The Son of God is a contentious issue between Muslims and Christians. Christians gladly confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God while Muslims reject the idea as blasphemous. The strong reaction by most Muslims, I believe, stems partly from a misunderstanding of what Christians mean when they say Jesus is the Son of God.
Often when I have talked with Muslim friends about this I have learned that they react so strongly against Jesus being called the Son of God because they think we believe that God had sexual relations with Mary so that she conceived and bore his son. Some have been surprised to see me reject such an idea even more vociferously than they do. I am in absolute and complete agreement with Muslims in rejecting such a blasphemous idea.
But if that is not what Christians mean when they say Jesus Christ is the Son of God, what do they mean? I want to write a few posts on this issue in the hopes of helping Muslims better understand what we mean by the title Son of God.
In asking the question, “Who is the Son of God?” we find that there are several answers explained in the Scriptures. Who is the son of God? Adam is the son of God. The people of Israel under Moses are the son of God. The son of David the King is the son of God. Jesus Christ is the son of God. Followers of Jesus Christ are sons and daughters of God. For today we will begin at the beginning.
Adam Is the Son of God
Before we look at what it means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God we must first understand how God’s son is understood in the Old Testament. This will reiterate again that in no place does the Bible teach that God has a physical biological son.
Adam was God’s son in that God created him in his own image and likeness apart from human parents. When God made man he said, “‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . .’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26, 27). Man is created in the image of God, in the likeness of God.
Later when Moses tells of the descendants of Adam he writes, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (Genesis 5:1-3).
Seth bore the likeness and image of Adam because he was Adam’s son. Adam bore the likeness and image of God and therefore he was God’s son. (Seth and all of Adam’s descendants, including us, are also sons of God in that they [and we] too bear the likeness and image of God. Paul says as much in Acts when he agreed that we are all God’s offspring [see Acts 17:28-29].)
The gospel of Luke makes this connection explicit. As Luke traces back the genealogy of Jesus Christ he goes all the way to Adam, writing, “Jesus . . . being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli . . . the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the Son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:23, 38).
Being made in the image and likeness of God, Adam was the son of God.
Part 1: Adam Is the Son of God
Part 2: Moses and the People of God Are the Son of God
Part 3: The Son of David is the Son of God
Part 4: Jesus Christ Is the Son of God
Part 5: Jesus Christ Is God’s Unique Son
Part 6: Believers Are Sons and Daughters of God
Heredity: Everyone believes in it until their children act like fools!