The Pre-Existence and Eternal Sonship of Christ

Michael J. Penfold

Christ’s existence before His birth at Bethlehem can be traced back in time as follows:

 

1. He existed before John the Baptist, though John was born before Jesus by 6 months (John 1:15, 30)

2. He existed before His birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

3. He existed before Abraham (John 8:58)

4. He existed before creation (John 1:1, 17:5, Col 1:17)

 

Jesus spoke of coming to earth from heaven, where He was before (John 3:13, 6:33, 6:38, 6:41, 6:50-51, 6:58, 6:62, 8:23). In this pre-incarnate era He existed in the form of God as His equal (Phil 2:6) and was identified both as the Word (John 1:1) and the Son (Isa 9:6, Heb 7:3). He is the ‘First and the Last’ and the ‘Alpha and the Omega’ (Rev 1:11).

 

Prior to His birth, activities and events are associated with the Son of God as follows:

 

1. He was continually worshipped by the Seraphim (Isa 6:1-3, John 12:41)

2. He enjoyed His Father’s company (Prov 8:22-31 – this passage about wisdom can be helpfully applied to Christ, who is the wisdom of God, 1 Cor 1:24).

3. He shared His Father’s glory (John 17:5)

4. He conversed with His Father (Heb 10:5)

5. He appeared on earth as ‘the angel of the Lord’ (see below)

6. He created the universe (Gen 1:26, John 1:3 & 10, Col 1:16, Heb 1:10)

7. He sustained the universe (Heb 1:3, Col 1:17)

 

The following people to whom the ‘angel of the Lord’ appeared are representative of a greater number that saw a ‘Christophany’ (a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ):

 

1. Hagar (Gen 16:7, 21:17)

2. Abraham (Gen 22:11-15)

3. Jacob (Gen 31:11)

4. Moses (Exod 3:2)

5. Balaam (Num 22:22)

6. Gideon (Judg 6:12-16)

7. Manoah and his wife (Judg 13:3-22)

 

These appearances must have involved deity in light of the fact that actions, speech and knowledge beyond the capacity of created beings are attributed to this ‘angel of the Lord’. His divine attributes are seen in the following passages:

 

1. He claims deity for Himself by using the title ‘I am’ (Exod 3:2, 3:6, 3:14)

2. He acts with the omnipotent prerogatives of deity (Gen 16:10, 21:18, 22:17, Exod 3:8)

3. He is called God by men (Gen 16:13, Judg 6:22, 13:22)

4. He was honoured with sacrifice (Gen 22:11-12).

5. His name is Wonderful (Judg 13:18) the next word in the Lexicon to the title ‘Wonderful’ used of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6.

 

The fact that the Angel of Lord appeared in a defined and visible form – remembering that no man has seen the Father at any time (John 1:18, 1 Tim 6:16) – would seem to pinpoint His identity as being the Son rather than the Father or the Holy Spirit.

 

Christ's Eternal Sonship

 

There are two clear Old Testament references to the Messiah as the Son of God in the Psalms (Psalm 2:7, 2:12). Two others references are more obscure and debatable as to their meaning (Prov 30:4, Dan 3:25). The essential difference between the sonship of Christ and the sonship of Christians is important to note:

 

“Although others in scripture are called Sons of God…Christ is the Son in a unique and exclusive sense…The title ‘Son of God’…with the article before each of the two words, is a title of deity and is found 25 times in the New Testament applied to Christ. By this title the Jews understood the high claims of Christ…it was a claim to deity and not merely to Messiahship. The Lord never classified His sonship with the sonship of others. He actually went into detail to keep the two distinct and separate [see John 20:17-18].” (Schultz)

 

The famous song by Martin Nystrom As the Deer Pants for the Water contains the theologically indefensible line in reference to Christ, “You’re my friend and You’re my brother, even though You are a king.” Such terminology should be avoided to safeguard the unique, underived sonship of the Lord Jesus. Believers are sons of God by adoption (Rom 8:15, Gal 4:5) but Christ is the essentially and eternally co-equal Son. He was born as a child, but given as a Son (Isa 9:6). That His sonship is eternal is highlighted by the writer to the Hebrews who declares that Melchisedek was made to resemble the ‘Son’ of God in that he had no beginning of days nor end of life (Heb 7:3).

 

Jesus’ claim to be the Christ, the Son of the God, resulted in three recorded charges of blasphemy in the Gospel records:

 

1. The Jews wanted to kill Him because He said that “God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:18)

2. The Jews took up stones to stone Him explaining their actions by saying, “…for blasphemy because you, being a man, makest Thyself God ” (John 10:33)

3. When Christ said “I am” in reply to “Are you the Christ the Son of the blessed?” the Jewish leaders tore their clothes and condemned Him to death for blasphemy (Mark 14:61-62)       

 

Most casual Westerners who are content to believe that “Jesus never said He was God ” have clearly missed the point. Their error lies in assuming that the term “the Christ the Son of the God” (Ho christos ho huios tou theou) indicates subordination and dependence rather than equality. Theologian Lorraine Boettner explains:

 

“In theological language, the terms ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ carry with them, not our Occidental [Western] ideas of, on the one hand, source of being and superiority, and on the other hand subordination and dependence, but rather the Semitic [Jewish] and Oriental [Eastern] ideas of likeness and sameness of nature, and equality of being. It is of course the Semitic consciousness that underlies the phraseology of the scriptures, and whenever the scriptures call Christ ‘The Son of God’ they assert His true and proper deity. It signifies a unique relationship that cannot be predicated of [asserted as true] nor shared with any creature. As any merely human son is like his father in his essential nature, that is, possessed of humanity, so Christ the Son of God, was like His Father in His essential nature, that is, possessed of deity.”

 

Others crudely imply that with a Father and a Son there must of necessity be a ‘mother’. Muslims often reason along this line, backed by the words of the Koran, “God is only one God: far be it from His glory that He should have a son” (Sura 4:171). This is to misunderstand that ‘Son’ in the Bible represents rank and status, as opposed to ‘child’ which simply implies relationship. Thus Jesus is never called a child of God in the Bible.

 

The true meaning of Jesus’ title ‘the Christ the Son of the God’ explains why the attacks against Him were more often than not attacks on His sonship. No sooner had the Father stated “This is My beloved Son” (Matt 3:17) than Satan questioned “If You are the Son…” (Matt 4:3). As seen above, the attacks from the Rabbis were frequently regarding His sonship. Towards the end of His trial in front of Pilate the Jews pulled out their trump card saying, “According to our law He ought to die because he made Himself the Son of God.” (John 19:7). Even while hanging on the cross Christ was taunted with the words, “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matt 27:40).

 

Heaven’s answer to these attacks was the resurrection. On the morning of the third day Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power…by the resurrection from the dead.” (Rom 1:4) In resurrection God declared of Christ, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You” (Heb 1:5, 5:5) which is a Hebraism meaning “This Son belongs to Me.” 

 

His title 'First-begotten’

 

The Greek word ‘first-begotten’ is protokotos. It is important to distinguish this from another Greek word protoktistos, which means first-created. Though sometimes ‘first-begotten’ carries the literal meaning ‘born first’ (Matt 1:25, Luke 2:7), the word refers primarily to the idea of being first in position or rank, whether literally born first or not.

 

Jacob spoke of his first child in these terms: “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power” (Gen 49:3). Literally in Hebrew this means “Pre-eminent in dignity and pre-eminent in power.” In the Semitic culture the first child received a double portion of the inheritance and assumed the role of the father at death (Deut 21:15-17, 2 Chron 21:30). This ‘birthright’ was a highly prized position, disrespectfully despised by Esau (Gen 25:30-34).

 

Now for proof that the title ‘firstborn’ is used in the Bible for others than those ‘born first’: 

 

1. Israel, although not the first nation, is called God’s firstborn (Exod 4:22)

2. Ephraim is called the firstborn, even though he was Joseph’s younger son (Gen 48:14, Jer 31:9)

3. Through stealing the birthright and the blessing Jacob the younger took pre-eminence over Esau the elder and firstborn (Gen 27:29). When asked by Isaac who he was, Jacob replied, “I am Esau your firstborn” (Gen 27:19)

4. Reuben’s status as the firstborn was lost (Gen 49:3-4). Jacob said of him “You shall not excel” which literally means “You shall not have the pre-eminence.” The position of firstborn in Jacob’s family was transferred to Joseph (Gen 49:26, 1 Chron 5:1-2). Even in the Millennium Joseph will have two portions of land (Eze 47:13)

5. David, the last of Jesse’s sons, is called God’s firstborn as a title of rank (Psalm 89:27)

6. The poorest of the poor are called the firstborn of the poor (Isa 14:4)

7. The most terrible kind of death is called the firstborn of death (Job 18:13)

8. Believers are the church of the firstborn ones, whose position as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ is higher even than that of angels (1 Cor 6:3)

 

In the following five verses where the titles ‘firstborn’ or ‘first-begotten’ (which mean the same thing) are used of Christ they refer to his pre-eminence, not to His literal birth at Bethlehem nor to any point in time at which He began to exist:

 

Firstborn Christologically

“The firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15)

This title highlights Christ’s position as the pre-eminent one who hold absolute rights, prerogatives and privileges over all created things.

 

Firstborn Soteriologically

“The firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18, Rev 1:5)

Again, this title refers to the high privileged position Christ has as a result of the resurrection. While the titles ‘beginning’ (Col 1:18) and ‘firstfruits’ (1 Cor 15:23) intimate priority in a sequence of people and events, firstborn denotes pre-eminence in status and rank. Jesus was not the first person to be raised from the dead, yet He is still the firstborn from the dead in His rank and position as the resurrected Prince of life who will never die again.

 

Firstborn Ecclesiastically

“The firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29)

In saving sinners and making them like His Son, God will in a coming day of glory highlight the Lord Jesus as pre-eminent above all the redeemed.

 

Firstborn Eschatologically

“When He again brings the firstborn into the world” (Heb 1:6)

Not all the commentators agree that this verse refers to the second advent. The debate as to the fulfilment of this verse hangs on the use of the word ‘again’ and how the context is interpreted. Whichever it is, one thing is sure, that whether in His first coming or His second coming Christ is ‘the firstborn’ pre-eminent over all.

 

His title 'Only-Begotten’

 

Though Christ was ‘begotten’ of his mother Mary (Matt 1:16, 20), His title ‘only-begotten’ has nothing to do with birth at all. ‘Only begotten’ is actually a misleading translation. Naturally one imagines that words like beget, begat, begotten are referring to birth and child-bearing. The Greek word for ‘only-born’ is monogennetos, whereas the word translated for so many centuries as ‘only-begotten’ is monogenes. What does it mean? To discover its meaning here is a list of all nine of its occurrences in the New Testament (KJV):

 

1. Luke 7:12. “Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother (a monogenes in relation to his mother), and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.”

2. Luke 8:42. “For he [Jairus] had one_only daughter (monogenes), about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.”

3. Luke 9:38. “And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child (my monogenes).”

4. John 1:14. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (a monogenes beside the Father), full of grace and truth.”

5. John 1:18. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son (the monogenes Son), which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

6. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotton Son (His monogenes Son).”

7. John 3:18. “Because he hath not believed in the only begotton Son of God (the monogenes Son).”

8. 1 John 4:9. “God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.”

9. Hebrews 11:17-18. “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son (his monogenes son).”

 

The final reference makes it clear that monogenes means more than ‘only child’ as Abraham had more than one son. Taking into consideration the context of each verse above and noting that the word monogenes is a combination of ‘mono’ (only) and ‘genos’ (kind, offspring, family) it becomes clear that in relation to the Lord Jesus, this word stresses the unique relationship he has with His Father and not His genealogical status. Thus in the Old Latin Bible monogenes was translated unicus, not unigenitus, and in the Peshitta Syriac version it was translated yichidaia from ychd, the root meaning singleness or aloneness. It is necessary to banish any thought of fathering or begetting relative to the word ‘only begotten’.

 

History shows that the idea of ‘only begotten’ for monogenes originates in 4^th Century with Jerome who in his Latin Vulgate version translated it as unicus in the three references in Luke, but unigenitus in every reference to Christ and the one of Isaac. From there the Reformation Bibles in Europe carried over the word (only begotten in English, eingeborenen in German and unigenito in Spanish). The idea of the ‘eternal generation’ of the Son became part of Reformation theology. Jerome had made the change due to theological considerations. He had been influenced by Gregory of Nazianzus who spoke of God as the begetter and Christ as the begotten one. The heresy of Arianism saw monogenes as a union of ‘mono’ and the verb ‘gennao’ (to beget, give birth to, produce), and from this they taught that Jesus was created by God and not eternal. In 325AD at Nicea, the Council therefore wrote into the Nicene Creed that Jesus was “the Son of God, begotten of the Father, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

 

The question arises as to why Matthew, Mark and Luke fail to use monogenes of Christ? It is probably because they use agapetos (beloved) instead (Matt 3:17, 12:18, 17:5, Mark 1:11, 9:7, 12:6, Luke 3:22, 9:35, 20:13). Agapetos is a close synonym of monogenes as can be seen from the fact that in Gen 22:2, 12, 16, God refers to Isaac as Abraham’s only son. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) agapetos is used here. Other Greek versions, such as the Symmachus and Aquila versions, each translate at least one of these references as monogenes. It is a features of the Septuagint that the Hebrew word yachidh is alternatively translated as either agapetos or monogenes.

 

The author Douglas Kutilek who has written an exhaustive and helpful study on the issue of only-begotten and to whom I am indebted for much of the above, makes a strong case for the translation of monogenes as “unique and dear”. The NIV’s rendering “One and only Son” does not express the special dearness of the Son to the Father that is inherent in the word. Though it doesn’t come over easily into English, John 3:16 would thus read “…that He gave His unique dear Son…”

 

As for the expression “this day have I begotten Thee” (Psalm 2:7, Acts 13:33, Heb 1:5, 5:5) it is a figure of speech meaning “this Son belongs to Me”. On a particular day the Father declared the Sonship of Christ. Three events seem to be associated with such declarations:

 

1. The day of Christ’s baptism in Jordan which was the starting point of His public ministry. The Father opened the heavens and declared Christ’s Sonship (Matt 3:17, Acts 13:33)

2. The day of the resurrection (as referred to above) was another moment when the Father publicly declared the sonship of Christ (Rom 1:4, Heb 1:5)

3. At the commencement of the Millennial reign of Christ the Father will again declare His sonship (Psalm 2:7).

 

The expression was used by slave owners in reference to sons of their slaves. At a point in the child’s life a ceremony would take place when the owner publicly declared “I will own Him as my son and treat Him accordingly.” It was a public confirmation of the relationship that already existed. Thus when the Father said of Christ “Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee” it was a public affirmation of what He already was, just as He was made Lord and Christ at His ascension (Acts 2:36).

 

In summary of sections:

 

The title Son expresses the fact that Christ possesses the nature of God

 

The title Firstborn expresses the fact that Christ is pre-eminent in rank over all things

 

The title Only Begotten expresses the fact that Christ is the unique and dear Son of God. 

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