The Son of God: Three Views of the Identity of Jesus

Journal of Cognitive Semantics, 2024

The New Testament Greek expression ho huios tou theou 'the Son of God' is frequently used to refer to Jesus in the New Testament and is central to Christian understandings of Jesus' identity. It has a complex meaning, grounded in the different ways in which it is used in the New Testament to refer to Jesus. A crisis emerged in recent decades in Protestant Bible translation over how divine familial terms such as Son and Father are to be translated in Muslim contexts. A behaviourist, anti-cognitivist understanding of meaning was incorporated into Eugene Nida's influential concept of dynamic equivalence and this was one of the key factors that triggered this crisis. A defence is offered here of retaining divine familial terms in Bible translations, drawing upon on an explication of the meaning of ho huios tou theou using an nsm Minimal Languages approach.

Adventist Apologetics, 2019

The Kindergarten Sabbath School teacher may have done thorough preparation to teach the lesson that Sabbath; but, she was probably at a loss for words, when, right after she had talked about Jesus, one of the children interjected: "Jesus is not God; He is only 'the son of God'!" This hyper-literalistic perspective should not surprise any Seventh-day Adventist who is cognizant of the view of some early pioneers of this denomination. Even that foremost Bible scholar, John Nevins Andrews, who served as editor of the official church paper, the Review and Herald, wrote against the trinity notion. In an article regarding the identity of Melchizedek in Hebrews 7, he argued that the words "having neither beginning of days" (vs. 3) cannot be taken as literal, since every being in the universe except for God the Father has a beginning. Ironically, it is in this very context that Andrews himself, taking the phrase "Son of God" as extremely literal, wrote: "And as to the Son of God, he would be excluded also, for he had God for his Father, and did, at some point in the eternity of the past, have [a] beginning of days." It is the overly-literal perspective of that kindergartener and even some early Adventist pioneers, as well as the more recent challenges raised by other non- and anti-trinitarians, that have inadvertently provided an impetus for this research.

Jesus' preferred self-designation was "the Son of Man". In this paper, the focus will be on the theme "Jesus, the Son of Man" in general, and the discussion in Matthew 16:13-20 in particular.

2019

The identity of Jesus Christ as expressed through His titles— “Son of Man,” “Son of God,” “Son of David,” and “Only Begotten Son”—forms the cornerstone of Christian theology and apologetics. These titles reveal His divine nature, humanity, and messianic mission, addressing objections often raised by skeptics, including the claim that Jesus never directly said, “I am God.” This paper explores the theological and apologetic significance of these titles, emphasizing Jesus’ strategic use of “Son of Man” to affirm both His humanity and divinity, as foretold in Daniel 7:13-14. It examines how His actions, teachings, and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies explicitly reveal His deity, even without the phrase “I am God.” By drawing on typological insights from Genesis 22, the prophetic significance of the “Son of Man,” and New Testament Christology, this study demonstrates that Jesus’ identity aligns with the God of Scripture, affirming His eternal relationship within the Trinity and His role as the Savior of the world.

TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology

Classical Trinitarians claim that Jesus—the Son of God—is truly God and that there is only one God and the Father is God, the Spirit is God, and the Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct. However, if the identity statement that ‘the Son is God’ is understood in the sense of numerical identity, logical incoherence seems immanent. Yet, if the identity statement is understood according to an ‘is’ of predication then it lacks accuracy and permits polytheism. Therefore, we argue that there is another sense of ‘is’ needed in trinitarian discourse that will allow the Christian to avoid logical incoherence while still fully affirming all that is meant to be affirmed in the confession ‘Jesus is God.’ We suggest a sense of ‘is’ that meets this need.

Interfaith Research, Education, and Practice - Beyond the Divide, 2023

The term "son of God" has been a source of confusion and controversy in the history of Christian-Muslim encounter. Christian tradition regards the gospel according to John as the account which most clearly portrays the deity of Christ and points to his being the "son of God" as proof of his divinity and equality with God. This article presents a Muslim scholar's challenge to this understanding, arguing that "son of God" in John's Gospel refers to an anointed king (messiah) who as heir of the Davidic kingdom has authority to act as God's surrogate on the earth. The equality of the son does not refer to a divine nature but his being God's unique agent possessing full authority from God. It is not a claim to be on par with God or an incarnation of God. A Christian scholar responds, agreeing with this exegetical emphasis on divinity as referring to Jesus' unique authority as the Christ. However, other nuances of meaning, such as his revelatory relationship to God, must also be considered, especially in tracing developments from John's usage to those in later Christian theology. Questions over the inner nature of God (reflected in Christian Trinitarian theology and Muslim kalam debates) are a related, but different topic-yet one in which there is a surprising measure of common ground. Several implications for Muslim-Christian dialogue are offered.

This articles looks at Jesus' radical claim of divinity in the Gospels. Consideration is given to the title, 'Son of God'.