Doctrinal Statements

Who Exactly is the Son of God?

Over the past several months the Lakeland Church in Lakeland Florida has been under attack by those espousing the doctrine of eternal sonship. This is a heretical doctrinal position that is espoused by the Roman Catholics, Protestants and many main-line denominational Baptists, especially those who teach human works for eternal salvation. As a result of these attacks I feel it necessary to explain, to the best of my feeble ability, and hopefully answer the question, once and for all, of who the Son of God actually is. Is the Son of God, as taught in Scripture, the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ begotten in eternity, as the eternal sonship doctrine teaches? Is the Son of God the human nature of Jesus Christ born of the virgin Mary? Is the Son of God a combination of the two? Who exactly is the "Son of God?"

That is the purpose of this writing in hopes to settle the issue and to remind God's children not to be knocked off track because of a few reference texts suggested as proof texts to teach the contrary to the truth. What I am sharing in this writing is the big picture and asking each of you to keep focused on the big picture and not get lost in the minutiae caused from overanalyzing reference texts and avoiding proof texts.

The first verse I will appeal to requires no introduction and most folks don't even have to grab their Bible to know what it says. I am referring, of course, to John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The phrase I want to zero in on here is the phrase, "only-begotten Son." First, the word "begotten" means procreated or sexually generated, and the Greek word, from which the English is translated, means exactly the same. Therefore, if we believe what the Bible says, it is here referring to the only begotten Son or, worded another way, the only Son of God that came into existence by procreation or sexual generation. Second, the work "only" means there is ONLY ONE! In other words, there is only one only begotten Son of God, only one! Not Two but Only ONE!

As a foolish example, I am the only begotten son of Clarence B. and Myrtle Louise Henderson and that means I have no brothers; I am their only son. In the same way there is only one begotten Son of God. When we examine the teaching in the eternal sonship heresy, we see that they teach the Divine nature of Jesus Christ (The Word) was begotten in eternity past before the creation of the world, which then excludes the Human nature (Jesus) from being the only begotten Son. Why? Because there is only one only begotten Son. And since there is only one, that leaves no room for a second only begotten Son born of the virgin. This leads to a very important question, if you designate the Divine nature of Christ (The Word) as the only begotten Son of God then who is the father of the man Christ Jesus?

Let that sink in for a minute. If the Divine nature is begotten in eternity, not only does that mean He is not equal in every since with the Highest and is a begotten God but it also means that the man Jesus cannot be the Son of God. So who is He? Is Jesus the son of Joseph and Mary? Is Jesus the bastard son of Mary with some unknown man, as the unbelieving Jews believed? If you claim eternal sonship you are also claiming that Jesus Christ is not the only begotten Son of God. So who then is the father of the human nature of Jesus Christ?

The apostle Paul warned the churches in Galatia that false brethren, unbelieving Jew's, Would creep into the church and teach another gospel (Galatians 1:6-8). He further says, in verse 13-15, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works."

Let us not forget that the unbelieving Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, they rather believed that Jesus was a bastard born of fornication, but not the Son of God (John 8:41). These same unbelievers were going about teaching another Jesus that was different from the Jesus taught by the apostles. Could it be that this was the first teaching of the doctrine of eternal sonship? Is that where this damnable heresy came from? A doctrine that logically teaches Jesus Christ is not the only-begotten Son of God because the Divine nature was begotten in eternity and since there is only one begotten Son Jesus can't be it? This forces Jesus to be exactly what the unbelieving Jews believed Him to be, a bastard. When considered to its logical conclusion this is exactly what the eternal sonship heresy teaches.

Now let us consider what we read about the Son of God being the propitiation for sins.

In 1 John 4:9, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." Some will argue, see there? God sent His Son into the world and since God lives in Heaven His Son must have been in Heaven for God to send Him into the world. Could it mean that? It could. But it could also mean something else and so it is not a proof text for eternal sonship. First, one of the attributes of God is that He is omnipresent (that means everywhere at once). So, He didn't have to send His only begotten Son from heaven He could have just as easily sent His only begotten Son into the world from the Waffle House on South Florida Avenue. It was at the baptism of Jesus Christ that He officially became the Messiah and it was at that point that God sent Him into the world to do the work the Father intended Him to do.

Now, let us continue and look at the text in the very next verse. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Here we are plainly told that God sent His Son (designated as the 'only-begotten Son' in verse 9) to be the propitiation for our sins. Are you beginning to see why context is important? This is why you don't rip one verse out of the Bible and build your doctrinal position on just one verse unless you like having egg on your face.

Now let us look at the word propitiation. This word only occurs three times in Scripture. The first is here in 1 John 4:10. The second is in 1 John 2:1-2, which says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he (Jesus Christ the righteous) is the propitiation for our sins ..." Do you see that? Jesus (the name of the combined Divine and Human nature conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary and born in around 3 or 4 BC) is the propitiation for our sins, not some mysterious deity that was begotten in eternity past but Jesus Christ the God/man. He, the God/man, is the propitiation for our sins. The only other occurrence of the word propitiation is found in Romans 3:24-25, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom (referring back to Christ Jesus) God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood .

It is very interesting that when you link these three verses together it is unmistakable that the propitiation is accomplished through the blood offering and death of the only begotten Son of God. The last time I checked, the Divine nature is Spirit and does not have blood and cannot die. Only the human nature has blood and only the human nature can die, therefore, the Son of God must be the human nature, combined with the Divine nature, which was born of the virgin Mary. This is precisely why Paul said, in Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

Finally, to anyone with an open mind, eyes to see and ears to hear, it is unmistakable that the "Only-Begotten Son of God" is none other than the man Christ Jesus, born of the virgin Mary who had both a human and Divine nature. That said, the doctrine of eternal sonship is a heresy to be avoided at all cost.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,

Pastor Henderson
The Lakeland Church