THE PERSON OF THE SON OF GOD

SUMMARY: The Son of God is the Second Person of the Trinity, equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In the incarnation, he took on human nature and became the God-man, one person with two natures.

6 Major Affirmations

The Son of God is the Second Person of the Trinity, sharing in the one divine nature.

The Son of God is the Second Person of the Trinity, eternally existing together with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the one Godhead. He is fully God, as are the Father and the Spirit, possessing the same attributes of independence, immutability, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, holiness, love, and more. The three share in the one divine essence. Thus, the Son is fully God, coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Being fully God, the Son is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit in nature, power, and glory, but he is distinct from them in terms of his eternal relation and roles.

The Son is a distinct person from the Father and the Spirit, distinguished from them by his particular eternal relation and his particular roles. In terms of relation, the Son is eternally generated, or begotten, of the Father. Eternal generation does not mean that the Father created the Son. Nor does it mean that the Father gives him his deity, as the Son is God-of-himself. Rather, eternal generation means the Father grants him his sonship life, or person-of-the-Son. In this way, he is distinct from the Father. He is also distinct from the Spirit, who eternally proceeds from both the Father and the Son.

Another distinction between the three has to do with their roles. Though the Father, Son, and Spirit operate together inseparably, the Son engages in particular ministries. This theme is treated in chapter 20, “The Work of the Son of God.”

Two thousand years ago, the eternal Son of God became incarnate, taking on a full human nature, and became the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Two thousand years ago, the eternally existing and fully divine Son of God took on a fully human nature. This incarnation was a hypostatic union, the joining together (the union) of the two natures in the one person (Gk. hypostasis), Jesus Christ.

By the hypostatic union, he is both fully God and fully man, two natures united in one person.

Specifically, the preexistent Son became incarnate by taking on a complete human nature—both a material aspect (body) and an immaterial aspect p 149 (soul). The man Jesus had no existence prior to the incarnation. He was anhypostatic: without personal existence. The Son did not unite himself to an already-existing human being. Rather, the human nature exists in the divine person. It is enhypostatic: it exists in the Son of God. The Son took on a fully human nature: body and soul. In the incarnation, the Son became, and remains forever, the God-man.

This classical Christology stands opposed to various heresies, both early and modern.

The early church developed this classical Christology. It had to address numerous departures from both Christ’s full divinity and his full humanity. Classical Christology’s highest expression is the Chalcedonian Creed:

Our Lord Jesus Christ is both complete in divinity and complete in humanity, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a rational soul and body. He is of one substance [homoousios] with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us [human beings] as regards his humanity; like us in all respects, apart from sin. As regards his Godhead, he is begotten of the Father before the ages. But as regards his humanity he was begotten [born], for us and for our salvation, of Mary the virgin, the God-bearer [theotokos]. He is at the same time Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation. The distinction of natures was in no way annulled by the union. Rather, the characteristics of each nature were preserved and came together to form one person and subsistence [hypostasis], not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.17

Major Errors

The Chalcedonian Creed stands opposed to several errors, both early and modern.

Docetism denied the humanity of the Son in the incarnation. It has two major tenets: (1) Jesus Christ only seemed (Gk. dokeō) to be a man; (2) instead, he was a spirit being appearing as a human being.

Arianism denied the deity of the Son. Its major tenets are as follows: (1) God created a Son as the first and highest of all created beings. (2) Through him, God created everything else, yet the Son is a created being. (3) The Son is not eternal, meaning that he is heteroousios, of a different nature, not homoousios, of the same nature, as the Father.

Apollinarianism denied the full humanity of the incarnate Son. It has two main tenets: (1) in taking on human nature, the Word of God only p 150 became united with “flesh” (John 1:14); and (2) Christ’s human nature consisted of only a human body, but not a human soul, which was replaced by the divine Word.

Nestorianism denied the hypostatic union, that the incarnate Christ had two natures united in one person. It has two major tenets: (1) in the incarnation, two distinct persons—one divine, one human—worked in conjunction with each other; (2) this is true because a union of divine and human would have involved God in change, which is impossible.

Eutychianism also denied the hypostatic union; it has two forms. The major tenet of one form is that the divine nature nearly absorbed the human nature of Christ, meaning that his one nature is DIVINEhuman. In its second form, Eutychianism holds that the divine and human natures fused together, meaning that Christ’s one nature is dhiuvmianne.

Kenoticism, a modern heresy, denied the full deity of the Son in the incarnation. The term is derived from the Greek verb kenoō in Philippians 2:7: the Son “emptied himself.” The major tenets of kenoticism are as follows: (1) In the incarnation, the Son of God divested himself not of his essential divine attributes but of those attributes that are relative to his activity in the world: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. (2) After his exaltation, the Son again took up those attributes.

The Son is worthy of worship, obedience, trust, and service.

Biblical Support

The Son of God eternally exists. Thus, the incarnation is not the beginning of his existence. Rather, he is the Son of God, eternally generated (begotten) of the Father. Jesus affirmed his eternal generation: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). The Father eternally generates the Second Person, to whom he grants his person-of-the-Son, or sonship life (cf. 1 John 5:18).

The Son’s preexistence (before his incarnation) is affirmed: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). At the time God created the universe (“in the beginning,” reminiscent of Gen. 1:1), the Word was already in existence, both distinct from, and in relationship with, God. Furthermore, this Word was himself God. Indeed, through him the world was created (John 1:3; cf. Col. 1:15–20). It was this preexisting Word that became flesh—took on human nature—in the incarnation (John 1:14).

p 151 Accordingly, the incarnation involved the eternal Son, who existed “in the form of God,” refusing to selfishly hold on to his “equality with God” status. Rather, he “emptied himself,” not by yielding or muffling divine attributes such as omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, but by “taking the form of a servant,” becoming a real and fully human being (Phil. 2:5–7). As Gregory of Nazianzus explained, while remaining what he was (that is, fully God), the Son became what he was not (that is, a fully human being).18

Scripture supports the Son’s full deity: (1) His divine titles demonstrate that he is God. He is the Son of God (Mark 1:9–11; John 3:16) and Lord (Acts 2:36). (2) The divine references support his deity, as he is referred to as “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:1; cf. Heb. 1:8). (3) His nature is divine: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3; cf. Phil. 2:6). Indeed, Jesus claims, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), such that “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:8–9).

(4) He exhibits divine attributes such as omnipresence (Matt. 28:20), omniscience (Matt. 26:20–25, 30–35; John 2:25; 18:4), and authority (Matt. 28:18). (5) He engages in divine activities such as creating (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), sustaining (Col. 1:17), judging (John 5:22, 27; Acts 17:31), forgiving sins (Mark 2:10), and granting eternal life (John 5:21; 10:28). (6) His miracles demonstrated that he was the divine Son of God (20:30–31 and the seven “signs” in John: changing water into wine, 2:1–11; healing the official’s son, 4:46–54; healing the invalid, 5:1–15; feeding the five thousand, 6:5–14; walking on water, 6:16–24; healing the blind man, 9:1–7; and raising Lazarus from the dead, 11:1–45).

These points underscore the full deity of the Son of God (John 20:28).

Scripture supports the incarnate Son’s full humanity: (1) Jesus was born like any other human being (Luke 2:1–7). (2) He grew and matured like others (2:40, 51–52). (3) Christ had normal physical needs such as food, drink, rest, and sleep. (4) He expressed common human emotions like love, wonder, joy, compassion, and anger. (5) He enjoyed the kind of relationships that are characteristic of human beings. For example, John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:7, 20), one of Jesus’s three closest friends (Peter, James, and John; Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). Jesus spent three years of ministry with the Twelve (Matt. 10:1–4), and had close friendships with women (Luke 8:1–2), including Mary and Martha (John 11:1–41). And Jesus was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” p 152 (Matt. 11:19; cf. 9:10–11). (6) He suffered and died like any other human being (John 19:34).

These points underscore the full humanity of the Son of God incarnate (1 Tim. 3:16).

The hypostatic union finds biblical support as well. (1) The virgin birth (or conception) united the eternal Son with a human nature (Luke 1:26–35; Matt. 1:18–25). (2) His genealogies are traced back to both Abraham (Matt. 1:1) and God (Luke 3:38). (3) As the incarnate Son, he faced temptations (4:1–12) and learned obedience to become the perfect source of salvation (Heb. 5:8–9). (4) To be orthodox, one must confess that the Son of God has become incarnate in Jesus Christ (1 John 4:1–3).

Perennial Questions and Problematic Issues

Some people say that Jesus Christ never existed.

How can Jesus be fully God yet say that he doesn’t know the time of his own return (Mark 13:32)?

Does Jesus deny that he is God because he is less than God (John 14:28)?

Does eternal generation make the Son inferior to the Father?

Why is it important that Jesus Christ be both fully God and fully man?

ENACTING THE DOCTRINE

Because the Son of God is the fully divine Second Person of the Trinity, he is worshiped together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. As they are, so the Son is worthy of honor, thanksgiving, obedience, trust, and service.

What’s at stake in this doctrine? Our salvation! The God-man, sent by the Father to accomplish salvation, is the unique mediator between God and his fallen image-bearers. Only he as the fully divine Son could pay the p 153 infinite penalty for sin. Only he as the fully human Son incarnate could be the perfect substitute for sinful human beings. He and he alone is the Savior in whom God’s people trust for their salvation. And through the Son we enjoy a personal relationship with the living God!

17 I have rendered the Chalcedonian Creed in clearer language for contemporary readers.

18 Gregory of Nazianzus, Letters 102, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, vol. 7, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nazianzen, trans. Charles G. Browne and James E. Swallow (repr., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 443–45; cf. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations 29.19, in Schaff and Wace, Cyril of Jerusalem, 308.

Allison, Gregg R. 2018. 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group.