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Son of God

Son of God. Many rulers throughout history have assumed the title "son of God," "son of Heaven," or similar title (see Rulers and imperial titles). The term "son of God" is used in the Bible as another way to refer to humans who have a special relationship with God. Not only humans are given this title but also the nation of Israel (Exodus 4:22) and beings of other planets or possibly angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). In the New Testament, "Son of God" is applied to Jesus on many occasions and followers of Jesus are called, "sons of God."

God the Son. The term "God the Son" is a trinitarian term based on the belief that Jesus is equally God with the Father and the Spirit and is, therefore, metaphorically (not literally) the son of God. However, this term ("God the Son") is nowhere found in the Bible or in the writings of Ellen G. White.

  • From Wikipedia: The phrase "God the Son" is not found in the Bible, but is found in later Christian sources. By scribal error the term is in one medieval manuscript, MS No.1985, where Galatians 2:20 has "Son of God" changed to "God the Son".
  • Search in egwwritings.org. Ellen G. White never used the term "God the Son." This can be shown by doing a search of the term "God the Son" in her writings. It returns zero (0) results.

What is the issue? While the Bible declares Jesus to be the "Son of God," the trinitarian doctrine regards this term to be a metaphorical, not literal, term. According to the trinitarian doctrine, Jesus could not be a literal son because he is divine, and divinity has "eternality" as an attribute. If Jesus were a literal son, he would have a beginning and would therefore not be eternal and divine. This, of course, is based on the assumption that the term "eternal" had the same meaning to the Jews, Greeks and EGW as it has to us today. The truth of the matter is that it does not.

A parallel issue is with the term "eternal fire". The Bible concept of eternal fire is not a fire that burns for ever and ever in the sense of no beginning and no end. There is in fact a beginning and end to the Biblical term "eternal fire." For example, in the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the "eternal fire" that Jude 7 is talking about had a beginning and an end. This topic is discussed further at the end of this article.

Jesus, the Son of God

Jesus is recognized as the Son of God by God Himself at both Jesus' baptism and his transfiguration.

  • Matthew 3:16-17: And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
  • Matthew 17:5: He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Jesus is declared the Son of God by the angel Gabriel when he spoke to Mary.

  • Luke 1:35: And answering, the angel [Gabriel] said to her, "Holy spirit shall be coming on you, and [the] power of [the] Most High shall be overshadowing you; wherefore also the holy One Who is being generated shall be called the Son of God.

Jesus is called the Son of God by demons.

  • Matthew 8:29: And behold, they [the demons] cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
  • Mark 3:11: And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
  • Luke 4:41: And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Son of God.

John 1:33-34: I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

In the Gospels, his disciples declared Jesus to be the Son of God.

  • Matthew 14:33: And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
  • Matthew 16:16: Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
  • John 1:49: Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
  • John 11:27: She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
  • John 20:31: but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

In the balance of the New Testament, Jesus is declared to be the Son of God.

  • Acts 9:20: And immediately he [Paul] proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
  • 2 Corinthians 1:19: For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.
  • Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
  • 1 John 3:8b: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
  • 1 John 4:15: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
  • 1 John 5:13: I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
  • 2 John 1:3 (NKJV): Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

EGW on the Son of God

Ellen G. White never used the term "God the Son." This can be shown by doing a search of the term "God the Son" in her writings (egwwritings.org). It returns zero (0) results. However, a search of the term "Son of God" results in well over 4,500 instances—4,743 instances to be exact.

Ellen G. White quotes on Christology.

  • 18LtMs, Lt 303, 1903, par. 14: When Christ first announced to the heavenly host His mission and work in the world, He declared that He was to leave His position of dignity and disguise His holy mission by assuming the likeness of a man, when in reality He was the Son of the infinite God.
  • 8T 268.3: God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son.
  • DA 535.5 (and following): [The raising of Lazarus] Christ's enemies had accused Him of blasphemy, and had taken up stones to cast at Him because He claimed to be the Son of God. They accused Him of performing miracles by the power of Satan. But here Christ claims God as His Father, and with perfect confidence declares that He is the Son of God. . . . Here the disciples and the people were to be given the most convincing evidence in regard to the relationship existing between Christ and God. They were to be shown that Christ's claim was not a deception. . . . With intense and painful interest all wait for the test of Christ's divinity, the evidence that is to substantiate His claim to be the Son of God, or to extinguish the hope forever.
  • YI June 28, 1894, par. 9: Who is Christ?—He is the only begotten Son of the living God. He is to the Father as a word that expresses the thought,—as a thought made audible. Christ is the word of God. Christ said to Philip, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” His words were the echo of God's words. Christ was the likeness of God, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person. If men would learn to escape the corruptions that are in the world through lust, they must learn what the statement of Christ means, when he says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
  • ST June 27, 1895, par. 3: But who that is not infinite can understand the infinite? Christ declares, “No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him.” It is recorded of Epictetus that when his hearers said to him, “You have uttered many excellent things of God; but we cannot as yet understand what he is,” he truly and nobly replied, “Were I able fully to set forth God, I should either be a god myself, or God himself would cease to be what he is.” The greatness of God cannot be measured or comprehended. And that doctrine that denies the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ, denies also the Godhead of the Father; for no man knoweth the Son but the Father.
  • ST June 27, 1895, par. 4: The mightiest created intelligence cannot grasp divinity. The principalities and powers of heaven are overwhelmed with the vastness of the theme of Christ's character and the mystery of the union of divinity and humanity. The most eloquent notes of cherubim and seraphim fail to describe him; but the angels of God delight to be in his presence. They rejoice in beholding his face, and hasten to obey his command, to fulfill their commission of love to those for whom Christ died.

What is the issue?

The issue on Sonship is whether Jesus had a beginning or not. If Jesus were a literal son, he would have a beginning, but if Jesus is divine and, therefore, eternal, he would have no beginning and could not be a literal son.

The metaphorical view. Trinitarians, along with modern-day Adventists, argue that Jesus is a metaphorical son. Here is the official Seventh-day Adventist position:

  • "the father-son image cannot be literally applied to the divine Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. The Son is not the natural, literal Son of the Father. A natural child has a beginning, while within the Godhead the Son is eternal. The term “Son” is used metaphorically when applied to the Godhead." —Adventist Biblical Research, "A Question of Sonship," Ángel Manuel Rodríguez.

By extension, the Father then becomes a metaphorical Father and the Spirit is a metaphorical Spirit. All three member of the Trinity are then role playing. They are not really who they say they are, they are only actors in a play.

Question: If Jesus is not the "literal" Son of God and the Father is not literally the Father of Jesus, why then did they not just come out and say so? What was the need to hide the fact that they were simply role playing? Are we not adult enough to handle the truth of their true nature? If the Godhead is indeed a trinity, then why does the Bible not simply say so?

The literal view. The literal view is that Jesus, as the Son of God, had a beginning, but that this does not deny his divine nature. Meaning that Jesus has all the divine attributes of divinity, just as a human son has all the attributes of human parents. As to the matter of Jesus having eternal qualities, it all comes down to what one understands eternal to mean.

The term eternal. To give context, a discussion of the doctrine of eternal Sonship should be studied. The Adventist pioneers understood eternity to be outside of time. It can be illustrated as a continuum of:

  • Eternity |—Time—| Eternity

This is the only view which perfectly fits within the Hebraic understanding, the Greek of the New Testament, the early Adventist usage and Ellen White's writings. So, yes, there was a "time" when the Son of God was not and there was a "time" when the Son of God was. But given that God lives in "eternity" and not limited to "time", the Son of God is eternal. That is, the Son of God was always the Son of God by nature and will always be the Son of God in eternity. Effectively, Jesus was "born" twice—once as the Son of God (in eternity past) and once as the Son of Man (in the incarnation). Just as believers are born twice—once by the will of man (through natural, human birth) and once by the will of God (in the new birth experience).

  • 20LtMs, Ms 22, 1905, par.5: Christ brought men and women power to overcome. He came to this world in human form, to live a man among men. He assumed the liabilities of human nature, to be proved and tried. In His humanity He was a partaker of the divine nature. In His incarnation he gained in a new sense the title of the Son of God. Said the angel to Mary, “The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” [Luke 1:35.] While the son of a human being, Christ became the Son of God in a new sense. Thus He stood in our world—the Son of God, yet allying Himself by birth to the human race.

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