Jesus, the son of God: A Sunday School Lesson

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Dr. Charles H. Smith of the Bible Baptist Church, Mt. Orab, OH, authored a pamphlet titled, “What Do Baptists Believe?” The pamphlet is thoroughly researched, very well written and I recommend it be read and studied by everybody: however, there are 3 phrases with which I disagree. They are, “…in the unity of the Godhead there are 3 persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost [Spirit], equal in every divine perfection…,” plus “That the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son…” plus, “…and that He (Jesus) is both the Son of God, and God the Son.” In order to validate his positions, he referenced numerous Verses from 18 Books of the Bible.

Not only have I read every one of those Verses, I have rearranged the Books in alphabetical order to give you speed when you read them: Genesis 3:15, 17:1; Exodus 15:11, 20:2-3; Psalms 2:7, 83:18, 90:2, 147:5; Isaiah 7:14; Jeremiah 10:10, Matthew 1:18-25, 28:19; Mark 1:1, 12:30; Luke 1:35; John 1:14, 4:24, 10:30, 15:26, 17:5; Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, 8:6, 12:4-6, 15:47; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 2:18, 4:6; Philippians 2:5-6; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 John 5:7, 20; Revelation 4:11.

The problem I have is with 3 little words: God the Son. If someone were to ask me to reveal just one Verse in the Word of God that says “son of God”, I could point to not one but 68 Verses (e.g. Mark 1:1; John 3:16; Galatians 4:4-6; Ephesians 4:13, etc.). If someone were to ask Dr. Smith for just one “God the Son” Verse, that crystal-clear phrase would not be found in any of the above mentioned 18 Books or in any of the other 48 Books of the Bible. He might refer to John 1:1 and 14 to argue that the word “Word” means “God the Son” but these 3 plain and simple words are not found in those 2 Verses. Verse 18 does not say Jesus was made flesh: it says the Word was made flesh. Could God make it any simpler? Also, whenever I ask, “How can Jesus be both the son of God and God the Son?” The answer always is, “We can’t explain it; we just have to take it by faith.” How can Dr. Smith write, “We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God” and then contradict himself a few lines later with, “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit”? Dr. Smith must be a magician: he put one God in a hat and pulled out three.

We learn from Matthew 14:21 that Jesus was seen by about 5,000 men plus women and children. John 1:18, 1 Timothy 1:17, and 1 John 4:12 do not say, “No man hath seen God at any time, except when He was a man.” When God says, “at any time”, He means at any time, mainly because He is invisible. Conclusion: if Jesus is visible and God is invisible, Jesus cannot be God. And he isn’t.

Here is where you get blessed. When 2 men have the same father, what are the men called? Brothers! That’s right. Therefore, if Jesus is a son of God, and we Christians are sons of God (1 John 3:2), what does that make Jesus? Not our God but our brother. Hallelujah! Brotherhood is one of our major ties to Jesus. We are joint-heirs with Christ of the hope of the promise of eternal life. Romans 8:13-17; Galatians 3:28-29; Ephesians 1:14, 3:6; Titus 3:7; 1 Peter 3:7.

“Godhead” is found in only 3 Verses [Acts 17:29; Romans 1:20; Colossians 2:9] in The Word of God. If you want to understand these Verses, substitute “divine nature” for “Godhead.” In no way can these Verses be defined as or tied to “…there are 3 persons…”

You might ask what difference does it make if I believe “God the Son” or “Son of God?” It makes all the difference in the determination of where you will spend eternity. If you choose “Son of God”, you will be heaven-bound. John 3:16; Romans 10:9, 10. If you choose “God the Son”, you will have broken the 1st of the 10 Commandments by believing there are 2 or 3 Gods. That is a no-no! Just for illustration, to paint a picture, let’s say God phoned the Devil and said, “Hey Satan, I am going to sire a son and place all the sins of mankind on his back, and he will redeem what was lost in Eden by taking man’s place on the cross.” Satan replied, “Legally, you do all of that under one condition: you cannot disguise yourself as a human. Mankind was lost in the Garden by a 100% man and can be redeemed only by a 100% man. Your son cannot be a camouflaged You (God) or 1/3 God. He has to be ALL man.” Romans 5:19 NIV says, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were sinners, so also the obedience of the one man (Jesus), the many will be made righteous.

Sidney Terhune P. O. Box 6, Wash. C. H., OH

By Sidney Terhune

Religion Columnist

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