Christ in Heaven with Four Saints and a Donor

God the Son (, ; ) is the second

Person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

of the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

. According to Christian

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

, God the Son, in the form of

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, is the

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

of the eternal, pre-existent divine ''

Logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

'' (

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

for "word") through whom all things were created. Although the precise term "God the Son" does not appear in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, it serves as a theological designation expressing the understanding of Jesus as a part of the Trinity, distinct yet united in essence with

God the Father God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first Person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, Jesus Christ the Son, and the third person, God th ...

and

God the Holy Spirit Most Christian denominations believe the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, to be the third Godhead in Christianity, divine Prosopon, Person of the Trinity, a Triple deity, triune god manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, ...

(the first and third Persons of the Trinity respectively).

Sources

The phrase "God the Son" does not appear in the Bible but is found in later Christian writings. It mistakenly appears in a medieval manuscript, MS No.1985, where Galatians 2:20 has "Son of God" changed to "God the Son". In English, this term comes from Latin usage, as seen in the Athanasian Creed and other early church texts. In Greek, "God the Son" is written as ''ho Theos ho huios'' (ὁ Θεός ὁ υἱός), which is different from ''ho huios tou Theou'' (ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ), meaning " Son of God." In Latin, "God the Son" is

Deus ''Deus'' (, ) is the Latin word for 'God (word), god' or 'deity'. Latin ''deus'' and ''dīvus'' ('divine') are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''deiwos'', 'celestial' or 'shining', from the same root ( ...

Filius. This term appears in the Athanasian Creed: ''Et tamen non tres omnipotentes, sed unus omnipotens. Ita Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus tSpiritus Sanctus'', which means "So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God," distinguishing it from ''filius Dei'', meaning "son of God."

Usage

The term ''deus filius'' is used in the Athanasian Creed and formulas such as ''Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus Spiritus Sanctus: Et non tres Dii, sed unus est Deus.'' The term is used by

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

in his '' On the Trinity'', for example in discussion of the Son's obedience to God the Father: ''deo patri deus filius obediens''; and in ''Sermon 90 on the New Testament'': "2. For hold this fast as a firm and settled truth, if you would continue Catholics, that God the Father begot God the Son without time, and made Him of a Virgin in time." The

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession (), also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of th ...

(1530) adopted the phrase as ''Gott der Sohn''. Jacques Forget (1910) in the

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

article "Holy Ghost" notes that "Among the apologists, Athenagoras mentions the Holy Ghost along with, and on the same plane as, the Father and the Son. 'Who would not be astonished', says he (''A Plea for the Christians'' 10), 'to hear us called atheists, us who confess God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Ghost, and hold them one in power and distinct in order.' "

New Testament

"Son of God" is used to refer to Jesus in the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

at the beginning in verse 1:1 and at its end in chapter 15 verse 39. Max Botner wrote, "Indeed, if Mark 1:1 presents the "normative understanding" of Jesus' identity, then it makes a significant difference what the text includes". The ''

'' or Word in John 1:1 ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God), is often interpreted, especially by Trinitarians, to identify the pre-existent Jesus with this Word. The disputed '' Comma Johanneum'' (1 John 5:7) includes the Son in the formula "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." Christians believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). Jesus identified himself in New Testament canonical writings. "Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, . (John 8:58), which some Trinitarians believe is a reference to Moses in his interaction with preincarnate God in the Old Testament: "And God said to Moses, '.' And he said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ' has sent me to you. ( Exodus 3:14) A manuscript variant in John 1:18 (Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε· μονογενὴς Θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο) has led to translations including "God the One and Only" ( NIV, 1984) referring to the Son. Later theological use of this expression (compare Latin: ''Deus Filius'') reflects what came to be the standard interpretation of New Testament references, understood to imply Jesus' divinity, but with the distinction of his person from another person of the Trinity called the Father. As such, the title is associated more with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity. Trinitarians believe that a clear reference to the Trinity occurs in , "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Dissenting views

Groups of both trinitarian and nontrinitarian Christians reject the term "God the Son" to describe Jesus Christ. For example,

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

reject the concept along with the word ''Trinity'' as extrabiblical terminology. Oneness Pentecostals, who affirm his divinity, object to the term as an unauthorized reversal of the language of Scripture which describes him 40 times as the "Son of God." The New Philadelphia Church of Christ, which accepts both the Deity of Christ and the trinity doctrine, also avoids the term because they stress the importance to 'Call Bible things by Bible names, and talk about Bible things in Bible ways.' While most

mainstream Christian The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining creed, statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Counci ...

denominations hold God the Son to be "begotten of ..the substance of" God the Father, and therefore one part of a single whole,

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

holds that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are in fact three separate beings. This is not to be confused with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which does maintain the one-ness of the trinity.''Our Beliefs'' from the Community of Christ Website: https://cofchrist.org/our-beliefs/

References

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia: The Blessed TrinityThe Jewish Encyclopedia: Son of God
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Kaufmann Kohler Kaufmann Kohler (May 10, 1843 – January 28, 1926) was a German-born Jewish-American biblical scholar and critic, theologian, Reform rabbi, and contributing editor to numerous articles in '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906). Life and work Ka ...