Can God have a Son?

On this website, we search for the truth. In our search, we review what the Bible tells us about it. The Bible frequently talks about “The Son of God.” I know that many Muslims have difficulty with this expression. In this article, I would like to clarify some misunderstandings and try to answer some frequently asked questions about the expression “Son of God”.

The first misunderstanding I want to clarify is that some people imagine that God would have had a physical affair with Mary. However, there was no sexual relationship or marriage between God and Mary. God’s Spirit made it happen for the virgin Mary to become pregnant. I will explain this in some more detail in this article.

What if the message of the Bible is false?

If you believe that the message of today’s Bible is different from the original text, please read this article first. Indeed, if you doubt the reliability of the Bible, there is not that much sense in reading on.

When you look at the key message of the Bible, you can only have one opinion about it: It’s either true or it’s worthless. If the Bible really shares the message of our Creator, then the following words contain a life-saving message for you;

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But those who do not obey the Son will never have that life. They cannot get away from God’s anger.” John 3:36

Let’s find out more about Jesus Christ. Was He an great teacher, a prophet, or was He more?

The message of the Bible

The most important message that echoes throughout the Bible is this: God loves His creation and He loves all of us. He wants us to live as He intended. God is a God of relationships and wants us to love Him too.

But if we are honest, we are aware that we are not able to answer His love. We are much concerned with self-interest and therefore often do exactly the opposite of what God wants. God is fair and just and therefore cannot ignore our dishonesty and shameful behavior.

Still, He wants to forgive those who sincerely seek Him, but as fully righteous, He cannot just forgive our bad deeds. To be able to forgive us anyway, He has come up with a special plan… The central person in this plan is Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells why Jesus Christ came to earth: He was God’s representative and the One who came to save us from the way of life that leads to death…

True love is God’s love for us, not our love for God. He sent his Son as the way to take away our sins. 1 John 4:10

You can read much more about this in the main story on this website.

Was Jesus a great dreamer or a smart deceiver?

From the very beginning of His mission here on earth, it becomes obvious that Jesus is a very special person. He does miracles and heals people. These are not things that an ordinary person can do. You might think that He was a Prophet or a chosen one who has been given certain qualities by God.

However, it is another matter when He also claims to forgive sins. After all, no human being has the authority to forgive what someone has done wrong against God. In doing so, Jesus claims to be more than just a human being.

Therefore, in my opinion, there are only two possibilities; Jesus was someone with foolish ideas or He is truly divine. Thus, all followers of Jesus either believe in a fraudster or believe in the true God.

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the truth that God told us. But people who do not believe God make God a liar, because they do not believe what God told us about his Son. 1 John 5:10

Jesus existed before He became human

John, one of the disciples of Jesus begins his eyewitness account with the following description;

In the beginning, before the earth was made, the Word was there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was there with God in the beginning. Everything was made through him, and nothing was made without him. John 1:1-3

And a little further on John writes:

The Word became a man and lived among us. We saw his divine greatness—the greatness that belongs to the only Son of the Father. The Word was full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Jesus Christ is called the Word of God. God himself becomes human. This introduction provides an insight into the very special nature of God and His plan of salvation for the world.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

Luke, another disciple of Jesus, describes the birth of Jesus; most people do know that the Bible mentions that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. The Virgin Mary becomes pregnant without having sex with a man.

There was no sexual relationship or marriage between God and Mary, as some people think. God’s Spirit caused the virgin Mary to become pregnant.

The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High God will cover you. The baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35

This makes Jesus a one-of-a-kind person. Both divine and human. We will never be able to fully understand this because there are no other people who have this “double identity.”

Even as a baby, it appeared that Jesus was a special child. There were even people coming from a faraway country to visit the newborn child. They even came to honor Him as a king (see Matthew 2).

Why Jesus Christ is called the Son of God?

We are used to linking the title “Son of” to physical relation, but the title is also used in the Bible in the meaning of “Representative.” Someone who is part of a particular group or country. This does not directly involve a child or descendant in the physical meaning.

In biblical history, several people are called the “Son of God.” This indicated the special relationship between this person and God. Likewise, the first man, Adam was also called the son of God. Since Jesus is also a special person, it is then not at all surprising that he is also given this title.

However, Jesus is different from all the other ones who were given the title “son of God”: the Bible teaches us that Jesus is a human reflection of God;

The Son shows the glory of God. He is a perfect copy of God’s nature, and he holds everything together by his powerful command. The Son made people clean from their sins. Hebrews 1:3a

The moment Jesus begins His mission on earth, He first has Himself baptized by John the Baptist. God makes it clear at that moment that Jesus is His Son;

So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.” Matthew 3:16-17

Jesus is more than just Son

The Bible shows that God is one in being. However, He reveals Himself as 3 different persons: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus says about this:

The Father and I are one.” John 10:30

We humans have a body and a Spirit, which cannot exist separately during our lifetime. With God, this is different. It is difficult for us to understand that God was both human, but at the same time, He was the eternal Creator who is present everywhere.

To understand what God’s loving plan is, you must try to understand the spiritual part of our existence. Our spirit lives in our body, but after our body dies, our spirit continues to exist. This is something that most people are aware of. Many people are also aware that after we die we will meet our Creator and we will be held accountable for the way we have lived.

God is spirit, but became man to carry out His plan.

People call Him the Son of God

Many people during Jesus’ life on earth concluded that He was the promised Messiah, the Savior. They therefore also called Him the Son of God;

Then the followers in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, “You really are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:33

Not only His close followers but also many others said so. Thus, spoke a possessed man:

They came to Jesus and shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Did you come here to punish us before the right time?” Matthew 8:29

Jesus affirms that He is the Son of God

At the beginning of His mission on earth, Jesus Himself affirms that He is the Son of God, but He emphasizes that people should not talk about it.

When Jesus heard that they had forced the man to leave, he found him and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man said, “Tell me who he is, sir, so I can believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have already seen him. The Son of Man is the one talking with you now.” John 9:35-37

Just before He was crucified He confirms that He is God.

They all said, “Then are you the Son of God?” Jesus said to them, “You are right in saying that I am.” Luke 22:70

The words “I am” refer to the name of God in the first part of the Bible:

Then God said to Moses, “Tell them, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ When you go to the Israelites, tell them, ‘I AM’ sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14

Therefore, He had to die

Most religious leaders of the time would not believe that Jesus was the long-promised Savior. They called Him a blasphemer and wanted to kill Him. He was arrested and was brought to the religious leader (the high priest);

But Jesus said nothing. Again the high priest said to Jesus, “You are now under oath. I command you by the power of the living God to tell us the truth. Tell us, are you the Messiah, the Son of God?” Jesus answered, “Yes, that’s right. But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of God. And you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” When the high priest heard this, he tore his clothes in anger. He said, “This man has said things that insult God! We don’t need any more witnesses. You all heard his insulting words. Matthew 26:63-65

If Jesus had only claimed to be the Savior, He might have had less opposition from the spiritual leaders, but because He claimed to be the Son of God, He thereby stated that He was God.

Jesus died for our sins

The key message of the Bible is that God loves us and that we can receive forgiveness for our sins. We can have peace with God, but it is also obvious that we cannot do that by ourselves. Therefore, God has come up with a plan that allows Him to forgive our wrongdoings without being unjust.

His Son Jesus Christ died for the consequences of our sins instead of us. Therefore, God can forgive you when you are sorry for your sins and are willing to trust in God’s grace. But how is it possible that God dies? You can read more about that in

Jesus resurrected from dead

In the Bible, we can read about the greatest miracle of Jesus Christ: three days after His death, He became alive again. No ordinary person has the power and authority to defeat death.

The Good News is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As a human, he was born from the family of David, but through the Holy Spirit he was shown to be God’s powerful Son when he was raised from death. Romans 1:3-4

A matter of life and death

One important condition God gives for the forgiveness of our sins is trusting completely in salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. John 3:16

I hope this article inspires you to read on and discover more about how much God loves you.

Or if you have arrived at this page, you can read the full story here.

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The life of Jesus
Was Jesus more than a prophet?
Can God have a Son?
Did Jesus really die on the cross?
Can God die?
Did someone else die on the cross?
Can one God be 3 persons?