What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God?
When Scripture calls Jesus the Son of God, it is not saying He is a created being or 'less than' God; it is declaring His full divinity and His perfect relationship with the Father. He is the eternal Son, of one nature with the Father.
This question arose from studying Who is Jesus?.
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What the Scripture says
'Son' speaks of nature, not of being made
In Scripture, sonship describes likeness of nature and relationship. The Son is 'the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of his nature.' The word speaks of who He eternally is in relation to the Father, not of a point when He began to exist.
His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
For to which of the angels did he say at any time, “You are my Son. Today have I become your father?” and again, “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?”
Everyone understood it as a claim to equality
When Jesus called God His own Father, 'the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.' They knew exactly what sonship meant: He was claiming to be God.
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
The Son does the Father's own works
As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whom He will. All judgment has been given to the Son, 'that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father.' These are not the works of a servant doing another's bidding; they are the works of God.
Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
He is one with the Father
Jesus said plainly, 'I and the Father are one.' The crowd immediately understood: 'because you, being a man, make yourself God.' The Son is not one god among many; He and the Father are one in being, distinct in Person.
I and the Father are one.”
The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Why it matters for salvation
Our life is in the Son: 'He who has the Son has life.' And because the Son is God, He is fully able to save. The Father's love is measured by this: He 'did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.' A lesser Christ could not bear a whole world's sin; the Son of God can.
The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.
He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
As you read, you may wonder…
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Verses to meditate on
For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
I and the Father are one.”
His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
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