"Son of God" Referring to Christ's Humanity??

[N. Eshelman]

Has anyone here done any research that points to "Son of God" referring to the humanity of Christ? I understand that there are 4 ways that Son of God is used in reference to Jesus (according to Berkhof and others), but has anyone here looked at "Son of God" as primarily pointing to the humanity of Christ (as opposed to "Son of Man" pointing to his divinity?)

I understand that this is a hot button issue in some missiological circles right now, especially with those that minister to the Muslim world. Any thoughts?

 

[Contra_Mundum]

The point of distinction you seem to be making (Son of God/Son of Man) is intuitively "backward," in my opinion.

Son of God is directly implicative of Christ divinity, see John 10:30-36.

The title "Son of Man" is directly implicative of Christ's humanity. However, that is not to say that the Scriptures, especially Dan.7:13, don't strongly imply that the Son of Man has divine qualities. The title "Son of Man" (as attested in places like Ps.8:4) refers to "the representative man" (or Representative). Federal Theology is pregnant in the expression. It so happens that Christ is the Representative Man above all others. He is Israel, reduced to a single person.

 

[Peairtach]

John MacArthur denied Christ's eternal sonship - he didn't deny that He is eternally the Second Person of the Trinity - and then changed to something more orthodox:

http://www.puritanboard.com/google.....y=5&siteurl=www.puritanboard.com/forum/#1012

The Jews of Jesus' day seemed to think that the term Son of God was a claim to share in the same nature as God, i.e. to be as much God as God Himself:

The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." (Jn 10:33, ESV)

Christ in His humanity is the Son of God in the sense that Joseph wasn't His father, but that God was. But he is not uniquely such in the sense that Adam is called "the Son of God" because he too was the direct offspring of God, without human father.

This - among other things - shows that those passages that speak of Christ as the only begotten Son of God, are speaking of an eternal relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Godhead as Father and Son.

 

[MW]

Has anyone here done any research that points to "Son of God" referring to the humanity of Christ?

Geerhardus Vos, The Self-Disclosure of Jesus (chaps. 10, 11), provides good exegetical discussion. The title doesn't refer to the humanity of Christ per se. When it is used in connection with His humanity it is for the purpose of ascribing its origin to the "supernatural paternity of God." In academic discussions it usually comes to be connected to Messiahship. In other words, to office rather than person or nature. Vos demonstrates that it cannot be restricted to this sense; for there are numerous instances, especially in John's Gospel, where it specifies an ontological and pre-incarnate relationship upon which the Messiahship depends.