In a recent article, I responded to one Muslim objection to the Trinity. Because Islam relies on the same thinking as the Arians we might note that the concerns raised by them will be similar to the kinds of objections raised by other sceptics on the Trinity such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Another example of an objection to the Trinity and the deity of Jesus is the use of Psalm 2:7 which says:
“I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”
Here is another example of sonship applied in the New Testament to Jesus in Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5. However, the use of the word “today” would imply that this is an event in time. Furthermore, the context in Acts 13 suggests that this “begetting” where Jesus becomes God’s son is tied to his resurrection. Does this prove that Jesus is a created being, that in early Christian thought he was deemed to be a lesser god at most, a derivative from the ultimate and true God?
Well notice first of all, that the linking of Jesus’ identity as “son” with the event of the resurrection causes a problem with that theory. This would mean that Jesus did not have that identity until after he was raised. It might also fit with the idea of an exalted human being but would not explain his existence as a spiritual being, a form of deity prior to that. It cannot explain how he came into existence.
Furthermore, we have to engage with the point that the Gospels record Jesus being declared God’s loved son at his baptism and transfiguration prior to his resurrection and that in John’s Gospel, he frequently identifies himself as The Son in relation to The Father. So what is going on?
Well, it’s perhaps helpful to remember that Christians state two things about Jesus’ nature, that he is fully God and fully man. His identity as “son” is linked often in Scripture to his human nature. This ties in with the way in which Luke’s genealogy identifies Adam as “son of God” and the way in which the kings of God’s people are regarded as “sons of God.” Indeed, Psalm 2 would first of all been heard, read and sung as referring to the kings of Israel.
It is in that regard, that Jesus is identified as begotten son in Acts 13 and “declared to be the Son of God with power” (Romans 1:4). This is an indicator of his status as the new man, the true and better Adam who raises up humanity, a crucial theme in Hebrews. Jesus is the son in regards to his human nature from conception and throughout his earthly life. However, his resurrection, linked in NT imagery to the messiah-king’s ascension to the throne and coronation says something more about his sonship. We might liken it to the way in which Charles III was always Elizabeth II’s son and heir, however, there was something significant in legal terms about his ascension to the throne which confirmed his sonship.
However, it is important to note, as per John 5 and 10 that sonship for Jesus both identifies him in regard to his deity as well as his humanity. His sonship is forever in both regards but in regards to his divine nature we say that it is eternal because he has always been.
Faithroots 