The Sonship of Jesus: John | Cross & Crescent Ministries

The Sonship of Jesus:

John

Question: Does the Gospel of John identify Jesus as God’s Son?

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Overview

The Sonship of Jesus is taught throughout the Gospel of John. Those who refer to Jesus as the Son of God or accuse Jesus of claiming to be God's Son are as follows.

John (1:14-18, 3:16-18, 3:35-36 & 20:30-31)

Jesus (5:16-27, 10:31-39, 11:1-7, 13:31-32, 14:1-14 & 17:1-5)

The Disciples of Jesus (1:43-51 & 11:17-27)

The Jewish Religious Leaders (19:1-7)

It should be noted that the Sonship of Jesus (as well as the Fatherhood of God) has nothing to do with physical, biological or sexual procreation. A Son of God, according to the Bible, is someone who represents God and acts with the authority of God, and this is applied to humans and angels. Simply put, God is a Father because God has sons and daughters, and the sons and daughters of God are those who represent God and act with the authority of God.

References to the Sonship of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew are especially significant when contrasted with the Quran. The Quran (although claiming to be a continuation of the religion of Jesus) states that it is highly inappropriate to associate Allah with Fatherhood or to suggest that Allah has children in any sense, and this is explicitly denied when applied to the relationship between Allah and Jesus. In short, the Quran denies the religion of Jesus by denying the Sonship of Jesus and the Fatherhood of God.

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Bible Passages - John

John 1:14-18

(14) 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.

(15) (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) (16) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. (17) For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (18) No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 3:16-18

(16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

John 3:35-36

(35) The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. (36) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

John 20:30-31

(30) Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. (31) But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Bible Passages - Jesus

John 5:16-27

(16) So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. (17) In his defence Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (18) For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

(19) Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (20) For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. (21) For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. (22) Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, (23) that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.

(24) “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. (25) Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. (26) For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. (27) And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

John 10:31-39

(31) Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, (32) but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

(33) “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

(34) Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? (35) If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came - and Scripture cannot be set aside - (36) what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? (37) Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. (38) But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

(39) Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

John 11:1-7

(1) Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (2) (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) (3) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

(4) When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (5) Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (6) So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, (7) and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

John 13:31-32

(31) When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. (32) If God is

glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

John 14:1-14

(1) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. (2) My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (4) You know the way to the place where I am going.”

(5) Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

(6) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (7) If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

(8) Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

(9) Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (10) Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (11) Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. (12) Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (13) And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 17:1-5

(1) After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. (2) For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. (3) Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (4) I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. (5) And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Bible Passages - The Disciples of Jesus

John 1:43-51

(43) The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

(44) Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. (45) Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

(46) “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

(47) When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

(48) “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

(49) Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

(50) Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” (51) He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

John 11:17-27

(17) On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. (18) Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, (19) and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. (20) When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

(21) “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (22) But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

(23) Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

(24) Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

(25) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; (26) and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

(27) “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Bible Passages - The Jewish Religious Leaders

John 19:1-7

(1) Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. (2) The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe (3) and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

(4) Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” (5) When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

(6) As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

(7) The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”