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.
