It’s amazing to me that even under the umbrella of professing Christianity there are people anxious for all of us to reject the belief that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God: God in flesh. Such people are dangerously close to alignment with our closest competitor “religion”, which is really more a political system and ideology, and which actively seeks to strip Christ of his divinity. The willingly ignorant insist that the two of us worship the same God: we do not.
I’ve been reading through John’s first letter/epistle, and once again I see how blatantly obvious it is that the very first disciples-the young men who were Christ’s apprentices and lived up close with him for three and a half years-were in no doubt as to the divinity of their Lord. How could they be? They saw the incredible (and genuine) miracles he did, including his power over the elements-which no man could perform then or now. They heard his words, and they saw the grace and power of his personality. Beyond that, they saw his risen body-alive and vibrant-when just days before it had been hanging lifeless on a cross.
Just a short read of John’s letter with spiritual eyes open and some basic comprehension skills employed demonstrates the Personage and position of Jesus. John repeats over and over the Father-Son relationship from beginning to end. To argue that Jesus is merely “a” son of God in the sense that we are all children of God demonstrates very poor understanding-perhaps intentionally so-of grammar and logic. If all that is true of Jesus is true of us all, John’s letter is a spaghetti of wracked reason and pointless pontification.
John begins by describing, “That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched…”. Just as he opened his gospel-in extreme reverence and worship, not of a group or movement of disciples or followers but of one person only-so John lifts up the name of Jesus. This is no ordinary man who John is speaking of. This, says John over and over in his letter, is the Son of God; God’s Son. Incidentally, to those who are obsessed with promoting the Spirit of God, John tells us that “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1:3b). There is no mention here of fellowship with the Spirit. We do have that also, but the focus and the central importance is that it’s all about Jesus, the Son of God.
John’s position in this matter goes so far as to state in several different ways that “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him” (4:15). Someone who can paraphrase this by saying that if you acknowledge Jesus is just another child of God you have God in you, is in intentional denial and should not be claiming to be able to teach anything. This might be satisfactory for the determined Universalist, but not for anyone believing in Jesus and considering Scripture as a whole. John’s focus is on one Son and one only: Jesus.
God sent his Son “as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (4:10). He has “sent his Son to be the Savior of the world”, writes John. How many “children of God” on the street do you know who have saved the world?
THE CHRIST. Skipping to the richest meat of John’s message in the last chapter of this epistle, he declares that, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (5:1). We then logically ask, “Who or what is Christ?” And it’s not just any Christ but “the Christ”. This is important because this, according to John, is the entry-point; the door of faith into which anyone is “born of God”. We could begin an extended study of all the references to the Christ in Old Testament scriptures, or more easily we could get the answer from Jesus himself. Jesus asked the question of the Pharisees:
“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” (Matthew 22:42).
The Pharisees answered that the Messiah is David’s son, and on the surface that’s correct: Jesus’ physical nature was descended from David, as seen in the genealogy listed in Matthew’s gospel. However, their answer was not complete and was not adequate, and Jesus forced them to consider the other side of Christ’s nature by asking rhetorical questions:
‘He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?’ (Matthew 22:43-45).
David had called the Messiah “Lord” and drew attention to the throne of God. This, particularly in the context of ancient Israel and the fact that David was the king of Israel, makes no sense in human terms. David would not call his own child, “Lord”. Only if Jesus were of far greater importance than just any child of God would David call the Christ “Lord”. And if you think about it, how did David, living a thousand years before Christ, know that the Messiah would come along and claim his throne? This was given to him by the Spirit of God. Christ was no ordinary man: that’s why David called him, “Lord”. Herein is the importance of believing in the virgin birth, because Christ’s Father is God, not Joseph.
LIKE THE SUN. Deniers are prone to dismissing the miraculous-such things just don’t happen. But if you think about it, miracles are miracles because they are not of the ordinary: only God can do miracles. To us who believe, there are many passages in the New Testament in which God testifies that Jesus is His son, and one such passage is the Transfiguration. Here we read that Jesus and his three closest disciples who included John, ascended a mountain upon which Jesus’ appearance changed. We read that “There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus” (Matthew 17:2-3).
Can you change your appearance like this? Have you seen anyone look like this before? Again, Christ is no ordinary man. The apex of this event came when the three disciples-including John-heard a voice from heaven, which said,
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (verse 5b).
God called Jesus, “my Son”, and told the others to pay attention to him. God did not include the disciples by saying, “You are all my sons, listen to yourselves”.
John’s letter goes on to state how God’s testimony is that Jesus Christ is His Son, and John says that “Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar”. Again and again John draws attention to the status of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of believing that he is “the”, not just “a”, Son of God. He says that, “He who has the Son has life: who does not have the Son does not have life” (5:12). How could not believing in “a” child of God determine whether or not we have eternal life? Clearly it could not. John’s testimony and God’s testimony is that the gospel is all about one Son of God, Jesus Christ.
I’ve written on the deity of Jesus Christ before. Here are some links:
The Son of God According to Luke’s Gospel – Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought
The Unmistakable Son of God – Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought
Jesus Christ, The Son of God. – Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought
WHO IS JESUS? Part 3: THE SON OF GOD – Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 