God the Son
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God the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. Christians identify Jesus of Nazareth with God the Son. This is significantly different from the title Son of God, which is also applied by Christians to Jesus, but is used in several ways in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament or Tanakh), only some of which refer to the Messiah.
As applied to Jesus, Son of God draws attention to his humanity, where God the Son refers more generally to his divinity, including his pre-incarnate existence. In the New Testament, God the Son is co-eternal with the God the Father before creation. So Jesus was always God the Son, however he becomes the Son of God, through incarnation, death and resurrection. The New Testament quotes the Hebrew Bible as prophetic of God the Son becoming the Son of God.
- Psalm 2:7. You are my Son; today I have become your Father. [Cited in Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5]
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[edit] Hebrew Bible
The phrase God the Son does not appear in the Hebrew Bible, which is distinctively monotheistic. It has the following, rather enigmatic, references to the exact phrase Sons of God.
- Genesis 6:2ff. The disobedient sons of God are distinct from the beautiful "daughters of men".
- Hosea 1:10. Israel, rejected now, will later be sons of the living God. [Cited by Paul in Romans 9:26.]
- Psalm 82:6. All are gods, and sons of the Most High. [Cited by Jesus in John 10:34.]
- Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. The sons of God report to Yahweh, Satan among them (in 1:6; 2:1).
However, Yahweh frequently refers to Israel, and her king, as his son. For example, Israel in Exodus 4:22, and the king in 2 Samuel 7. Similar phrases, man of God and son of man, are sometimes used as idiomatic references to prophets. The most striking use of the phrase Son of Man is in a prophecy given in Daniel 7.
[edit] New Testament
Matthew cites Jesus as saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God (5:9)." The gospels go on to document a great deal of controversy over Jesus being the Son of God, in a unique way. The book of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the New Testament, however, record the early teaching of the first Christians — those who believed Jesus to be God. This is evident in many places, however, the early part of the book of Hebrews addresses the issue in a deliberate, sustained argument, citing the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible as authorities. For example, the author quotes Psalm 45:6 as addressed by Yahweh to Jesus.
- Hebrews 1:8. About the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever."
The most direct reference to Jesus as God the Son is in the early trinitarian baptism formula found in Matthew 28.
- Matthew 28:19. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[edit] Church Fathers
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- 'Son of God'. Catholic Encyclopedia.
