Does the Bible describe Jesus Christ as the Son of God?

Only-Begotten

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14).

"No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18).

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).

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

"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9).

Where in the Old Testament might the idea of the Messiah as God's "only begotten Son" be found? Perhaps in the binding of Isaac, a type of the Messiah, "And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." (Genesis 22:12). (In the Greek Bible, this is rendered 'beloved.')

The Bible promises the sonship also to believers: "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." (Revelation 21:7). We are not 'only-begotten,' but rather children of the adoption: "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5).

The Binding of Isaac

His Own Son

"For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4).

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

Declare the Decree

“Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.'” (Psalm 2:6-7).

Author Dan Brown alleges in his 'Da Vinci Code' that Jesus' status as 'the Son of God' was awarded by the Nicene Council: "Jesus' establishment as 'the Son of God' was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea." (Chapter 55, The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown). Of course everyone knows the difference between fact and fiction, but this novelist wants to have his cake and eat it, too: "'Sophie, the historical evidence supporting this is substantial.'" (Chapter 60, The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown). If it is conceivable that the Roman Emperor Constantine inserted the 'Son of God' references into the New Testament, as this author alleges, it cannot be imagined how he could have done the same to the Old Testament, where such referenced are also prevalent:

"Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." (Psalm 89:27).

"He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son." (2 Samuel 7:13-14).

"I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you." (1 Chronicles 17:13).

The Beloved

"And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" (Matthew 3:17).

"Then a voice came from heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" (Mark 1:11).

"And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, 'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.'" (Luke 3:22).

"While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!'" (Matthew 17:5).

"And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Mark 9:7).

"And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!'" (Luke 9:35).

"For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain." (2 Peter 1:17).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:1-6).

I am

Jesus identified Himself as the Son of God:

"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, 'Do you believe in the Son of God?' He answered and said, 'Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?' And Jesus said to him, 'You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.'" (John 9:35-37);

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

"He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Matthew 27:43).

"When Jesus heard that, He said, 'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'" (John 11:4)

Peter's Confession

The apostle Peter confessed Jesus Christ as "the Son of the living God":

“He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'

“Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'

“Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'” (Matthew 16:15-17).

The Islamic 'Gospel of Barnabas' is obliged to do some editing work with Peter's confession:

"Jesus departed from Jerusalem after the Passover, and entered into the borders of Caesarea Philippi. Whereupon, the angel Gabriel having told him of the sedition which was beginning among the common people, he asked his disciples, saying: 'What do men say of me?'

"They said: 'Some say that thou art Elijah, others Jeremiah, and others one of the old prophets.'

"Jesus answered: 'And ye; what say ye that I am?'

"Peter answered: 'Thou art Christ, son of God.'

"Then was Jesus angry, and with anger rebuked him, saying: 'Begone and depart from me, because thou art the devil and seekest to cause me offence!'

"And he threatened the eleven, saying: 'Woe to you if ye believe this, for I have won from God a great curse against those who believe this.'" (The Gospel of Barnabas, Chapter 70).

Notice the distinctively Muslim features of this 'Gospel,' discovered in the Middle Ages. The angel Gabriel serves to reveal God to man, an idea the unlettered prophet picked up from the nativity stories he heard second-hand. And Christ is not allowed to be the "son of God," a title which none even of the Christian heretics in any way rejected.

Not only Peter, but also the high priest, understood, from the Old Testament, that Christ was also the Son of God: “But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, 'I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!'” (Matthew 26:63).

What can the false teach us about the true? A surprising lot:

False Messiahs

Apostles' Confession

Peter's confession, that Jesus is the son of God, doesn't end with Peter. This is the apostles' confession:

"...but 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);

"Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'" (Acts 8:37);

"Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." (Acts 9:20).

“Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'” (Matthew 14:33).

That's what the New Testament authors set out to communicate:

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

"...but 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).

"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:9).

"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us — by me, Silvanus, and Timothy — was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes." (2 Corinthians 1:19).

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20).

"For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." (Hebrews 4:14).

"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7).

"And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment." (1 John 3:23).

"Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." (1 John 4:15).

"Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5).

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds..." (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The Firstborn

"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10).

"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians 1:13-15).

"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:23).

Why is the Word of God called the first-born? Some people think it has something to do with the incarnation, but Philo Judaeus, a first century Jewish author, also called the Word the 'first-born,' though he had no concept of any incarnation:

Philo Judaeus

My Father

"Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." (John 17:1-2).

"Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." (John 5:18).

His adversaries realized He was using this title in an unusually personal way. That the Messiah would cry to God as "my Father" is already stated in the Psalms:

"He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation." (Psalm 89:26).

This is fulfilled In New Testament scriptures like Matthew 26:39,

"And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39).

'Father' is the other side of the coin to 'son.' Muslims do not care for either one.

The Father is God;

Out of Egypt

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." (Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:15).

It might seem to some that this quote is misconstrued. But it is not uncommon in scripture for titles to be handed back and forth between the Messiah and His people:

Corporate Personality

These references are so prevalent throughout scripture that those who wish to deny the deity of Jesus Christ would be well advised, not to deny them outright, but to interpret them in a weak or metaphorical sense, as do the Jehovah's Witnesses. Even this approach will ultimately fail, however:

The Son: Eternal God or Beginning in Time?

The Vineyard

"Then He began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard." (Mark 12:1-8).

When the Islamic 'Gospel of Barnabas' retells the story of the vineyard, it has to tell it differently. There is no beloved son sent last, only servants and more servants:

"Again spake Jesus, saying: 'I set before you an example. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge for it in order that it should not be trampled down of beasts. And in the midst of it he built a press for the wine, and thereupon let it out to husbandmen. Whereupon, when the time was come to collect the wine he sent his servants; whom when the husbandmen saw, they stoned some and burned some, and others they ripped open with a knife. And this they did many times. Tell me, what will the lord of the vineyard do to the husbandmen?'

"Everyone answered: 'In evil wise will he make them to perish, and his vineyard will he give to other husbandmen.'

"Therefore said Jesus: 'Know ye not that the vineyard is the house of Israel, and the husbandmen are the people of Judah and Jerusalem? Woe to you; for God is wroth with you, having ripped open so many prophets of God; so that at the time of Ahab there was not found one to bury the holy ones of God!'" (Gospel of Barnabas, Chapter 46).

This is a telling forgery. In reality, it was the son, the beloved, sent last to the house of Israel.

The Vineyard

Messianic Secret

It is sometimes said that 'God has sons by the tons.' There is an element of truth to this snappy saying, but it leaves us in the lurch before a situation like that in Mark 3,

“For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, 'You are the Son of God.' But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.” (Mark 3:10-12).

If all Jesus had meant to say by calling Himself 'the Son of God' is that He is a created being like other created beings, or an Israelite like other Israelites, then what information is it that the demons were expected to keep confidential? Perhaps He wants it kept secret that He is Jewish, because He hasn't told His mother yet? It seems rather that when the Lord calls Himself 'the Son of God,' He is not using this phrase in any weak or common sense, but to mean 'the Messiah,' at a bare minimum, because one cannot keep trivial, obvious or self-evident information secret.

No Consort

Mohammed was baffled at the concept that God could have a son, without a Mrs. God:

"Sole maker of the Heavens and of the Earth! how, when He hath no consort, should He have a son?" (Sura 6:102).

This perplexity he, and his followers after him, could not get past. Here is an interesting contribution to the discussion, from the middle ages:

"First of all we must observe that Muslims are silly in ridiculing us for holding that Christ is the Son of the living God, as if God had a wife. Since they are carnal, they can think only of what is flesh and blood. For any wise man can observe that the mode of generation is not the same for everything, but generation applies to each thing according to the special manner of its nature. In animals it is by copulation of male and female; in plants it is by pollination or generation, and in other things in other ways.

"God, however, is not of a fleshly nature, requiring a woman to copulate with to generate offspring, but he is of a spiritual or intellectual nature, much higher than every intellectual nature. So generation should be understood of God as it applies to an intellectual nature. Even though our own intellect falls far short of the divine intellect, we still have to speak of the divine intellect by comparing it with what we find in our own intellect.

"Our intellect understands sometimes potentially, sometimes actually. Whenever it actually understands it forms something intelligible, a kind of offspring, which is called a concept, something conceived by the mind. This is signified by an audible voice, so that as the audible voice is called the exterior word, the interior concept of the mind signified by the exterior audible word is called the word of the intellect or mind. A concept of our mind is not the very essence of our mind, but something accidental to it, because even our act of understanding is not the very being of our intellect; otherwise our intellect would have to be always in act.

"So the word of our intellect can be likened to a concept or offspring, especially when the intellect understands itself and the concept is a likeness of the intellect coming from its intellectual power, just as a son has a likeness to his father, from whose generative power he comes forth.

"The word of our intellect is not properly an offspring or son, because it is not of the same nature as our intellect. Not everything that comes forth from another, even if it is similar to its source, is called a son; otherwise a painted picture of someone would be a son. To be a son, it is required that the one coming forth from the other must not only resemble its source but also be of the same nature with it.

"But in God understanding is not different from his being. Consequently the word which is conceived in his intellect is not something accidental to him or alien from his nature but, by the very fact that it is a word, it must be coming forth from another and must be a likeness of its source. All this is true even of our own word.

"But besides this, the Word of God is not an accident or a part of God, who is simple, nor something extrinsic to the divine nature, but is something complete, subsisting in the divine nature and coming forth from another, as any word must be. In our human way of talking, this is called a son, because it comes forth from another in its likeness and subsists in the same nature with it.

"Therefore, as far as divine things can be represented by human words, we call the Word of the divine intellect the Son of God, while God, whose Word he is, we call the Father. We say that the coming forth of the Word is an immaterial generation of a son, not a carnal one, as carnal men surmise."
(Thomas Aquinas, Reasons for the Faith (De Rationibus Fidei), Chapter 3)

It is certainly true that God has no 'consort' or spouse, but it does not therefore follow that God has no Son. To assume otherwise imports carnal categories from their proper sphere to where they cannot apply.

The Son of Man;

The First-Born