It All Begins With Sonship

According to the first chapter of Hebrews, a biblical epistle written to followers of Jesus, God revealed his presence and purpose through the humanity of Jesus, His only begotten son. The author of Hebrews wrote:

“After God spoke long ago to the fathers through the prophets, in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things…. He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature….” (Hebrews 1:1-3)

The sonship of Jesus is also explained in the gospel of Luke. In a visitation to the Virgin Mary, the angel Gabriel revealed his presence to Mary. He also announced that God had chosen her to conceive and birth God’s son. The angel went on to reveal the reason God was requesting permission to create His son in her virgin womb:

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:31-33)

Gabriel was telling Mary her son was the long awaited Messiah whose coming was foretold by prophets like Nathan, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. For example, Nathan told King David that God wanted to make a covenant with him and his descendants. The covenant was a promise of perpetual kingship. This covenantal promise would be fulfilled when God raises a certain descendant whose kingship and throne God would establish forever. This descendant would be a Son to God. Therefore, the promise was not to all of David’s descendants, but rather to only a particular one. (I Samuel 7:12-17) The Roman physician and historian Luke claimed Jesus is that one.

The Jewish author of the gospel of Matthew affirmed Luke’s statement about Jesus. He wrote about the experience of Mary’s fiancé, Joseph. Gabriel had also visited Joseph, who told him to marry his betrothed Mary. Gabriel assured Joseph that the child was the work of God’s Spirit. Gabriel told him that Mary’s son “will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) The angel was affirming what was already believed by many ancient Israelites viewed about the Lord’s Messiah, a son of David.

The nature of Jesus’ sonship as portrayed by these two gospels is similar to the birth of humanity’s first parent, Adam. Why did the angel Gabriel tell Mary her son would be called the son of God? Because he would be the only human being since Adam to be created by the Spirit of God. According to the second chapter of Genesis, “God formed Adam from the dust of the ground.” (2:7) God formed Jesus in the virgin womb of Mary. That is a good reason for the apostle Paul to call Jesus the second Adam. (I Corinthians 15:45-47)

Who was Paul? His real name was Saul. Saul was a zealous religious Pharisee who was converted when Jesus-- after he had received his throne in heaven--visited him. Although Paul’s experience was as much a spiritual vision as a physical encounter, the record of his conversion informs us that his companions also witnessed the brilliant light and heard the sound of Jesus talking but did not understand what was said. (Acts 9:1-21; 22:4-16) Being commissioned by Jesus to continue his mission to the non-Jewish world, Saul was renamed Paul, the apostle of Jesus.

Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ sonship was influenced by his conversion experience. For example, Paul began preaching that Jesus was the son of God almost immediately after his encounter with the risen Jesus. (Acts 9:20) He also taught that Jesus was “declared the Son of God with power as a result of the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:4) For Paul, Jesus was the eternal son of God because he was raised from the dead. To be raised from the dead, Jesus had to be born just like you and me. Therefore, writing to the church at Galatia, Paul penned these momentous words:

“In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4)

To some, the gospel of Luke and Paul’s epistles may seem contradictory. One claims Jesus as son of God because of the Spirit’s creative act and the other claims he is son of God because he was the first-born (resurrected) from the dead. (Colossians 1:15, 18) Actually, the two account compliment each other giving us a complete understanding of Jesus’ sonship, both as the promised descendant of David and as God’s Son.

The same understanding of Jesus’ sonship is evident in the book of Hebrews. As a side note, some scholars believe Paul wrote the epistle to the Jewish followers of Jesus known as Hebrews. However, there is no actual evidence to support this belief. Whoever the author actually was, Church leaders canonized it because of its important teaching and because of the agreement with its doctrinal views.

To the author of the Hebrews, Jesus was the iconic image of his glorious father—God. (1:3)

Some intelligent person will ask how can this be seeing that Jesus was a physical human being and God is not? The short answer is this: all humans, like the very first one whose name was Adam, were created to reflect physically the image and character of his Creator. The biblical answer begins in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis. “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness….’” (1:26) The author of Genesis then writes, “God created man in his own image … male and female He created them.” (1:27)

This leads to an important point of great value today. All humans reflect the image of God. Humans as reflections of the Creator’s image is supported by the Torah, the Prophets, the epistles of Paul, and the book of Revelation. Extremely interesting is the fact that God revealed his appearance to Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders after the ancient Israelites had agreed to God’s covenant, which was while they camped at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19-20; 24:3-18) In Exodus, it is written, “they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet, He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel.” (24:10-11) In his vision, the prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting on His throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” (6:1) Another priest-prophet who saw the appearance of God in a vision was Ezekiel. The record we have of his vision is very detailed and lengthy, but key descriptions summarizing it are as follows: There was a transparent pavement-like expanse above a host of winged creatures—probably cherubim. (1:22-26). Above the expanse, there was something resembling a throne. On it was a figure with the appearance of a man. (1:26) Ezekiel notices the glowing appearance of his loins, and (1:27) a radiance shown around his being that resembled a rainbow. “Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” (1:28). The prophet Daniel saw a similar vision of God. (7:9-10) In the New Testament, the book of Revelation gives another account of God’s appearance. God is always on the throne while the Jesus as lamb of God is in the midst the court (4:2-4; 5:1-7; 7:10; 20:11; 21:22-23; 22:1-5). In every vision, we learn men and women look similar to their Creator.

The important point is this: Men and women are spiritual beings physically reflecting the image of their real Father—their Creator. That means every human being is spiritual like his or her divine Father. Whether good or evil, every human is the physical image of his or her heavenly Father, God.

The problem of human spirituality is not appearance; the problem is with character. In Genesis, it is called likeness. In chapter three of Genesis, the story of humanity’s first sin reveals a very pertinent fact. After the sin of Adam and Eve, God said, “Man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil….” (3:22). This phrase teaches several things:

• There were others in the court of God.
• One of them knew good and evil.
• Humanity’s first parent became like that one.

Who was the mysterious person? Contrary to some scholarly interpretations, this scripture cannot be a reference to the holy trinity. The term ‘knowing’ does not mean knowing intellectual subject content as today. In ancient times, knowing meant something understood by experience. It was intimate knowledge. If God was referring to himself, it would mean God was an experienced moral lawbreaker. That is what evil is. Therefore, the mysterious person was an experienced evil doer, a sinner, a moral lawbreaker. According to the Bible, Satan, the fallen angel or the devil, is the first spirit-being to have sinned. According to the gospel of John, Jesus taught that the devil was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. (8:44) When Ezekiel’s prophesy concerning Tyre is analyzed, we see two different kinds of leaders being addressed. The first is a king, who is obvious a man with aspirations to play god. (28:1-10) The second leader is addressed as a prince. This prince is described as a cherub who was without sin while in the Garden of Eden. That is until he became arrogant because of his beauty and his clever trade, which led him to cause much violence and sin. (28:11-19) How could a spirit be involved in trade? Trade of what for what? The clearest example of Satan’s trade is found in the gospel accounts of Satan’s temptation of Jesus. If Jesus would transgress God’s word, deny his God-given purpose, and reject God by giving allegiance to the devil instead, Satan offered to give Him fame, fortune, and power. Jesus did not deny that Satan could give him rule over the empires and nations of the world. Instead, Jesus remained faithful to God. (Matthew 4; Mark 1:13; Luke 4) In the complicated story of Job, another example of a man overcoming the tempting trade of Satan is narrated. Except in this story, Job deals with very negative and painful experiences for which he had no explanation. Even though the loss of health, his wealth in livestock, the death of his workers and all of his children was beyond his comprehension, he remained faithful to God. Though he did not have a clue why God was doing this—actually, Satan was but God was allowing it—Job’s faithfulness was the means by which Satan was judged by God for the violence of his trade. Job’s accomplishment was limited to his generation, but Jesus’ is eternal. Looking back to the beginning, the story of Adam and Eve shows us a story of our first earthly parents being suckered by the tempting and deceptive marketing strategies of the devil.

That is the story of us all.

Like Job and Jesus, men and women are capable of being like God. Men and women are capable of creating. They are capable of reasoning. They are capable of managing the welfare of other soul-creatures of the animal kingdom. They are capable of showing loving-kindness and justice to other people. Most important is their capability of behaving like God. Like little children imitating parents, this capability of God-likeness is reflected in attitudes, viewpoints, and actions.

In other words, men and women are capable of consistent moral living, except for one huge problem. That problem is moral depravity. Sin is breaking the moral law in evident in humanity’s spiritual nature. It was Satan’s crime, Adam and Eve’s crime, and a crime all men and women commit. Immoral acts are crimes against God. When moral law is broken, whoever else may be offended, God certainly is. Until each of our moral crimes and their penalty are paid, we are in essence spiritual fugitives being hunted by divine justice.

As sinless Son, Jesus paid for all of our moral crimes. God considered his execution—by means of the Cross—and subsequent death sufficient payment for us all. The prophet Isaiah foresaw his suffering and death. Isaiah also understood its meaning. In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, the prophet wrote, “He was pierced through for our transgressions; he was crushed for our sins; the punishment for our well-being fell on him, and by his scourging we are healed.” (vv. 5) Consequently, God says, “My servant will justify the many, because he will bear their sins.” (v. 11) The gospels Isaiah’s prophesy was fulfilled through Jesus. In Matthew, it is written, Jesus “came to give his life a ransom for many.” (20:28) Paul also claimed Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:6) When we accept God’s system of justice and when we confess their sins and seek that forgiveness, we are restored to a right relationship with God in His world. The sense of alienation ends. Our guilt, fear, and bankruptcy ends because the hunt is also called off.

That is the gospel of Jesus, and it gets even better. Those of us whose moral crimes have been acquitted because of the death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus, we also become sons and daughters of God. To be more precise, our sonship is restored. As Paul wrote, “You are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26).

The restoration of sonship is God’s plan for every human being, even you and me.