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1.2.3.2 How many "Sons" does
God have?
Many people tell us "but the Bible clearly says that
Jesus is the Son of God. How can you say that Jesus is not
God's only begotten son when Jesus says it so clearly in
black and white in the Bible?" Well, first of all, as seen
in the previous section, we first need to know the language
of his people, the language of the Jews to whom he was
speaking. Let us see how they understood this
proclamation.
Let us begin by asking: How many sons does the Bible tell
us that God Almighty has?
- Jacob is God's son and firstborn: "Israel
is my son, even my firstborn" Exodus 4:22.
- Solomon is God's son "He shall build an
house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be
my son": 2 Samuel 7:13-14.
- Ephraim is God's firstborn: "for I am a
father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn."
Jeremiah 31:9 (who is God's firstborn? Israel or
Ephraim?).
- Adam is the son of God "Adam, which was the
son of God." Luke 3:38.
- Common people (you and me) are the sons of
God: "Ye are the children of the LORD your God"
Deuteronomy 14:1. "For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" Romans 8:14.
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, [even] to them that
believe on his name:" John 1:12. "That ye may be
blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom
ye shine as lights in the world;" Philippians 2:15.
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: ...
now are we the sons of God" 1 John 3:1-2. "When
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy?" Job 38:7. "Again there was a day
when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the LORD," Job 2:1. "Now there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the
LORD," Job 1:6. "when the sons of God came in unto
the daughters of men," Genesis 6:4. "That the sons
of God saw the daughters of men that they [were]
fair" Genesis 6:2
As we can see, the use of the term "son of God" when
describing normal human beings was not at all an uncommon
practice among Jesus' people.
Well then, was Jesus the only begotten son of God?
Read Psalms 2:7
"I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me
(King David, King), Thou art my Son; this day have I
begotten thee.".
Indeed, the Jews are even referred to as much more than
this in the Bible, and this is indeed the very trait which
Jesus (pbuh) held against them. When the Jews picked up
stones to stone Jesus (pbuh) he defended himself with the
following words
"Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law,
'I said, Ye are gods?' If he called them gods, unto whom the
word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken..."
John 10:34:
(he was referring to Psalms 82:6 "I have said, Ye are
gods; and all of you are children of the most High..")
As we can see from these and many other verses like them,
"son of God" in the language of the Jews was a very innocent
term used to describe a loyal servant of God. Whether the
translators and editors chose to write it as "Son of God"
(with a capital S) in reference to Jesus and "son of God"
(with a small S) in reference to everyone else does not
diminish the fact that in the original language, both cases
are exactly the same. Are we beginning to see what drove the
most learned men of the Anglican Church to recognize the
truth? But let us move on.
Grolier's encyclopedia, under the heading "Jesus Christ,"
says:
"During his earthly life Jesus was addressed as rabbi
and was regarded as a prophet. Some of his words, too, place
him in the category of sage. A title of respect for a rabbi
would be "my Lord." Already before Easter his followers,
impressed by his authority, would mean something more than
usual when they addressed him as "my Lord."... it is
unlikely that the title "Son of David" was ascribed to him
or accepted by him during his earthly ministry. "Son of
God," in former times a title of the Hebrew kings (Psalms
2:7), was first adopted in the post-Easter church as an
equivalent of Messiah and had no metaphysical connotations
(Romans 1:4). Jesus was conscious of a unique filial
relationship with God, but it is uncertain whether the
Father/Son language (Mark 18:32; Matt. 11:25-27 par.; John
passim) goes back to Jesus himself" .
There seems to be only two places in the Bible where
Jesus (pbuh) refers to himself as "son of God." They are in
John chapters 5 and 11. Hastings in "The dictionary of the
Bible" says: "Whether Jesus used it of himself is doubtful."
Regardless, we have already seen what is meant by this
innocent title. However, Jesus is referred to as the "son of
Man" (literally: "Human being") 81 times in the books of the
Bible. In the Gospel of Barnabas, we are told that Jesus
(pbuh) knew that mankind would make him a god after his
departure and severely cautioned his followers from having
anything to do with such people.
Jesus was not the son of a human man (according to both
the Bible and the Qur'an). However, we find him constantly
saying "I am the son of man." Why?. It was because in the
language of the Jews, that is how you say "I am a human
being."
What was he trying to tell us by constantly repeating and
emphasizing to us throughout the New Testament "I am a human
being," "I am a human being," "I am a human being"?. What
had he foreseen? Think about it!.
Do Christians emphasize this aspect of Jesus? The New
Testament Greek word translated as "son" are "pias" and
"paida" which mean "servant," or "son in the sense of
servant." These are translated to "son" in reference to
Jesus and "servant" in reference to all others in some
translations of the Bible (see below). As we are beginning
to see, one of the most fundamental reasons why Jesus (pbuh)
is considered God is due to extensive mistranslation. We
shall see more and more examples of this throughout this
book.
Islam teaches that Jesus (pbuh) was a human being, not a
god. Jesus (pbuh) continually emphasized this to his
followers throughout his mission. The Gospel of Barnabas
also affirms this fact. Once again, Grolier's encyclopedia
says:
"...Most problematical of all is the title "Son of
Man." This is the only title used repeatedly by Jesus as a
self-designation, and there is no clear evidence that it was
used as a title of majesty by the post-Easter church. Hence
it is held by many to be authentic, since it passes the
criterion of dissimilarity."
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