"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and another are defined by doctrine and church authority. Issues such as the nature of Jesus, the authority of apostolic succession, and papal primacy separate one denomination from another refers to the relationship between Jesus Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God (in the concept of the Trinity, he is God [as] the Son), who came to provide humankind with salvation and reconciliation with God by his and God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism, specifically as "God the Son God the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus of Nazareth as God the Son, united in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit . God the Son is co-eternal with God the Father (and the Holy Spirit), both before Creation and after the End (".

Historical context

While "Son of God" is most widely related to Christian New Testament The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament. Unlike the Old Testament, the contents of the New Testament deal explicitly with Christianity, although both the Old and New Testament are regarded, together, as Sacred Scripture. The New Testament concepts, similar terminology was present, before, during and after the Apostolic Age The Apostolic Age of the history of Christianity is traditionally the period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Great Commission until the death of John the Apostle (c. 100). Since it is believed that John lived so long and was the last of the twelve to die, there is some overlap between the "Apostolic Age&, in the Gentile and Jewish cultural and historical background of Jesus This examination treats the New Testament as one of many documents, written and perhaps later edited by people who wanted others to believe as they did, which can be used to piece together a more complete and authentic understanding of the life and times of Jesus and the founding of Early Christianity. Critical historians begin with the assumption: while in the Greek and Roman polytheistic Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, called gods or goddesses, or both. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism, culture rulers and heroes were called sons of Zeus Zeus is the King of the Gods in Greek mythology. Zeus was viewed as a king who oversaw the universe. In Hesiod's Theogony, he assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods. He is also called the "Father of Gods and men", according to Hesiod's Theogony. He ruled the Olympians of or Poseidon Poseidon was the god of the sea, storms, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. Linear B tablets show that Poseidon was venerated at Pylos and Thebes in pre-Olympian Bronze Age or Apollo In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine, healing, and plague; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and or some other god among many, Christians consider Jesus to be the unigenitus Dei Filius Unigenitus , an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Clement XI in 1713, opened the final phase of the Jansenist controversy in France. Unigenitus condemned 101 propositions of Pasquier Quesnel as (lat. "only-begotten Son of God"), of the only God there is, and regard themselves as monotheists Monotheism is the belief in theology that only one deity exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Druze, the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as the Advaita, Dvaita and.^[1] In Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed the term "son of God" was sometimes used of the expected Jewish mashiach Messiah (Hebrew: משיח‎; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25. For example, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, though not a Hebrew, is referred to as "God's anointed" ( figure.

In Greek mythology, Heracles Heracles , born Alcaeus (Ἀλκαῖος, Alkaios) or Alcides (Αλκείδης, Alkeidēs), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus (Ζεύς) and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus (Περσεύς). He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of and many other figures, human and divine, were considered to be sons of gods such as Zeus Zeus is the King of the Gods in Greek mythology. Zeus was viewed as a king who oversaw the universe. In Hesiod's Theogony, he assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods. He is also called the "Father of Gods and men", according to Hesiod's Theogony. He ruled the Olympians of, their highest god, and Zeus himself was represented as one of the sons of another god.

The Roman emperor Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus was the first ruler of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from January 27 BC until his death.[note 1] Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 31 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the was called "divi filius" (son of the deified Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Cæsar/Caesar was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire):^[2] "Divi filius", not "Dei filius" (son of God), was the Latin term used,^[3] and, in Greek, the term huios theou ("son of a god") was applied.^[4]

Historians believe Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon , popularly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος, Mégas Aléxandros), was a Greeki[›] king (basileus) of Macedon. He is the most celebrated member of the Argead Dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander received a classical implied he was a demigod The term "demigod", meaning "man-god", is usually used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human. In some mythologies it also describes humans who became gods, or simply extremely powerful figures whose powers approach those of the gods even though they aren't gods themselves by actively using the title "Son of Ammon Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a God in Egyptian mythology and Berber Mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt. Whilst remaining hypostatic deities, Amun represented the essential and hidden, whilst in Ra he represented revealed divinity. As the creator deity "–Zeus Zeus is the King of the Gods in Greek mythology. Zeus was viewed as a king who oversaw the universe. In Hesiod's Theogony, he assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods. He is also called the "Father of Gods and men", according to Hesiod's Theogony. He ruled the Olympians of". (His mother Olympias Olympias was a Greek princess of Epirus, daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the fourth wife of the king of Macedonia, Philip II, and mother of Alexander the Great. She was a devout member of the orgiastic snake-worshiping cult of Dionysus, and probably slept with snakes was said to have declared that Zeus Zeus is the King of the Gods in Greek mythology. Zeus was viewed as a king who oversaw the universe. In Hesiod's Theogony, he assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods. He is also called the "Father of Gods and men", according to Hesiod's Theogony. He ruled the Olympians of impregnated her while she slept under an oak tree sacred to the god.) The title was bestowed upon him by Egyptian priests of the god Ammon Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a God in Egyptian mythology and Berber Mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt. Whilst remaining hypostatic deities, Amun represented the essential and hidden, whilst in Ra he represented revealed divinity. As the creator deity " at the Oracle In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion, predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination of the god at the Siwah oasis in the Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert is located in the northern and eastern part of the Sahara Desert. It occupies Egypt west of the Nile (the Egyptian portion is thus called the Western Desert), eastern Libya and northwestern Sudan alongside the Nubian Desert. Covering an area of approximately 1,100,000 square kilometers,[dubious – discuss] it extends^[5] The title was also used of wonder-workers.^[6]

"Son of God" according to Judaism

In the Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some Biblical Aramaic. It is also called the Hebrew Scriptures. The term closely corresponds to contents of the Jewish Tanakh and the Protestant Old Testament (see also Judeo-Christian) and does not include the, the phrase "son(s) of God" has various meanings: there are a number of later interpretations. Our translation most likely^{[citation needed]} comes from the Septuagint The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation , is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BC in Alexandria. It was begun by the third century BC and completed before 132 BC, which uses the phrase "Uioi Tou Theou", "Sons of God", to translate it.^[7]

• The Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s phrase Benei Elohim, often translated as "sons of God There are several theories concerning the identity of the sons of God identified in the Book of Genesis", is seen by some^[who?]to describe angels Angels are messengers of God in the Hebrew Bible , the New Testament and the Quran. The term "angel" has also been expanded to various notions of "spiritual beings" found in many other religious traditions. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings or immensely powerful human beings. The notion of the word as describing non-divine beings most likely^{[citation needed]} comes from the Targumic A targum , referred to in critical works by the abbreviation 𝔗, is an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) written or compiled from the Second Temple period until the early Middle Ages (late first millennium). The two major genres of Targum reflect two geographical and cultural centers of Jewish life during the period of their Aramaic translation, which uses the phrases "sons of nobles", "Bnei Ravrevaya" in its translation. See Genesis The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible, and the first of five books of the Torah, called the Pentateuch in the Christian Old Testament 6:2-4 and Book of Job The Book of Job is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his theological discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The Book itself comprises a didactic poem set in a prose framing device and has been 1:6.
• It is used to denote a human judge or ruler (Psalm 82:6, "children of the Most High"; in many passages "leaders" and "judges" can seem to be equivalent). In a more specialized sense, "son of God" is a title applied only to the real king over Israel (II Samuel 7:14, with reference to King David David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Bible. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet (he is traditionally credited with the authorship of many of the Psalms) and those of his descendants who carried on his dynasty; comp. Psalm Psalms is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Taken together, its 150 sacred poems "express virtually the full range of Israel's religious faith." 89:27-28).
• Israel as a people is called God's "son", using the singular form (comp. Exodus Exodus or Shemot (Hebrew: שמות‎, literally "names") is the second book of the Hebrew Bible, and the second of five books of the Torah/Pentateuch 4:22 and Hosea Hosea was the son of Beeri and a prophet in Israel in the 8th century BC. He is one of the Twelve Prophets of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, also known as the Minor Prophets of the Christian Old Testament. Hosea is often seen as a "prophet of doom", but underneath his message of destruction is a promise of restoration. The Talmud (Pesachim 87a) 11:1).
• Ephraim In the Biblical account, Joseph's other son is Manasseh, and Joseph himself is one of the two children of Rachel and Jacob, the other being Benjamin. Biblical scholars regard it as obvious, from their geographic overlap and their treatment in older passages, that originally Ephraim and Manasseh were considered one tribe - that of Joseph. John's as a tribe (Jeremiah Jeremiah was one of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). His writings are put together in the Book of Jeremiah and traditionally, authorship of the Book of Lamentations is ascribed to him. God appointed Jeremiah to confront Judah and Jerusalem for the worship of idols and other violations of the covenant described in Deuteronomy 31:8)

In Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed the term "son of God" was used of the expected "Jewish mashiach Messiah (Hebrew: משיח‎; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25. For example, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, though not a Hebrew, is referred to as "God's anointed" (" figure.^[8] Psalm 2 Psalm 2 is the second Psalm of the Bible. It tells us that we can either defy God and perish, or submit to him and be blessed. Psalm 2 itself does not identify its author, but Acts 4:25-26 clearly attributes it to David addresses someone as both God's messiah (anointed king To anoint is to pour or smear with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions. People and things are anointed to symbolize the introduction of a sacramental or divine influence, a holy emanation, spirit, power or god. It can also be seen as a spiritual mode of ridding persons and) and God's son.

In the Jewish literature that was not finally accepted as part of the Hebrew Bible, but that many Christians do accept as Scripture (see Deuterocanonical books Deuterocanonical books is a term used since the sixteenth century in the Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe certain books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible. The term is used in contrast to the protocanonical books, which are contained in the Hebrew Bible. This distinction had), there are passages in which the title "son of God" is given to the anointed person or Mashiach Messiah (Hebrew: משיח‎; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25. For example, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, though not a Hebrew, is referred to as "God's anointed" ( (see Enoch, 55:2; IV Esdras 7:28-29; 13:32, 37, 52; 14:9). The title belongs also to any one whose piety has placed him in a filial relation to God (see Wisdom 2:13, 16, 18; 5:5, where "the sons of God" are identical with "the saints"; comp. Ecclesiasticus [Sirach] iv. 10).

It has been speculated that it was because of the frequent use of these books by the Early Christians in polemics with Jews, that the Sanhedrin at Yavneh rejected them around 80 CE.^{[citation needed]}

"Son of God" according to Christianity

Throughout the New Testament (see "New Testament passages", below) the phrase "son of God" is applied repeatedly, in the singular, only to Jesus. "Sons of God" is applied to others only in the plural.^[9] The New Testament calls Jesus God's "only begotten son" (John 1:14, 3:16 3:18, 1 John 4:9), "his own son" (Romans 8:3). (It should be noted that while the use of the original Greek word "μονογενής, monogenhs" is often translated as "only begotten," another usage for it in the Septuagint is "one-of-a-kind" (Heb 11:17) where Isaac is described as μονογενής although he was not Abraham's only son according to the Old Testament.^[10]) It also refers to Jesus simply as "the son" in contexts in which "the Father" is used to refer to God the Father.^[11]

Jesus as divine

In mainstream Christianity the title of Son of God is used to describe Jesus as a divine being and a member of the Trinity. This is expressed, for instance, in the Nicene Creed, which refers to Jesus as God's only Son, true God from true God, who took human form in the flesh. This view interprets the New Testament as referring to or implying the deity of Jesus in, for example, Hebrews 1:8, which quotes Psalm 45:6 as addressing him as God, and in John 8:58, where Jesus states, "Before Abraham was, I am", seen in this view as referencing God's name "I am", revealed in Exodus 3:14. Also in John 5:18, John writes "but he [Jesus] was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God".

Jesus as godly

Another view is that, in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus styled himself the Son of God in the same sense as a righteous person was sometimes referred to as a son or child of God (though not the son of God), as in Wisdom 2:18. Since New Testament books present Jesus as without sin,^[12] those who hold the first view, that of Jesus as divine, can hold this view too, but not as an exclusive interpretation.

Christians as children of God

See also: Divine filiation.

In the Gospel of John, the author writes that "to all who believed him and accepted him [Jesus], he gave the right to become children of God" [John 1:12]. The phrase "children of God" is used ten times in the New Testament.^[13] To these can be added the five times, mentioned above, in which the New Testament speaks of "sons of God". The New Testament speaks of no individual Christian as it speaks of Jesus, as the son of God, not just a son of God.

New Testament passages

The devil or demons calling Jesus Son of God

• υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (huios tou theou)
  • Matthew 4:3
  • Matthew 4:6
  • Luke 4:3
  • Luke 4:9
• ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (ho huios tou theou)
  • Mark 3:11
  • Luke 4:41
• [ὁ] υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ([ho] huios tou theou) – vocative case is normally without article
  • Matthew 8:29

Humans, including the New Testament writers, calling Jesus Son of God

• θεοῦ υἱὸς (theou huios)
  • Matthew 14:33
  • Matthew 27:54
• υἱὸς θεοῦ (huios theou)
  • Mark 1:1 (of doubtful authenticity)^{[citation needed]}
  • Mark 15:39
  • Romans 1:4
• ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (ho huios tou theou)
  • John 1:34
  • John 1:49
  • John 11:27
  • John 20:31
  • Acts 9:20
  • Galatians 2:20
  • Hebrews 4:14
  • Hebrews 6:6
  • Hebrews 7:3
  • Hebrews 10:29
  • 1 John 3:8
  • 1 John 4:15
  • 1 John 5:1
  • 1 John 5:5
  • 1 John 5:10
  • 1 John 5:13
  • 1 John 5:20
  • Revelation 2:18
• τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς (tou theou huios – equivalent to ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ)
  • 2 Corinthians 1:19
• his (i.e. God's) son, in various forms, e.g. ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ (ho huios autou), equivalent to ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
  • John 3:16
  • Romans 1:9
  • Romans 5:10
  • Romans 8:3
  • Romans 8:32
  • 1 Corinthians 1:9
  • Galatians 4:4
  • Galatians 4:6
  • 1 John 4:9
  • 1 John 4:10
  • 1 John 5:11

Attributed to Jesus himself

• ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (ho huios tou theou)
  • Matthew 26:63-64
  • Mark 14:61-62 (Jesus answers "I am" to the question.)
  • Luke 22:70
  • John 5:25
  • John 10:36
  • John 11:4

Unclear whether attributed to Jesus himself or only a comment of the evangelist

• ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (ho huios tou theou)
  • John 3:18 – with "μονογενής" (only-begotten)

Jesus referred to as ὁ υιός (ho huios)

• Matthew 11:27
• Matthew 24:36
• Matthew 28:19
• Mark 13:22
• Luke 10:22
• John 1:18
• John 3:35
• John 5:19-26
• John 6:40
• John 14:13
• John 17:1
• 1 John 2:22-24
• 1 John 4:14
• 2 John 1:9
• etc.^[14]

Christian Apocrypha

"Son of God" is the "Word" in the gnostic The Teachings of Silvanus (115:15): "For all dwell in God, that is, the things which have come into being through the Word who is the Son as the image of the Father." Supporting this, The Apocryphon of John also has "light" as the "only-begotten child" of the Father—not Jesus, personally: "And he looked at Barbelo with the pure light which surrounds the invisible Spirit, and (with) his spark, and she conceived from him. He begot a spark of light with a light resembling blessedness. But it does not equal his greatness. This was an only-begotten child of the Mother-Father which had come forth; it is the only offspring, the only-begotten one of the Father, the pure Light." Trimorphic Protennoia has: "Then the Son who is perfect in every respect--that is, the Word who originated through that Voice; who has within him the Name; who is a Light--he (the Son) revealed the everlasting things and all the unknowns were known."

Islam

In Islam, Jesus (Arabic: عيسى‎ `Īsā) is a messenger of God who had been sent to guide the Children of Israel (banī isrā'īl) with a new scripture, the Injīl (gospel).^[15] The Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be God's final revelation, states that Jesus was born to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God (Arabic: Allah). To aid him in his quest, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles, all by the permission of God. According to The Qur'an, Jesus was neither killed nor crucified, but God raised him to himself. Some Muslims take this to be a physical ascension while others interpret it as a metaphorical rising of his status as a true Messiah. Islamic traditions narrate that he will return to earth near the day of judgment to restore justice and defeat al-Masīḥ ad-Dajjāl (lit. "the false messiah", also known as the Antichrist).

Islam rejects that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, stating that he was an ordinary man who, like other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God's message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (shirk), emphasizing the notion of God's divine oneness (tawhīd). Numerous titles are given to Jesus in the Qur'an, such as al-Masīḥ ("the messiah; the anointed one" i.e. by means of blessings), although it does not correspond with the meaning accrued in Christian belief. Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter's coming.

Although Jesus is a highly respected prophet in Islam, and is considered to be the Messiah, Muslims do not believe that he was the son of God. The Quran refers to him as Isa ibn Maryam which means Jesus son of Mary. They believe that associating others with God in any kind of worship, even if the associated person is an angel or prophet, is polytheism and is thus an unforgivable sin.

See, from the Qur'an, Mary, verses 15-38, Al-Imran, verses 44-61, Al-Ma'idah, verses 108-117 and Al-Ikhlas

Baha'i

The Bahá'í Faith, founded in 19th-century Persia, considers Jesus, along with Muhammad, the Buddha, Krishna, and Zoroaster, and other messengers of the great religions of the world to be Manifestations of God (or prophets), with both human and divine stations.^[16]

The Bahá'í Faith consider Jesus to be a manifestation of God. God is one and has manifested himself to humanity through several historic Messengers. Bahá'ís refer to this concept as Progressive Revelation, which means that God's will is revealed to mankind progressively as mankind matures and is better able to comprehend the purpose of God in creating humanity. In this view, God's word is revealed through a series of messengers: Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Bahá'u'lláh (the founder of the Bahá'í Faith) among them. In the Book of Certitude, Bahá'u'lláh claims that these messengers have a two natures: divine and human. Examining their divine nature, they are more or less the same being. However, when examining their human nature, they are individual, with distinct personality. For example, when Jesus says "I and my Father are one,"^[17], Bahá'ís take this quite literally, but specifically with respect to his nature as a Manifestation. When Jesus conversely stated "...And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me,"^[18] Bahá'ís see this as a simple reference to the individuality of Jesus. This divine nature, according to Bahá'u'lláh, means that any Manifestation of God can be said to be the return of a previous Manifestation, though Bahá'ís also believe that some Manifestations with specific missions return with a "new name"^[19] and a different, or expanded purpose. Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is, in both respects, the return of Jesus.

Augustus as son of a Roman god

In 42 BCE, Julius Caesar was formally deified as "the divine Julius" (divus Iulius). His adopted son, Octavian (better known by the title "Augustus" given to him 15 years later, in 27 BC) thus became known as "divi Iuli filius" (son of the divine Julius) ^[20] or simply "divi filius" (son of the Divine One), ^[21][22] because of being the adopted son of Julius Caesar.^[23][24] He used this title to advance his political position, finally overcoming all rivals for power within the Roman state.^[25] The title was for him "a useful propaganda tool", and was displayed on the coins that he issued.^[26]

The word applied to Julius Caesar as deified is "divus", not the distinct word "deus".^[27] Thus Augustus was called "Divi filius", but never "Dei filius", the expression applied to Jesus in the Vulgate translation of the New Testament, as, for instance, in 1 John 5:5, and in earlier Latin translations, as shown by the Vetus Latina text "Inicium evangelii Ihesu Christi filii dei" preserved in the Codex Gigas. As son of Julius Caesar, Augustus was referred to as the son of a god, not as the son of God, which was how the monotheistic Christians referred to Jesus.^[28]

Greek did not have a distinction corresponding to that in Latin between "divus" and "deus". "Divus" was thus translated as "θεός", the same word used for the Olympian gods, and "divi filius" as "θεοῦ υἱός" (theou huios),^[29] which, since it does not include the Greek article, in a polytheistic context referred to sonship of a god among many, to Julius Caesar in the case of the "divi filius" Augustus. In the monotheistic context of the New Testament, the same phrase^[30] can refer only to sonship of the one God.^[31] Indeed, in the New Testament, Jesus is most frequently referred to as " ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ" (ho huios tou theou), the son of God.^[32][33]

It is generally agreed that the language Jesus ordinarily spoke was Aramaic, even if he perhaps also spoke some Greek (see Aramaic of Jesus).^[34] The lack of primary sources in Aramaic about the life of Jesus makes it impossible to determine whether he himself or others referred to him in that language as "a son of God" or as "the Son of God" or neither.

Son of a god in other belief systems

Human or part-human offspring of deities are very common in other religions and mythologies. A great many pantheons also included genealogies in which various gods were descended from other gods, and so the term "son of a god" may be applied to many deities themselves.

Ancient mythology contains many characters with both a human parent and a god parent. They include Hercules, whose father was Zeus, and Virgil's Aeneas, whose mother was Venus.

In Plato's Apology, an account of Socrates' defence at his trial, Socrates meets the accusation of atheism by getting his accuser to admit that, since he had spoken of Socrates as believing in "spiritual agencies", he was admitting that Socrates believed in "spirits or demigods", and since spirits or demigods are "either gods or the sons of gods" (theon paidas not uioi theou), he was illogical in accusing him of atheism.^[35]

In the Greek and Roman cultures in which early Christianity expanded after first arising within Judaism, the concepts of demi-gods, sons or daughters of a god, as in the story of Perseus, were commonly known and accepted.

In the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is considered to be God the Son, a part of the Holy Trinity. He himself never accepted the idea officially.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest recorded legends of humanity, Gilgamesh claimed to be of both human and divine descent.

According to the Radha Soami Satsang Beas teachings, known as Sant Mat or Teachings of the Saints, "Son of God" refers to a living Master who connects souls with the Creator through the Shabd or Holy Spirit.

There are no direct analogues in Chinese culture which has been essentially atheistic among the literate classes since Han times, but the Emperor was generally styled the Son of Heaven and his or her rule was justified by the Mandate of Heaven.

See also

• God the Father
• Son of Heaven
• Son of Man
• Sons of God
• Sons of Man

References

1. ^ "Jesus' unique sonship is antithetical to concepts of sonship popular in the ancient world. In Hellenism, people believed a man could be a 'son of the gods' in many ways: in mythology, by cohabitation of a god with a woman whose offspring was imagined to be superhuman; in politics, by giving generals and emperors high honours in the cult of Roman emperor worship" (Comfort, Philip W., ed., and Elwell, Walter A., ed., Tyndale Bible Dictionary 2001 ISBN 0-8423-7089-7, article "Son of God").
2. ^ Augustus. The Facts
3. ^ See Lewis and Short for the meanings of "divus". The distinction is remarked on also in the online Encyclopaedia Britannica: "It became customary — if emperors (and empresses) were approved of in their lives — to raise them to divinity after their deaths. They were called divi, not dei like the Olympian gods".
4. ^ Borg, Marcus, and Crossan, Dominic, The First Christmas, HarperCollins, 2007, p. 96
5. ^ "Not the least of the many extraordinary facts about Alexander is that both in his lifetime and after his death he was worshipped as a god, by Greeks and Ancient Macedonians as well as, for example, Egyptians (to whom he was Pharaoh). The episode that led to Callisthenes' death in 327 was connected to this fact. Greeks and Ancient Macedonians believed that formal obeisance should be paid only to gods. So the refusal of his Greek and Macedonian courtiers to pay it to Alexander implied that they, at any rate, did not believe he genuinely was a living god, at least not in the same sense as Zeus or Dionysus were. Alexander, regardless, did nothing to discourage the view that he really was divine. His claim to divine birth, not merely divine descent, was part of a total self-promotional package, which included the striking of silver medallions in India depicting him with the attributes of Zeus. Through sheer force of personality and magnitude of achievement he won over large numbers of ordinary Greeks and Macedonians to share this view of himself, and to act on it by devoting shrines to his cult."Cartledge, Paul (2004). "Alexander the Great". History Today 54: 1.
6. ^ Bauer lexicon, 2nd edition, 1979, page 834. In Contra Celsus VI chapter XI, Origen uses the term of the Samaritan Dositheus, without saying he was a wonder-worker, rather saying that, in the case of Dositheus, the title was self-attributed: "Such were Simon, the Magus of Samaria, and Dositheus, who was a native of the same place; since the former gave out that he was the power of God that is called great, and the latter that he was the Son of God." The Samaritan Dositheus claimed to be the Messiah, which may be what Origen meant by saying that he gave out that he was the Son of God (cf. Catholic Encyclopedia: Dositheans).
7. ^ While some^[who?] hold that in previous centuries the Israelites were henotheists, by the end of the Babylonian captivity, Judaism is strictly monotheistic. The Septuagint translation is later.
8. ^ Qumran scroll #4Q246 states: "He shall be called the Son of God; they will call him Son of the Most High" (quoted in Mark Eastman: Messiah—The Son of God?; also in Wise, Michael O. and James D. Tabor. The Messiah at Qumran in Biblical Archaeology Review, Volume 18, Number 6. (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, November/December, 1992), p. 61
9. ^ Five times explicitly (Matthew 5:9, Luke 20:36, Romans 8:14 and 8:19, Galatians 3:26, and implicitly in Galatians 4:6
10. ^ Translators' commentary in NET Bible at Bible.org
11. ^ For instance, John 3:35-36, 5:19-27, 6:40, 17:1; 2 John 1:9; Matthew 28:19
12. ^ John 8:46,Hebrews 4:15
13. ^ The other nine instances are John 11:52, Romans 8:16, Romans 8:21, Romans 9:8, Philippians 2:15, 1 John 3:1-2, 1 John 3:10, 1 John 5:2
14. ^ Only verses that contain a reference also to "the Father" are listed here.
15. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, p.158
16. ^ Stockman, Robert (1992). "Jesus Christ in the Baha'i Writings". Bahá'í Studies Review (1). OCLC 30061083. http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=stockman_jesus_bahai_writings.
17. ^ KJV Bible - John 10:30
18. ^ KJV Bible - John 5:36-37
19. ^ KJV Bible - Revelations 3:12
20. ^ Inscription on Porta Tiburtina in Rome
21. ^ 'Augustus' Gaius Julius Octavius
22. ^ As noted below, Augustus was called "divi filius" not "dei filius", the phrase used of Jesus
23. ^ Augustus (31 B.C. - 14 A.D.) by Nina C. Coppolino
24. ^ John Dominic Crossan, writing in God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now (2007), says, early in the book, that "[t]here was a human being in the first century who was called “Divine,” “Son of God,” “God,” and “God from God,” whose titles were “Lord,” “Redeemer,” “Liberator,” and “Saviour of the World.” ... [M]ost Christians probably think that those titles were originally created and uniquely applied to Christ. But before Jesus ever existed, all those terms belonged to Caesar Augustus. To proclaim them of Jesus the Christ was thereby to deny them of Caesar the Augustus. ... They were taking the identity of the Roman emperor and giving it to a Jewish peasant. Either that was a peculiar joke and a very low lampoon, or it was what the Romans called majestas and we call high treason." (Crossan, John Dominic (2007), God and Empire, p. 28).
25. ^ "Ostentatiously rejecting divinity on his own account, he rose to power via Caesar's divine image instead" (Augustus, by Pat Southern, p. 63).
26. ^ Coins of the Emperor Augustus; examples are a coin of 38 B.C. inscribed "Divi Iuli filius", and another of 31 B.C. bearing the inscription "Divi filius" (Auguste vu par lui-même et par les autres by Juliette Reid).
27. ^ "It became customary — if emperors (and empresses) were approved of in their lives — to raise them to divinity after their deaths. They were called divi, not dei like the Olympian gods" (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
28. ^ Writing more than a century after the death of Augustus, Suetonius included among a series of wonders associated with his birth a story recounted by a certain Asclepias of Mendes in Upper Egypt that the birth of the future emperor resulted from the impregnation of his mother, while fast asleep, by a serpent in the temple of Apollo, and that her child was therefore called a son of Apollo, an Olympian deity (a "deus"), not a "divus", the word in the title given to Augustus.
29. ^ Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon
30. ^ Used of Jesus in Mk 15:39; Lk 1:35; Rm 1:4
31. ^ In that context there are no other gods to which it could refer!
32. ^ Swindler, Leonard J. Biblical Affirmations of Women. Westminster: 1979, John Knox Press, pp. 216-217. ISBN 0-664-22176-9
33. ^ The following are instances of the use of " ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ" in the New Testament: Mt 16:16; 26:63; Mk 3:11; Lk 4:41; 22:70; Jn 1:34, 49; 3:18; 5:25; 11:4, 27; 20:31; Ac 9:20; 2 Cor 1:19; Ga 2:20; Ep 4:13; Heb 4:14; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29; 1 Jn 3:8; 4:15; 5:5, 10, 12, 13, 20; Rv 2:18. "Υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ" (huios tou theou) appears in Mt 4:3; Lk 4:3; Jn 10:36. Mark, according to most modern commentators the earliest of the gospels, uses " ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ" once, attributing it to "unclean spirits" who were "making him known" (3:11-12) and "θεοῦ υἱός" (theou huios) in (15:39), putting it in the mouth of a pagan centurion. In the first verse of this gospel, some manuscripts have (in the genitive case) "υἱὸς θεοῦ " (huios theou), others "υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ" (huios tou theou), others omit the phrase in either form; critical editions such as that published by the United Bible Societies therefore bracket the phrase to indicate that in the present state of New Testament textual scholarship it cannot be taken as completely certain that the phrase is part of the text. Paul the Apostle uses "θεοῦ υἱός" (theou huios) of Jesus once, in Romans 1:4, a letter in which he four times (1:9, 5:10, 8:3, 8:32) refers to Jesus as "his son" (literally "the son of him", not "a son of him"). He uses "his son", with "his" referring to God, also in other letters (1 Corinthians 1:9 and Galatians 4:4, 4:6) and uses " ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ" three times (2 Corinthians 1:19, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:13).
34. ^ While Franciscan Friar Massimo Pazzini claimed: "The hypothesis -- often aired in the last two centuries -- that Jesus spoke Greek or Latin is impossible to accept", Ian Young, who teaches Aramaic at the University of Sydney, expressed the general view referred to in the Wikipedia article on the subject: "Some scholars have pointed out that Jesus' homeland, Galilee, in the north of modern Israel, was at that time very cosmopolitan, with a heavy non-Jewish influence. If Jesus was, as the gospels indicate, a carpenter, he may have needed Greek to deal with customers. (...) So it is plausible that Jesus knew Greek."
35. ^ Translation by Benjamin Jowett

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Son of God
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Son of God
• Who Are the "Sons of God"? | epologetics

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