What Does It Mean When Christians Talk About Jesus As The Son of God.

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Introduction

When Jesus rose from the dead the disciples realized that they needed new ways of describing him to reflect his amazing power and holiness. They scoured the Hebrew and Jewish scriptures looking for something appropriate to call him by and came up with titles such as “Messiah”, “Son of Man”, “Son of David” and “Son of God”. In the end Son of God became the most popular of these titles so that is what he became best known as. It is therefore the subject of my coursework.

What Does It Mean When Christians Talk About Jesus As Son of God

In the Old Testament, the words “Son of God” often meant someone who had a special relationship with God. However, Mark was also much influenced by the prophet Daniel, who spoke of the coming of the “Son of Man with the authority of God.”

Mark uses the title in the very first sentence of his gospel. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God” He only uses these words two other times in the whole of the gospel (3:11 and 15:39). When Mark uses it in the Baptism he is saying that Jesus has now been baptised and God now recognises him as his son, “You are my own dear son, I am proud of you.” This may not have meant anything more significant than it did in the Old Testament. At the Transfiguration, a voice from the cloud said, “This is my son, the beloved” and it is clear the voice of God was referring again to Jesus. The same words are used at both the Baptism and the Transfiguration, so it is likely that it meant the same in both cases.

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Mark mentions the Holy Spirit in the Baptism. This is the only time that he refers to it and this might suggest that he believed in the Trinity. If he believed in the Trinity then he certainly believed that Jesus was literally the Son of God. Mark certainly brings together the ideas of God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit in the story of Jesus’ Baptism.

Son of God can be interpreted in three different ways. It can mean the king; in many ancient Mediterranean societies, kings were thought to be descended from Gods E.g. ...

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