Basic Teachings IV (The Son)

Maybe it would be a good idea to start discussing the Son by looking at the time before He, the second Person of the Trinity, was the Son.

Before He became known as the Son, Jesus was known as the Word (John 1:1, 14).

We saw in an earlier blog that the first and second Persons of the trinity were not always identified as the Father and the Son:

Heb 1:5   For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?

So, it seems the Father and Son relationship did not always exist.  Jesus also became obedient to the Father at the time of the incarnation:

Phil. 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Then Jesus, the man, was conceived in Mary’s womb while still retaining his divine nature.  He was always God.  He emptied Himself of the use of His attributes and so, as we saw in the previous blog, used the power of the Father to perform the miracles He did while on earth (John 14:10).

Jesus is a man.  Jesus got hungry, He got thirsty, He had the hiccups, He walked and talked just as we do.  If a doctor examined Him, he would find nothing odd.  Jesus is the perfect man.  Jesus is also God.  Still, when He called Himself the Son of God, He was saying “I am equal with the Father” (John 5:18; 10:33). 

Matthew calls Him God (Matt. 1:23), John identifies Him as God (John 1:1,14; 5:18).  Peter identifies Him as God (2 Peter 1:1).  Paul identifies Him as God (Titus 2:13), The Father also identifies Jesus as God (Heb. 1:8).  The Jews understood this and attempted to kill Him.  Jesus, the man, died on the cross, but His divine nature did not.

Notice, I said Jesus is a man, present tense.  Jesus still maintains His human form in heaven though He has had the use of His divine attributes returned to Him by the Father (John 17:5).  The evidence of His giving up the use of His divine attributes is that before the resurrection, He didn’t know when He would return (Mark 13:32).  Afterward, He did seem to know when He was returning, though, but didn’t want to share it (Acts. 1:6-7).

Jesus was raised in the same body that died on the cross (Luke 24:39; John 20:26-28; 1 Cor. 15:1-11).  He ascended in His same physical body (Acts 1:1-11).

He went to the cross willingly for the joy of having His joint heirs, you and I, join Him in heaven (Heb. 12:2).  The death of Christ releases us from the Old Testament Law.  Paul uses the example of a married woman who is bound by law to her husband, but when her husband dies, she is released from that law (Rom. 7:1-6).  In a similar way, Jesus’ death releases us from the Law.  In the very next chapter, Paul points out that there is a new Law, the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which frees us from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:1-4).

He now sits on the throne of heaven which He shares with the Father and we will share Jesus’ throne (Rev. 3:21).  We will stand before Jesus no matter whether we are God’s children or not (2 Cor. 5:10).  Those who know Christ personally will receive a reward (Rev. 11:18).

Why is this important?

To get a better idea of just Who Jesus is is to better understand the God we worship in the Person of Christ.  He is the God of the universe equal in all ways with the Father and the Holy Spirit other than Jesus and the Spirit are voluntarily submissive to the Father.

Jesus gave His life gladly to pay the price for us to join Him in His kingdom.  All that is required is for us to turn our lives over to Him through a simple prayer, to make Him Lord of our lives.

Jesus shares the Father’s throne and sits at His right hand.  We will stand before Jesus one day either for reward or condemnation.  As we saw in an earlier blog, God is holy.  The unholy cannot stand before Him and share His kingdom.  They must be cast out.

Even those who might think their works will save them will not enter His kingdom unless they also have taken advantage of the price Christ paid for them on the cross (Matt. 7:21-23; 25:46).

Please understand these blogs on the basic teachings are simplified.  There are volumes upon volumes written about even one of these topics.  If you’re interested in these teachings, there are more in-depth writings of all scales from introductions such as Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis to more scholarly works like those of Wayne Grudem.