The Baby in the Manger #12: Son of God

Son of God (heb: bēn, grk: huios)

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

Having emphasised the deity of Christ yesterday - his Oneness with the Father and Holy Spirit - the whole expressive communication and word of the Triune God in human form - we now move to a title that is specific to Jesus, and describes his relationship with God the Father: Jesus as the Son of God, or God the Son.  Jesus was not born of God in the way of a natural son, but he is described as God the Son so that we can understand something of him, of his role in the trinity and relationship with God the Father, and even how this triune God relates to us.  

Here's three observations about how Jesus as the Son of God tells us about work of the triune God:

Son as a treasured possession

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Not many would sacrifice their own children even for those who are their friends.  And yet God (the Father) gave his only son for us - his enemies.  It is the image that brings us as close as possible to the heart of God - father and son being ripped apart from each other for our sake.  There is pain, not just in Jesus hanging on the cross, but the Father willing to send him there.  

Son as one who turns to and is obedient to the Father

‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ (Luke 22:42)

The members of the Trinity are not the same - they love and glorify each other in distinct ways.  And so in Jesus' earthly life we see him embody the role of a Son in trusting submission to his Father.  In the famous verse quoted above, we see the two sides to this submission: first - that Jesus was willing to cry out to his Father, and second - that ultimately he was obedient to the Father's will.  Jesus laid aside all rights, glory and power to willingly go to the cross.

Son as an heir and equal

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defence Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)

Jesus' words in John 5 and John 10 are met with anger, as the crowds pick up stones to stone him. Why? Because he claims to be God's son. When we think of Fathers and Sons, we often think of children, and many not fully appreciate the status involved of being a Son.  In the New Testament particularly, the comparison was between a Son and a slave, servant or employee.  Only the former had the status of being the heir to all the Father had to give.  A Son may have been obedient to his Father, but he had the family status that others did not.  When Jesus was identified as the Son of God, there was no question as to his divinity and authority.

Our brother

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’  So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:4-6)

Here's the even more amazing bit: when Jesus defeated death and ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of Father, he opened the way for anyone who believes and trust to be raised with him and follow him there.  Through Jesus, we are also God's prized possessions, and co-heirs with him for eternity.  It's not only an identity and an inheritance, but a way of life, with Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out 'Abba Father' - in trusting obedience, dependence and joy.