{"id":34678,"date":"2016-06-20T18:14:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T22:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=34678"},"modified":"2016-06-20T18:14:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T22:14:35","slug":"jesus-as-son-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/06\/jesus-as-son-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Jesus as Son of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Larry Hurtado posted last month<\/a> on the title \u201cson of God\u201d in Paul\u2019s writings. I thought that\u00a0it would make sense to schedule a post about it to coincide with the 2016\u00a0Enoch Seminar meeting on John\u2019s Christology and Jewish Messianism<\/a>. Hurtado wrote:<\/p>\n

The consistent feature in all of these references, however, is the use of the definite article:\u00a0 Jesus for Paul is the<\/em> Son of God.\u00a0 This suggests that Paul saw Jesus as holding a unique sonship, and not as one member of a wider class of individuals.\u00a0 But, to be sure, Paul also refers to people being made God\u2019s sons\/children through being incorporated into Jesus (e.g., Romans 8:12-30).\u00a0 So, for Paul, Jesus\u2019 status is unique\u00a0<\/em>but not exclusionist<\/em> in effect; instead, Jesus\u2019 divine status becomes the basis for the incorporation\/inclusion of others into a filial status with God.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 filial status seems to have been Paul\u2019s favoured way of referring to Jesus in relation to God.\u00a0 In relation to believers, Jesus is \u201cLord.\u201d\u00a0 In relation to God\u2019s\u00a0 eschatological purposes Jesus is also \u201cChrist\u201d (Messiah).\u00a0 These latter two terms are used considerably more frequently by Paul as honorific terms for Jesus.\u00a0 But Jesus\u2019 filial status with God seems to have held a special place in Paul\u2019s beliefs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It does not seem to me that \u201cthe\u201d can\u00a0be used emphatically in ancient Greek the way it can in modern English. And so the Gospel of John\u2019s description of Jesus as the \u201cone of a kind Son\u201d is more likely to bear the weight of such an emphatic meaning.<\/p>\n

But in John, as in Paul, Jesus\u00a0is depicted as welcoming others into the relationship that he has with God the Father. And\u00a0in\u00a0the works of both these authors, as everywhere else in the New Testament, referring to anyone as \u201cson of God\u201d distinguishes them from God, rather than including them within the definition or identity of God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Larry Hurtado posted last month on the title \u201cson of God\u201d in Paul\u2019s writings. I thought that\u00a0it would make sense to schedule a post about it to coincide with the 2016\u00a0Enoch Seminar meeting on John\u2019s Christology and Jewish Messianism. Hurtado wrote: The consistent feature in all of these references, however, is the use of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":34679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,30,71],"tags":[1525,1858,3047,3080,5460,6350,11563,11587],"class_list":["post-34678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christology","category-gospel-of-john","category-paul-and-his-letters","tag-camaldoli","tag-christology","tag-emphatic","tag-enoch-seminar","tag-italy","tag-larry-hurtado","tag-son-of-god","tag-sons-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\nJesus as Son of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Larry Hurtado posted last month on the title "son of God" in Paul's writings. 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