The Sonship of Christ by D. M. GARDNER

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 25, 1877

The Sonship of Christ.

By D. M. GARDNER

The New Testament is properly called the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was written to teach us about him. Who then is Jesus Christ? It seems as though no question could be more plainly settled than this is in the New Testament, and yet there has been much dispute about it.

I believe the Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus Christ is not a created being; neither is he the very and eternal God the Father, but he is truly and properly the divine Son of the only wise God, begotten of his own substance, and thus partaking of the nature and attributes of his Father. If we are asked how this could be, how God could really have begotten a Son of his own substance, we frankly confess that we cannot tell, any more than we can tell how God came to exist. These things are infinitely above our knowledge; but what the Bible plainly teaches we firmly believe whether we understand all the whys and wherefores about it or not. Inspiration declares that Jesus was God's own Son, and this we believe. “He that spared not his own Son.” Rom. 8: 32. Again, “He gave his only begotten Son.” John 3: 16.

The book of Hebrews clearly sets forth Jesus Christ as the true Son of God, in the proper sense. The apostles after introducing him, first shows that he is higher than the prophets, by whom God had formerly spoken to his people. Heb. 1: 1. Next he shows that he is higher than the angels. Heb. 1: 4. Next he shows that he is higher even than that great prophet and law-giver, Moses. Chap. 3: 3. Next he exalts him above Aaron. Chap. 5. Then he shows how far superior he is to the Levitical priests, Chap. 7, and thus having shown Christ to be superior to all beings, he tells us who he is, viz., the Son of God. But all these others, Moses, and Aaron and the prophets and angels are also called sons of God; hence he must be God's Son in a higher sense than they are. Thus he says:—

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Heb. 1: 1–3.

Jesus, then, is the one by whom the Father made the worlds. He is the express image of his Father's person. He possesses a higher nature, which is above that of all other beings, which he has obtained by inheritance. It was not simply given to him as an office, but he inherited his nature from his Father. Here we are glad to find both ancient and modern creeds in harmony with the Bible, as they all assert that Christ “is of one substance with the Father.”

Some have claimed that Christ was a created being, but there is no scripture for this. Revelation 3: 14 is referred to as proof of that view, where Jesus is called the “beginning of the creation of God.” From this it is claimed that he was the first of all created beings, but yet was actually created. The Greek word here translated beginning is arche. Among its chief definitions as given by Greenfield is that of “head, author, efficient cause,” Rev. 1: 8; 3: 14. This we believe gives the proper sense of the passage. He is the head, or the author, of the creation of God, the one by whom he created all things; for this is so declared many times. Thus Paul says: “God who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3: 9. Again, “By whom also he made the worlds.” Heb. 1: 2.

That Jesus Christ is truly and properly the Son of God, is not only plainly taught in the New Testament, but it is the very burden of every book, from Matthew to Revelation, the same as the doctrine of one God is the burden of the Old Testament. We might epitomize the teachings of the Old Testament thus: There is but one true and living God, Jehovah. And the New Testament thus: Jesus Christ is the only Son of the one true God. Everywhere we turn, on every leaf, on every page, this doctrine stands out bold and prominent. It is asserted over and over on every occasion, in every conceivable manner. Let us notice a few of them. Even way back in the Old Testament, the prophet spoke of Jesus as God's Son. “I will declare the decree, the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” Ps. 2: 7.

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce his birth his very first introduction to the human family was as the Son of the Highest. “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1: 32, 35.

Again, on the solemn occasion of his baptism, where directly from heaven the Father, with his own voice introduced him to the disciples, he announced him as his Son. “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matt. 3: 17.

Again, when the devils are made to cry out and to own his authority, they acknowledge him as the Son of God. “And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak; for they knew that he was Christ.” Luke 4: 41.

Perhaps one of the most important and interesting conversations recorded in the New Testament was that of Christ with his disciples when he asked them what the people thought of him, what they called him. “Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matt. 16: 13–16. Here Peter squarely acknowledges him as the Son of the living God. Now observe how much importance Christ attaches to this confession. Because Peter had thus unequivocally confessed his faith in this doctrine, viz., that Christ was the Son of the living God, Jesus said to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Verses 17, 18. It is upon this doctrine, then, that the church of Christ is built. It is the chief corner stone of the gospel. It is a doctrine which flesh and blood could never have revealed. It had to come by direct revelation from God. Upon this text Liddon truthfully remarks:—

“If St. Peter had meant that Christ was the Son of God solely in virtue of his membership in the old Theocracy or by reason of his consummate moral glory, the confession would have involved nothing distinctive with respect to Jesus Christ, nothing that was not in a measure true of every good Jew, and that may not be true for every good Christian. If St. Peter had intended only to repeat another and a practically equivalent title of the Messiah, he would not have equalled the earlier confession of a Nathanael, or have surpassed the subsequent admission of a Caiaphas. If we are to construe his language thus, it is altogether impossible to conceive why ‘flesh and blood’ could not have ‘revealed’ to him so obvious and trivial an inference from his previous knowledge, or why either the apostle or his confession should have been solemnly designated as the selected Rock on which the Redeemer would build his imperishable church.”—Liddon's Bampton Lectures, Lecture 1, pp. 10, 11.

Take another sublime event in the history of Jesus, his transfiguration on the mount with his three chosen apostles. It was given to them to confirm their faith in him; and here once more, the voice of the eternal Father was heard from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Matt. 17: 5. Jesus himself ever claimed this relationship with the Father, and predicated his whole authority upon it. He says: “Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” John 10: 36.

Take again the testimony of John the Baptist, and it is very decisive upon this point. He was raised up and sent by the Father for the express purpose of bearing testimony of Jesus. What was his record? Just in harmony with all the rest. He says, “And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” John 1: 34. And then John, the beloved apostle, who was more intimate with Christ than all the rest, and who was let into the secrets of his heart, when he came to write his gospel, he says emphatically that he wrote it for the express purpose of proving that Jesus was the Son of God. “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John 20: 31.

Take the remarkable conversion of the eunuch. After Philip had preached unto him Jesus, he requested to be baptized. Philip now requires of him a confession of his faith. This he was not slow to give in the following words: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Acts 8: 37. Upon this confession Philip baptized him.

D. M. GARDNER.

(To be continued.)