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TH606–Week 5
Student Notes
:
Incarnational Sonship
A.
Key Errors Related to the Person of Christ
(1)
Incarnational Sonship
. What is it and why is it an important matter to cover?
It is a debate as to whether the second person of the Godhead was always a Son or if He became
a Son now of the incarnation.
Those that affirm incarnational Sonship reject the early Church on this matter, they see eternal
regeneration as a creation of the council of Nicea, they do not see it inherent in the Biblical text.
Three time in the NT the climatic phrase of Ps 2:7 is quoted verbatim (Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5)
and identified as a Messianic text, ‘You are My Son today I have begotten You...’ This is the text
that the debate is about concerning Christ.
What does it mean for Him to be a Son and what does it mean for Him to be begotten today?
There are other texts that allude to this are Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Mark 9:7; Matt 16:16; John
3:16.
Son of God one of most important titles applied to Christ in the NT.
Ps 2:2; 7…logical flow of the Psalm points to the fact that the Son in vs.12 is the anointed one.
Clearly understood in the apostolic era, everyone believed that. Micah 5:2; John 1:1-2.
Ps 2:7 poses some significant interpretative challenges.
The word
today
has obvious temporal overtones, when we think of this term today, we think of
something that is temporarily orientated.
Arian’s claim that this text spoke of the origins of the begotten one or alternately saying that
sonship is a role or title that was conferred on Christ in some definite point in redemptive history.
What is the proper way of understanding the NT use of Ps 2:7?
Arian we of the created Son can be easily refuted from Scripture. John 1-33 He was from the
beginning and was with God, all things came to being through Him and apart from Him nothing
came into being, (Col 1:16-17). Christ is known as the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 22:13). John
8:58 ‘foundation statement of Christ.
What about the idea that sonship is a role that Christ stepped into, is the Son of God a
superintended title like a mantle placed on Him. Or His Sonship is what defines His eternal
relationship with the other persons of the Trinity.
What is incarnational sonship?
It is the idea that some have set forth as the reasons for the temporal expressions in Ps 2:7. Adam
Clarke and Albert Barnes take this position. Pastor MacArthur once held this view.
“I no longer regard Christ’s sonship as a role He assumed in His incarnation. . . . I am now
convinced that the title “Son of God” when applied to Christ in Scripture always speaks of His
essential deity and absolute equality with God, not His voluntary subordination.”
MacArthur,
1999 retraction.
How is it used in Heb 1. True meaning comes to its highest Biblical brightest senses, clearest
revelation of what you have of it. Christ is greater than all the religious protocols of the Old
Covenant. Christ the fulfillment of every prophecy. Starting of the book of Hebrews summarizes
the great truth of the supremacy of Christ (He is the capstone of God’s revelation in history, Heb
1:1-2). He is God incarnate, all Heb 1 is devoted to a vigorous affirmation of the deity and
eternality of Christ beginning with the assertion that Christ is superior to the angels.
Heb 1:5-13 quoted from OT to prove Christ is God.
Heb 2:7 ‘more excellent Name…’ eternality and divinity of Christ, same Name used of Jesus in
John 3:16.
What does begotten mean?
Hebrew Word beget used over 225 in OT. Greek word translation of this word. This word could
mean one of the kind, this is where the difficulty arises.
Only begotten and unique. Greek term both terms simultaneously,
monogenēs
never used of
anything other than sons or daughters. Always signifies a child who has no siblings from the
same parents. Luke uses it 3 chapters in a row as he relates various narratives like how Jesus
healed people (Luke 7:12); Jesus raises the only son from the dead/one and only son (only
begotten son); Jaruis begs Jesus to come to his house as he had been only daughter
monogenēs
and she was dying (Luke 8:42). Luke 9:38 a man from crowd shouted look at my son he is my
only (
monogenēs)
son.
That is the sense of the Greek term of an only child. Begotten seems to be a more precise
translation of the word as you see it in John 3:16 not only because it recognizes the connection to
Ps 2:7 but also because it underscores what makes Jesus unique as a person in the Godhead.
All believers are children of God by faith and adoption (John 1:12; Gal 3:26; Rom 8:14); but
Christ is the only begotten Son of God.
Gen 1:24 produces after their kind, the point is that the only begotten is of the same nature as the
one who begets it (Gen 5:3 ‘after his image). To say Christ is begotten of the Father is to stress
Heb 1:3 ‘nature and likeness of Father.’ He alone is God’s Son by nature, not by adoption, not by
appointment, not by creation, not by conception in Mary’s womb.
His role as the Son of God is not a role He assumed in the incarnation, that would be no proof at
all that Jesus is higher than angels, but this is a description of Christ’s eternal essence as the
radiance of divine glory.
Heb 1:5 context of begetting pertains to His deity not humanity. Ps.2:8 His throne is eternal, and
2:10-11 so is He. He was there from the beginning of time (vs.10). Ps 2:11-12 speaks of
incommunicable attributes
of deity only ascribe to God. This text lays the foundation for one of
the most important truths of the Trinitarian doctrine namely eternal generation or the eternal
sonship of Christ.
Eternal generation is a vital Trinitarian doctrine. Sonship and deity of Christ must categorically
be stated.
There is no hint of subordination in the designation only begotten Son. It is an expression that
denotes absolute equality; Father and Son share the same nature and substance, equal in status
and privilege. Privilege of son in culture of Jesus time, the son had same honor as father. This
view evident in the gospel (John 5:17-18) ‘called God is Father. Faithful Jews sometimes called
God Father (Isa 63:16); Mal 2:8; Matt 6:9. John 3:18 equal in rank and authority because He has
same essence as Father.
Term
today,
temporal association. Contextually how to answer without violating what other
Scripture says (Ps 2:7). Term today quoted 2 more times in Scripture (Acts 13:32-33 Paul links
Ps 2:7 to Christ’s resurrection), Rom 1:4. Resurrection signified that Jesus alone was the only
eternal begotten Son of God. Heb 13: 8 Christ is the same for all eternity. Col 1:15-17 not
created being through Him all things created (inseparable operations/only one God creates).
How do we explain what it means to be the Son of God?
Heb 7:3. How can someone who is God with no beginning and end be begotten, not as a man but
as eternal God. How can generation (act of begetting which speaks of bringing ones offspring
into existence) have anything to with Christ who declares Himself to be the Alpha and Omega.
“We believe . . . in one LORD JESUS CHRIST, the only begotten Son of God, Begotten of the
Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not
made, being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made.”
Nicene Creed,
AD 381.
“Begotten not made purposeful use of Biblical language. Truth is eternal generation is Biblical
(John 1:18).
The eternal generation of the Son is defined to be an eternal personal act of the Father, wherein,
by necessity of nature, not by choice of will, he generates the person (not the essence) of the Son,
by communicating to Him the whole indivisible substance of the Godhead, without division,
alienation, or change, so that the Son is the express image of His Father’s person, and eternally
continues, not from the Father, but in the Father, and the Father in the Son.—See particularly
Heb. 1., 3; John x., 38; xiv., 11; xvii., 21. The principal Scriptural support of the doctrine of
derivation is John v., 26.”
A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology (New York: Robert Carter, 1866),
146.
2 Pet 3:16 Scripture includes hard things to understand.
“We might like to see two Titanic Puritans enter the field of controversy—two such men, for
instance, as Dr. John Owen and Charnock—one might travel a thousand miles to see them
grapple one of these lofty subjects; but when the little men of these days meddle with them, it
saddens the humble-minded, and affords enlightenment to none.”
Spurgeon, “Strong Meat,” 234.
We may not be able to precisely describe the mode of eternal generation, we can certainly say
with Biblical authority what it does not mean. It does not mean that there was a time that Christ
did not exist that contradicts what we see in John 1:1-2; cannot deny Son’s aseity or self-
existence (John 5:26). He does not mean that Christ is eternally subordinate to the Father because
that contradicts (John 5: 18; Phil 2:6). It does not mean the derives the divine essence, glory or
attributes of deity from the Father, John 17:5 contradicts that.
The distinct property of His
person is generated in His Sonship. Ps. 2:7 and Heb 1:5 must be consistent with the rest of
Scripture, so we are driven by the text of Scripture to conclude that the word today does not
speak about a point in time at all. It is the eternal now of a timeless God.
Personal properties, how vital is the eternal Sonship of Christ to our understanding of the Trinity.
To eliminate the eternal generation of Christ will destroy the familial relationship that defines
persons in the Trinity. It will turn the Father son relationship into temporal metaphor and thus
destroy the singular distinctives between the members of Godhead.
“The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the
Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning,
therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several
peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation
of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.”
LBC 2.3.
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The distinctive personal properties are known as paternity (the Father begets); filiation (the Son
is begotten) and the procession (Spirit proceeds from Father and Son).
(2)
Eternal Functional Subordination
Introduction to the doctrine of Eternal Functional Subordination (General Presentation)
Reason why functional is there because everyone who is Trinitarian denies ontological
subordination.
They are not trying to say that the Son is inferior to the Father in essence (Arianism). Agree that
Son submits to the Father.
Historically theology does not affirm eternal subordination as this doctrine.
What do they believe?
To have submission, one will have to submit to another, the Triune God has One will.
2 wills require 2 natures or beings which would separate the 2 persons the Father and Son and
thus 2 gods/Arianism. Will is not the property of a person.
Economic Trinity (God ad intra vs God ad extra). Ad extra missions taken by the Persons
according to the covenant of redemption. The immanent Trinity (ad intra/how God is in and of
Himself). If speaking of who God is of Himself speaking of His ontology/His being. God cannot
have economic or ad extra actions before anything exists.
To say that God has 3 wills is to say that God had 3 essences in eternity past. EFS not orthodox
theology that can lead people astray.
There can be no eternal relations of authority and submission ad intra because submission is the
subjection of one will to another and therefore it implies multi faculties of will. Th Son took a
second will in His second nature that is why you could have submission in the economy. Will is a
property of nature and not of person. Wil property of essence in trinity. 1 Cor 15:28 (Christ’s
submission)- before human nature no submission.
How can we prove the validity of these 2 premises?
The Nature of Submission
Submission means subjection of one will to another. It conveys the idea that
submission/subjecting of one will to another. Requires multiple faculties of will. Consider the
incarnate Christ, Jesus is One person in whom subsists to natures (divine and human).
Demonstration of will is a property of nature and not of person.
Does Christ have one or 2 wills. Christ had both a divine and human nature.
Council of Constantinople condemned the errors of the Monothelites
, Christians who held that
Christ had only one will. Also, in error was monophysitism. The monophysites believed that
Christ Jesus had only one nature.
Will is a metaphysical faculty that is properly predicated of person and not nature. Christ’s 2
wills match up with His 2 natures and do not match up to Him being a single person. If will were
a property of person and not nature, then we would expect Christ to be 2 persons and He is not.
Will is a property of nature. Consubstantial persons (persons who share an identical nature and
therefore an identical faculty of willing cannot submit to one another).
The single divine will cannot be subordinated to itself, that makes no sense. If there is
submission there has be another faculty of will, added through the incarnation of the Son, who
takes on a human nature (human will). John 6:38, read what is happening back onto the
ontological Trinity, Luke 22:42 (speaking from His human nature).
Look at this through the lens Butner, D. Glenn. The Son Who Learned Obedience: a Theological
Case against the Eternal Submission of the Son
. Rom 5:19; Heb 5:8. What does it mean when it
is said that Jesus offered the obedience of a man. How is it possible to say that the omniscient
Son learned obedience. Connecting the one will of God to Christology is one facet of a larger
theological challenge. Christology must treat the question of the incarnation exploring what it
means to say that the Son of God became flesh (John 1:14); how He emptied Himself by taking
on the form of a man (Phil 2: 2:7); Son made like a human in every aspect (Heb 2:17.
Must explain what Christ is as a human and has God. Must explain what Christ does as a human
and as God. Bible affirms tat He is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15); radiance of His
glory (Heb 1:3); also teaches Christ one man (Rom 5:15); the last Adam (1 Cor 15:14). Jesus is
once Lord, great High priest, and Son of David.
For Reformed theology, the communicatio idiomatum (communication of properties) means the
attributes of each of Christ's natures are communicated to the person of Christ. Rom 1:3-4 (son
of David and God). Must account for both natures.
Homoousios, formulated at the first ecumenical council, held at Nicaea in 325,
to affirm that God
the Son and God the Father are of the same substance.
“That which [the Son] has not assumed he has not healed; but that which
is united to his
Godhead is also saved.” (
Gregory of Nazianzus, "Letters on the Apollinarian Controversy,” 218).
“Christ is uniquely our sanctification because in him alone the sanctification of our human nature
has taken place by union with his divine life. What unholy humanity so desperately needs is
union with the Sanctified One
.” Johnson, One with Christ, 119–20.
Christian sanctification is nothing short of our sharing in the perfect humanity of Jesus through
the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Council of Chalcedon in 451 offered a solution that has become the standard of orthodoxy
among many (Protestants, Catholics, Eastern Orthodoxy).
“We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the
same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in deity and also perfect in humanity; truly
God and truly man, or a rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the
deity, and consubstantial with us according to the humanity; in all things like unto us, without
sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the deity, and in these latter days, for us
and for our salvation, born of the virgin Mary, the mother of God, according to the humanity; one
and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly,
unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away
by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one
Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son,
and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning have
declared concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the creed of the
holy Fathers has handed down to us.”
"The Symbol of Chalcedon,” 62–63.
This definition establishes 2 important theological truths:
One, one who is Jesus of Nazareth is the same who is eternally the Son of God
Second, this One who is both Jesus and the eternal Son of God is 2 natures united in a
person. One full and perfect divine nature united with one full and perfect human nature in the
person of the Son. Christ’s humanity sharing a nature with human beings, humanity not mixed
with divine nature to create some third thing.
Philosophical clarification, consider the mind of Christ.
At times He seems omniscient (Matt
9:4) and other times He says Matt 24:36.
Monothelite controversy. It is wrong/heretical doctrine- one will but how He appropriates in 3
different ways (challenge of EFS).
Monothelite controversy asking who is Jesus and what is His will?
Question of Christ Christ’s will/s?
Maximus, Christ’s full humanity required Him to possess a human will from previous theologian
who had argued against this false teaching.
“If the natures in Christ are really two, then the operations of those natures must also be two. For
activity, operation is essential to an existent being. Only through operations can natures be
discerned and distinguished. Natures and operations are thus
necessarily and ineluctably
connected. If there are two natures really existent in Christ, there must be as well two really
existent operations
.” Davis, Ecumenical Councils, 272.
Monothelites claim there is only one will in Christ which would follow only if was personal
property. If we say the Son has a will proper to His person, we must therefore admit the same of
the Father and Spirit that leads to the conclusion either of tritheism or modalism.
Most theologians who accept the eternal submission of the Son appear to affirm diathelite
Christology, but the compatibility of their view is unclear. An example, “
The Son is the one who
carries out the will of the Father
.” Grudem, Systematic Theology, 560.
3) Lecture Summary
Objective
:
Dr Sammons lectures on incarnational sonship, what and why it is an important matter regarding
whether the second person of the Godhead was always a Son or if He became a Son at the
incarnation was clearly articulated. Also, the functional eternal subordination theory that Jesus
according to His human nature submits to the Father. Dr Sammon clearly explained this
disagreement as to whether Christ’s submission extends to His eternal relation as the Son or is
eternal role.
Personal
:
Pastor MacArthur once held the view of incarnational sonship but in 1999 he changed his
view(retraction) as he said that
“I no longer regard Christ’s sonship as a role He assumed in His
incarnation. . . . I am now convinced that the title “Son of God” when applied to Christ in
Scripture always speaks of His essential deity and absolute equality with God, not His voluntary
subordination.”
MacArthur’s retraction reminds me of how one ought to study Scriptures with humility and when truth
is discovered, with humility be willing to proclaim it. As a believer who desires to constantly study
God’s Word, I have realized that studying at Master’s Seminary has helped me to align with the
orthodox view of Scripture. But I pray that as I learn the truth and am convinced by it that I should like
MacArthur and many others who love the unadulterated truth of Scripture should would humility make
known the truth.
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