Whitten Q & A - How can Jesus be the Son of God and God at the same time?

Good afternoon and welcome to Saturday question and answer session with Pastor Josiah Shipley of Witton Baptist Church. Haven't done one of these pre-recorded in a while, but I want to spend a few minutes on a question that was asked recently.

It was put in our little box in our worship center at Witton Baptist Church here in Memphis, Tennessee. We actually answered this in Sunday morning AM service very recently and I had five minutes to answer it at that point, but I wanted to take a few extra minutes to explain the question.

I'm going to read the question exactly how the person who wrote it down on one of our little cards. And they asked this, how can Jesus be the Son of God and be God at the same time? And I want to take a little bit to answer that.

The Trinity and the Son of God

So to start off, let's talk about the triune nature of God, or as most people call it, the Trinity. The triune nature of God is that God is one being in three persons and He has eternally been one being in three persons.

Three distinct persons, all the same being. Another way to think about this is Jesus on earth was the exact opposite. He was two beings, or two natures, in one person. See, Jesus, the one person, had two natures, a divine, a God nature, and a human nature.

What we're saying is the exact opposite with the triune nature. We're saying it is one being, one nature, one substance, in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

When people say, how can Jesus be the Son of God and God at the same time, it's because they're often thinking about Jesus being the Son of God in the same way that I am the Son of Jeff, or you are the Son of Bob, or the Son of, you know, whoever.

When in reality, Jesus being the Son of God is a divine title. Now you may think to yourself, when someone gets saved, they're called a child of God. Well that's right, they're called a child of God. Jesus is the Son of God.

And more importantly than that, He has eternally been the Son of God. You see, and I'm sorry to break this to some of you, but this is important for the Gospel. Not everyone is a child of God. No, we are not all God's children.

We are all God's creation. We are not all God's children. Only those who believe in Him are adopted into the family of God. You see, the fact that at your salvation, or I should say at your conversion, you were adopted into the family of God, proves that at one point you were not part of the family of God, right?

We have been adopted as sons and daughters of God. Jesus has eternally existed as the Son of God. Just as the Father has eternally existed as the Father, and the Spirit has eternally existed as the Spirit.

Jesus as Creator in John and Hebrews

We've been over this many times before, and if you need, you know, more resources on just that second part of the question of Jesus being God, we have another video and you can find the link, or simply go to the public Witten Facebook page or Witten Media Ministry and find the link of a Sunday night Bible study called, Is Jesus God?

Is Jesus God? It's about 25 minutes and it will help you with that. You can go into more detail there. But from the beginning, you know, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the very next verse says, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

The triune God has always been at work together in three distinct persons. The Son of God is different from someone being adopted as a child of God. A few biblical examples just to show you, the Jews understood exactly what Jesus was saying when He was called, or called Himself the Son of God.

John 5, 18, this is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal to God. They understood that He calling God His own Father was making Himself equal to God.

John 19, 7 says something very similar. John 19, 7, I believe this is the Jews in front of Pilate about why they should kill, why He should have Jesus sentenced to death. The Jews answered Him, being Pilate, we have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has made Himself the Son of God.

What law are they referring to? Well as best we can tell, they're referring to Leviticus chapter 24, verse 16 I believe, what refers to blaspheming the name of our Lord. They knew that when He was calling Himself the Son of God, and actually the same with the Son of Man, because it's quoting Daniel 7, that He was calling Himself God.

Because Jesus being the Son of God is not the fact that God is just the Father and then He created the Son and the Spirit. Jesus and the Holy Spirit were not created. They have eternally existed as co-equal, co-eternal personalities in the triune God.

When you see the word God in the Bible, quit only picturing the Father. When you see the word God, picture the triune God. The triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It will really help you.

Don't just picture the Father. Picture all three persons of the triune, or trinity. Think about this. John chapter 1, I'm going to read John chapter 1, I'm going to read verses 1 through 5. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and without Him not anything was made that was made. In Him was life, and in that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

You read in verse 14 and verse 18, this is Jesus. All things were made through Jesus. Now hold on Josiah, I thought Genesis 1 says God created the heavens and the earth. He did. His name is Jesus, because Jesus is God.

The Son of God is a divine title. You see, John can say Jesus created the world, and Genesis can say God created the world, and that's not a contradiction, because Jesus is God, and has eternally existed as the Son of God.

The triune God was at work in creation. The Holy Spirit hovered over the waters. They were all at work in creation. Hebrews chapter 1 says something very similar. I'll read it quickly. Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2.

Long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, who has appointed the heir of all things, through whom He created the world.

God, the triune God, created the world through Jesus. He was the personhood that did the creation. So we have the Father, the Spirit, the Son. The Son was the one who did the creating in that way, but the triune God created the world through the Son.

Just like the triune God indwells in you through the Spirit. It's not exactly accurate to say the Father indwells you, God does indwell you through His Spirit, because the Spirit is co-eternal and a co-equal part of the triune God, just like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

One being in three persons. So here's something to think about. Genesis 1, Job 38, 4 say that God created the heavens and the earth, and everything in it. John 1 and Hebrews 1 say Jesus did. The conclusion, Jesus is God, the second person of the triune God, called the Son of God.

Moses, Psalm 90, and Jesus as the Eternal Son

Here's kind of another way to think about it. Psalm 90. Now this psalm was actually written by Moses. Did you know Moses wrote a psalm? It's the oldest psalm we have. And you just read about Jesus creating the heavens, the earth, Jesus creating everything, all things were made through Him.

I think when it says all, it means all, right? And Moses writes in Psalm 90 verse 2, before the mountains were brought forth, when you would ever form the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

Jesus was not created. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. That's powerful. Jesus has always existed as the eternal Son of God, and that is a divine title. So Jesus can be the Son of God and God at the same time, because being the Son of God is saying you are God.

He was not adopted as the Son of God. He did not become a Son of God. He is the eternal Son of God. And the Jews understood that in their day, and we should understand that now. Hope this helps. Ask questions.

Ask comments. Let me help however I can. I'm going to try to start doing these videos a little shorter so you can watch them all the way through and share these videos to let people get some help. Love you guys very much.

Let me know how I can make these more efficient. Talk to y 'all later.