Jesus As the Son of God

Jesus As the Son of God

When Jesus rose from the dead the disciples realized that they needed

new ways of describing him to reflect his amazing power and holiness.

They scoured the Hebrew and Jewish scriptures looking for something

appropriate to call him by and came up with titles such as "Messiah",

"Son of Man", "Son of David" and "Son of God". In the end Son of God

became the most popular of these titles so that is what he became best

known as. It is therefore the subject of my coursework.

What Does It Mean When Christians Talk About Jesus As Son of God

In the Old Testament, the words "Son of God" often meant someone who

had a special relationship with God. However, Mark was also much

influenced by the prophet Daniel, who spoke of the coming of the "Son

of Man with the authority of God."

Mark uses the title in the very first sentence of his gospel. "The

beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God" He only uses

these words two other times in the whole of the gospel (3:11 and

15:39). When Mark uses it in the Baptism he is saying that Jesus has

now been baptised and God now recognises him as his son, "You are my

own dear son, I am proud of you." This may not have meant anything

more significant than it did in the Old Testament. At the

Transfiguration, a voice from the cloud said, "This is my son, the

beloved" and it is clear the voice of God was referring again to

Jesus. The same words are used at both the Baptism and the

Transfiguration, so it is likely that it meant the same in both cases.

Mark mentions the Holy Spirit in the Baptism. This is the only time

that he refers to it and this might suggest that he be...

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...t that it is an open issue and people should be allowed their

own views. Faith is not an exact truth and debate can help people

cement their beliefs.

I would say that it is important to retain the title because this

alone does not deter people from becoming Christians. Christians

usually want to join the Church because of what they believe in, not

because the faith is undecided on one issue. If the title were

scrapped, this would mean changing something that has been in

existence for around 2000 years and has been so central to

Christianity for so long. Changing a historical religion now is far

more likely to put people off than disagreement over what a title

means.

Therefore, I think there is absolutely no case for dropping it.

Dispensing with the title of Son of God would cause more trouble than

it saved.