The Son of God and tomato soup

The Son of God and tomato soup 22nd May 2016 What do we mean when we say that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus was sentenced to death because he was ‘the Messiah, the Son of God’. (Matt. 26.63) When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert at the beginning of his ministry, twice he said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God.’ (Matt. 4.3-6) When Jesus tells Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ she replies, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’ When Jesus prayed he addressed God as ‘Father.’ In his letters, Paul frequently speaks of Jesus as the Son of God, for example, ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ (Gal. 2.20) In his first letter John states that believing that Jesus is the Son of God is a crucial part of our faith (1 John 5.10) and that is it those who have the Son of God who have life (1 John 5.12). So what do we mean when we say, ‘I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.’? Does it mean that God had physical union with a woman (Mary), and Jesus, the Son of God, was the result? Is it a metaphor? Jesus calls the sons of Zebedee, James and John, ‘Sons of Thunder’, a phrase that describes their character. Is ‘Son of God’ a similar kind of metaphor? The title ‘Messiah’ often comes together with ‘Son of God’. Do they mean the same thing? The Roman emperors called themselves sons of god. Is the Bible copying this, so as to help us understand who Jesus is? Or is it something else? Let’s look at these alternatives in a little more detail. Physical union with a woman Christian theologians and Muslims are agreed that is it repulsive and blasphemous to speak of God having physical, sexual union with a woman. In addition, to suggest that Jesus is the literal Son of God as a result of physical union between God and Mary would mean that we have two Gods: God and Jesus, just as I am separate from my father and my son is separate from me. And so we reject this idea. We firmly believe in one God. Metaphor: Sons of Thunder, son of the desert The Sons of Thunder had (we assume) thunderous tempers. If I describe Ahmad as a son of the desert I am suggesting he was born and raised in close proximity to the desert, that the desert is the thing that defines who Ahmad is, his character, the essence of who he is. It is a metaphor. If we treat the term ‘Son of God’ in the same way, we are treating the word ‘Son’ as a metaphor. Jesus is not the biological son of God, no more than James and John are the biological sons of thunder, but ‘God’ defines who he is, his character. This is useful, but I suggest that ‘Son of God’ is more than a metaphor. Messiah In a moment of divine enlightenment Peter exclaims, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’ (Matt. 16.16) Yes, that’s right, Jesus tells him, and it was my Father in heaven who revealed that to you. The two terms ‘Messiah’ and ‘Son of God’ are certainly closely related, and both are used of Jesus, but that does not make them synonymous. Both terms have their roots in the Old Testament, in particular in 2 Samuel 7.13-16 where God promises David a son, saying, ‘I will be his father and he will be my son … your throne will be established for ever.’ But ‘Messiah’ means more than that: literally it means ‘anointed’ and in the Old Testament three different types of people were anointed: prophets, priest and kings. Jesus was all three. The term, ‘Son of God’ also has a wider meaning, as we shall see soon. Julius Caesar ‘Son of God’ was a title well-used by the Roman emperors. The good news in the imperial cult was that Caesar, the son of god, was lord over the whole world. The Good News of Jesus parallels this closely: Jesus, the Son of God, is Lord over the whole world. There may be some useful parallels that we can draw between Caesar and Jesus. But there is a whole lot more to the term ‘Son of God’ than simply confrontation and rebuttal of the imperial cult. Additionally the Old Testament use of the terms ‘Son of God’ predates Caesar by about a thousand years. Something else Having looked at these other possible interpretations of the term ‘Son of God’, some of which are more useful than others, I would like to suggest tomato soup as a useful way of understanding what ‘Son of God’ means. When it comes to tomato soup we are not dealing with metaphors. ‘Tomato’ describes the content and nature of the soup, its substance, its quintessence. ‘Tomato’ is the essence; ‘soup’ is the form. The tomatoes are still tomatoes but they have been chopped, combined with other herbs and spices, boiled, stirred and seasoned. They are now tomato soup: the tomatoes are still tomatoes but their form or nature has changed. Transfer this process to Jesus. Soup of Tomato. Son of God. Tomato Soup. Godly Son. God is still God but his form or nature has changed. Bible passages 1. John’s Gospel Let’s look briefly at three passages that demonstrate this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1.1-4, 14) The primary imagery in these verses is that of the Word. The Word was with God, the Word was God, right from the very beginning. And then the Word becomes a human being. Continuing the word imagery, we can say that Jesus was God translated into human form. What is God like? Look at Jesus and see. Look at ‘the one and only Son’ and see, for he is God living among us. His substance or essence has not changed. What has changed is his form: he has become flesh. 2. Philippians In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God,     did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing     by taking the very nature of a servant,     being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,     he humbled himself     by becoming obedient to death –         even death on a cross. (Phil. 2.5-7) ‘In very nature’ Jesus was God. But he took on ‘the very nature’ of a servant. The Greek word, morphe, translated here as ‘nature’ can also be translated as ‘form’: the very form of God, taking on the form of a servant. His substance or essence did not change. What has changed is his form. ‘Emptied himself of all but love,’ as Charles Wesley put it in the hymn, ‘And can it be’. In taking on the very nature of a servant, did he even empty himself of the self-realisation that he was divine? In the Gospel records do we see him realising his own identity? 3. Hebrews In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Heb. 1.1-3) God made the universe through the Son. The Son is also the one who keeps the universe going: he sustains all things. Additionally the Son is the one for whom all things were created: he is the heir of all things. The Son, these verses tell us, ‘is the radiance of God’s glory’. And yet, as the author goes on to show in the next chapter, ‘Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death’ (Heb. 2.14). He became fully human in every way. A complete change of form. Conclusion: complexity Complicated? Of course! God is a complex being. We shouldn’t try to reduce him to something that is easy to understand. What is the Trinity? ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’ What is that? It is how we experience God: he is the Creator of heaven and earth, he is the Man from Nazareth who lived and died and rose again, he is the Spirit that inspires and prompts us. But as systematic theologians from Justin Martyr (c100-165AD) onwards have found, it does not make for tidy theology. God is complex – we can never even begin to really understand him. In fact the more we understand of God, the more we realise that he is beyond understanding. He is bigger and greater and wider and deeper than we can ever comprehend. And so we worship him. If you’re reflecting on the Scriptures and come to that term, Son of God, think tomato soup and you can’t go far wrong.