What Christians mean when they say Jesus is the Son of God

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AO1: "Explain what Christians mean when they say Jesus is the Son of God"

The phrase "Son of God" is frequently used throughout the Bible in both the New Testament and the Old. In the New Testament the term describes the relationship between two persons: God the Father and the prophesised Messiah, Jesus. When Christians say that Jesus is the "Son of God" they do not all mean the same thing. Many different interpretations of the title have been the result of different beliefs and views of the Bible as a whole. Scholars have examined thoroughly the Bible's content yet still large variations of views appear.

A popular view, which lies amongst conservative Christians who see the Bible as the inspired word of God, is that calling Jesus the Son of God is expressing his divinity. The logic behind this is based on the knowledge that God is divine, Jesus (as his son) must therefore also be divine, and in the same way that Jesus' Mother was human so Jesus is human. Other biblical scholars see the phrase as meaning Jesus is simply close to God. In the Old Testament son of god was written in lower case letters and referred to those who had a special relationship with him, "when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord" (Job 1:6). In this case "sons of God" are referred to as Angels at Gods table.
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The two extreme, opposite views of the bible are held by two groups: the liberals and the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists take everything in the Bible literally and the Liberals see the Bible as a bunch of stories. If we take the verse, that refers to the end of the world (it is Jesus speaking), "when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life" (John 5:25) two interpretations will emerge. Liberals would believe that this is just a story with a profound meaning and that Jesus isn't ...

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