December 1 - Son of God

December 1 – Son of God

Well, this is it.  The first real study I’ve done since I’ve begun my Greek study.  As I was attempting to write today, I found myself caught up in the Greek text and realized it was getting me nowhere - especially since I began reading things and finding that there was so much more than my translation offers to me.

I wanted this to be simple.  I wanted to dig into the passage (John 1:1-18) and tell you how God identifies Jesus Christ as His son.  That’s not what happened … not at all.  John never uses the word ‘Son’ when describing Jesus in this first chapter (he does use it throughout the rest of his gospel), but he uses a very interesting term:  monogenos.

Take a few moments to look at that word.  You see the prefix – mono.  We use it a lot to mean exactly what it does mean – ‘only.’  The second part of the word – genos – is part of our word for genome, genealogy … and in Greek refers to a relationship – generally a descendant to an ancestor. 

The essence of this word in context is that John calls Jesus a unique offspring of God.  There is none like him … there are no brothers or sisters, no other family members.  Everything about Jesus Christ is unique.  John uses the word in John 1:14 and then again in John 1:18.

If he wanted to call Jesus – God’s Son, he would use the word uios – which means ‘son.’  That term is actually used quite often in the Gospels, but in this section, at this time, John wanted to point out the unique relationship between God and the man that came to earth as a human being.

In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we are introduced to a very human baby boy, born of Mary.  He is quickly identified as the Son of God, but here we find something incredibly powerful about the Word made flesh.

Yes, Jesus Christ came to the earth as a man, which gives Him the qualities of being what we recognize as a son.  That relationship is important to God.  But, the relationship between Jesus and God is so much more than something that simple.  It is more than what we see when we look at a father and his boy. 

Think about the father / son relationship for a moment.  A son learns from his father, he may do better or worse than his father in any given area.  In some ways he may stand as an equal, but with his dad, there will always be a great difference.  As the son grows and matures, the father changes roles.  He no longer has to correct and guide his son, but encourages him as he becomes his own man.  Then, the roles change again as the son grows into full maturity and the father approaches the end of his life.  This is the relationship that we know and are comfortable with.

That relationship is not at all what occurs between the Father and Jesus.   John makes that clear in the opening sentences. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1-2)

There is no maturation, there is no growing old, there is no guiding and learning.  There is a unique, incredible relationship – one that we may find impossible to understand.

Jesus is not just God’s Son.  He is in a unique relationship with the Father.  He is the Word made flesh so that God could live among us.