The Lord Jesus Christ has many names and titles, including such titles as the Son of God, the Word of God, the Wisdom of God, the first and the last, and the Divine Name represented in his “I am” utterances. These titles and names encapsulate aspects of his identity.
This title of Christ is regarded by some orthodox writers as synonymous with the credal title, “God the Son”. In their minds, to say that Jesus was the Son of God is tantamount to saying that he was God the Son, but this does not follow. In fact the Biblical idea of Christ’s sonship is far more down-to-earth. The credal expressions of the Trinity describe sonship in philosophical phrases such as, “of the substance of the Father, God of God, true God of true God, begotten not made”, and, “begotten of the Father before all ages”. But the sonship that Jesus had was more personal, a relationship between two individuals that began at a certain point in time. This relationship of two individuals cannot be accommodated by Trinitarians with their doctrine that Jesus was an incarnation of God the Son.
[The Old Testament basis of the title is supplied from Psalm 2, a messianic psalm that describes God’s yet-to-be “annointed one” (Greek: Christos, Hebrew: Meshiach) and Israel’s future king as “My son”:
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: Andrew Perry
Keywords: Son of God, Word of God, Wisdom of God, First and last, I am, Titles of Christ, titles of Jesus, Jesus titles, Titles, God the Son, Trinity, Deity of Christ, Deity of Jesus, Jesus's deity, Jesus' deity, Christ's deity, Pre-existence, Jesus' pre-existence, Jesus' preexistence, Christ's pre-existence, Christ's preexistence, Sonship
Bible reference(s): Psalm 2:7, Matthew 4:3, Matthew 4:6, Matthew 8:29, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 26:63, Matthew 27:40, Matthew 27:43, Matthew 27:54, Mark 1:1, Mark 3:11, Mark 15:39, Luke 1:35, Luke 3:38, Luke 4:3, Luke 4:9, Luke 4:41, Luke 11:49, Luke 22:70, John 1:34, John 1:49, John 3:18, John 5:25, John 10:36, John 11:4, John 11:27, John 19:7, John 20:31, Acts 9:20, Romans 1:4, 2 Corinthians 1:19, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:13, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 6:6, Hebrews 7:3, Hebrews 10:29, 1 John 3:8, 1 John 4:15, 1 John 5:5, 1 John 5:10, 1 John 5:12, 1 John 5:13, 1 John 5:20, Revelation 2:18, 2 Esdras 2:47
Source: Andrew Perry.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.