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 that the daughters of men were fair, and they took for themselves wives of all whom they chose.
There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore sons to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel and lodged there before they passed over. And after three days, the officers went through the camp,
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he has on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands; therefore, his substance has increased in the land.
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with the God. read more. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light. That Word was the true Light, which lightens every man that comes into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, who are not born of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do; for all that he does, this also the Son does together with him. read more. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all the things that he does, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life; even so the Son gives life unto whom he will. For the Father judges no man but has committed all judgment unto the Son that everyone should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who has sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word and believes him that sent me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour shall come, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. read more. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we do not stone thee, but for blasphemy; and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), do ye say of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, though ye do not believe me, believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him.
of his Son (who was born unto him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection from the dead), of Jesus, the Christ, our Lord.
For all that are led by the Spirit of God, the same are sons of God.
For the earnest hope of the creatures waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.
but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. read more. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;
that ye may be blameless and innocent, children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse 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 that the daughters of men were fair, and they took for themselves wives of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for certainly he is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. read more. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore sons to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, The LORD hath said thus: Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I have said unto thee, Let my son go that he may serve me, but thou hast refused to let him go; therefore, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.
When there arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, read more. thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God proves you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and hear his voice, and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and ransomed you out of the house of slavery, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 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 should entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou nor thy fathers have known, namely, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you, near unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth, thou shalt not consent with him nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him; neither shalt thou have compassion; neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou must kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou must stone him with stones, and he shall die because he has sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery; so that all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken,
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is that they are not his sons; they are a perverse and crooked generation.
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel and lodged there before they passed over. And after three days, the officers went through the camp, read more. and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
And Satan answered the LORD and said, Skin for skin, all that a man has he will give for his life.
I will declare the decree; the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day I have begotten thee.
Thy throne, O God, is eternal and for ever, the rod of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Thy throne, O God, is eternal and for ever, the rod of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the most High.
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up with eternal dominion, from the beginning, before the earth was. read more. I was begotten before the depths, before the existence of the fountains of many waters. Before the mountains were founded, before the hills was I begotten. While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the beginning of the dust of the world, when he composed the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, I was with him ordering everything; I was his delight every day, being content before him at all times; I am content in the circumference of his earth, and my contentment is with the sons of men.
O sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, generation of evildoers, corrupt sons! They have forsaken the LORD; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger; they have turned back.
and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government is placed upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called The Wonderful One, The Counsellor, The God, The Mighty One, The Eternal Father, The Prince of Peace.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
He answered and said, Behold, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
With all this, 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 unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
When Israel was a boy, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Lord in Israel; and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of the ages.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the slave as his lord. If they have called the husband of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call those of his household?
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out demons but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in the heavens.
saying, What think ye of the Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He said unto them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, read more. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?
But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said it; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. read more. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.
But the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that he had Beelzebub and that by the prince of the devils he cast out devils.
Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not,
But some of them said, He casts out devils through Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
but those who are accounted worthy to obtain 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 equal unto the angels and are the sons of God, being the sons of the resurrection.
Then they all said, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I AM. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.
Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with the God. read more. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, who are not born of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a person be born again from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all the things that he does, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel.
The people answered and said, Thou hast a demon; who goes about to kill thee?
Then the Jews answered, and said unto him, Do we not say well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a demon?
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. Then they took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus concealed himself and went out of the temple, and going through the midst of them, went away.
I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we do not stone thee, but for blasphemy; and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
do ye say of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by 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 this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance ye did it as did also your princes.
For those that dwell at Jerusalem and their princes, because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the prophets who are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
which God has fulfilled unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection from the dead), of Jesus, the Christ, our Lord.
For ye have not received the spirit of slavery to be in fear again, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
That is, Those who are sons of the flesh, these are not the sons of God; but those who are sons of the promise are counted in the generation.
For ye are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
to redeem those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature;
and from Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood
And unto the angel of the congregation of the Laodiceans write; Behold, he who saith, Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: