The Eternal Sonship of Christ

(Based solely on the King James Bible and Pauline doctrine)

The eternal Sonship of Christ is the truth that Jesus Christ is and always has been the Son of God from everlasting, not merely since His birth in Bethlehem or His baptism in Jordan. He did not become the Son by incarnation, nor by resurrection, but is eternally the Son because He is eternally God. The Son did not have a beginning any more than the Father did. His Sonship reveals the eternal relationship within the Godhead, showing that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are coequal, coeternal, and one in essence. To deny the eternal Sonship of Christ is to deny His eternal deity and to make His Sonship a created title rather than a divine identity.

1. The Son Existed Before the World Began

The Scriptures clearly declare that the Son was present and active before creation. Paul writes in Colossians 1 verse 16, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth.” John 1 verse 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 14 then reveals, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The Word did not begin when He became flesh. He was already in existence and was already God. Paul affirms in 1 Corinthians 8 verse 6, “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” Christ as the Son is eternal and the Creator of all.

2. The Son Was Sent, Not Created

Throughout Scripture, the Son is said to be sent from the Father, which implies His preexistence. Galatians 4 verse 4 says, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.” He was the Son before He was made of a woman. The Father did not create a Son; He sent the Son He already had. John 3 verse 17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” To be sent means He already existed as the Son before His incarnation.

3. The Son is Eternal in His Relationship to the Father

The title “Son of God” expresses the eternal relationship within the Godhead, not a point of origin. Jesus said in John 17 verse 5, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” He already possessed divine glory before creation, showing He was not a created being entering existence at Bethlehem. In John 1 verse 18 we read, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Notice the present tense—He is in the bosom of the Father, indicating a continuing, eternal fellowship, not a temporary role.

4. The Son’s Deity is Equal to the Father’s

Jesus Christ is not a lesser deity or a created representative. He is fully God. Paul states in Philippians 2 verse 6 that Christ, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” The term “form of God” does not mean likeness but very nature. He did not seize equality with God because it was His by right. The eternal Son shares the same divine essence as the Father and the Spirit. Colossians 2 verse 9 confirms this, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The Son is not a part of God or a phase of God; He is the full expression of God’s eternal being.

5. The Son Reveals the Invisible God

The Son is the visible expression of the invisible God. Colossians 1 verse 15 calls Him “the image of the invisible God.” John 14 verse 9 records Jesus saying, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” This means that the eternal Son perfectly manifests the Father’s nature, character, and will. In the prophetic program, the Son revealed the Father to Israel in the flesh. In this dispensation of grace, the Son is revealed through the written word of God, which testifies of Him. His eternal Sonship ensures that God has always been revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit from eternity, not as a changing or developing deity.

6. The Son Was Declared, Not Made, the Son by the Resurrection

Some teach that Jesus became the Son of God at the resurrection, based on Romans 1 verse 4, “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” The verse says declared, not made. The resurrection did not create His Sonship but confirmed it publicly. It was the divine declaration that the same eternal Son who died for our sins now lives forever as the risen Lord. His resurrection proved His eternal deity, power, and equality with the Father.

7. The Eternal Sonship and the Mystery

Paul’s revelation of the mystery confirms the eternal nature of Christ. The hidden wisdom of God, ordained before the world unto our glory (1 Corinthians 2 verse 7), centers on Christ Jesus our Lord. Before the world began, God purposed in Christ a plan to form the Body of Christ through the gospel of grace. This plan required an eternal Savior, not a temporal or created being. The Son’s eternal nature ensures that redemption is eternal and that the mystery was foreknown in the mind of God before time began. The Son existed before Israel, before creation, and before all ages.

8. The Importance of the Eternal Sonship

To deny the eternal Sonship of Christ undermines both His deity and the reliability of Scripture. If Christ became the Son at some point in time, then God the Father became a father at that same time, which destroys the eternal nature of the Godhead. The eternal Father has always had an eternal Son and an eternal Spirit. The titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost reveal eternal relationships within the one God. This truth guards the believer against false doctrines that reduce Jesus Christ to a created or subordinate being. Paul exalts this truth when he calls Him “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2 verse 13).

Conclusion

The eternal Sonship of Christ is not a theological option; it is a fundamental truth of the Godhead. The Son was not created, developed, or adopted. He has always been the eternal Word, the express image of the Father, and the One through whom all things were made. From eternity past to eternity future, He remains “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13 verse 8. In the dispensation of grace, this eternal Son has revealed the fullness of God’s purpose through Paul’s gospel, showing that all spiritual blessings and all heavenly places are centered in Him. To know the eternal Son is to know the eternal God, and to rest in His finished work is to be eternally secure in the One who never began and will never end.