Why does Jesus call himself Son of God instead God? What does the term even mean? Does that term mean he is not God or lesser than God? Can we be sure Jesus is God?
These are really interesting questions! Many people even from other religions usually have this question! They think the particular term really means denial of his divine nature. While others might think he is one of many divine figures. Even in my own case, I was literally confused with this term thinking it is compromising with his divinity! While converted from a Hindu, I used to think this term could be misleading as one can understand Jesus as son of a particular Hindu deity like Vishnu! Guess what? Modern day Hare Krishna movement come up with same opinion that Krishna is Father of Jesus! I used to struggle a lot understanding it and like Muslims I struggled to find the exact words of Jesus where he explicitly claimed he is God! I did some homework on that too in my early stage of Christian journey! So I can understand the struggle of modern minds!
Let me illustrate it this way. If I say I am son of Newar, do I mean to say I am not Newar at all? No! I indeed mean to say I am Newar! I have exact same nature and essence! This is a typical way to show our nature! In same way, Jesus calling himself Son of God is no more denial of his divinity in same way calling myself Son of Newar is no more denial of my identity as Newar! You know what's more? Jewish leaders understood what Jesus was actually saying! The very reason Jesus was sentenced to death because of blasphemy he made making himself equal to God!
Next, Jesus was active in a mission as a Man on earth. He was in humility taking a form of servant. His mission of living as a true human was more significant than making direct bold claims of being God. Yet, Jewish leaders and even his disciples understood from his words, teachings and deeds that he was more than a Man! He was repeatedly comparing himself with God! He was showing his special relationship with his Father. Later, the New Testament letters identify him with Old Testament accounts where God was leading Israelites. Jesus himself pointed out these events to refer his identity. For instance, rock, Angel of the Lord, the name I AM and so on. Meanwhile, he was very careful not to confuse his audience that he and heavenly father are also different persons. He made distinction between him and Father while claiming to be God in flesh!
Son of God doesn't lead to conclusion of being lesser than God. The book of Hebrews rather makes it clear that Jesus is the exact representative of God the Father. The book of Colossians says that in him fullness of Godhead dwells bodily. Ephesians says that it was God's will to enable us to grow in image like his son Jesus. In John, Jesus says those who has seen him has seen the Father. Jesus is called true Israel. Jesus is called second Adam. Jesus is called our example. Hence, the term Son of God deliberately aims to show Jesus as the ultimate model for God-intended humanity! And what's more? Only God can be a human to live such life! Only God can fulfil the laws that he gave! Only God can make an atonement for sin of humanity that goes against him! Therefore, Son of God typically means He was claiming to be the Messiah! The awaited one! The one who would restore Israel! The one who would come from Davidic line to rule forever! The term is indeed heavy!
So can we be sure Jesus is God? Well, if he isn't God then he would be either a lunatic person or simply a liar!* But nothing in the scripture suggest either. The only option we are left is to revere him and see him as the almighty God whose name must be confessed by every tongues and before whom every knee shall bow down! None human or even angelic beings could dare to have such status! 😃
*C.S. Lewis' Trilemma
Biblical Support:
John 10:30-33: “I and the Father are one.” This statement underscores the unity of essence between Jesus and God, supporting your point that “Son of God” does not deny divinity but affirms shared nature.
John 5:17-18: “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” This confirms the point that Jewish leaders understood Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God as asserting equality with God.
Psalm 2:7: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” This Old Testament verse, applied to Jesus in the New Testament (e.g., Hebrews 1:5), highlights the messianic and divine implications of the title “Son of God.”
John 1:1, 14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This establishes Jesus (the Word) as fully God, incarnate as man, aligning with your analogy of shared nature.
Hebrews 1:3: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” This confirms Jesus as the exact representation of God’s nature, not lesser.
Colossians 2:9: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” This directly supports the point that Jesus embodies the fullness of Godhead.
Ephesians 4:13: “…Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” This aligns with the idea of Jesus as the model for God-intended humanity.
John 14:9: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus’ statement reinforces His identity as the visible image of God.
Isaiah 53:5-6 (fulfilled in Jesus): “But he was pierced for our transgressions… and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” This supports the point that only God could atone for humanity’s sin, as Jesus, the divine Messiah, fulfills this role.
Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” This underscores Jesus’ divine ability to perfectly fulfill God’s law.
John 8:58: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” Jesus’ use of “I AM” echoes God’s name in Exodus 3:14, affirming His divine identity.
1 Corinthians 10:4: “…And the rock was Christ.” Paul identifies Jesus with the rock that provided water for Israel, linking Him to God’s Old Testament presence.
Philippians 2:6-11: “…Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant… Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” This supports the points about Jesus’ humility and His divine status, worthy of universal worship.
John 20:28: Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus accepts this worship, affirming His deity.
Isaiah 9:6 (prophecy of the Messiah): “For to us a child is born… and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This Old Testament prophecy identifies the Messiah as God, fulfilled in Jesus.
Revelation 1:8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Jesus applies this divine title to Himself (cf. Revelation 22:13).
Exodus 23:20-21 (Angel of the Lord): “Behold, I send an angel before you… for my name is in him.” The Angel of the Lord, often identified as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, carries God’s authority and name, supporting the reference.
Mark 2:5-7: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’… ‘Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”
John 19:7: “The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.’”
Philippians 2:7-8: “…But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Isaiah 53:11 (Messianic prophecy): “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”
Matthew 2:15 (quoting Hosea 11:1): “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This applies to Jesus as the true Israel.
1 Corinthians 15:45: “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” Jesus as the second Adam restores what the first Adam lost.
2 Samuel 7:12-13 (Davidic covenant): “…I will raise up your offspring after you… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” Fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 1:32-33).
Revelation 19:10: “Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.’”
Revelation 22:8-9: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’”
Acts 10:25-26: “When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I too am a man.’”
Acts 14:11-15: “And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices… saying, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’… But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God…’”
Hebrews 1:4-6: “Having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’? Or again, ‘I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son’? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’”
Hebrews 1:8: “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.’”
Hebrews 2:5-9: “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come… But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death…”
Colossians 1:16-17: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Philippians 2:9-10: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”
Jude 1:9: “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”
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