What Does it Mean that Jesus is the Son of God?
When you look at the titles of Jesus in the Gospels, you see several that are attributed to Him: Messiah, Lord, Son of Man, Son of God, etc. What do these different titles tell us and what light do they shed on what the Gospel writers were trying to communicate?
In John 1:14-18, let us consider the title that is used, which is Son of God, or more accurately in the context, “the One and Only Son.” The word monogenes is the word behind “one and only.” It suggests that Jesus was the unique Son of God. Though believers are called children of God (John 1:12), the New Testament makes clear that Jesus’ relationship with the Father was different and distinctive. He was the pre-existent Word (John 1:1) who “become flesh and took up residence among us” (John 1:14). Later on, the Church would employ the title Son of God as a means of referring to the Second Person of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The teachings on the Trinity are already contained in Scripture, but it took the church a few hundred years to confirm the appropriate, biblical language for the Trinity.
So, how would people in Jesus’ day understand the term Son of God? There was a later misconception that accused Christians of believing that God had sexual relations with a human (i.e. Mary) and that Jesus was the offspring. This is a pagan idea, foreign to Judaism or Christianity.
Was there any precedent for the title Son of God? How might a First Century Jew understand this term? Let’s consider some insights from New Testament scholar, Mark Strauss:
While angels are occasionally referred to as “sons of God” in the Old Testament (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss. 82:6; 89:6), more important parallels are to the nation Israel and the king from David’s line. Israel was God’s son by virtue of God’s unique calling, deliverance, and protection. Hosea 11:1 reads, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” Similar references to God as the father of his people appear throughout the Old Testament. The Davidic king is referred to as the son of God by virtue of his special relationship to God and his representative role among the people. In the Davidic covenant, the Lord promises David concerning his descendant that “I will be his father and he will be my son” (2 Sam. 7:14). By extension, later Judaism seems to have identified the coming Messiah as the son of God.[1]
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s Son, Israel, in that He was faithful and obedient to God in a way that wayward Israel never was. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s Son, David, in that He is the “son of David” who is the Messiah, and who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 17:14; 19:16). But as John tells us in our passage, Jesus is the One and Only Son. Not Israel. Not David. Not any other prophet, priest, king, nation, or person.
Where else do we see the term monogenes? “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”[2] It is the uniqueness of Jesus as God’s Son that allows Him to be our Savior. Only a man could bear the punishment of sin for humanity, and Jesus, God’s Son, “became flesh” to do this. Only God could have the power and authority to forgive sin, and Jesus, God’s Son, is Divine and could pay such a comprehensive price on behalf of all. He came to provide salvation and forgiveness of sin.
Today, will you worship and obey Jesus, the One and Only Son of God?
[1] Mark L. Strauss, Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 485–486.
[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Jn 3:16.