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Mark - Who is Christ?
A Bible Study Course on the Gospel of Christ according to MARK
PART 1 - The Preparations of Christ's Appearance (Mark 1:1-13)
1. The Title and the Emblem of the Gospel of Mark (Mark 1:1)

d) What is the Meaning of "the Son of God"?


MARK 1:1
1 The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Jews considered the confession of God’s Sonship as blasphemy, and their supreme court sentenced to death those who committed this blasphemy. They used to take such a blasphemer, and stone him away from the capital, that the wrath of God might not come over every one of them. From earliest times, most of the Semites believed that God is one having no other partner or other gods before him (Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

It is to be noted that those of the old covenant did not reject the prophecies that the nation itself, the king sometimes, or the coming Christ were spiritually sons of God in the sense of lawful adoption. However they did not take such statements as implying spiritual birth in God, but kept believing that the Most High is one and unequaled (Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1; Psalms 89:28; 2 Samuel 7:14, 4; Ezra 7:28).

On the contrary, we see that the people of the ancient Greece and Rome were polytheistic. They worshiped many gods, male and female deities, and spirits who married each other, had children, wrestled with one another, loved and hated one another. Two thousand years ago, the Mediterranean area was full of such beliefs and thoughts. The great temples with their altars testify to the homage paid to goddesses who were idols. They did not distinguish between unclean spirits and the Holy God, but worshiped every spirit without exception.

Peter and Mark were bold enough to object to belief in many gods in Rome, confessing that there is only one God having the only Son who was born of the Father before all ages. As the word is born of the mouth of man and is still a part of him, so the eternal Son of God was born in spirit, and not in flesh, before all ages. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was not his original birth. It was only his embodiment in human flesh for us. His true birth took place spiritually before creation. This is why all Christianity confesses that he is God from God, Light from light, True God from the true God, begotten, not created, in one essence with the Father.

Nothing is impossible to God. No one can prevent God from having a son if he wished. People subject God’s freedom to limitation, as they admit his oneness. Nevertheless, God is greater than the thoughts of men.

The appearance of the Son of God in flesh took place in the way that the angel Gabriel said to Virgin Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) Mary was troubled by this statement, yet believed in the word of her Lord. In Jesus the divine Spirit overcame the human nature and controlled it at all times. So he remained holy and sinless.

The existence of the Son of God does not at all mean polytheism, for we confess in faith the complete unity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, the mystery that the three are one can only be understood by a believer after being born again in spirit and in truth. Then he knows that God is love, and that the unity of the three divine persons is definite, unquestionable, and complete. The three persons are, in fact, eternally united by the bond of perfect “love”. He who does not love does not recognize God.

Christ himself, revealed his unity with the Father to believers in different ways, with extreme humility, saying: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (John 5:19-23)

After this revelation about the unity of Christ with the Father in respect to deeds, we also read Jesus’ confession about his unity with God in power and essence: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:27-28)

In the circle of his disciples, Jesus declared his absolute unity with the Father, saying: “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). He said to one of the disciples: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” (John 14:10-11)

On the basis of these biblical statements, you can recognize that Jesus had the right to say: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”(John 14:9)

Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews, who presided over the highest ruling body and court of justice among the Jewish people (Sanhedrin) at the time of Jesus, stood up in the religious court before Jesus, and asked him his deceitful question: “I put you under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). Because Jesus did not deny this truth, but proved it, and agreed to its divine nature, they flared up and delivered him to be killed. Therefore, Jesus was sentenced to death because he declared himself to be the Son of God. Then how could some people say 1900 years after this historical event that Jesus did not confess to be the Son of God? Those skeptics did not recognize the essence of Jesus Christ who is in fact the only Son of the holy God.

PRAYER: We worship you O merciful Son, and praise you O Holy Father, for you have revealed yourself in your Son Jesus, but our limited minds are unable to recognize your truth.Enlighten our minds with your Holy Spirit that we may become illuminated and able to recognize you as you are: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit completely united with the bond of love, which gives us life and makes us your children by grace. Amen.

QUESTION 7: What are the main principles of the statement “the Son of God”?

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