In Isaiah
9:6, we read the prophetic words: "For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given". This messianic
prophecy informs us that the coming Messiah will not just be a child born into
the world, but a "son given" to the world. "To us a son is given" means
that God gives us His Son; He
gives us one who is already a Son. So Jesus is the Son of God before His
Incarnation!
The New Testament confirms this:
- "For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son" (John 3:16). This favorite
verse of Evangelicals tells us that the One Whom God "gave" to the world was
"His only begotten Son". Jesus was already the begotten Son of God when the
Father gave Him to us in the Incarnation!
jt: We've
addressed all of this already Bill; so you are aware that there is
nothing new under the sun? The prophecy in Isaiah is just that,
prophecy and it becomes impossible to read the above analysis in
context when scripture (see Hebrews 1:5) clearly states: "thou art
My Son this day have I
begotten thee" which verse (in context) confirms that He (Jesus) is
a uniquely different kind of son, different from all of the angels and that he
was begotten on a certain day in time.
- The next verse adds:
"For God sent the
Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the
world might be saved through him" (John 3:17). This
clearly states that Jesus was the Son of God when He
was sent "into the world", i.e.. the Incarnation!
jt: It
doesn't clearly state anything like that because John 3:17 follows John 1:1
which clearly states how it was before the foundation of the world
ie "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God" (John 1:1) then we see (in context that the Son was sent,
made flesh, and dwelt amongst us?) Wrong... (see John 1:14) It was
The Word who was made flesh (begotten that day) and dwelt among us (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the ONLY begotten of the Father) full of
grace and truth.
- "But
when the time had fully come, God
sent forth his Son, born of woman, born
under the law" (Galatians 4:4). Jesus was
God's Son when He was "sent forth" from the Father to be born of woman.
Christ did not become God's Son at His human birth, He already was
God's Son!
jt: By the time
Paul the apostle wrote to the Church at Galatia the above was history -
God's "only begotten Son" had been born and/or sent "in the fullness of time"
(on that certain day), under the law of Moses - by way of the woman (Mary).
Note: He is also called "the seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15) long
before He is called a Son by God - which should mean something.
- "In
this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through him" (I John 4:9).
Again, Jesus is God's only Son before being sent into the world.
jt: 1 John
4:9 which was written circa AD90 by John the Beloved reveals no "time factor"
and is written with the focus upon the love of God being made
manifest among men. Just because John uses the word "sent" does not transpose
this into a preincarnate fact.
- The next verse reiterates
this point: "In this is love, not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our
sins" (I John 4:10)
jt: We are really straining
here because once more John the Beloved writing in AD90 refers to
God's love as the "lamb slain before the foundation of
the world" the One who "when the time had fully come and on a
certain day He (the Son) was begotten of God in the womb of the woman, and
born under the law - full of grace and truth"(John
1:17)
- And yet
again, four verses later: "And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the
world" (I John 4:14).
jt: Yes. In the
fullness of time He became the Savior of the world and in the mind of God it
was so before the foundation of the world. What more is there to say?
As for
whoever wrote this doctrine, he appears to be obsessed with the word
SENT when combined with God and Son.
