| Author | Message | ||
| Animal Registered user Username: Animal Post Number: 979 Registered: 7-2008  |
It is a question that I have had since I became a christian over 30 years ago. Why does the bible speak of Jesus as the "son" of God? To me the word "son" signifies a beginning of an existence. Yet bible teaches that Jesus is the source of all that is in existence. Maybe I am making something out of nothing. i dont know...sigh. Anyone have an answer for me? ...Animal | ||
| Skeeter Registered user Username: Skeeter Post Number: 1560 Registered: 12-2007 |
I don't. If I had that answer, I would be able to understand the trinity. The Father+ the Son+ The Holy Spirit . Three,,, and yet = 1 God in mind, spirit and substance. I sure don't know HOW it works, and it is something I have wondered about... but also something I really don't feel I NEED to know,because if it were important for us to know all the answers, God would have told us.  It is enough for me to know that someday.... when and if we need to know certain things, we will have all of eternity to learn. God is infinite. I am sure we will spend all eternity asking questions and learning about things that we cannot even imagine in the here and now. Even in eternity, God is sooo far above and beyond OUR own ability to imagine... we will never have all the answers to everything. If we had all knowledge we would be god's. Since there is only ONE God, only HE has ALL knowledge. That's the way it is and should be. I trust Him to have all the answers. I certainly would not want the responsibility of His "job". I wonder if we ever give God a headache ? .... | ||
| Pnoga Registered user Username: Pnoga Post Number: 471 Registered: 1-2007  |
He also calls Himself the son of man Paul | ||
| Loneviking Registered user Username: Loneviking Post Number: 828 Registered: 7-2000 |
The reason is that physically, as a man, that is what Jesus was. He was 'conceived by the Holy Spirit', in the words of the Apostolic creed; He had a genetic lineage on Marys side that affected how He looked and His mannerisms...and yet, He was still God. It is a mystery as to how this worked, but it did. | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 7444 Registered: 9-2006  |
Here is the way I think of it Animal. He was conceived by God so he is the Son of God. He was born of Mary, so he is the Son of man. Jesus has no earthly father. Jesus has an earthly mother, or did have until she died and was no more earth bound. Jesus father is the Holy Spirit. Jesus mother is Mary, in present tense. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, she bore a son and his name is Jesus. River | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 12845 Registered: 12-2003  |
I'm not sure we can fully explain this, Animal. It's certainly a question a great many people have asked. In the book Father, Son and Spirit: The Trinity and John's Gospel by Andreas Kostenberger and Scott Swain, there are these two paragraphs on page 88:
The chapter is summarized with a chart showing the relationship between the Father and the Son this way. Creation: [Jesus is] The Word=God [the Father is] God —> Ontological Equality Incarnation: (the Word) made flesh: The Son (God) The Father sends the Son —> Functional Subordination The Title of the above "chart" is this: The Word/God-made-flesh / the Son and God-the-Father relationship in John's Gospel. In other words, Jesus was eternally God the Word. God the Word and God the Father are "ontologically" equal. (The word "ontological" is defined as "relating to or based upon being or existence.)The Father sends the Son in the incarnation, and and as the Son Jesus functions as the subordinate to the Father. They are both eternally God. They are equal in substance. The Son came in the flesh. He came because the Father sent Him. Within the Trinity, in ways we can't fully understand, the Word/Son's role is subordinate to the Father. Moreover, we learn in the book of John that the Holy Spirit is "functionally subordinate" to both the Father and the Son...yet He also is eternally, ontologically equal to them. Colleen | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 3761 Registered: 10-2004  |
Animal, I have come to understand the term "Son of God" as referring to Jesus' eternal generation from the Father. This historic Christian doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son (along with the eternal procession of the Spirit), which comes from the New Testament itself and is confessed by the historic ecumenical Creeds of the Church, helps to safeguard the orthodox understanding of the Trinity. Thus, Jesus is literally the Son of God and yet He is absolutely eternal and is God Himself. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. To learn more about this teaching, see here and here. Jeremy (Message edited by Jeremy on August 15, 2011) | ||
| Agapetos Registered user Username: Agapetos Post Number: 2053 Registered: 10-2002  |
Hey Animal, A quick answer: before He was born and declared as "the Son", in Father's bosom He was "the Word". When He came to earth, He was "the Word made flesh". The relationship of Father to Son is similar to what we know, but different and far greater. (Obviously, since there is no "heavenly mother" that Father had the Word with!) All we know is what He has chosen to reveal to us. In John chapter 1, we see that in the beginning He was the Word (not yet made flesh), He with Father, and they were one. (And obviously, still are!) Don't know if that helps or not. =P Bless you in Papa's love! Ramone | ||
| Pnoga Registered user Username: Pnoga Post Number: 472 Registered: 1-2007 |
In keeping with "The Word, was with God, and the Word was God, And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us" As in 1 John I find this verse in Isiah 55:11 so My Word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do. The above verse from Isaiah 11 which talks about the everlasting covenant God promises assured to David and his decendants, this Covenant which Jesus gives us freely. Jesus whom is also referred to as the son of David, is God's revelation to us, His Word accomplished, fulfilled. The son of man because the shadows of the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, which gains back what Adam lost. The Son of David to confirm the promises given in the pictures and shadows that David's son will build the temple, The Son of God because He is the first born from all the dead, He was the first to be born of the Spirit, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us to fufill all of God's Words and promises. Something like that, ;) Paul | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 12855 Registered: 12-2003 |
Jeremy, good point. There are definitely aspects of this question which are still a mystery to us; I suspect much of what we cannot know now will be more clear when we are no longer limited to three dimensions and time. We cannot understand God the Son the way we understand human "begetting". God is different from us and "other". We have to know, from the witness of Scripture, that the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are eternal with their own "roles" within the Trinity--and that they are One Being. Adventism teaches three beings. They couch the words in clever phrases, but the SDA trinity is, as EGW put it, the "three Worthies of heaven". Colleen | ||
| Bskillet Registered user Username: Bskillet Post Number: 839 Registered: 8-2008 |
Jeremy, I agree the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son helps. I find it a reasonable means of coordinating seemingly disparate facts. (Message edited by bskillet on August 16, 2011) |
