Theological Term of the Week: Eternal Sonship of Christ

eternal sonship 
The teaching that the second person of the Trinity has existed eternally as the Son, so that the relationship between God the Father and God the Son has always been a Father-Son relationship. 

• From scripture:

  … but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world … . (Hebrews 1:2, ESV)

  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law … . (Galatians 4:4 ESV)  

• From the Belgic Confession:
  

  Article 10: That Jesus Christ is true and eternal God.

  We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made nor created (for then he should be a creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with the Father, the express image of his person, and the brightness of his glory, equal unto him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time that he assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as these testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses saith, that God created the world; and John saith, that all things were made by that Word, which he calleth God. And the apostle saith, that God make the worlds by his Son; likewise, that God created all things by Jesus Christ. Therefore it must needs follow, that he, who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time, when all things were created by him. Therefore the prophet Micah saith, His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And the apostle: He hath neither beginning of days, nor end of life. He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God, whom we invoke, worship and serve.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. 

• From In Understanding Be Men by T.C. Hammond, page 96:

  A modern opinion, which has received a certain amount of credence among some Christians, contends that the term ‘Son’ is applicable only to our Lord’s human nature, and therefore it is incorrect to say that He was eternally the only begotten Son of God. It is contended that the Logos was eternal, but that the Logos became a Son only when He was incarnate of the blessed virgin Mary. There is one passage of Scripture that seems to directly contradict this opinion. Hebrews 1:8 reads: ‘But of the Son he says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.”’ And indeed the language in the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel points in the same direction. Speaking of the Logos, John says ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father’, where the term ‘Logos’ and the term ‘the only Son’ are applied to the same person without any suggestion that there is a period of time in which one term would not be applicable.

  Opinions of this sort need to be strenuously resisted because, however unintentionally, they disparage the authority which attaches to the Person of the Son of God.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions.org: What is the doctrine of eternal Sonship and is it biblical?
2. Theopedia: Eternal Sonship of Jesus
3. Kevin DeYoung: Primer: Eternal Sonship
4. Sam Waldron: A Defence of the Doctrine of the Eternal Sonship

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Arianism
• deity of Christ
• eternal generation of the Son
• Trinity

Filed under Trinity

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Sunday's Hymn: Come, Ye Souls by Sin Afflicted

Come, ye souls by sin afflicted,
Bowed with fruitless sorrow down;
By the broken law convicted,
Through the cross behold the crown;
Look to Jesus;
Mercy flows through him alone.

Take his easy yoke and wear it;
Love will make obedience sweet;
Christ will give you strength to bear it,
While his wisdom guides your feet
Safe to glory,
Where his ransomed captives meet.

Blessed are the eyes that see him,
Blest the ears that hear his voice;
Blessed are the souls that trust him,
And in him alone rejoice:
His commandments
Then become their happy choice.

Sweet as home to pilgrim’s weary,
Light to newly opened eyes,
Or full springs in deserts dreary,
Is the rest the cross supplies:
All who taste it
Shall to rest immortal rise.

 —Jo­seph Swain

Other hymns of worship songs for this Sunday:

• Mine Eyes Shall Behold Him at The Happy Wonderer 

Theological Term of the Week: Economic Trinity

economic Trinity 
The Trinity as revealed in creation and salvation, acting in our world, in human kistory.1 

• From scripture, Ephesians 1:3-14, ESV:

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

  11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

• From the Nicene Creed:
  

  I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. 

  And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. 

  Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. 

  And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

• From  Salvation Belongs to the Lord by John Frame, page 36:
  

  The economic Trinity….is the Trinity in relation to the creation. As we saw earlier, the three persons of the Trinity take on a sort of division of labor with regard to creation and redemption: the Father plans, the Son executes, the Spirit applies.  … See the order? The Father sends; Jesus and the Spirit are sent. The Father speaks of himself; the Son and Spirit speak the words the Father has given them to speak.

Learn more:

1. R. C. Sproul: What’s the Difference between the Ontological and the Economic Trinity? 
2. Fred Sanders: What Are the Economic and Immanent Trinities? (video)

Related terms:

• ontological Trinity
• Trinity

Filed under Trinity

1 From Robert Letham’s Systematic Theology, page 941.

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.