Jesus is the only Son of God? I'm reading the Bible and I'm wondering. 1st John 3?

Question

1st verse......"How great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God."

If I read that I find it confusing to believe that Jesus was the only son of God. How do you explain that verse?

Answer 1

Despite the view of many Christians to the contrary, one need only refer to a host of Christian writers through the centuries to show that reasonable interpreters of the Bible have consistently upheld the doctrine of the unity of God throughout history. A good example is Edward Elwall, prominent eighteenth-century Baptist merchant and writer of religious literature. In 1726 he wrote in his tract Dagon fallen upon his stumps, `Is it not as gross an Absurdity to say, the One God of Heaven and Earth, is Three or Four Persons, as to say, the One King of Great Britain and Ireland, is Three or Four Persons? Is not the former altogether as false as the latter?'



According to Elwall the Bible position is simple and straightforward. God is One (Exodus 20:3). Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master, the Messiah and reigning and soon­ coming King of the promised Fifth Monarchy of Daniel chapter two; our Saviour, who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, worked great miracles and wonders by the permission and power of God, and was snatched up from the death of the cross and the grave to ascend to the right hand of God. But he is not God.



Elwall recognises the authority of the ten command­ments. These are the words revealed without intermediary to the multitude of humankind. These are above all the words of God Himself. To maintain that Jesus is God the Son is to break the first commandment, that is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Therefore Edward Elwall begins his tract with these words: 'Thou shalt have no other Gods but Me. This Sacred Commandment was spoke by God himself, and not only so, but it was wrote by the Finger of God, therefore all those that Love him with all their Heart, and Soul, and Strength, ought to believe and obey this Law. Now let all Men that fear God, take particu­lar Notice, that the very last word of this glorious Law, viz. (Me) is a certain Confutation of those who make the most high God to be a plurality of Persons.'



If Jesus Christ is not God, is not deity, then what is he? The Christian Scriptures are clear on the matter. `There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.' 1 Timothy 2:5. This text clearly contra­dicts the established Christian view that the mediator between God and man must be both man and deity. The logic of that thought notwithstanding, the Scripture states him to be clearly and unequivocally man and not God. The position does not belittle Christ by saying that he is man and not God. It may be that he is a man so far above the men we know today that to human senses he would even appear to be like God. Nevertheless we must remember that human senses are not the criteria we are dealing with, but the Christian Scriptures. That Scripture states God to be one, and we have not the right to associate or confuse anyone, even one so great as Jesus Christ, with God Almighty. To do so is to fall into polytheism and, from an Islamic viewpoint, vastly to belittle and lower the concept of God.



What does the Bible mean then, when it says that Jesus is the son of God? In most modern languages it is rare to use the words father and son in other but literal meanings of biological descent. That is why readers of the Bible in translation may be honestly mistaken. The word `son' as applied to Christ and the word `father' as applied to God must be understood as metaphorical, that is, in a meaning other than the literally biological one. Indeed, few people actually understand them literally. No one, insofar as I know, actually believes that God had sexual intercourse with Mary to produce Jesus. Such an idea is revolting to most minds and is certainly not held by any of the estab­lished Christian creeds. God, even according to Christian belief, is not the father of Christ or any other humans in any literal sense.



The word `son' is clearly used in the Bible to express the character of people, and not always their biological descent. The word is used in both ways in 1 Samuel 2:12. `Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord.' It cannot mean that these young men had two biological fathers. The genes of only one sperm can naturally combine with the ovum to produce a genetically new individual. The margin of my Bible explains that the expression `sons of Belial' means `wicked men', that is `sons of wickedness'. A `son of God' is just the opposite.

Answer 2

There is a term used of Jesus Christ which is unique. The Greek word is monogenes, meaning only begotten. It refers to Jesus' unique relationship with the Father that He had before the creation of the world (See John 1:1,14,18; 3:16,18 and also Jesus' high priestly prayer in John chapter 17)
We can never be a Son of God in this sense. but the Bible says "to as many as received Him(Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, which were born, not of natural descent, nor of fleshly impulse, nor of the will of a man, but of God" (John1:12,13).
When Jesus died, He died as the representative of the whole race of Adam. When Jesus was raised from the dead, according to the teaching of Scripture, not only was Jesus raised into newness of life, but everyone who would ever put his faith in Him throughout all the ages was raised together with Jesus into newness of life. That is why the Bible says "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)
We are then granted the privilege of becoming children of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:14-17; 28-30) The Bible has much to say about this, but it takes some time to digest it. Read also Ephesians 1:15 through 2:10.

Answer 3

There is a difference between "only begotten son" and "children of God". The Greek word used, μονογενη, meant "only-begotten, only-born", but also meant "unique". It is a very profound term, not everyone can claim to be God's unique and only son. Although we are all children of God, we are much different than Jesus.

"what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?" John 10:36

Answer 4

Christians are the children of God. There are two ways to understand this:

1) We are children of His by adoption.
2) We are His children, and others that are not His are not His children. Rather they are called the children of disobedience.

1) Paul the Apostle said it in the Ephesian letter. This is not the only time that those that choose to follow after Christ are referred to as God's children:

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

and here:
Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

By the way, if you read the verse you paraphrased you should see the word 'begotten' in it. Jesus was God's only 'begotten' Son.

2) We are God's children. those that have trusted Him through Christ.
Ephesians 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Now know that this is NOT a call to acting perfect. Salvation is a gift from God, and those that are faithing in Him are covered by the sacrifice. As it says in Revelation, Blessed are they that have washed their robes.

So the sons of God by adoption through christ is what John was talking about. He knew full well, having been responsiblr for the Gospel of John where it says:

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.

Answer 5

If you read on verse 2 says, "Dear friends, now we are children of God..." which means at some point.
Yes, God only has one son, Jesus. But He has many adopted children, those of us.
Sin entered the world through one man, Adam. Because of his sin, we are all born sinful.
Righteousness entered the world through another man, Jesus. If we accept His gift of righteousness, we are made righteous through Him, and therefore become adopted into the family of God.
Make sense? For further study on this, try Romans.

Answer 6

OK don't be confused , we all are brothers and we all are children of God by Jesus Crest .so Jesus is the only son of God ,but we are sons just by him when he came to the earth and give us the relation back with God, and don't ever be confused about the bible because it is always true it is the God speech,you just have to understand it ,but if you don't just ask some body who knows don't ask any body ,because there some of are not faith-full so ma be they affect you which it should NT happen to you. and always be faith-full and easy when you read the bible don't try to find some thing over you mind ,because you know we can't put God in our minds because he is always over our mind and we can't imagine that and as will his speech the bible, we just do by being completely faithful

Answer 7

We are all the children of God, that may seem confusing because Jesus is the real son of God, God just created us so since hes our creator hes like our father.

Answer 8

We can be adopted sons and daughters of God if we answer His call to conversion of our hearts to Him.

Jesus is the 2nd person of the eternal Holy Trinity. He is God the Son in the flesh. The Holy Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 3 persons=1 God.

The Blessed Virgin Mary has an interesting relationship to this. Although SHE IS NOT A GOD but a creation of God (God's greatest creation), she is the second Eve and the most favored daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse to the Holy Spirit.

Jesus also gave us the Blessed Virgin to be our spiritual mother. Eve was the biological mother of all of mankind, and Mary, by grace and power given to her by God, is the spiritual mother to all.

Answer 9

Jesus is the only 'begotten" Son of God. That is, the only Son which God Himself, through the Holy Spirit, fathered.

Answer 10

Children of God means those who do Gods will and obey what he says,Jesus was the begotten son of God the only one to come forth from God there was never any other...

Answer 11

Jesus was the son of God as we are all children of God. We are his children because I think that He is the big bang. Evolution took over from there.