Why I Believe in the Eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ
It would be a good time to discuss the eternal Sonship of Christ as Christmas draws near this first day of December. I'm amazed at how anti-Catholic Arian cults read from the Bible but they don't believe in the Sonship of Christ. Some claim that it was just "invented by the papacy". That would be the fallacy of guilt by association such as saying that it would be wrong for born-again Christians to do feeding programs because Roman Catholics also do it. Roman Catholics also believe in the truth that God exists as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The anti-Catholic Arian cults have a vicious attack on the Trinity and say that Jesus was "just a man". However, even the Bible versions that the non-Catholic Arian cults use still say that Jesus is God!
The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith says this about the Trinity:
3. In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.
(1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:14,18; John 15:26; Galatians 4:6 )
What is the doctrine of Jesus' eternal Sonship? It's also called the doctrine of eternal generation. Since the Holy Trinity is not limited by a 24-hour period, this means an eternal day. Jesus didn't become the Son of God at a point in time. Instead, He has already been the eternal Son of God. Psalm 2:7 declares Jesus' eternal Sonship before everyone in eternity. Jesus claimed He was before Abraham (John 8:44). In John 1:1-12, we can read that Jesus Himself is the Word, the Word is with God, and the Word is God. In Genesis 1, God the Father couldn't be talking to angels but to the Son and the Spirit. I remembered even before I was saved - I was already thinking God was certainly talking to the Son and the Spirit. The "us" can only refer to the Son and the Spirit because angels cannot create. Just the fact that Jesus was before Abraham makes Him above Mary his godly earthly mother. Mary sure is a godly woman and a mother to model but too much emphasis can be put on her by Roman Catholicism. Mary had the privilege to carry the eternal Son in her womb while she was just another sinner saved by grace. Jesus was before Abraham and Mary or even Adam because He has always been the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
The Old Testament had many theophanies of a special person. One is the Angel of the LORD who comes to bless and do what only God can do. This special Angel speaks as God, speaks for God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities of God. This special Angel was not a created angel but Jesus in His pre-incarnate form. Later, the Lord appeared with two angels in Mamre to Abraham. Jesus would later verify His claim of having seen Abraham as He is God the Son in human form. Another is the Captain of the LORD's host meeting Joshua by the river. We have the Son of God already present in the Old Testament. To say Jesus was not yet the Son at some point is just bad theology. The Psalms already showed the Son of God beforehand.
John 3:16 also states that God gave His only begotten Son. Newer versions of the Bible have removed the word begotten but capitalized s in son to specify that God only has one Son. Yes, God only has one Son and the promise of becoming sons of God is through adoption and accepting His only Son. What does it mean Jesus is God's only begotten Son? Begotten is taken from the Greek word "monogenes" which is defined by Thayer's as " single of its kind, only" which means Jesus is the only unique Son of God. Anybody can get the privilege of becoming a child of God but Jesus is the only Son of God in the divine sense. Every Christian was a child of the Devil adopted into the Kingdom of God. Only Jesus began from eternity past as the eternal Son of God. Jesus' claim to be the Son of God claimed His equality with the Father. The Father backed up His claims during His baptism in the Jordan River. The Father spoke to the crowd and declared Jesus as His Son and the Holy Spirit was there. That certainly is proof that Jesus is indeed the eternal Son of God.
1 John 5:7 is not found in other modern Bibles. One reason why I love the King James Version (KJV) is that I believe the 17 verses not found in other Bibles (but usually denoted in footnotes) are still important. Even the New International Version (NIV) or Bibles not having the missing words from 1 John 5:7 do not deny the Trinity. The baptism of Jesus is still present in the modern versions that are used by the Arian, anti-Catholic cults. We have God the Father declaring the Sonship of Christ and the Holy Spirit descending. John 1:1-12 is still found in the modern versions? It's because of the hardness of the heart and their inability to understand the Bible. The Scriptures are to be spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14) - something the cultists don't have. It's just like how the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) cult tries to promote Felix Manalo as their founder with verses taken out-of-context but will be easily disproven when in-context. Yet, even after a discussion, some of them will still believe Manalo over Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
Jesus' bodily resurrection couldn't have happened if He wasn't the eternal Son of God either. The sacrifice done on the cross wouldn't amount to anything if Jesus was just a man. Rather, Jesus being an infinite Being would be able to absorb an eternity in Hell in a very short time into Himself to pay for the penalty of sins. True, some dead people were resurrected in the Bible but only by the power of God. Elijah couldn't raise the dead widow's son if it wasn't for God's power. The apostles raised the dead in Acts but they didn't rise from the dead after they died - they're still waiting for the resurrection of the righteous. Jesus raised the dead and was raised from the dead. 1 Corinthians 2:8 says that if the princes of the world knew Jesus is the Son of God - they would have not crucified the Lord of glory. Yet, God allowed His Son to be crucified and the Son obediently allowed Himself to be crucified saying "Not My will but Thine." in the Garden. Jesus said in John 10:18 that no man can take His life but lays it at His own accord. Jesus willingly gave His life and died on the cross all in the plan of the Father. Jesus had the ability to heal Himself or save Himself but He chose to be 100% obedient to the Father. The people were taunting Jesus to save Himself but He chose not to give in to temptation. Jesus resisted the taunts of Satan and He resisted the taunts of the crowd. Jesus proved His statement that He was in control of his life with the Father when He died on that cross and rose on the third day.
The very eternal Sonship of Christ also puts every religion in the world down. It further validates Jesus' claim that there's no other way to the Father but by Him alone (John 14:6). Jesus was not just a person whose existence was validated by other secular historians like Flavius Josephus. Every attempt to shoot down the resurrection of Jesus is used by illogical speculations that are disproven by common sense. For instance, how can a man severely beaten up and wrapped by linen cloth still have the ability to move the stone? Graveclothes would have bound a man so tight to the point one can't move. Lazarus' graveclothes had to be removed after his resurrection. The Romans were very careful about lowering down crucified victims and the spear piercing Jesus' side showed the blood of a dead man. However, some people will still not believe in spite of the facts and figures that prove Jesus did indeed literally conquer death as the eternal Son of God. It's a matter of a hardness of heart that makes their minds numb to believe the facts about Jesus.
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