Although the
Gospel writers portrayed Jesus as claiming to be the Son of God, can we verify
this historically and, if so, what did Jesus mean by ‘Son of God'?
"And they
all said, ‘Are You the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I
am.’" (Luke 22:70)
Two of the
questions contemporary New Testament scholars ask are, ‘Who did Jesus claim to
be and who did he think he was?’ These are profound questions. What are we to
believe about Him? This is no small matter. Jesus is the central figure of the
New Testament. So it may very well be that if you have missed the boat on who
Jesus is, you may very well have missed the boat altogether.
Jesus is not
God’s Son in the sense of a human father and a son. God did not get married and
have a son. God did not mate with Mary and, together with her, produce a son.
Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that He is God made manifest in human form (John
1:1,14). Jesus is God's Son in that He was conceived in Mary by the Holy
Spirit. Luke 1:35 declares, “The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one
to be born will be called the Son of God.’”
The apostle
John wrote his Gospel in part to answer the question of who Jesus is: the Son
of God who give eternal life. God sent His Son Jesus as a gift of love to this
world that through Him people might be saved and receive eternal life. This truth
is the essence of the gospel. Whether we are saved or condemned depends on our
belief in Jesus Christ, the son of God.
All that God
has planned for humanity is carried out through Jesus Christ. And the goal of
that divine plan is to see lost souls transition from the realm of sin and
death into His kingdom of righteousness and eternal life. The eternal life
Jesus promised is not to take effect sometime in future, Jesus said believers have
spiritual and eternal life now, for they have “passed from death unto life”. This
calls for doing something as simple as renewed personal Bible study. It may
lead to realignment of personal goals and long-held dreams. Ultimately it
should lead one to personally and publicly live out the truth that Jesus is God’s
Son, and believe in Him for salvation.
That is one interpretation among many but what do we do now with the rest of the interpretations. There is the Presbyterian Version, the Methodist Version, the Catholic Version, the Jehovah's Witness Version, the Anglican Version, the Reformed Version, etc etc. So which one are you promoting and what did God declare who the world was that He sent the disciples to so that the end would come? Did He send them to the Canaanites, to the Arabs, to the Hittites, to the Amorites, just who did He sent them to when He said go into all the world?
ReplyDeleteHe sent them to the whole house of Israel. That was the world and so He would say, I do not pray for the world but those you have given to me.