SON

The Son of God

In this title the word "Son" is used sometimes (a) of relationship, sometimes (b) of the expression of character. "Thus, e. g., when the disciples so addressed Him, <Matt. 14:33; 16:16; John 1:49>, when the centurion so spoke of Him, <Matt. 27:54>, they probably meant that (b) He was a manifestation of God in human form. But in such passages as <Luke 1:32,35; Acts 13:33>, which refer to the humanity of the Lord Jesus,... the word is used in sense (a).

"The Lord Jesus Himself used the full title on occasion, <John 5:25; 9:35> [some mss. have `the Son of Man'; see RV marg.]; <11:4>, and on the more frequent occasions on which He spoke of Himself as `the Son,' the words are to be understood as an abbreviation of `the Son of God,' not of `The Son of Man'; this latter He always expressed in full; see <Luke 10:22; John 5:19>, etc.

"John uses both the longer and shorter forms of the title in his Gospel, see <3:16-18; 20:31>, e. g., and in his Epistles; cf. <Rev. 2:18>. So does the writer of <Hebrews, 1:2; 4:14; 6:6>, etc. An eternal relation subsisting between the Son and the Father in the Godhead is to be understood. That is to say, the Son of God, in His eternal relationship with the Father, is not so entitled because He at any time began to derive His being from the Father (in which case He could not be co-eternal with the Father), but because He is and ever has been the expression of what the Father is; cf. <John 14:9>, `he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' The words of <Heb. 1:3>, `Who being the effulgence of His (God's) glory, and the very image of His (God's) substance' are a definition of what is meant by 'Son of God.` Thus absolute Godhead, not Godhead in a secondary or derived sense, is intended in the title."

From Notes on Galatians, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 99, 100.

Other titles of Christ as the "Son of God" are: "His Son," <1 Thes. 1:10> (in <Acts 13:13, 26>, RV, pais is rendered "servant"); "His own Son," <Rom. 8:32>; "My beloved Son," <Matt. 3:17>; "His Only Begotten Son," <John 3:16>; "the Son of His love," <Col. 1:13>.

"The Son is the eternal object of the Father's love, <John 17:24>, and the sole Revealer of the Father's character, <John 1:14; Heb. 1:3>. The words, `Father' and `Son,' are never in the NT so used as to suggest that the Father existed before the Son; the Prologue to the Gospel according to John distinctly asserts that the Word existed `in the beginning,' and that this Word is the Son, Who `became flesh and dwelt among us.'"

From Notes on Thessalonians, by Hogg and Vine. pp. 46. 47.

ln addressing the Father in His prayer in <John 17> He says, "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." Accordingly in the timeless past the Father and the "Son" existed in that relationship, a relationship of love, as well as of absolute Deity. In this passage the "Son" gives evidence that there was no more powerful plea in the Father's estimation than that coeternal love existing between the Father and Himself.

The declaration "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee," <Ps. 2:7>, quoted in <Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5>, refers to the birth of Christ, not to His resurrection. In <Acts 13:33> the verb "raise up" is used of the raising up of a person to occupy a special position in the nation, as of David in <verse 22> (so of Christ as a Prophet in <3:22> and <7:37>). The word "again" in the KJV in <v. 33> represents nothing in the original. The RV rightly omits it. In <v. 34> the statement as to the resurrection of Christ receives the greater stress in this respect through the emphatic contrast to that in <v. 33> as to His being raised up in the nation, a stress imparted by the added words "from the dead." Accordingly <v. 33> speaks of His incarnation, <v. 34> of His resurrection.

In <Heb. 1:5>, that the declaration refers to the Birth is confirmed by the contrast in <verse 6>. Here the word "again" is rightly placed in the RV, "when He again bringeth in the Firstborn into the world." This points on to His second advent, which is set in contrast to His first advent, when God brought His Firstborn into the world the first time (see FIRSTBORN).

The Western text of <Luke 3:22> reads "Thou an My Son, this day have I begotten Thee," instead of "Thou an My beloved Son. in Thee I am well pleased." There is probably some connection between this and those early heresies which taught that our Lord's deity began at His baptism.

So again in <Heb. 5:5>, where the High Priesthood of Christ is shown to fulfill all that was foreshadowed in the Levitical priesthood, the passage stresses the facts of His humanity, the days of His flesh, His perfect obedience and His sufferings.

(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)