Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.32 – August 2000
God’s Only-begotten Son, Our Brother and Our Lord
Sermon by Rev M P Geluk
on Lord’s Day 13 (Heidelberg Catechism)
Scripture Readings: Hebrews 1:1-9; 1John 2:28 – 3:10
Suggested Hymns: BoW 96; 198; 330; 135:1, 2, 9, 10
Beloved in the Lord.
We confess our faith in Christ as God’s only Son, our Lord. It’s now for us to know what these titles of Christ mean for our salvation. Lord’s Day 13 brings us Scripture’s teaching about GOD’S ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, OUR BROTHER AND OUR LORD.
1. The Bible speaks of God’s sons and children
Remember the song from our Book of Worship?
“Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us…
that we should be called sons of God.” [No. 375]
Yes, men and women who are Christians are the sons and daughters of God. God’s Word encourages us to speak of ourselves as believers, as children of God. When a sinner is converted to Christ, then we can say that he or she is now also a child of God.
But the Bible also calls Jesus the Son of God, and there are a number of differences between His sonship and our sonship. To understand what these differences are will help us rejoice in our sonship and praise God for His Son. But let me point out first that the Bible uses the phrase ‘children of God’ in a wider sense.
I take you to Athens where in the first century the apostle Paul was speaking to its leading citizens. They told him that their poets regarded themselves as God’s offspring. These people talking to Paul were pagans who believed in false gods. Yet Paul did not hesitate to say that they and he are all God’s offspring (Acts 17:28-29). Psalm 82 describes Israel’s ungodly kings as ‘sons of the Most High’ (vs.6). And in Job, even angels are called the sons of God (38:7).
So, Scripture does not limit the phrase ‘sons of God’ to just believers only. In a sense, God is the Father of all beings, men and angels alike, for He created them all (cf Eph.3:15). But Genesis informs us that spiritual differences began to appear early among people. It says specifically that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. And although the Bible here does not yet use the term ‘children of God for them, they, more than anyone else, were God’s children in the fullest sense. They owed both their physical and spiritual existence to God who made them. But their spiritual likeness of God was badly distorted when the fall into sin took place. The deceitfulness of Satan was now in them.
But God did not let Satan have it all his way. He was merciful to Adam and Eve and promised the birth of the Saviour. But among the children of Adam and Eve a dividing line began to appear among people. On the one side are those who called on the name of the Lord and on the other side are those who wanted nothing to do with God. Those who called on God are the believers and Genesis 6 describes them as ‘the sons of God’ (vss.2&4). The others are just the children of men. But God’s heart was saddened when the sons of God married the daughters of men because among their children wickedness increased greatly and eventually God punished the world of that time with the great flood.
The flood killed that whole evil generation, but believing Noah and his family were saved. However the flood could not destroy the sin in peoples’ hearts. Eventually God called Abraham and His descendants to be His spiritual children. They were called to faith and obedience and God made a covenant with them and declared Himself to be their God and they His people. From this point on the Bible begins to call unbelievers the children of disobedience and objects of God’s wrath.
Jesus went a step further and called unbelieving Pharisees the children of devil (Jn.8:44). Only by being born again and converted to Christ can sinners once more become the children of God. When this happens, then the natural but fallen children of God the Creator become the spiritual saved children of God the Redeemer. Led by the Spirit of God these are now the sons of God. And they know from the Spirit’s witness in their hearts that through Christ the Saviour they have become the children of God (Rom.8:14,16).
So although all people are children of God because their origin and life are from Him, the Creator, the Bible uses the phrase ‘the children of God’ mostly for those who have become the born-again followers of Jesus Christ.
2. Christ is the only-begotten Son
Some of the newer Bible translations, like the NIV, no longer use the term ‘only-begotten’ for Christ. The NIV’s translation of John 3:16, for example, goes like this, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son…”! But the original has a word here, which for a long time was translated as ‘only-begotten’ – ‘monogene’. The meaning of ‘only-begotten’ becomes clear when we read in the Bible about the widow of Nain whose only-begotten son had died and whom Jesus subsequently raised back to life (Lk 7:11-17). Only-begotten means that the widow had just that one child. He was unique in that he was the only child of that mother. So when Christ is called the ‘only-begotten’ Son of God, then it means that He is one of a special kind. He is God’s Son. Like God, who is eternal, the Son is eternal. The Son is of the same substance as the Father.
But Jesus is also the natural Son of God for He was born of the Father through the virgin Mary. He became flesh and blood, just like us. In fact, when we are also the children of God, then Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers (Heb.2:11).
All this makes Jesus unique. He is both God and man. Believers become the children of God through a spiritual birth, but Christ is and always has been the only-begotten Son of God. Christ is of the same substance as God the Father and shares the same being. That cannot be said of us.
We read in John 1 that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (vss.1-2). Further on, verse 14 explains who the Word is. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” It’s the only-begotten Son of God. John says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the only-begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And verse 18 identifies Jesus further when it says, “No one has ever seen God, but God the only-begotten, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” Here the only-begotten, who is Jesus, is called God also. Only He can make God the Father known because He is of the same substance as the Father. The Father begets the Son. But unlike human parents who beget their children only once, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father (Ps.2:7). It’s a never ending process within the being of God. When the Jehovah Witnesses deny that Jesus is the eternal Son of God but only became a Son at a point in time, then they are not reading Scripture right. Scripture says that God is eternal and in His being are Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all one being without beginning or end.
You are probably thinking right now that all this is so theoretical. So how can we get this scriptural doctrine about Christ as the only-begotten Son and our Brother to appeal to us. Well, let me take you back to king Solomon. He began his reign as a child of God and because he was a king he was also regarded as a son of God (cf.Ps.82:6). You know that God had given Solomon a lot of wisdom. The Bible says he had understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore (1Kings 4:29ff). He was wiser than all the wise men of the East and of Egypt. His fame had spread to all the surrounding nations. Solomon was the author of 3000 proverbs and he had composed 1005 songs. He knew a lot about plants, as diverse as the big cedar trees of Lebanon to the small hyssop plants that grow out of walls. He lectured on animals and birds, reptiles and fish. The kings of the world who had heard of Solomon’s wisdom sent their representatives to listen to him.
But the Queen of Sheba came herself. She, too, had heard about the fame of Solomon but also that his Lord was the God of heaven and earth. So she decided to test him with hard questions (1Kings 10:1ff). Arriving with many precious gifts and making a great impression, she talked with Solomon about all that she had on her mind. And Solomon, the child and son of God, who had taken care to link his name with the name of the Lord, answered all the questions of the Queen of Sheba. Nothing was too hard for Solomon to explain.
When the Queen had finished asking all she wanted to ask and had seen all of Solomon’s influence, she said that the reports she had heard about him back in her own country had given her only half the story. And then she gave praise to the Lord God for taking delight in Solomon and in making him king. In fact, she said that Solomon was made king because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel and to maintain justice and righteousness (vs 9).
But now this wise and knowledgeable Solomon who linked his name with God’s name, left the Lord in his later years. He foolishly worshipped the false gods of his many wives and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Because of this the Lord took away his kingdom and made enemies rise against him. So here was a son of God who began so well but finished so badly. Solomon, the wisest of all men, became a son of disobedience and a child of God’s wrath.
A thousand years later, in the same country where Solomon reigned, an unschooled rabbi lived, who wandered about preaching and teaching a message that took the common people by storm. His fame also spread, and again, people from outside His country came to hear Him. But the clergy of His day hated Him because this rabbi’s teaching and example showed up their lack of compassion and their hypocrisy. They challenged Him and asked for a sign to show by what authority He spoke and acted with such power. This humble rabbi astonished them. He referred to their great former king Solomon who was so wise and so much a son of God. Then He referred to Himself and said, “…and now one greater than Solomon is here” (Mat.12:42).
This rabbi was Jesus, of course, the only-begotten Son of God, the real, unique, and eternal Son of God, who, unlike Solomon, did not become a disobedient and rebellious son. He said to the Pharisees that the Queen of Sheba will rise at the judgment and condemn them for being so stupid to reject Christ. She only had Solomon to look up to and she already praised God for the wisdom God had given him. The Pharisees had Jesus and they were too prejudiced and narrow-minded to see God’s greatness in Him.
The Lord Jesus still stands before the people of the world. He is the only-begotten Son of God and by comparison infinitely wiser and greater than all the men and women of the world. Among them are philosophers, historians, poets, generals, kings, economist, politicians and scientists. But to whom will the children of disobedience who, because of their sin have become objects of God’s wrath, turn to? To man or to Christ?
3. Believers are adopted by grace through Christ their Brother
To all who turn to Christ, to all who receive Him, to those who believe in His name, He makes them the children of God, “…children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (Jn.1:12-13).
All through history God has been telling us about Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. Only He can save us for all eternity. It is not enough to have someone who can only give you more possessions and a better earthly life. All the children of men have become disobedient sons and daughters who have rebelled against God with their sins. They remain objects of God’s wrath until they believe in the only-begotten Son of God and through Him have their sins forgiven and become the spiritual children of God.
So the children of men need to be adopted by God. They need to be taken out of the family of men and received back into God’s family. They need to repent and believe. Only Christ is the real Son of God… has always been and will always be. But God sent Him to take on our human nature. He, too, was born of a woman. He became our Brother. But He is a perfect Brother and showed us how to trust and obey God. He did more than that. He took on Himself our guilt and died our death so that all who believe in Him can also become the children of God again. More than Solomon ever could, more than anyone ever can, He can change us from children of sin and disobedience to children of the living God.
When God adopts us as His very own children then some amazing things take place. God becomes our spiritual Father. Jesus said the Pharisees had the devil as their father because they did the same things the devil does. But when God is our spiritual Father, then He gives us His Spirit and He causes us to do things that Christ our Brother does. And what’s more, as children of God we become heirs with Christ. He who is our perfect Brother received honour and glory from His heavenly Father. Because He is a perfect Son, He has already received all the riches of heaven and will receive all the splendour of the new earth. And we, who believe, will also receive all these riches because we, too, are the children of God. The inheritance, which God the Father gives, will pass on to all His true children, to Christ and those who belong to Him.
But the wonderful blessings of being the sons and daughters of God are not only future. Already now, in our earthly sufferings, we can call on God as our Father. (Rom.8:15-17). Whatever grief or struggle we go through now, we have our heavenly Father watching over us, working in us with His Word and Spirit, reminding us that we are His children and that He will as surely look after us as He looked after Christ, His Son.
Sometimes we may doubt that. Sometimes the spiritual children of God in the world are troubled by depression or by their shortcomings. They sometimes look too much at themselves, at others, and not enough at Christ their Brother. Sometimes they are not so confident about what may happen to them at the coming of Christ. But in his letter, John tries to assure believers of their adoption by God. He says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!” Yes, we must look to the love of our heavenly Father. And because John felt in his own heart the creeping tendency to doubt, and suspects the same in his fellow believers, he underlines the fact that we are God’s children. He says, “And that is what we are!” (1Jn.3:1-13). So there, believe it now.
4. Confessing Christ as Lord
In Question and Answer 34 the Catechism asks: “Why do you call the only-begotten Son of God ‘our Lord’?” And the answer is very similar to those precious words of Lord’s Day1, where we confess the wonderful comfort of belonging to Christ with body and soul, in life and death. Here it says that we call Christ Lord, “because – not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood – He has set us free from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own.”
Christ our Brother is also our Lord. And when we confess Him as Lord then we must mean by that: we have no other lords. Believers will submit to human authorities whom God has placed over us for the well-being of us all, but our real King is Christ.
Now there are two practical consequences that flow out of Christ being our Lord.
First of all it sets us free and it makes us slaves. Being no longer children of sin and disobedience but children of God, it means that, like Christ, God’s unique Son and our Brother, we are in the world but don’t belong to it. The kingdom of God, and not the kingdom of the world, is our playing field now. We are as strangers and aliens in the world. Abraham already realised that many years ago (Heb.11:13). We are but passing through. Although we don’t physically isolate ourselves from our unbelieving neighbours and workmates, because we must be a salt and a light to them, we are nevertheless free from their worldly concerns. And we are called to be free from the sinful temptations and evil pleasures of the world. The spiritual children of God are of the light and not of the darkness and they do the works of light and avoid those of the darkness.
Because our Lord has set believers free from whatever binds the people of the world to the world, they can get very upset with themselves when they fall back into the sinful ways of the world. They know when they have given in to the devil, and it bothers them deeply. They cry to the Lord for forgiveness and try to break loose from those things they hate. It is a matter of loving our Lord and our neighbour so much that our will to obey Christ becomes stronger than our love for things we know are not right. It really is a matter of wanting to be a slave to Christ. Of unquestioningly obeying Him and once again being the obedient children of God.
That’s the first thing.
But then secondly, it also brings us both trouble and assurance. Because Christ is our Lord, we will experience the displeasure of those who want us to conform to their worldly ways. The early Christians were persecuted and killed when they said that Christ is their Lord. The Roman Empire did not really care if they said that, as long as they also said that Caesar is Lord. But believers can’t do that. We can’t worship the manmade gods of our society. And that brings trouble. And thousands and thousands of Christians have been martyred because of that loyalty and faithfulness to Christ.
It scares those of us who have never experienced persecution. We wonder if we will have the courage to remain loyal to Christ our Lord. But the Lord is not going to take His Spirit away from us. And we must pray that our faith will not fail when the time of testing is upon us.
Remember, too, that our Lord is praying for us in the presence of the Father. So if the evil day comes, then let us weigh up the options. Is it better to compromise and avoid trouble, to deny our Lord and turn our back to Him, or should we obey Him who saved us from the emptiness of the world and from hell? God’s Spirit will tell us what to decide. Pray much that we, too, will know and will want to do what our Lord did when He was tempted by the devil to abort His mission.
And if confessing Christ as Lord brings trouble, then also remember it brings assurance. Our Lord says this, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn.3:2). The more we overcome the world, the deeper we feel that we belong to our Lord. The more we resist sin, the closer we come to our real home. This is our assurance that we have been set free from the tyranny of Satan and that Christ our Lord has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own.
Continue, then, as the children of God, to confess and hold fast to the only-begotten Son of God, our Brother and our Lord.
Amen.