What does 'Son of God' mean?

JesusIn theological review

The short answer

Son of God is a title of relationship and rank, not biology. In the Old Testament it could describe Israel, angels and the anointed king, but applied to Jesus it means the one who shares the Father's nature, receives the nations as his inheritance, and is declared God's Son in power by the resurrection.

The fuller answer

Son of God does not mean God had a child in a physical sense, and the Bible never uses it that way. Son language in Scripture often names character, office and inheritance rather than origin. Israel is called God's son, the king is called God's son, and in each case the title marks a chosen relationship and a task given by God himself to that person or people.

I will proclaim the decree spoken to Me by the LORD: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.

Psalm 2:7 (BSB)

Psalm 2 is a coronation song for Israel's king, and God declares the king his son on the day of his enthroning, promising him the nations as an inheritance. Centuries earlier the promise to David used the same family language for his royal line: God would be a father to David's heir, and the heir would be a son to God, yet that heir's throne would last forever.

I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

2 Samuel 7:14 (BSB)

When Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, he joins those two threads together in one person. Jesus calls the confession a revelation from the Father, not a deduction from watching miracles. The title has now moved beyond national kingship. This Son does not merely represent God to Israel; he is the heir through whom God's rule reaches every nation on earth.

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 16:16 (BSB)

Hebrews opens by contrasting the partial speech of the prophets with God's final speech in his Son, through whom the worlds were made and who is the exact representation of God's being. That is sonship of a different order: eternal, creative and sharing the Father's nature. Christians therefore confess Jesus as Son not because he began to exist, but because he stands in this unique relation forever.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.

Dig deeper

No answer here is a dead end. Follow the question on, test it in practice, or work the method yourself on the Dig deeper page.

Is Jesus God?Yes. The New Testament calls Jesus God in plain words, shows him doing what only God does, and records him receiving the worship that belongs to God alone. That is why the church at Nicaea confessed him as very God of very God, of one substance with the Father, and why Chalcedon confessed him as truly God and truly man in one person.Did Jesus claim to be God?Yes, though usually in the language of his own Scriptures rather than in a slogan. He took God's own name, I AM, onto his lips, claimed oneness with the Father, forgave sins, and accepted worship. His hearers understood the claims clearly enough: the charge they brought against him, again and again, was blasphemy.What does 'Son of Man' mean?Son of Man was Jesus' favourite title for himself. It sounds humble, meaning a human being, but it comes from Daniel 7, where one like a son of man receives an everlasting kingdom from God. Jesus used it for his suffering, his authority and his coming glory all at once.Bible Character: JesusThe Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, who preached the kingdom of God, was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised on the third day.Bible Character: DavidThe shepherd of Bethlehem who killed Goliath, became Israel's king, received God's everlasting covenant, and wrote many of the Psalms.