Answer:
Thanks for the question and I don’t believe this is one of those mysteries you’ll need to take with you to the grave. The Bible gives a very clear response to your question. First, I think you’re feeling a contradiction because you’re assuming that the uniqueness of Jesus is expressed only in one phrase, Son of God, and if this phrase is used somewhere else, it’s somehow a conflict. Well, Son of God IS an important title that DOES point to Jesus uniqueness and his divinity. However, the phrase itself is not totally unique and we have to look at the whole scope of scripture to understand what it means when Jesus uses it for himself, versus when others use the phrase in a different context.
Let me illustrate using another title for Jesus: Jesus also uses the phrase "son of man" for himself. Many think that this is a reference to Jesus mortality, as if he was using it say, "I’m just a man." And that phrase is used many times in the Bible, especially when God calls Ezekiel "son of man". But Jesus emphasis in his teaching is far more on Daniel than Ezekiel, which gives us a clue what HE means when he says, "son of man." For in Daniel the phrase "son of man" is used like this:
Dan 7:13-14 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man , coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. NIV
Daniel’s "son of man" is clearly not merely "mortal". He is clothed with divine power, in the presence of God almighty and worshipped. So I hope that illustrates the point that if a phrase is used in many contexts, we can’t be held to a single meaning for it. Same for the phrase "son of God."
Keep in mind, not only is this phrase used of angels in Job and Genesis, it is also used of YOU AND ME! For example:
Matt 5:9 blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God. NIV
Rom 8:14 …because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. NIV
Rom 8:19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. NIV
Rom 9:26 It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
`You are not my people,` they will be called `sons of the living God .` NIV
Gal 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, NIV
Gal 4:6-7 Because you are sons , God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. NIV
Clearly any time the word ‘son’ is used in conjunction with God we are talking about kinship, a relation (not sexual, obviously). So Jesus has a kinship with God, and so do we. In the broadest sense you are right that Jesus is just one of many sons God has. But the real question is how CLOSE is our kinship? We know from the way Jesus is talked about in other contexts that his kinship is far deeper than ours, or the kinship that angels have with God.
Kinship means, we derive somehow from God. God is therefore called our Father, just as Jesus called upon his Father. But just as a son has a closer kinship to his father than his grandson does, so Jesus son-ship is far different than ours or that of angels. We are, like Jesus, "derived from God", "related to God", but which human can say they are so closely related to God that they are "one" with the Father? Jesus said that about his son-ship (John 10:30). Who can say they ARE God? John says the Son (Word) was with God in the beginning and WAS God (John 1:1).
Just check out this discourse by Jesus. He’s claiming to not be "a" son, as in one of many, but THE son in a very unique relationship with the Father:
John 5:19-23 "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son , 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. NIV
Which of us could talk that way about our relationship with God? Jesus is totally unique. And then about angels, the writer of Hebrews goes to great pains to establish that though angels may be "sons of God" they are inferior to THE Son of God in every way:
Heb 1:3-13
The Son is the radiance of God`s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
"You are my Son ; today I have become your Father"?
Or again,
"I will be his Father, and he will be my Son "?
6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God`s angels worship him."
7 In speaking of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire."
8 But about the Son he says,
"Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."…
13 To which of the angels did God ever say,
"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? NIV
It’s like God put that Scripture in the bible just to answer your question! J Obviously, Jesus is utterly and completely unique in his "Sonship". He doesn’t call God his source and creator as we do or the angels. He calls God his father in a co-eternal sort of way. They are three persons sharing the same divine nature along with the Holy Spirit – making up this triune, tri-personal, creator God. As such, there is no son that God has who is like Jesus, sharing his power, will and mind… therefore, Jesus IS God’s "ONLY" son in this sense.
And there’s no contradiction with other "sons" of God because that word is flexible enough to cover the many kinds of kinship someone could have with God… from being his son as simply a created being, to being adopted into his family as a Christian, to being the unique and co-eternal Being who shares the same nature.
Rick Thiessen
Senior Pastor
