Jesus: The Son of God (Part 1)
From the human side: Jesus as the Son of God due to His miraculous birth.
Jesus is called the "Son of God" because God directly created Jesus within the virgin Mary, with no human father involved. [Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:26-38 stress that Mary was a virgin at the conception of Jesus and remained a virgin- though she was betrothed to Joseph- until after He was born.] Because no human father was involved in Jesus' conception, Jesus is called the "Son of God." In a similar way, Adam- who had no human father (nor, in his case, a human mother, though fathers are primarily in view in the birth records listed in the Bible)- is called the "son of God" in Luke 3:38.
The similarity between the Adam's miraculous creation and Jesus' miraculous conception is important as we begin to ponder why God would make it so that Jesus was born of a virgin. In bringing about the virgin birth of Jesus, God was not exercising an arbitrary display of His power- He wasn't just saying, 'Here's another cool thing that I can do'- He was actually exalting Jesus as a new Adam: a new starting-point for humanity. This connection is made clear in Romans 5:12-21. Adam sinned, and through him sin came into the world and death spread to all people (Rom 5:12). But Jesus, the new Adam, never sinned- He was righteous, obedient to God at all points, even to the point of death on the cross, after which God demonstrated His approval of Jesus by raising Him from the dead- and through Jesus life has spread to all who trust in Him.
Jesus is called the "Son of God" because God directly created Jesus within the virgin Mary, with no human father involved. [Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:26-38 stress that Mary was a virgin at the conception of Jesus and remained a virgin- though she was betrothed to Joseph- until after He was born.] Because no human father was involved in Jesus' conception, Jesus is called the "Son of God." In a similar way, Adam- who had no human father (nor, in his case, a human mother, though fathers are primarily in view in the birth records listed in the Bible)- is called the "son of God" in Luke 3:38.
The similarity between the Adam's miraculous creation and Jesus' miraculous conception is important as we begin to ponder why God would make it so that Jesus was born of a virgin. In bringing about the virgin birth of Jesus, God was not exercising an arbitrary display of His power- He wasn't just saying, 'Here's another cool thing that I can do'- He was actually exalting Jesus as a new Adam: a new starting-point for humanity. This connection is made clear in Romans 5:12-21. Adam sinned, and through him sin came into the world and death spread to all people (Rom 5:12). But Jesus, the new Adam, never sinned- He was righteous, obedient to God at all points, even to the point of death on the cross, after which God demonstrated His approval of Jesus by raising Him from the dead- and through Jesus life has spread to all who trust in Him.
Labels: apologetics
posted by Andrew Lindsey | 7:24 AM
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