Messiah clearly identifies himself as such to the people of his day, and people rightly called him the son of God. The issue becomes confusing when we consider the contemporary use of the phrase. In the modern era, people routinely refer to mankind as the sons or daughters of God, i.e. the children of God. However, most contemporary people have misunderstood the Jewish interpretation of what the phrase the son of God meant in the first century. We will see that it meant something altogether different than what is understood today. Matthew 16:14-17 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (NAS) One might wonder why this was such marvellous revelation because, surely, Messiah told them who he was and about how he was born of a virgin etc. So why would this "you are the Christ, the son of the Living God" be a strange revelation? To understand why this was an astounding revelation by Peter of his understanding of who the man Yahoshua was, we must go to the Old Testament to see how the term is used. This was the background from which they were coming. They didn’t have the New Testament written with its common reference to the elect as the sons of God. The Church of God in the twentieth century has always interpreted this phrase, especially as used in the New Testament, in reference to the elect. But let’s look at it again and how it’s used in the historical context of Jews in the first century. Daniel 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. (KJV) Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. (NAS) Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. (NAS) Thus, from the above Scriptures in Job we can see that HaSatan or the adversary, Satan the Devil, is counted along with the sons of God. Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (NAS) Psalm 29:1 Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty [bene elim - i.e. sons of God], ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. (NAS) Psalm 89:6 For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty [bene elim - i.e. sons of God] is like the LORD, (NAS) [The Lord here is Yahovah. The concept appears to be that Messiah is the Yahovah referred to here. See ISBE ref. below. ed.] Thus from the Old Testament, it can be seen from the above references that the historical paradigm of first century people was that the phrase son of God was used in reference to the heavenly Host.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:22:31 +0000
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