Son of God ≠ God

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is called “the Son of God,” a title signifying the Messiah, the King of the Jews. In Jewish tradition, this title denotes one who has a special relationship with God, used for angels, the nation of Israel, or righteous individuals without implying divinity.

In Christianity, however, the “Son of God” becomes a central title for Jesus Christ, which Christians utilize to try to signify his unique relationship with God the Father. From this title, Christians have distorted the meaning to extrapolate the claim that Jesus was both fully divine and fully human, sent to save humanity, underscoring His divine nature and integral role in the Trinity.

The question then arises: Did Jesus intend for this title to denote divinity, as later Christian interpretations suggest, or did he mean for it to be understood in its original Jewish context?

If this was the case, Jesus, addressing a Jewish audience, would have clarified any redefinition of this title. Instead, he instructs his disciples to follow the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees, indicating no issue with their understanding of the Law, only with their application. This suggests that Jesus accepted the traditional Jewish interpretation of “Son of God” and did not intend to redefine it as implying divinity.

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. – Matthew 23

Several passages in the New Testament clearly show that this was a title for the Messiah, the king of the Jews, and would be a distortion to imply that this signified that title signified Jesus was divine.

In the first example, Simon Peter shows that the Son of God was just another name for the Messiah.

Matthew 16:16 – “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'”

In another example from the Gospel of John, Nathanael calls Jesus “the Son of God,” the king of Israel. Again, signifying that the Son of God, Messiah, and King of Israel are all different expressions of the same title.

John 1:49 – “Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.'”

In the book of Romans, we see that the title “Son of God” was appointed upon Jesus, again signifying that this was a title and an honor and did not mean that Jesus was God.

Romans 1:4 – “and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In the following example, we see that the high priest among the Jews asked if Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God. Again, this shows that the title “Son of God” was just another term for the Messiah, as this is how even the Jews who wanted to put Jesus to death understood this title.

Matthew 26:63-64 – “But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied.”

In case there is any doubt, we see that after this exchange, the charge made against Jesus that led to his crucifixion was that he claimed to be the Messiah, King of the Jews. This shows that the title Son of God was just another term for the Messiah. For if this title signified divinity, as Christians today understand it, then he would have surely been charged for that.

John 1:19-21 – 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

All this shows that the title Son of God, as used in the Gospel, was not meant to signify that Jesus was divine but only that he was the Messiah.

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Further Reading:

Did People in the Gospel Worship Jesus?

Bible: Lord vs. Lord (Greek vs. Hebrew)

Jesus: The Last Adam

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Appendix:

Occurrence of the Son of God in the Gospels

• Matthew 3:17 – “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'”
• Matthew 14:33 – “Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.'”
• Matthew 16:16 – “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'”
• Matthew 26:63-64 – “But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied.”
• Mark 1:1 – “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.”
• Mark 3:11 – “Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.'”
• Mark 15:39 – “And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!'”
• Luke 1:35 – “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on 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.'”
• Luke 4:41 – “Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.”
• John 1:34 – “I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
• John 1:49 – “Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.'”
• John 3:18 – “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
• John 5:25 – “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”
• John 10:36 – “What about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?”
• John 11:27 – “‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.'”
• John 20:31 – “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
• Acts 9:20 – “At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.”
• Romans 1:4 – “and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• 2 Corinthians 1:19 – “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in him it has always been ‘Yes.'”
• Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
• Hebrews 4:14 – “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”
• 1 John 4:15 – “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.”
• 1 John 5:5 – “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
• 1 John 5:10 – “Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.”
• 1 John 5:12-13 – “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”