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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the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
THE Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine. He was with God in the very beginning: read more. through him all existence came into being, no existence came into being apart from him. In him life lay, and this life was the Light for men: amid the darkness the Light shone, but the darkness did not master it. A man appeared, sent by God, whose name was John: he came for the purpose of witnessing, to bear testimony to the Light, so that all men might believe by means of him. He was not the Light; it was to bear testimony to the Light that he appeared. The real Light, which enlightens every man, was coming then into the world: he entered the world ??the world which existed through him ??yet the world did not recognize him; he came to what was his own, yet his own folk did not welcome him. On those who have accepted him, however, he has conferred the right of being children of God, that is, on those who believe in his Name, who owe this birth of theirs to God, not to human blood, nor to any impulse of the flesh or of man. So the Logos became flesh and tarried among us; we have seen his glory ??glory such as an only son enjoys from his father ??seen it to be full of grace and reality.
But this only made the Jews more eager to kill him, because he not merely broke the sabbath but actually spoke of God as his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. So Jesus made this answer to them: "Truly, truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, nothing but what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, the Son also does the same. read more. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he is doing himself. He will show him still greater deeds than these, to make you wonder; for as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so the Son makes anyone live whom he chooses. Indeed the Father passes judgment on no one; he has committed the judgment which determines life or death entirely to the Son, that all men may honour the Son as they honour the Father. (He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.) Truly, truly I tell you, he who listens to my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; he will incur no sentence of judgment, he has already passed from death across to life. Truly, truly I tell you, the time is coming, it has come already, when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live;
I and my Father are one ??." The Jews again caught up stones to stone him. read more. Jesus replied, "I have let you see many a good deed of God; for which of them do you mean to stone me?" The Jews retorted, "We mean to stone you, not for a good deed, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, make yourself God." Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? If the Law said they were gods, to whom the word of God came ??and scripture cannot be broken ??36 do you mean to tell me, whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am God's Son'?
If I am not doing the deeds of my Father, do not believe me; but if I am, then believe the deeds, though you will not believe me ??that you may learn and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
concerning his Son, who was born of David's offspring by natural descent and installed as Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness when he was raised from the dead ??concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,
For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God.
Even the creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.
but when the time had fully expired, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to ransom those who were under the Law, that we might get our sonship. read more. It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!'
so as to be blameless and innocent, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverse generation where you shine like stars in a dark 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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enough for the scholar to fare like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If men have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they miscall his servants!
But when the Pharisees heard of it they said, "This fellow only casts out daemons by Beelzebul the prince of daemons."
Besides, if I cast out daemons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Thus they will be your judges.
Jesus answered him, "You are a blessed man, Simon Bar-jona, for it was my Father in heaven, not flesh and blood, that revealed this to you.
"Tell me," he said, "what you think about the Christ. Whose son is he?" They said to him, "David's." He said to them, "How is it then that David in the Spirit calls him Lord? read more. The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I put your enemies under your feet.' If David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?"
Jesus said nothing. Then the high priest addressed him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!" Jesus said to him, "Even so! But I tell you, in future you will all see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." read more. Then the high priest tore his dress and cried, "He has blasphemed! What more evidence do we want? Look, you have heard his blasphemy for yourselves! What is your view?" They replied, "He is doomed to death."
But the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and "It is by the prince of daemons that he casts out daemons."
You have heard his blasphemy for yourselves. What is your mind?" They condemned him, all of them, to the doom of death;
Now as people's expectations were roused and as everybody thought to himself about John, "Can he be the Christ,"
but some of them said, "It is by Beelzebul the prince of daemons that he casts out daemons."
but those who are considered worthy to attain yonder world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are married, for they cannot die any more; they are equal to angels and by sharing in the resurrection they are sons of God.
"Are you the Son of God then?" they all said. "Certainly," he replied, "I am." So they said, "What more evidence do we need? We have heard it from his own lips."
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing." Then they distributed his clothes among themselves by drawing lots.
THE Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine. He was with God in the very beginning: read more. through him all existence came into being, no existence came into being apart from him.
On those who have accepted him, however, he has conferred the right of being children of God, that is, on those who believe in his Name, who owe this birth of theirs to God, not to human blood, nor to any impulse of the flesh or of man.
Nobody has ever seen God, but God has been unfolded by the divine One, the only Son, who lies upon the Father's breast.
Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, no one can see God's Realm unless he is born from above."
Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God's Realm.
But this only made the Jews more eager to kill him, because he not merely broke the sabbath but actually spoke of God as his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he is doing himself. He will show him still greater deeds than these, to make you wonder;
The crowd replied, "You are mad. Who wants to kill you?"
The Jews retorted, "Are we not right in saying you are a Samaritan, you are mad?"
"Truly, truly I tell you," said Jesus, "I have existed before Abraham was born." At this they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus concealed himself and made his way out of the temple.
I and my Father are one ??." The Jews again caught up stones to stone him.
The Jews retorted, "We mean to stone you, not for a good deed, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, make yourself God."
The Jews retorted, "But we have a Law, and by [our] Law he is bound to die, because he has made himself out to be God's Son."
So let all the house of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this very Jesus whom you have crucified."
Now I know, brothers, that you acted in ignorance, like your rulers ??18 though this was how God fulfilled what he had announced beforehand by the lips of all the prophets, namely the sufferings of his Christ.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their rulers, by condemning him in their ignorance, fulfilled the words of the prophets which are read every sabbath;
has been fulfilled by God for us their children, when he raised Jesus. As it is written in the second psalm, thou art my son, to-day have I become thy father.
and installed as Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness when he was raised from the dead ??concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,
You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!",
you are all sons of God by your faith in Christ Jesus
to ransom those who were under the Law, that we might get our sonship. It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!'
He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all the creation ??16 for it was by him that all things were created both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers; all things have been created by him and for him;
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the prince over the kings of earth; to him who loves us and has loosed us from our sins by shedding his blood ??6 he has made us a realm of priests for his God and Father, ??to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever: Amen.
Then to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation.