Natnaniel called Him the Son of God. “Thou art the Son of God” (John 1:49). There is no record that he ever said that of another. God called Him His Son. “ This is my beloved Son” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5). Of all the millions who have lived, He was the only one to whom the heavens opened and who heard such a pronouncement. Demons called Him the Son of God. “ Jesus, thou Son of God” (Matt. 8:29). “ Thou art Christ the Son of God” (Luke 4:41). How was it that they recognized
Last of all, look at Revelation 1:8. Who is speaking? Jesus Christ (1:1). Who is to come? Jesus Christ (1:7-8). What does He say? “ I am Alpha and Omega.” He is from eternity to eter nity, without beginning and without end. He always was; He always will be. He is, He was, He is to come. He is the Almighty. Could words be plainer? He is God. It is not the Father who is to come, it is the Son. So it is the Son who claims to be the Almighty. See Revela tion 22:13 where the same expression is again used by the Son. What a revel ation of His deity! There are many other such passages. Again and again Jesus is called God, but these ten are sufficient. If you, my friend, will not be convinced by these, then it would be useless to quote others. You will have to continue in your her esy and perish in your unbelief, for your Arianism can never face the light of the Word. Jesus is called God. Jesus Is Called the Son o f God In numerous passages Jesus is called the Son of God, and in each instance it is a claim to deity. That the Jews so understood it is proven by the fact that they accused Him of blasphemy, and declared Him to be worthy of death. As the son of a king partakes of royal blood, so the Son of God partakes of deity. He was the unique and only be gotten Son of God, not of Joseph, but of the Holy Ghost, and being virgin born, He was the Son of God as no one else ever can be. The Jews always thought of the Messiah as God’s Son and there fore divine. If He was the son of an earthly father, then He was not the Son of God. Jesus was God’s only Son. He Him self said so when referring to Himself in Mark 12:6, “ Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him.” In John 1:14, 18, First John 4:9, and many other passages, He is spoken of as “the only begotten Son.” Men may become children of God in time by adoption. He was the Son of God in eter nity by nature. He was not A Son; He was THE Son. The angel Gabriel called Him the Son of God. “ The Holy Ghost shall come up on thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall, be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Was ever such an an nouncement made to another? Never! It was in the womb of Mary that Christ became a babe and took upon Him hu man flesh. He was the one and only Son of God ever born of woman. John the Baptist called Him the Son of God. “ This is the Son of God” (John 1:34). Thousands came to him to be baptized in the River Jordan, but of no one else did he ever make such a state ment. Of all those who came, Jesus alone was recognized by him as the Son of God.
mediate and final. There was no mis taking His meaning. He simply said. “ I am.” That settles it. Jesus Himself claims to be God’s Son. No wonder the priest “rent his clothes” and called his answer “ blasphemy.” No wonder they judged Him worthy of death. They all claimed to be children of God, every one of them, but full well they knew what He meant when He said that He was the Son of God. No one else would ever have answered as Jesus answered. Even the thieves knew that He claim ed to be the Son of God, for they said, “ If thou be the Son of God” (Matt. 27: 40). So, too, the chief priests were fa miliar with His claim, for they quoted Him as saying, “ I am the Son of God” (Matt. 27:43). And Jesus Himself said this, “ I said, I am the Son of God” (John 10:36). Moreover, the chief priest stated that “ He ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). And in John 5:25, 11:4, and Rev elation 2:18 He definitely calls Himself the Son of God. Jesus never recognized an earthly fa ther. Not once did He call Joseph His father. Why not? He certainly should have done so if Joseph had been His father. His claim throughout His life was that God was His Father, and that therefore He was God’s Son. “ Thy fa ther and I,” said Mary. “ My Father’s business,” replied Jesus (Luke 2:48, 49). Mary spoke of Joseph. Jesus ignored Joseph and spoke of God as His Father. In this connection look at John 5:18. It is simply tremendous, “ Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he . . . said . . . that God was his father, making himself equal with God.” Would they have tried to kill you had you called God your Father? Of course not. Why? Because with you it would not have been a claim to deity, to equality with God. You would simply be saying that you were God’s child by regeneration, as millions of others are. But when He said it, He meant, as they well knew, that He had no earthly father, that He had come from heaven, that He was indeed the promised Messiah, the unique and only begotten Son of God, and that therefore He was divine. Look at it—equality with God. Yes, that and nothing less. Then if He was equal with God He was God, for He was of the same substance as God. But they did not believe in His deity and so they accused Him of blasphemy, and con demned Him to death. Think of anyone else making such a claim. Impossible! Absurd! Only Christ could have uttered such a statement, for He was and is God—God the Son. Nowhere in the Bible is this equality with God stated more plainly or defi nitely than by Paul in Philippians 2:5-9. This is the great classic passage regard ing the deity of Christ. In exhorting the Philippians to emulate the unself ishness of their Lord, Paul points out (Continued on Page 82)
Dr. Oswald J. Smith
Him so quickly? We never hear of them making a mistake and calling anyone else God’s Son. He and He alone was so designated. Satan tempted Him on the basis of His Sonship. “ If thou be the Son of God,” he cried (Luke 4:3,9). Did he ever tempt another thus? Of course not. He knew full well that Jesus was in very deed the unique Son of the Al mighty. Satan never spoke of another as God’s Son. Peter called Him the Son of God, “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the liv ing God” (Matt. 16:16). Peter was well acquainted with his brother Andrew and the other disciples, and well he knew that they were children of God, but he never singled out any one of them and called him the Son of God. John believed Him to be the Son of God. In numerous passages he called Him the Son of God, both in his Gospel as well as in his epistles, and in First John 4:15 he plainly states that only those who believe Him to be God’s Son are really saved. He always sets Him forth as the one and only Son, the “ only begotten of the Father.” Jesus Himself claimed to be the Son of God. One reference will suffice since it is unanswerable. In Mark 14:61-64 we are presented with a most amazing scene. The high priest challenges Him with the question, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus could not remain silent. His answer was im
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