in power, according to a spirit of holiness, from a resurrection of the dead--Jesus Christ our Lord--
For ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
That is, the children of the flesh, these are not children of God, instead, the children of the promise are reckoned for seed.
For ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
so that he might redeem those under law, so that we might receive the sonship. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
who is an image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and washed us from our sins by his blood
And to the agent of the congregation in Laodicea write, These things says the Truly, the faithful and TRUE witness, the primacy of the creation of God: