How many sons of God are there? There are millions, I’m sure. Romans 8:14 says For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. So, all Christians are called sons of God or children of God. Job 1:6 seems to say angels are called “sons of God” as well: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. So, how is Jesus different if He’s a Son of God, too?
The difference is Jesus not “a” son of God but “The” Son of God, the one and only Son of God. In John chapter 5, Jesus calls God the Father His own Father rather than “Our Father,” the general term the Jews used. The Jewish leaders He was speaking to saw this and decided to kill Him for what they saw as blasphemy because of it:
John 5:18 (ESV) This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The Jews, of course, thought God was only one Person even though there were hints He was more:
Isa. 44:6 (ESV) Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
Isaiah mentions two divine Persons here: Yahweh, the King of Israel and a second Person, His Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts, yet together they are identified as the one God.
So, like many, the Jews had an insufficient understanding of their own Scriptures. But Jesus didn’t shy from the fact they understood He was claiming equality with their God. He began to build on it. He started comparing Himself to God the Father Who they already believed in. He said first He does nothing by Himself. This is again pointing to His equality and relationship with the Father. He says in verse 19 “For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” The Father and Son are working in union. In this case, Jesus does not point to the Father as the one doing the work but that He and the Father are working together to achieve their common work. In verse 21, Jesus says “For the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life.” If Jesus was just saying the Father raises the dead through me, He certainly didn’t convey that thought. It was a cooperative effort. Both were working together.
The Jewish leaders believed only God could raise the dead. He used people to do so, but it was obvious God was doing the work. Here Jesus is saying both the Father and the Son can each raise the dead again claiming equality with the Father.
Most important of all, Jesus points to the Jewish leaders’ purpose in life, the worship and honor paid by them to God, and in verses 22-23, Jesus says they must do the same for Him as well: For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
Jesus went on in this same chapter to provide five witnesses that He is the Son of God: John the Baptist (vs. 33-35), Jesus’ works (vs. 36), God the Father (vs. 36), the Scriptures (vs. 39-40), and Moses (vs. 45-47)
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is recognized as the Son of God by every gospel writer, by Satan (Matt. 4:3), by demons (Matt 8:29), by the disciples (Matt. 14:33), by bystanders at His crucifixion (Matt. 27:54), by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:35), Jesus Himself (John 10:36), and of course by God the Father (Heb. 1:8)
Why is this important?
We need to gather from just these few verses in the fifth chapter of John that Jesus is equal to the Father, that even when He walked the earth, He did many things in His own power alongside the Father, and we are to offer the same worship, honor, and praise to Him as we offer to the Father. According to Jesus’ own words, to honor the Father alone or to honor the Father in a greater way than we honor the Son is to dishonor the Father.
Looking at all that Jesus said here, we must see the term “the Son of God” is equal to the term “God the Son,” and with the centurion, we should realize “Surely this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39)
Believers Armed and Dangerous 