Jesus Son of God

The ignoring of contexts in any act of interpretation is at best a stupid practice.
At its worst it can be a vicious practice.
-S. I. Hayakawa

This report is limited to demonstrating that the phrase, "son of God," (small "s") was simply a way for a first century Jew to express himself as one of God's children. Jewish kings where called "the Son of God" (capital "S") in recognition as God's chosen king of Israel. The NT corrupted the Jewish idiom and turned it into a divine Son of God. More accurately, "Son of God" is a pun for "sun of God." See Gospel Zodiac. In reality, Christians have been worshipping the sun for all these centuries.

²But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:2)

During his coronation, the new king was anointed with oil. Thus, the anointed one was called the Messiah in Hebrew or the Christ in Greek. To Christians, "Son of God" implies divinity; to first century Jews, it was like saying, "your royal highness." To Jews, it would be blasphemy to deify Christ. Christian interpretation came by taking OT passages out of context and applying them literally to Christ.

The source of confusion between the OT and the NT has to do with the method of interpretation. We intuitively understand the importance of context in everyday speech. But somehow it gets lost with the Bible. Granted, words change meaning over time, and often they take on new definitions. But still, our language is context sensitive. Words take on meaning according to the time, place, grammar, sound, spelling and situation involved.

My favorite word to illustrate this point is the phonetic sound "duk." If a solder in war heard the sound, he would drop to the ground. If you are walking by a construction site, you better run. If you are by a pond, you look for a bird. In a hardware store, you want tape. When you are out hunting, you look up. In a clothing store, it's a material. To a doctor it's a part of your anatomy, depending on where he is looking. An engineer would be thinking about a heating system, a wiring conduit or a water canal, depending on his specialty. We can't communicate without common understanding of context.

To Christian interpreters, context was irrelevant. If an OT word, phrase, verse or passage suited their preconceptions, they applied it to the NT without regard for the original context. On this page we will examine the disparities between "son" in the NT and the OT. For more on Christian misuse of language, see Messianic Prophecies and Paul's Mythology.

Piety

For humans, the love between a son and his father was analogous to the love between man and God. Throughout this report, this is the way we are to understand what it means to be a son of God.

In the OT, the righteous man is God's child whom God will deliver from the hands of his adversaries.

¹³He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.
¹⁶We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father.
¹⁸for if the righteous man is God's child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. (Wisdom of Solomon 2:13)

In the NT, love for your persecutors helped to prove your worth as a son.

⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
⁴⁵so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matt. 5:45)

³⁵But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. (Luke 6:35)

From human to divine

The favorite Christian passage for justifying Jesus' divinity is this passage from Psalms where David recalls God calling him his son. When God said you are my son today, he didn't mean 600 years later.

⁷I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you.⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:7-8)

When you strip the words of their context and apply them literally, it means something completely different

To John, the Word became flesh as the only Son from the Father. Yes if you believe in magic.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John 1:14)

This brings up a couple of immediate contradictions.

John tells us he was in at the beginning with the Word, and the Word was God.

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
²He was in the beginning with God; (John 1:1-2)

Matthew tells us that Jesus was born in the first century through the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; (Matt. 1:18)

Let's analyze this. If the Son was in the beginning with God and God was the Word, then the Son was the Word too. If the Word became flesh, then the Word made itself flesh. Or did the Father create himself? Or did the Holy Spirit make the Son flesh through the mother? Incoherence like this can only come through muddled thinking. Nothing connects.

God Had Many Sons

There are many passages to show that God had divine sons and human sons.

God had sons in heaven.

Remnants of polytheism appear in these next passages.

Some sons mated with earth women.

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose. (Gen. 6:2)

Sons presented themselves before the Lord. Satan came too.

⁶Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. (Job 1:6)

There was a divine council of gods, in which Yahweh was the Supreme God and the others were his sons.

¹God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
⁶I say, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; (Psalm 82:1, 6)

God had sons on earth.

1. Jews considered themselves God's chosen sons. The term could apply to Jews as individuals, Israel or a king of Israel.

¹"You are the sons of the LORD your God; .
²For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. (Deut. 14:1-2)

²²And you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is my first-born son, (Ex. 4:22)

¹When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 11:1)

2. The term could also apply to a king, as the next two passages show.

Yahweh prophesized to Nathan that Solomon will be his son.

¹⁴I will be his father, and he shall be my son. (2 Sam. 7:14)

The second Psalm was part of a coronation for the king of Jerusalem. The words in red were said at Jesus' baptism and his transfiguration (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11 & Matt. 17:5; Mark 17:5; Luke 9:35)

⁶"I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."
⁷I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you.(Psalm 2:6-7)

3. Luke defines Adam as the Son of God. If a word can become flesh, then wouldn't Adam be the only son of God at creation?

³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3:38)

When did Jesus become the divine Son

This time we will stand on the Christian side of the fence, where "Son of God" implies godliness. If what follows seems unintelligible, it is because it is unintelligible.

Because Christianity binds the Father and Son together, for the Father to send the Son is equivalent to saying God sent himself. If Jesus was God, he didn't die. If he was an ordinary man, his death meant nothing. Yet because of Jesus' birth through Mary, he would have to be a demigod, i.e. half god half human. The Church calls this a mystery. That's a copout excuse for not admitting that they don't understand their own theology.

Was Jesus God at the time of creation who came as a man? Or was he a demigod born at the beginning of the first century? Was he a man who became god at resurrection? Or did he become God's right hand man when he arrived in heaven? Was he deified by the Father at his baptism? Or was he a man anointed the king of Israel? Depending where you look, the answer is all of the above.

1. John says he was God at creation.

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
²He was in the beginning with God;
³all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

2. Matthew and Luke imply he became a demigod at conception, i.e. half human half god.

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; (Matt. 1:18)

³⁵And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

3. Mark thought he had human parents. This comes about by the logic of Jesus' coming to John the Baptist to repent for his sins.

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
⁵And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
⁶Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.
⁷And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:4-8)

4. God calls Jesus his Son after he was baptized. This could mean he was deified at baptism.

¹⁷and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11)

The same phrase can be found at Jesus transfiguration.

⁵He was still speaking, when lo, 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." (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35)

The phrase was lifted from Psalms.

⁶"I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."
⁷I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you. (Psalm 2:6-7)

5. According to Paul, Jesus became Son upon his resurrection.

³the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
⁴and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,(Romans 1:3-4)

6. Jesus could have become God when he arrived in heaven.

⁵¹While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:51)

But if Jesus sat at the right hand of God, he could not be in the center occupied by God.

¹⁹So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19)

Elijah ascended to heaven before Jesus. This would mean that Jesus is not alone up there.

¹¹And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 Kings 2:11)

Jesus did not see himself as a God

Can one thing be in two places at the same time? Can two different things be the same thing? They can if you want to mangle the language. On a number of occasions in several ways, Jesus spoke of his Father in heaven, and that his power came from God. These passages represent a sampling.

If Jesus is down here and God is up there, how can they be the same?

²⁴So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
²⁵Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me; (John 10:24)

No reward will come from the Father who is in heaven.

¹"Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 6:1)

Pray to your Father who is in heaven.

⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
⁹Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (Matt. 6:8-9)

It has been prepared by my Father.

²³He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." (Matt. 20:21-23)

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matt. 28:18)

²⁵And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (Mark 13:32)

No one is good but God alone.

¹⁸And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. (Luke 18:18)

My Father is still working and I am working.

¹⁷But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working still, and I am working." (John 5:17)

The Son can do nothing of his own accord.

¹⁹Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)

If the Father loves the Son, does it mean that God loves himself?

²⁰For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. (John 5:20)

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there was over 400 years of controversy before the matter of Jesus' divine incarnation was settled at the Council of Chalcedon:

We teach . . . one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, known in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.

Let's think about this. It is a law of nature that a thing cannot be two or more things simultaneously, but it can have two or more qualities. It is one thing for a God to appear as a human, but the Church says Christ was God and human at the same time. Add to this, the Trinity. Then Christ is three things at the same time, none of them human. Or would it mean that Christ was Father, Son, Spirit and human at the same time? Or was Christ two things and three things at the same time. The only answer I can come up with is that the Christian Church is headed by illiterate linguists with tunnel vision.

one King at a time

It only makes sense that there can be only one king at a time. God was choosing kings for Israel since Saul. The last was Zerubbabel over 500 years before Christ. See Jesus Genealogy

²³On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts." (Haggai 2:23)

Ever since, there were false Christs and false prophets who could show signs and wonders, Jesus warns. No wonder the Jews were skeptical.

²²False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. (Mark 13:22)

Based on what has been discussed we can reappraise our understanding of the term "Son of God" to mean a pious individual whom God designated as the next king. What this king will do is where Jewish and Christian dogma diverges. Jewish prophecies were expecting a human king who would free them from Roman oppression. Christian interpretation took the same prophecies and redefined them to mean a divine son who would rescue sinners.

Satan

³And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, (Matt. 4:3, 6; Luke 4:3, 9)

Demons

²⁹And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" (Matt. 8:29; Mark 3:11; Luke 4:41)

Apostles

³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." (Matt. 14:33)

High priest (Note how the priest conflates Christ with Son of God.)

⁶³But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." (Matt. 26:63; Luke 22:70)

Passersby

⁴⁰and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." (Matt. 27:40)

⁴³He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Matt. 27:43)

A Roman centurion

⁵⁴When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Matt. 27:54, Mark 15:39)

Mark, Gospel of

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

Angel

John the Baptist

³⁴And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." (John 1:34)

A Jew named Nathanael.

⁴⁹Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (John 1:49)

Martha

²⁷She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world." (John 11:27)

Jews

⁷The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God." (John 19:7)

Thomas

³¹but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

John, Gospel of

The Gospel of John contains a lot of conflicting language.

This famous passage from John 3:16 is usually taken to mean that Jesus was God's one and only Son.

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

But in Psalms, God also called the King of Israel his begotten son.

⁶"I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."
⁷I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you.(Psalm 2:6-7)

Christians have universally ignored the context of this famous verse from John 3:16 where Jesus says God gave his only Son. Because it is spoken by Jesus, he is referring to someone else. It is no different if I was to say God gave his only Son.

¹⁶For 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)

It has the same context with the next three verses: Jesus was referring to another son.

¹⁸He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)

²⁵"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. (John 5:25)

⁴But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it." (John 11:4)

In this verse when Jesus said he is the Son of God, the context could mean no more than a human Christ.

³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (John 10:36)

Below, the Jews accuse Jesus of blasphemy for saying he is the Son of God. In defense, he argues that it is written in the law that they are gods too. He was denying exclusive ties to the Father.

³³The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God."
³⁴Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'?
³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken),
³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (John 10:33-36)

Jesus drew from Psalm 82:6. But 82:1 says that these gods belong to a divine council. And 82:7 says they will die like men. Actually, God was threatening the other gods.

¹God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:⁶I say, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;⁷nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall like any prince." (Psalm 82:1, 6-7)

The phrase, "Father is in me and I am in the Father," does not mean, "The Father is me and I am the Father." The first denotes loyal unity; the second means they are one in the same. The first is Jewish; the second is Christian semantics.

³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."(John 10:33-38)

Final thought

To this day Jews stand by the OT as it was written. Christianity evolved out of an elaborate conspiracy to establish a new religion by corrupting the language of the OT. Out of it emerged an incomprehensible dogma.

Related articles

Jews are very defensive about their Bible being corrupted by Christian interpretation.

Jewish Encyclopedia on son of God