I do have a question that arose the other day when a friend was talking about the sonship of Jesus to the Father. I always thought that Jesus became the Son when he came to this world and went thru all that he did for us. But my friend thinks that Jesus was the Son eternal. My question is Has Jesus always been the Son of God? Thank You for looking at this and thanks for the website. Al Lawson
The phrase “Son of God” appears 48 times in the KJV Bible and 47 times in the NKJV, all but once in the New Testament (Daniel 3:25). “Son of God” appears 45 times in the ASV, 40 times in the NIV, and 43 times in the RSV and NAS, all in the New Testament.
The appearance of “the Son of God” in Daniel 3:25 (emp. added, ler) is generally acknowledged by commentators not to be an indication that Nebuchadnezzar recognized the fourth person in the fiery furnace as Jesus Christ. He merely expressed veneration to that fourth person in the furnace, whose capacity to annul the affect of the heat and fire was undeniable; Nebuchadnezzar, rather than referring to him as the Son of God we know to be Jesus Christ, supposed he was an “angel” of one of the idolatrous gods (Daniel 3:28), howbeit chief of those gods. Further, we are told, “the” does not precede the words “Son of God” in the original language of Daniel 3:25.
Commentators, though not divided much on Nebuchadnezzar’s perspective, disagree on whom the fourth person really was. Some hold that he was the pre-incarnate Christ while others suppose he was actually an angel of God, such as stayed the mouths of the lions in the case of Daniel (6:22) or the angel Gabriel with whom Daniel became acquainted (9:21). Apparently, the manifold references to the “Son of God” in the New Testament and the single or no real reference to that imagery regarding the second person of the Godhead in the Old Testament indicates that he did not acquire the designation “Son of God” until his Incarnation.
Even Old Testament passages that obviously refer to Jesus Christ as the Son of God associate that designation with the Incarnation of Christ. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God is with us]” (Isaiah 7:14, emp. added, ler). “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (Psalm 2:7, emp. added, ler). See also Psalm 89:27. The New Testament concurs with the bestowal of the designation Son of God at the Incarnation of Christ. “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35, emp. added, ler). Luke 1:35 fairly well answers the present question in this one verse.
However, that the second person of the Godhead received the designation “Son of God” associated with his Incarnation does not lessen the Deity and co-eternality of Jesus Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Our Lord assumed another role upon his Incarnation.
Only philosophically could one say that Jesus Christ was always the Son of God. Such an argument along these lines might note the eternality of Deity, which is correctly ascribed to the second person of the Godhead, with the eternal purpose of Deity to save mankind from sins through the one we know as Jesus Christ the Son of God (Ephesians 3:10-11) and that time has no application to an eternal being. That is, for an eternal being, the future (from the human perspective) is as certain as the past or present (again, from the human perspective). Strictly, there is no past, present and future to Deity, which is not bound by time.
For a fuller treatment of the Jesus Christ as the Son of God, one may want to read the following articles. However, none of them deal precisely with when Jesus Christ became the Son of God other than making reference to the Incarnation of Christ and the many New Testament passages that affirm Jesus to be the Son of God.
Dennis Gulledge, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 1.
Dennis Gulledge, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Because Even the Demons Confessed Him (I),” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 2, 4.
Dennis Gulledge, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Because Even the Demons Confessed Him (II),” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 4-5.
Dean Fugett, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Because God Said He Was,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 6-7.
Bill Graddy, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Because He Had the Power to Forgive Sins,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 8-9.
Scott Tennyson, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Because He Has Power Over Nature,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 10-11.
David South, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God Because He Is the Master Teacher,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 12-13.
Jim Gaskill, “Jesus Christ Is the Son of God By His Resurrection from the Dead,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 14.
Ted Knight, “Jesus Christ: He Is God’s Son,” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 10, October 1995, p. 15-16.
Dennis Gulledge, “He Is the Son of God (I),” First Century Christian, Vol. 17, No. 7, October 1995, p. 4-5.
Chuck Northrop, “Jesus, Son of God,” The Restorer, Vol. 17, No. 7, November-December 1997, p. 12-14.
