Which Is True: Jesus Is the Son of God or Jesus Is God Himself?

Which Is True: Jesus Is the Son of God or Jesus Is God Himself?

By Xiaojie

I saw the Bible say, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16–17). And the Lord Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will” (Mat 26:39). God called the Lord Jesus His beloved Son, and the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father. Therefore, I thought the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. But I had second thoughts: Is God not the one true God? How can there be the relationship between “Father” and “Son”? Whatever is the matter? I had referred to many spiritual books, but my puzzle still remained unsolved.

One day, I once again studied the Bible with regard to this problem. Involuntarily I saw the verses that read as follows, “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works” (Jhn 14:8–10). “I and my Father are one” (Jhn 10:30). Only after reading these verses did I suddenly realize: It turned out that since Phillip had no knowledge of the substance of the Lord Jesus, he took the Lord Jesus and the “God in heaven” as two Gods, thinking that the Lord Jesus had a Father up in heaven, and that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God the Father. So he asked, “Lord, show us the Father.” However, what did the Lord Jesus do then? He corrected his mistaken knowledge, saying, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me,” “he that has seen me has seen the Father,” and “I and my Father are one.” What the Lord Jesus meant was that He was the Father and that the Father was Him, that He and the Father were one. Then, is the Lord Jesus the “Son” or the “Father”? If He is the Son, how can He be the one with the Father? Generally speaking, the Son is the Son and the Father is the Father; how can they be one? There is only one idea which can stand, that is, the substance of God is the Spirit. In this way, the idea of the Father and the Son being one can make sense. At that time, I also thought of the Lord Jesus’ word, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29). The Lord Jesus said that God is unique. That was when I understood: Even though God called the Lord Jesus His beloved Son and the Lord Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father, God’s substance is the Spirit, and the Lord Jesus was the incarnate God Himself, but not the Son of God. Now that the Lord Jesus was the unique God Himself, why did He call God up in heaven Father as He prayed?

Afterward, through reading the word of God, my puzzle was finally resolved. God’s word says, “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God ‘Father,’ is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different, not that He is a different person. The existence of distinct persons is a fallacy! Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was a Son of man bound by the limitations of the flesh, and He did not fully possess the authority of the Spirit. That is why He could only seek the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being. It is as He thrice prayed in Gethsemane: ‘Not as I will, but as you will.’ Before He was laid on the cross, He was but the King of the Jews; He was Christ, the Son of man, and not a body of glory. That is why, from the standpoint of a created being, He called God Father. … After Jesus went away, this idea of the Father and the Son was no longer. This idea was only appropriate for the years when Jesus became flesh; under all other circumstances, the relationship is one between the Lord of creation and a created being when you call God Father.”

Actually, as the Lord Jesus addressed God in heaven as Father when He prayed in Gethsemane, this was done from the perspective of a created being, and could not prove that He was the Son of God. Although the appearance of the Lord Jesus was ordinary and normal, He was the incarnate God Himself. His substance was divinity and He had done the work that no one could do: He expressed the truth and preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven; He taught man to tolerate others, love their enemies, their neighbors as themselves, forgive others seventy-seven times, and so on; He also performed many miracles, such as feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, calming the winds and sea, resurrecting Lazarus from death…. At last He was nailed to the cross and became the sin offering for mankind, completing the work of salvation. The Lord Jesus had authority and power in His word and work: He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. And He could humble Himself and stand on the footing of a creature to pray to God the Father in heaven. Form this we see the Lord Jesus’ humility and obedience. Nevertheless, when the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father as He prayed, and God called Him His beloved Son, such a relationship between Father and Son only existed during God’s incarnation; after God had finished His work in the flesh, the idea of Father and Son was no longer.

From the Internet