Was Jesus “The Son” before the Incarnation?

Was Jesus eternally the Son of God, or did he become the Son of God at the Incarnation? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi there. This is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Our phone lines are open at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also post your question on one of our social media accounts, and you can email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. And before we start off today, we should mention there is a brand new member in the Sanchez family. That's right, Bill. I had a baby girl, or my wife had a baby girl. I mean, we had a baby girl on Sunday, last Sunday, so not just yesterday, but last Sunday. After church, my wife started to feel contractions. This is our fifth child. And so we were kind of waiting around to see, you know, is this the real deal?

And it was. So my mother-in-law came, stayed with the other four. We drove to the hospital, barely got there in time, Bill, because we were looking for parking. They have, it's called stork parking, you know, you can park right in front if you're having a baby. But I could not find the stork parking, so we circled the hospital for a while, then finally just parked in the parking garage, and then tried to walk to the hospital, but that wasn't working too well. Every 15 steps, my wife would stop and just sort of say, hey, I think this baby is coming. And so the nurses came out, and we made it to the hospital room, and five minutes later, my daughter Monica was born.

So five minutes later. Yeah, it was great. It was awesome.

10 pounds, 10 pounds, three ounces. So be praying for my wife as she recovers. She's doing great. Now that you've got five kids, I mean, you basically have enough for a singing group or a circus act. I mean, if you think about it. Yeah, probably not the singing group, because if they have my voice, I don't know that that'll work out. But the circus act for sure.

I think we could we could pull something off. So that's, that's my backup plan. That's my plan B if this doesn't work out. Well, congratulations to you and Isabelle. It's very exciting news.

So that's great. Thanks. Well, let's open up our phone lines and go to Barb in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Barb, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, Pastor Adriel. How are you? I am doing well. Thank you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to walk on you.

I'm just a little excited here because I've been wanting to get on here for a long time. But anyways, did God create evil? Yeah. Hey, Barb, thank you for that question. Now, are you are you thinking of a particular passage?

Uh, yes. In Isaiah 45-7, it says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.

Okay, yes, I'm looking at the ESV right here. Isaiah 45-7, I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity.

I am the Lord who does all these things. So part of it is a translation question. But really, I mean, words, biblical words in the Old Testament and the New Testament have what we call a semantic range, meaning the same word could be translated different ways.

So there might be one context in which a word could be translated evil, another context in which it might be translated calamity. And I think here in Isaiah 45, what's being emphasized is God's sovereignty over all things, how God uses even earthly rulers to accomplish his purposes. In Isaiah 45, you have this great prophecy about Cyrus, who is referred to, by the way, as the Lord's anointed in verse one, and who is essentially going to be used by God to accomplish something on behalf of his people. And there's going to be war and calamity, and God is saying, I'm the one who's behind this.

I'm the one who's in control. And this is actually a theme that we see throughout the book of Isaiah, even earlier on, and God using the Assyrians, for example, to bring judgment against his people. And so this is not saying that the Lord is the author of sin, the creator of evil, in the sense I think that you might be thinking. What we say is God made all things good. Evil comes from us. Sin comes from us. God gave mankind responsibility.

Adam and Eve in the garden fell. Sin entered into the world. And ever since then, we've continued to sin. But God is not the one who is responsible for evil or sin. He's allowed it as the sovereign ruler of all things, and he's able to use it, our sin, even for good. This is something that we see throughout the Bible.

You see it ultimately in the cross of Jesus, the murder of the Son of God being used ultimately by the Lord for the redemption of mankind. But we never want to say that God is the author of sin, and that's something that the church has made very clear for the last two thousand years. God is not the creator of evil or of sin, and that's not what Isaiah 45 7 is saying.

So thank you for getting us into the text, and glad you were able to get on the program. So God bless, Barb. You know, so much of this does come down to free will, doesn't it, when we talk about God and evil in the world, even with Satan and Satan's fall. I mean, if God is truly a loving God, he does not force people to follow his will, correct? Yeah, so we have to make some real clear distinctions, right, when we're talking about responsibility and who's responsible for the evil in the world. While we want to affirm that God is sovereign over all things, that all things happen according to his decree, he's not the immediate cause, if you will, the first cause of the evil that takes place in the world. We're the ones who are responsible for that, and we are going to be judged justly on the basis of that reality. And so that's why God calls all people everywhere to repent, to turn to him, to receive the grace that he offers through his son, Jesus Christ. And if we don't, we're responsible.

We're going to be judged on that basis. And so really important that we parse the scriptures out clearly. And of course, we're thinking here of one of the greatest mysteries of the scriptures, the relationship between God's sovereignty and the human will, human freedom. But it's absolutely clear that we're responsible, and at the same time, God is absolutely sovereign.

Great explanation. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, theology, Christian doctrine, or even today's culture and how your faith intersects with what's happening in our world, we would love to hear from you. Here's the phone number. It's 833-843-2673 or 833-The-Core. Our phone lines will be open for the next 15 minutes or so. So give us a call right now.

Here's a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Omar. Hi, my question is, what is the eternal sonship and how would you explain that? You know, was Christ always the son or did he become the son in his incarnation?

That's something I've been wondering. I know historically that Christians have believed that he was eternally the son, that he always has been the son. And then with that, I also have a second part to the question, what does it mean by eternally begotten and not made? But yeah, thank you for taking time to answer this.

Very much looking forward to hearing back. Thank you. Hey, thank you for that question, Omar.

Excellent question. And I would say, you know, the gospel to go to, and we're thinking about the sonship of Christ and the eternal sonship, if you will, the eternal generation of the son is the gospel of John. John uses that language of Jesus being eternally begotten in various places in his writings, about five times, certainly in his gospel, and then also in 1 John. The first time you see it is in John 1, verse 14. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. That phrase right there, the words right there, only son, it's the Greek word monogenes.

It could be translated as only begotten. And your question is, did Jesus begin to be the son of God at the incarnation or was he always the son of God? Well, we would say on the basis of what the Bible teaches that Jesus did not begin to be the son of God when he was incarnate, but that he's always been the son of the father, the eternal son of the father. In fact, if you go ahead a little bit in John's gospel, in John chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, you see that word again, only begotten monogenes there in John 3 16, a very well-known Bible verse. But I think these two verses make it absolutely clear that Jesus didn't begin to be the son at the incarnation, but that he was always the son. And so listen to John chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. That is, God did not send the eternal word into the world so that he might become son, if you will, in the incarnation.

No, he was always the son. God demonstrated his love for us in sending his son to us, and this son was incarnate. He assumed humanity from the womb of the Virgin Mary. One of the ways, Omar, that Christians have talked about this over the last 2,000 years, in particular the church fathers early on, is they said in one sense we could say that Jesus was born twice, eternally begotten of the father. That is outside of time, and we're talking here about the special relationship, the mysterious relationship between the persons of the Trinity, that the son is begotten, the father is unbegotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son. But Jesus is the eternal son of God.

He never began to be. He wasn't created. He's always been the eternal son of God, and the eternal son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, was born in time through the womb of the Virgin Mary, assuming humanity, taking a human nature to himself so that he might heal us, redeem us, and bring us back to God.

This is the great mystery of the incarnation, what we celebrate, what many Christians celebrate around this time of year during Christmas. We would say that Jesus is the eternal son of God who was born in time through the womb of the Virgin Mary. Now, the second part of your question you asked, what do we mean when we say that he's eternally begotten, not made? It sounds like you're referring to the language of the creed, the Nicene Creed, where we say that Jesus is begotten, not made, being of one substance with the father. So there, what's being emphasized is that this begottenness was outside of time. It's not that Jesus was begotten at a particular moment. It's this eternal beginning, if you will. This great mystery.

That's why we have to be really careful with how we talk about it. Jesus is not a creature. The word is not a creature. The eternal son of the father was not created. He is God himself, God himself of the same substance, equal in power and glory with the father. So we can say that he's eternally begotten as we're thinking about his relationship to the father and the way in which the persons of the Trinity are distinguished. That's how we distinguish them by the fact that Jesus is begotten. But he wasn't made. He wasn't created. So Jesus is the uncreated Lord of heaven and earth. And that's why we worship him.

That's what we praise him. And that's what the Church has done for the last two thousand years. And so I love talking about the mystery of the Trinity, the mystery of the Incarnation, especially this time of the year. And I would just encourage you to keep digging into the Gospel of John, where we get so many of the answers to that question that you asked as we meditate upon those truths, those wonderful truths.

So God bless you. Omar, thanks so much for your question here on Core Christianity. By the way, we have a brand new Bible study to tell you about today. We are really excited about this when it's on one of our favorite books, the book of Philippians.

Yeah, that's right. We have a new Bible study that I was able to help out with in writing. It's on the book of Philippians. And you know, maybe you get the Gospel, right? You understand, or at least you think you understand the Gospel.

You know you're justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. But you wonder, you know, what does the Christian life look like in terms of living the Christian life? What guides our life?

What motivates us? What does the Christian life look like in practice? As you hear on this show, that's what people have questions about all the time. And so one of the ways that we want to help you answer those questions is through this new Bible study on the book of Philippians.

That's why we wrote this study to help answer some of these questions that we know that you have. And this study is yours for a donation of $20 or more. It's a perfect gift for small groups or for those who want to go deeper into this particular book of the Bible.

Make a great Christmas gift as well. And as we said, we can send that to you for a donation of $20 or more. You can find out more by going to corechristianity.com forward slash new study and look for the Philippians Bible study. Again, it's corechristianity.com forward slash new study. Let's go back to the phones and Rachel is on the line from Wisconsin. Rachel, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, my question is about death and heaven. When, let's say, there's a plane crash, some people die and some people live. So the people that survived, we say, oh, God was with you. But what about the people who didn't survive, you know, was God not with them? And also, as a believer, my hope is in heaven.

So that is my, my goal. So, so death, then, is not a bad thing. So is it we, we mourn a person who died, because they're no longer with us, but we rejoice that they're in heaven.

It's just confusing to me and I just would like to unwrap that a little bit. Well, Rachel, there are a few questions there. And of course, you know, just getting to the beginning of your question, sometimes we just don't speak in very helpful ways, do we? We say, oh, well, the Lord was really with, with you. You survived, but all those other people, are we insinuating that God was not with them? We do believe, we do know that God is, I mean, we're talking about the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign over life or death, that all our days are numbered, written in his book, if you will. That's what the psalmist says. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 29, that there isn't one sparrow that falls to the ground apart from the will of the Father.

And we're of more value than many sparrows. God is intimately aware with each of us, whether you're a Christian or not, God knows every single hair that is on your head. And so we can say, look, God, in that sense, is with everyone. He knows all things.

He's sovereign. And, and we don't understand why, you know, when, when certain things like, like, you know, the plane crash, those kinds of tragedies take place, why some die and others don't. We don't, we don't have the answers to those kinds of questions, questions, but we are reminded of our own mortality and frailty and the need to draw near to the Lord and repentance when we hear those kinds of stories, aren't we? And in fact, I think this is a point that Jesus himself makes in the gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter 13, where he was commenting on some tragedies that had taken place and people who had died unexpectedly. Jesus says, or the text says in Luke chapter 13, verse one, there were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus, Jesus answered them, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Here, Jesus is bringing up two examples of these, these tragic, terrible things that took place where people died.

And, you know, the crowd around him was saying, well, those people must have been extra wicked. That's why, that's why they died specifically. And Jesus says, no, that's not the case.

Let's not speculate about that. Here's what this should remind us of. It should remind us of our mortality, of our frailty, and of the fact that we all need to repent. We need to turn to God, to believe in him, to trust in him.

And so that's how I'd answer the first part of your question, Rachel. And then in terms of how we as believers should view death. Death is the great enemy that Christ came to conquer. That's why he rose again from the dead.

Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 calls it the last enemy. And so we don't look at death fondly. Too many people today, I think, view death as just this sort of, you know, this beautiful part of life, the natural part of life, the end of life. But death, according to scripture, is anything but natural.

It came into this world because of sin. God did not create a world with death in it. Death is the result of sin.

And so the restoration that God is bringing is going to be a restoration where death is no more. And so we mourn. We can mourn.

And this is what the apostle Paul told the Thessalonians. When a loved one dies, we can mourn. But if they're in Christ, we don't mourn as those who have no hope because we know that Jesus conquered death. And in Christ, we rest. And we also have the hope that we too, when we die, you know, that our souls will immediately be in the presence of the Lord. They'll be perfected in holiness. And we'll worship God around his throne together with all those who have gone before us believing in Jesus. And so there is a great hope there. But that doesn't mean that we don't have things that God calls us to do here on earth. And he's put us here for a reason, Rachel, to serve him, to love him, to be lights in this world through the light of Christ that shines in us, and to share the love of God and the truth of God's word with the people around us. And so may the Lord bless you as you do that. And thank you for that question. Rachel, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity. We appreciate having you as one of our regular listeners. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can call us right now, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 833-843-2673. You can also watch Adriel Live on YouTube every day at 11 30 a.m. Pacific time. And we have a YouTube question from one of our viewers in India. Joshua says, I sometimes doubt my own salvation, and that fact makes me worry that I might not be saved. How can I know for sure?

Joshua, thank you for this question and for watching us on YouTube. And let me just say, I know the feeling for years, especially after I first came to faith in Jesus, I struggled with assurance. And it just plagued me, thinking, well, how can I be certain? How can I know for sure that God loves me, that I belong to him, that my sins have been forgiven? Yeah, I mean, I go to church. I do think that my life has been transformed by Jesus, but I still have sins, indwelling sin.

And I'm sure that you feel that too. And we all do as Christians. We feel the weight of that indwelling sin that's still in us, the conviction that comes to us from the Holy Spirit. And sometimes that can cause us to wonder, well, do I really even belong to Jesus?

And so I would say the way you get assurance is not by looking inside of yourself. It's by looking up to Jesus. It's by putting your confidence in his love, in his gospel, in his power to save you and to keep you. He didn't just forgive your sins and then say, okay, now you figure out the rest and hopefully I'll see you in heaven.

No, he's the one who keeps us even. I think of the wonderful words that we read from Jesus in John chapter 10. John chapter 10, beginning in verse 27, he said this, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. The sheep never perish. Jesus gives them eternal life.

That's not something that they just have and then lose and then have it again and then they lose it again. No, Jesus says, I give them eternal life, they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. So where do we get assurance from? We get it from confidence not in ourselves but in Jesus, in His power to keep us, to hold us, to bring us back to Him even when we wander. We are preserved. You are preserved by faith in Jesus Christ. So I would say when you're struggling with assurance, when you're wondering, man, does God love me? I feel like I still sin. Remember the fact, one, that God didn't love us or send His Son into the world because we were sinless, because we were good and deserved it. Paul says in Romans chapter 5, God demonstrates His love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While you were still sinning, rebelling against God, God sent His Son into the world to pay for your sin so that you might have eternal life. And if God didn't love you on the basis of your goodness then, He doesn't love you on the basis of your goodness now. Joshua, if you've trusted in Christ, you can be assured that you belong to Him and that He's going to keep you. God bless.

Amen. This is Core Christianity. Just a reminder, we have this wonderful new Bible study available on the book of Philippians.

It'd be great for a small group or for individual study. You can learn more about that by going to CoreChristianity.com forward slash new study. Well, we do receive emails here at Core Christianity, and Jason asks this. He says, how can I find joy in the midst of trials? Yeah, a question that I'm sure a lot of people are asking, how can we have joy in the midst of trials? Well, we don't rejoice in the evil or the difficulty that we might experience in itself, if you will. We rejoice because God is able to use even the trials in our lives to refine us.

And isn't that precisely what James said? Count it all joy, my brothers, when you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. In other words, God is at work even in the trial. He's able to use those trials for your sanctification, for your growth in grace. And so we cling to him in the midst of the trial, trusting in him, knowing, God, you're able to work in this. And I rejoice in that fact, not in the fact that this is difficult, that my life is consumed with this weakness, with this sickness, whatever it is. We lament, we mourn, we can cry out to God and say, Lord, oh, this is so difficult. Have mercy upon me. But in the midst of it, we can also say, I know that you're in control, God.

I know that you know every single hair that is on my head. I know that you love me and that you're able to use this for my good. And in that, I rejoice.

And that's how we rejoice in the midst of difficulty. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.