Part 1: The Son of God and Son of man

“And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken [was loosing] the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5:16-18)

Key Point: Jesus claimed equal footing with God because He was His very own Son. The Jews understood this claim and sought to kill Him all the more because of it. Not only had He loosed their traditional bindings from off of the Sabbath but He claimed equality with God by virtue of His Sonship.

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making himself equal with God.” The whole nation called God their Father, and if Jesus had done this in the same sense in which they did, the Pharisees would not have been so enraged. But they accused Jesus of blasphemy, showing that they understood that Christ claimed God as His Father in the very highest sense {RH March 5, 1901, par. 9}

“Christ threw back the charge of blasphemy, with the words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that himself doeth.” My authority for the work that I am doing, He said, is the fact that I am God’s Son, one with Him in nature, will, and purpose. I co-operate with Him in His work. My Father loves me, and communicates to me all His counsels. Nothing is planned by the Father in heaven that is not fully opened to the Son {RH March 5, 1901, par. 10}

Key Point: The nation had a covenantal sense of sonship due to the fact that they were children of Abraham. Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God was in a higher sense, even “the very highest sense.“

Exploration: God’s Son in the highest sense

What is the highest sense of Sonship to God that there could be? An incarnated human sense? Having been given by God human nature and human substance? Or an original Divine sense? Notice Jesus said He was dealing with “the fact” that He was “God’s Son” – “one with Him in nature, will, and purpose.”

In today’s Adventism “the fact” of His Sonship being a matter of oneness “in nature” is typically denied. The sense given to His pre-incarnate Sonship, if His Sonship is even admitted to at all back then, is only in “will, and purpose.” While it is said that He had Divine nature, that is kept completely separate from His Sonship. So the “fact” of His Sonship as a matter of being “one with God in nature” is obfuscated.

This new view of Seventh-day Adventism is the result of “certain men” who “crept in unawares” who deny “the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” While I have no doubt that some of these were sincere, it is an indisputable fact that some of them were purposeful deceivers. They knew the truth but lied about it and sought to cover it up. They purposefully worked to bring a change to SDA Christology yet cloaked their negation of the ontological Sonship of Christ with pious regard for the Divinity of Christ. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing indeed!

Notice again “the fact” of the matter that Jesus asserted:

“My authority for the work that I am doing, He said, is the fact that I am God’s Son, one with Him in nature, will, and purpose. {RH March 5, 1901, par. 10}

Notice now the “fact” that the rebellious angels in heaven above sought to obscure.

“Angels were expelled from heaven because they would not work in harmony with God…This fact the angels would obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God,…. {25LtMs, Lt 42, 1910, par.3}

You see when Jesus came into this world He was “still” the Divine Son of God

“The more we think about Christ’s becoming a babe here on earth, the more wonderful it appears. How can it be that the helpless babe in Bethlehem’s manger is still the divine Son of God? {YI November 21, 1895, par. 3}

This is proof of the continuity of the “fact” of His pre-incarnate Sonship.

“In His incarnation He gained in a new sense the title of the Son of God. Said the angel to Mary, “The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” While the Son of a human being, He became the Son of God in a new sense. Thus He stood in our world—the Son of God, yet allied by birth to the human race {ST August 2, 1905, par. 2}

This is not the repudiation of His old, or original, sense of Sonship but gaining a new sense of Sonship by adding to it. This new sense of Sonship – the result of becoming the Son of a human being – actually disguised His original sense. The Son of God told this to the remaining, unfallen angels after satan and the rebellious angels were cast out:

“When Christ first announced to the heavenly host His mission and work in the world, He declared that He was to leave His position of dignity and disguise His holy mission by assuming the likeness of a man, when in reality He was the Son of the infinite God… {Lt303-1903.14}

“Then look beneath the disguise, and whom do we see?—Divinity, the eternal Son of God, just as mighty, just as infinitely gifted with all the resources of power, and He was found in fashion as a man. {5LtMs, Lt 37, 1887, par. 22}

“Men could not see beneath the disguise of humility, the glory of the Son of God. {RH April 17, 1888, par. 6}

Many Seventh-day Adventist Christians today do not even realize this was a disguise at all. Due to the blindness caused by the heresy of unbegottenism they think that the incarnation of Christ is the sole and entire basis for the reality of His Sonship. They do not see any other sense to it at all.

Yet remember, Jesus established as “fact” that His Sonship was oneness “in nature” with God. We find the deeper explanation here below.

“With what firmness and power He uttered these words. The Jews had never before heard such words from human lips, and a convicting influence attended them; for it seemed that divinity flashed through humanity as Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” The words of Christ were full of deep meaning as he put forth the claim that He and the Father were of one substance, possessing the same attributes. The Jews understood his meaning, there was no reason why they should misunderstand, and they took up stones to stone him {ST November 27, 1893, par. 5}

This is the continuity of the Sonship in nature with God. He is the Son of God’s substance and though He emptied Himself of His original form and took upon Himself a new human form, this was not the eradication of His oneness of substance with God. This is a great mystery but the Divine material was retained and somehow encapsulated within or blended with new human material.

“When we had nothing to recommend us to God, Christ gave his life for us. With his long human arm he encircles the race, while with his divine arm he grasps the throne of the infinite. Thus finite man is united with the infinite God. The world, divorced from God by sin, has been restored to favor by the sacrifice of his Son. With his own body the Saviour has bridged the gulf that sin has made {GCB April 8, 1901, par. 13}

“Though sin had produced a gulf between man and his God, divine benevolence provided a plan to bridge that gulf. And what material did He use? A part of Himself. The brightness of the Father’s glory came to a world all seared and marred with the curse, and in His own divine character, in His own divine body, bridged the gulf and opened a channel of communication between God and man {6LtMs, Lt 36a, 1890, par. 11}

This change, the hiding of His divinity and laying aside of His glory, was at an infinite cost, and by a painful and mysterious process.

“Christ, at an infinite cost, by a painful process, mysterious to angels as well as to men, assumed humanity. Hiding His divinity, laying aside His glory, He was born a babe in Bethlehem. {14LtMs, Ms 29, 1899, par. 4}

The result is a dual nature being – the Son of God and Son of man.

“He has His human body and His divine body. He has the human and the divine natures blended {19LtMs, Ms 167, 1904, par. 5}

Key Point to Retain: John 5:18 introduces the equality of Christ with God as the Son of His own nature.

---

Part 2: The personality of the Son of God

In part 1 we explored the Sonship of Christ in the highest sense and what that means. It means He is God’s Son in nature, being of one substance with Him, having the material of God. This is “the fact” of His Sonship. It is that “fact” that the rebellious angels in heaven tried to obscure before the fall. This true “sense” of Divine Sonship is what was hidden or disguised when Christ took upon Himself human Sonship . Jesus’ assertion in John 5:17 exposed His true sense of Sonship to the Jews. They understood it and sought to kill Him for it. Let’s now pick up with part 2. We must remember that His equality with God, as the Son of His very nature, is the setting as we move forward.

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise (John 5:19)

Key Point: Here we see the manifest personality of the Son in contrast to the personality of the Father and how the Two work in union

“Jesus said to the Jews: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work…. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth.” John 5:17-20. {8T 268.4}

“Here again is brought to view the personality of the Father and the Son, showing the unity that exists between them. {8T 269.1}

God the Father is Head and the Son follows His example. The Son emulates the Father and thus always gives credit to God.

It is very important to understand that when Jesus said “the Son can do nothing of Himself” this is not a statement expressing inability but rather a statement from out of His personality. It is not within the purview of His personality, as God’s only begotten Son, to do anything of Himself. It is His relationship to the Father that is the basis of this expression.

Whether pre-incarnate or incarnate, the Son of God used His Divine power in according to God the Father’s will.

Speaking of the incarnated Christ being tempted in the wilderness

“Christ’s time to show His divine power had not yet come. He was fully aware of the glory He had with the Father before the world was. But then He willingly submitted to the Divine will, and He was unchanged now. {BEcho July 23, 1900, par. 6}

Note: The submission of the Son to the Father, in terms of using His Divine power, is not a new.

Speaking of the pre-incarnate Christ:

“….Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father’s will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due. Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the creation of the earth and its inhabitants. But in all this He would not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God’s plan, but would exalt the Father’s glory and execute His purposes of beneficence and love” {PP 36.2}

“Lucifer was the most beautiful angel in the heavenly courts next to Jesus Christ, but Christ was one with God, assimilated to the image of God to do the will of God. Satan, knowing that Christ had the first place next to God, began to insinuate to the angels that he should be next to God” {25LtMs, Ms 90, 1910, par. 4}

Speaking of the incarnated Christ:

“Jesus emptied Himself, and in all that He did self did not appear. He subordinated all things to the will of His Father. When His mission on earth was about to close, He could say, “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” And He bids us, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself”; let self be dethroned, and no longer hold the supremacy of the soul.” {MYP 162.1}

“Ever He manifested entire submission to the Father’s will {13LtMs, Ms 14, 1898, par. 9}

Key Point: No change in character or relationship by the incarnation:

“He transferred His home to the world occupied by fallen human beings, but His character and His relationship to God were unchanged…” {Lt128-1910.16}

Let’s get back to John 5:

“For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will” (John 5:20, 21)

Key Point: Jesus continued on, after asserting His emulation of the Father, to show that God the Father loves His Son and reveals all things to Him

God opens plans to incarnated Son upon the earth:

“...My Father loves me, and communicates to me all His counsels. Nothing is planned by the Father in heaven that is not fully opened to the Son {RH March 5, 1901, par. 10}

The Divine Sonship of Christ: Basis for His full access to all of God’s counsels

“God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son” {8T 268.3}

Pre-incarnate Son has all God’s secret purposes revealed to Himself:

“At length all the angels are summoned to appear before the Father, to have each case decided. Satan unblushingly makes known to all the heavenly family, his discontent, that Christ should be preferred before him, to be in such close conference with God, and he be uninformed as to the result of their frequent consultations. God informs Satan that this he can never know. That to his Son will he reveal his secret purposes, and that all the family of Heaven, Satan not excepted, were required to yield implicit obedience.” {3SG 37.3}

Key Point: The relationship of Father and Son is one of complete openness. God the Father is the One in charge of the plan. He reveals it to the Son and then the Son executes it.

---

Part 3: The operation of Dual Sonship

In part 2 we saw the personality of God the Father and the personality of His only begotten Son in action. Now we will see the operation of the two senses of the incarnated Christ’s Sonship working together for man’s salvation.

“For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22)

Key Point: God the Father trust His Son to do the judgment. He has committed all judgment to Him. Yet even here, in this disavowal of judgment on His own part and full commitment of the task to His Son, even in this the Son refuses to act independently. Vs. 30 explains:

“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30)

What a unity these Two must have! The Son, having all judgment committed unto Himself by His Father, seeks God’s will in executing this judgment.

“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:23)

Key Point: The Father desires that all men should honor the Son “even as” (Gr: kathos – just as, in the degree that) they honor the Father. Let no man dishonor the Son of God by worshiping Him any less than God the Father. To dishonor the Son that way is to dishonor His Father. Satan is the pioneer of attempting to separate the Two in terms of honor and obedience.

“He declares he cannot submit to be under Christ’s command, that God’s commands alone will he obey. Good angels weep to hear the words of Satan, and to see how he despises to follow the direction of Christ, their exalted and loving commander” {3SG 37.3}

What rank hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance on the part of the rebellious cherub. God said to obey Christ. Satan claimed that he would obey God’s commands alone and not Christ’s. This can be likened to a child saying that he will only obey his father and not his mother when the father himself is saying to the child that I command you to obey you mother!

“Some of the angels sympathized with Satan in his rebellion, and others strongly contended for the honor and wisdom of God in giving authority to His Son. There was contention among the angels. Satan and his sympathizers were striving to reform the government of God. They wished to look into His unsearchable wisdom, and ascertain His purpose in exalting Jesus and endowing Him with such unlimited power and command. They rebelled against the authority of the Son. All the heavenly host were summoned to appear before the Father to have each case decided. It was there determined that Satan should be expelled from heaven, with all the angels who had joined him in the rebellion. Then there was war in heaven. Angels were engaged in the battle; Satan wished to conquer the Son of God and those who were submissive to His will. But the good and true angels prevailed, and Satan, with his followers, was driven from heaven” {EW 145.2}

Back to John 5.

We are dealing with the judgment being committed to the Son and honoring the Son equally along with the Father. Jesus carried on:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)

Key Point: To hear Jesus’ word and accept it is to believe on the God who sent Him. Jesus preemptively reveals His judgement for all such hearers. Such a hearer/believer is not be condemned but “is passed” out of death and into life. Here we see a present assurance of salvation. Christ has done everything so “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment” to borrow some language from 1 John 4:17. He has given us the word whereby we can partake of the Divine nature and be perfected in love. We know His verdict in advance for all who abide in Christ and His word.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” (John 5:25)

Key Point: Here we see the power of the voice of the Son of God. Notice that Jesus speaks of Himself here as the Son of God.

Over and over, when dialoguing with my SDA trintiarian brethren they appear to miss this point. They jump down to vs. 27 which mentions Jesus as the Son of man and they seek to use that to explain vs 26.

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26)

Key Point: Both the Father and the Son have self-existent life within Themselves. Yet the Son has this life because it was given to Him. This clause from Jesus opens up with the Greek “ὥσπερ γὰρ” which means by way of explanation. Jesus is explaining why His voice – the voice of the Son of God – will be effectual to raise the dead. His explanation is that God the Father gave Him to have life in Himself the same way that He has in Himself. This point is adamantly denied by many.

“And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man” (John 5:27)

Key Point: Here we see now that Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of man. He mentions this, not in the context of explaining why His voice gives life to the dead – that part comes out of Himself as the Son of God – but in the context of why He was given authority to judge.

This relates back to John 5:22. The implication here is that God gave His Son authority to judge human beings because He has the human experience. This further implies that Jesus will be able to do this with empathy and equity because He knows what it is like.

Conclusion. So here we see, in John 5, how the dual sense of Jesus’ Sonship works for our benefit.

We see that Jesus, in His Divine Sonship, was given to have life in Himself as the Father has in Himself. This is the original sense of His Sonship. It is out of this sense of Sonship that He raises the dead.

Remember when He was born He was “still” the Divine Son of God. He actually brought the life of God with Him when He came.

“As a member of the human family he was mortal, but as a God he was the fountain of life to the world. He could, in his divine person, ever have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under its dominion; but he voluntarily laid down his life, that in so doing he might give life and bring immortality to light. He bore the sins of the world, and endured the penalty which rolled like a mountain upon his divine soul. He yielded up his life a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die. He died, not through being compelled to die, but by his own free will. This was humility. The whole treasure of heaven was poured out in one gift to save fallen man. He brought into his human nature all the life-giving energies that human beings will need and must receive.” {RH July 5, 1887, par. 5}

We also see that Jesus, in His human Sonship, was given authority to judge all of mankind. This is the new sense of His Sonship. It is out of this sense of Sonship that He serves as our High Priest.

“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)

“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity (Hebrews 5:2)

In plain language, the God of the universe has committed the judgment of all men unto His incarnated Son because His Son knows what it is like to be a man down here in a world of sin. Yet, always remember, the Man Christ Jesus was without sin.

Conclusion: The Dual Sonship is a mystery that we can never fully penetrate. It must be received by faith. Yet what God has revealed to us is that the Sonship of Christ, in both senses, in each distinct individuality, works for our benefit.

“In Christ were united THE DIVINE and THE HUMAN—THE CREATOR and THE CREATURE. THE NATURE OF GOD, whose law had been transgressed, and THE NATURE OF ADAM, the transgressor, meet in Jesus—THE SON OF GOD, and THE SON OF MAN…” {Manuscript 141, 1901}

“Christ was a human being. He served His heavenly Father with all the strength of His human nature. HE HAS A TWOFOLD NATURE, AT ONCE HUMAN AND DIVINE. HE IS BOTH GOD AND MAN.” {Ms76-1903.29}

“…The two expressions HUMAN and DIVINE were, in Christ, closely and inseparably one, and yet THEY HAD A DISTINCT INDIVIDUALITY.” {ST May 10, 1899, par. 11}

“Christ had TWO NATURES, the nature of a man and the nature of God. In him divinity and humanity were combined. ……He exhibited a perfect humanity, combined with deity; and BY PRESERVING EACH NATURE DISTINCT, he has given to the world a representation of the character of God and the character of a perfect man. He shows us what God is, and what man may become–godlike in character.” {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 20}

“Our Lord was tempted as man is tempted. He was capable of yielding to temptations, as are human beings. His finite nature was pure and spotless, but the divine nature that led Him to say to Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” also [John 14:9], was not humanized; neither was humanity deified by the blending or union of the two natures; EACH RETAINED ITS ESSENTIAL CHARACTER AND PROPERTIES.” {Ms57-1890.9}

“It is THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Christ is not here referring to his doctrine, BUT TO HIS PERSON, THE DIVINITY OF HIS CHARACTER.” {RH April 5, 1906, par. 12}

“CHRIST’S MISSION WAS NOT TO EXPLAIN THE COMPLEXITY OF HIS NATURE, BUT TO GIVE ABUNDANT LIGHT TO THOSE WHO WOULD RECEIVE IT BY FAITH.” {RH April 23, 1895, par. 7}