Godhead 04 - Son(s) of God

The video discusses the phrase "Son of God" and how it is used in scripture. It explains that the term is not only used to refer to Jesus, but also to mortal men and angels. The purpose of the video series is to explore different concepts of the Godhead and allow viewers to decide which aligns with their beliefs. The video also provides definitions from various sources, including dictionaries and encyclopedias, on the meaning of "Son of God." It emphasizes that the phrase can refer to a direct lineage or a title of honor. When you hear the term Son of God in the scriptures, you normally think of the Messiah, Jesus, or Yeshua. But did you know this phrase, Son of God, is actually used of other people as well? Those of us who are mortal men and also those angels that it speaks of in various books like Genesis and Job, etc. Didn't know that? Or would you like to know more? Well, stay tuned for this teaching on the phrase, Son or Sons of God and what that means. So this is a video teaching continuing in our Godhead series and this teaching is going to be on the phrase, Son of God or Sons of God, where we find that in scripture, at least some of the places, we don't have time to go through all of them, but at least a good portion of the places in scripture, where that phrase is found, what it means, what it doesn't mean, all that good stuff. So make sure you have your notebook ready. And if you would like to have even more notes, go down below in the description and you'll find a link to the article post on our website. There you'll be able to find the on-demand video, the draw slides that we use that you see here on the screen, as well as the notes that we took for this specific episode and the transcript, if that happens to be of any use to you. And that's all conveniently located down there in the description box. Just click on that link and it should be there, whether you are watching on a video platform or whether you're listening on an audio podcasting platform. Either way, you can always go to GodHonestTruth.com and click on the link from there on the homepage. So before we get into this teaching, let's go ahead and recap real quick what the purpose of this series actually is, in case you're just joining us. We would really recommend going back and watching all the previous videos that get called up to this point, but if you're just joining from right here, here is the purpose of this Godhead series. It's so that you can start from the point of not knowing anything about the subject of the Godhead. You can learn what scripture actually says about the Godhead. And then at the end, after you've gotten all this information, gotten all this scripture, you can decide for yourself which concept of the Godhead that you most align with or that you most agree with. Or you could say it's too involved, too confusing, I don't want to pick any of those, and that's fine too. Because here at God Honest Truth, we don't care which concept of the Godhead that you go with. You're still a brother, sister, and Messiah to us. But if this is a subject that interests you, then this is the series for you, because we're going to go into many different aspects of the subject of the Godhead throughout this series. We're going to be going all the way up through the beginning of next year into probably February of next year with all these episodes we're coming out with, so you should have a lot of information by the time that we are done with all of this. And just to recap the series and what we have learned so far, again, if you haven't seen the previous episodes, go back and watch those, and then come back and watch this episode. But in episode one, we went over the introduction and terminology that we'll be using throughout this series. Well, like I said, we went over the purpose of the series. We went also over what this series will cover and what it will not cover. We went over various terminology like fear-mongering, exegesis and eisegesis, the name Yahweh, the name Yeshua, the word Elohim, and what that relates to. We also went over various concepts of the Godhead, just real briefly. We're going to be doing a much more in-depth episode on each of these various concepts of the Godhead. But the four concepts that we're going to be covering during this series are the four main concepts that have existed throughout history. And that is Trinitarianism, Venetarianism, Biblical Unitarianism, and Oneness or Modalism. We also went over the difference between heresy and orthodoxy. What heresy is, what orthodoxy is. And we went over real quick about what is salvation. And the most important point to take away from that is that your salvation is not based on which concept of the Godhead that you most align with. There's nowhere in Scripture that says you must go with this concept in order to be saved. That's not salvation according to Scripture. So don't let anyone bully you in that direction, saying that you have to agree with them or you're not saved. No, that's unbiblical. So if you haven't seen that, go back and watch episode one. Then in episode two, we went over the word God or gods and how that relates to the Hebrew word Elohim. We went over the difference between what is a name and what is a title. We went over what an invariant noun is, went over the word Elohim, and also the word God or gods in the plural. In episode three, our last episode, which is, gosh, it's been well over a month now. But episode three, we went over the Shema, what the Shema was. We broke it down, looked at various aspects of that, what the different words and phrases meant. We went over the difference between ordinal numbers and cardinal numbers and how that relates to the Shema and how that all relates to the Godhead. We also went over the difference between unity and unified, especially the difference between the Hebrew word echad and yachad. Echad and yachad. Echad means one, singular, by itself. That's what echad means. But yachad means unity, unified. Shevirachim gam yachad, how blessed it is when brothers dwell together in unity. So, if you haven't seen that, go back and re-watch or re-listen to that episode on the Shema, episode three. So, now, in tonight's episode, we're going to be going over the phrase son of God or sons of God. You've probably heard this before, but you know how we do it here, we like to be nerdy and go over technical details and stuff like that and really get into the weeds. So, what is the phrase son of God or sons of God? Well, when you look in various dictionaries and encyclopedias, you get somewhat short entries for the vast majority of them. For instance, in Easton's Bible dictionary, we read this entry here, quote, the plural sons of God is used in Genesis to denote the highest descendants of Seth. In Job, this name is applied to the angels. Hosea uses the phrase to designate the gracious relation in which men stand to God. In the New Testament, this phrase frequently denotes the relation into which we are brought to God by adoption. When used with reference to creatures, whether men or angels, this word is always in the plural. In the singular, it is always used of Yeshua, with the single exception of Luke 3.38, where it is used of Adam, end quote. Now here at the beginning of this entry, it's stating that the phrase when it's used in Genesis chapter 6, it's referring to the highest descendants of Seth. Now that is open to interpretation and that is their interpretation of it. There are other interpretations as well, which we'll get into here in a minute. But according to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, their entry for son of God is, quote, a term which designates in the Bible, one, every human being, as God is the father of all men, two, the people of Israel, which is called my firstborn son, and three, the angels, end quote. So that's what the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia is defining as son of God, being every human being, people of Israel, or the angels. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, for their entry on son of God, it has, quote, a term applied to an angel or demigod, one of the mythological beings whose exploits are described in Genesis, and to the real or ideal king over Israel. Sons of God and children of God are applied also to Israel as a people and to all members of the human race, end quote. So that's according to the Jewish Encyclopedia. And then we go on to the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary for our last entry, and this has a rather extensive entry here, but we obviously cut it down for the sake of this slide. If you would like to read the full entry, go to our website, click on the post for this episode for Sons of God, look in our notes, and it's got the full entry from the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. But here, for their entry on son of God, it says, quote, an honorific whose history began circa 3000 BCE. In the biblical period, the title suggested a variety of ideas according to its different adaptations. Son of God in the Old Testament meant, one, the king, or two, the people of God, Israel is also called God's son, end quote. So that's the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. And there is the nerdy aspect, the nerdy definitions for those of us who like to get into the weeds. Once again, if you're taking the notes or if you just like to copy and paste into your own notes, go check out the post for this episode. Let's break it down and start with a good foundation, just basic language. What does son of mean? Well, in scripture, son of can mean something actually direct, meaning son of X, son of this person, son of that person, meaning they were fathered by a certain person and they descended from that person, right? Basic language concepts. For instance, Genesis chapter 11, verse 31. And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, son of Haran. See, basic language. Lot was the son of Haran. Exodus chapter 31, verse 2. See, I have called by name, Bethsalel, son of Uri, son of Hur. Again, basic language. Bethsalel is the son of Uri, who is the son of Hur, direct descendant phraseology. Joshua chapter 24, verse 9. And Balak, son of Zippor, sovereign of Moab, rose up and fought against Yisrael and sent and called for Bilam, son of Beor, to curse you. Again, and finally, we look at Luke chapter 3, verses 23 and 38. And when Yeshua himself began, he was about 30 years of age, being as reckoned by law, son of Yosef, who is the son of Eli. And then on down in verse 38, he finishes it up saying, son of Enosh, son of Shef, son of Adam, son of Elohim, son of God. So here, it's saying all these people are direct descendants or sons of these certain people. But when it gets back to Adam, it calls Adam the son of God. This is a basic language concept because Adam did not have an earthly mother and father. Adam was a direct creation of God. He was the first man, the first human being that was created. So obviously, his father is God because he had no earthly father. There was no one before him. So Adam is referred to as the son of God. So the phrase son of can sometimes mean and usually does mean a direct descendant of someone else, whether that's through creation or birthing or whatever. There's also another usage of the phrase son of in Scripture. And that's when it's referring to something like an attribute or some kind of meaning. And this is extremely rare. I actually only found two instances in the entire set of Scriptures. It's definitely, as always, if I've missed something, make sure to send that in to us so that we can add it to our notes and help other people as well as us learn and be more educated. Anyways, let's start out looking at John chapter 17, verse 12, the words of Yeshua himself. When I was with them in the world, I was guarding them in your name, which you have given me, and I washed over them and not one of them perished except the son of destruction that the Scripture might be healed. You might read other translations that read son of perdition. This is referring back to Judas. Judas, the son of destruction or the son of perdition. Now, if Judas's father's name was not destruction or perdition, so it's not referring to a direct descendant case like we had previously seen. This is talking about being of the attribute of destruction, being of the attribute of perdition, things like that. Let's look at Acts chapter 4, verse 36, and Yosef, who was also called Barnabas by the emissaries, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus. Now, one quick caveat right here. This is saying that Barnabas, his name means son of encouragement. This doesn't mean that he is the son of encouragement, that he's a direct descendant of a man named encouragement. Neither does it mean that he is having the attributes of encouragement. Instead, this is actually just saying that his name means son of encouragement. Barnaba, son Barnaba, encouragement. That's what his name means. So, this isn't actually a son of and then an attribute like we saw with Judas and the son of perdition. This is just a meaning of a name, and we're going to be getting into more about meanings of names later on. So, this wasn't the second one that I found, but the second one that I was referring to is John chapter 8, verse 44. You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you wish to do. This is Jesus speaking to the Judeans that were around him at the time, questioning, calling names, trying to trip him up, things like that. But he's telling them, you are the, I'm sorry, you are of your father, the devil, calling them the sons of the devil. This is going back to an attribute kind of aspect when you're looking at the phrase son of. They're having the attributes and the qualities of the devil. He's explaining to them why they're not accepting him, why they're not understanding that he is teaching truth. Even though he's done all these miracles, he's quoted scripture verbatim, he's set them straight and all these other things, but they're still not understanding and believing in him, and he's telling them why. Because they are the sons of the devil. So that's the only two instances in scripture I found where the phrase son of is actually referring to an attribute instead of a direct descendant. But anyways, moving on, that's what the basic language means when it says son of something. We saw many examples in scripture, and there's only a few of them. There's a lot more son of references in scripture. Look up the book of Numbers, where there's a bunch of genealogies there, and that's usually the part where kids fall asleep when you're going over Bible readings, and it goes, this begat this, and he begat him, and he was the son of him, and it's on and on. But anyways, that's only a few references, but it's really beating the dead cow. We all know this by implication. We understand that son of means you are a descendant or direct descendant of somebody else. That's what son of means. Just to put that on the forefront so you're thinking about this as we continue going through this teaching, as we continue going through this series on the Godhead. So now let's move on into the subject of sons of God, but referring to angels. We look at Genesis chapter 6, verses 1 through 4. And it came to be, when men began to increase on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men, that they were good. And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And Yahweh said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever in his going astray. He is flesh, and his days shall be 120 years. Then the Philem were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of Elohim came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, the men of name. So here's talking about a group of people called the sons of God, and they saw the daughters of men, and they fell in love. They thought they were very beautiful. So they took them as wives, and they had children by them. So who were these sons of God that's talking about here in Genesis chapter 6? Well, when we looked at that first entry from the Bible dictionaries, the Eastern Bible dictionary, they refer to these as the highest sons of Seth. Just to recap real quick, if you don't remember, Seth was the son of Adam, the third son. Remember he had Cain, Abel, and then once they died, or got sent off, then he had Seth, and that's who the rest of the lineage came through, all the human race. But think about this, Seth, his descendants, and everyone else that was on earth, except for Noah, his wife, his son, and his son's wives, everyone else got wiped off the face of the earth. So if you're talking about the highest descendants of Seth, it would also have to be more directly the descendants of Noah. I don't think it's really talking about men here. There's also another theory that this sons of Elohim is referring to rulers, or some sort of kings or leaders. But once again, the phrase here is sons of Elohim, and contrasting that with daughters of men. I don't really think it's referring to leaders or rulers here either, because it's also talking about giants and the Philemon being on the earth, and all this other stuff here in this section. So when you have men and women, that's two humans, they beget other men and women. They beget other humans of the same size. It would have to be something out of the ordinary for them to produce giants, right? This makes sense. When it says sons of Elohim here, we are of the opinion, like a lot of scholars are, that sons of Elohim, or sons of God, here in Genesis chapter 6, is actually referring to angels, not actual mortal men. And this isn't the only place where sons of God is referring to angels. We look in Job chapter 1 verse 6, And the day came to be that the sons of Elohim, or the sons of God, came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them. So here you've got a scene where the sons of God, or the angels, are around the throne or up in heaven, and they're presenting themselves before Yahweh. Satan was also there. So this is more of like the spirit realm, the heavenly realm, where men are not, mortal men are not there, because mortal men cannot see Yahweh and live. We're told that. But can angels? Yeah. So again, this sons of God here in Job 1 6, we believe is referring to angels. Again, in Job chapter 2 verse 1. Again, the day came to be that the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them to present himself before Yahweh. Pretty much the same thing as Job 1 6. Yet the sons of God, who more likely is angels in the heavenly realm, presenting themselves before Yahweh. We get a sense here that it's a direct face-to-face kind of interaction, where they're actually in the presence of Yahweh. Again, mortal man, not going to be able to withstand that. So, once again in Job chapter 38 verses 4 through 7. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who set its measurements, if you know? Or who stretched the line upon it? Upon what were its foundations sunk? Or who laid its cornerstones, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Well again, this is not going to be referring to men, because at this point in the creation story, man hasn't been created. You've got the cornerstone, the foundations of the earth, when all the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. This, we believe, like a lot of other scholars, that the sons of God here in Job 38 7 is referring to angels. Then we're going to look at Daniel chapter 3 verses 22 through 28. Thereupon, because the sovereign's order was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, and these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning furnace of fire. Then sovereign Nebuchadnezzar was amazed, and said, Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the son of Elohim, or the son of God. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, Blessed be the Elah, or God, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his messenger, and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and changed the sovereign's order, and gave up their bodies, that they should not serve nor do obeisance to any Elah, or God, except their own. So here, this gets kind of interesting, or at least I'll explain here in a minute. But here, Nebuchadnezzar, this is a story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where they're falling into the fiery furnace, but King Nebuchadnezzar sees, or knows, that he threw three men into the fire, but when he looks into the furnace, he sees four people. And his proclamation, what he states when he sees them, he says, the fourth is like the son of God. Then, after they bring them back out, he says, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel, and delivered his servants. Something interesting to note here, in verse 25, where it says, and the form of the fourth is like the son of Elohim, this entire passage right here is written in Aramaic, not Hebrew. So, the words are a little bit different when you look at the source, that's why you see Elohim instead of Elohim. But anyways, here in the original Aramaic, where it says, like the son of Elohim, the word son is in the singular, but the word Elohim is in the plural. So, it's actually, son of the gods. Then, in verse 28, it says, blessed be the Elah, that would be God, now it's in the singular. And also, it says, who sent his messenger, and delivered his servants, and delivered his servants, who sent his messenger, that is also in the singular. Nebuchadnezzar being a pagan, a polytheist, would have probably believed himself in multiple gods. So, when he says, the fourth is like the son of the gods, he's referring to an angel. And we confirm this in verse 28, when he says that God sent his angel to deliver them. In fact, various translations actually render it like that. For instance, in the EFV, it says, the fourth is like a son of the gods, blessed be the gods who sent his angel. You can see the difference between the singular and the plural there. Also, in the Legacy Standard Bible, the fourth is like a son of the gods, blessed be the gods who have sent his angel. So, Nebuchadnezzar is describing the fourth person as a son of the gods, which he believes to be an angel, and even says angel later on in verse 28. Now, in the Septuagint, this gets even clearer. There's really not much room for interpretation when you look in the Septuagint. Now, two different texts of the Septuagint I found were the Old Greek Septuagint and the Theodosian Greek Septuagint. And here's what it has here. In verse 25, it states, the fourth is the likeness of a divine angel. And then, blessed be the lord, the god, who has sent his angel. And then, in the Theodosian Greek, it reads, the fourth is like a divine son. Blessed be the god who has sent his angel. So, here it takes out the whole plurality of gods part, but it does specifically say, even in verse 25, the word angel. So, divine son, son of god, angel. It's pretty clear what's being referred to here. They actually saw an angel that was protecting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That all goes back to the point that sons of god, or son of god, and especially the Old Testament and scripture as a whole, is referring to an angel at least some of the time. There's another instance where son of god actually refers to men as well. So, first we'll look at Hosea chapter 1 verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Yitrael shall be as the sand of the sea, which is not measured nor counted. And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, they shall be called, You are the sons of the living God. This phrase, sons of the living God, is referring to the people of Israel, men. John chapter 1 verses 11 through 12. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the authority to become children of God, to those believing in his name. So, even us, mortal men, we may not be direct descendants, directly birthed or sired by God himself, like we are our own earthly fathers, but we have the ability to become sons of God, the children of God, by adoption. Romans chapter 8 verse 14. For as many as are led by the spirit of Elohim, these are the sons of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 16 through 18. And what union has the dwelling place of Elohim with idols? For you are a dwelling place of the living Elohim, as Elohim hath said, I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says Yahweh, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you, and I shall be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says Yahweh the Almighty. So, we don't see this reference to sons of God referring to mortal men as much in the Old Testament, but it is very, very prominent in the Brit Hadashah, or the New Testament. 1 John chapter 3 verses 1 through 2. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. For this reason the world did not know us, because it did not know Him, beloved ones. Now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. So, this reference to us, the believers, the born again, the saved, the washed in the blood, we are the sons of God. The sons and daughters, I think one verse said, of God. We become the sons of God. We are adopted into, well, that family. But there's so many more references there. You can go and look in our notes. We have tried to get every single instance that we could for the reference to sons of God being to men, mortal men, in our notes. So, go check that out at godhonesttruth.com or click on the link down in the description below. So, finally, when we wrap up this episode on the phrase son of God or sons of God, we can't go through all this and not mention the number one son of God, our Messiah, Yeshua. And as you all know, this term, son of God, is applied to Yeshua more than anyone else. Anyways, as referring to Messiah, Yeshua, the phrase son of God is used of Yeshua some 80 times in the Berchot Hasha. It's numerous. We don't have all the 82 times here, but go look it up for yourself. Go look it up for yourself. We're going to go over some of the more prominent ones. We'll do a small selection just to prove the point anyways. John, chapter 8, verse 42. Yeshua said to them, if Elohim were your father, you would love me, for I came forth from Elohim and am here, for I have not come of myself, but he sent me. John, chapter 3, verse 16. For Elohim so loved the world that he gave his only brought forth son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but possess everlasting life. Matthew, chapter 14, verses 32 to 33. And when they came into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat came and did bow to him, saying, Truly you are the son of God. At his crucifixion, Mark, chapter 15, verse 39. And when the captain who was standing opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was the son of God. Even Yeshua himself uses this phrase in reference to himself many times. Specifically for tonight, John, chapter 10, verses 35 to 36. If he called them Elohim, to whom the word of Elohim came, and it is impossible for the scripture to be broken, do you say of him who the father set apart and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of Elohim? So, Yeshua refers to himself as the son of Elohim, as the son of God. Even the demons knew he was the son of God. Matthew, chapter 8, verses 28 to 29. And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Girgashites, two demon-possessed ones met him, coming out of the tomb very fierce, so that no one was able to pass that way. And see, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with you, Yeshua, son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? So, his human adversaries, like the Roman guards, eventually, some of them, came to understand that he was the son of God. His disciples obviously knew he was the son of God. The demons knew he was the son of God, even said specifically that he was the son of God. Yeshua himself used the title for himself, the title son of God. So, it's just blatantly apparent. The most famous son of God in all of scripture is Yeshua, and rightfully so. But anyways, that is the teaching on sons of God. We went over various aspects and many different bits of information. But just to sum it all up to end this teaching, in summary, son of, the actual phrase, just to get back to basic understanding of everyday language, son of means a direct descendant of, someone who has the attributes of. Son or sons of God refers to, in the Bible, angels, men, regular moral men, whether they be kings or not, kings, the entire nation or people of Israel, and especially to Messiah Yeshua himself. So, we saw those scriptures, we saw where the phrase son of God or sons of God refers to angels. We saw where it refers to men. There are other verses where it refers to kings, specific kings anyways. We saw the verses where it refers to the people of Israel, and we saw just a short selection where that phrase son of God refers to Messiah Yeshua himself. So, that's what son or sons of God does refer to in scripture. But what it does not refer to, unless you can find verses to refute this, but what the phrase son or sons of God does not refer to in scripture is plants, animals, and Yahweh. Yahweh is the creator. He is not the son of anyone. He does not have a father. He is uncreated, and he doesn't follow after anyone. So, he's not the son of anyone else, even as a son of an attribute. No, Yahweh isn't the prop. He is the one we should follow. We should be the son or daughters of God and follow his ways, have his attributes, take on what he tells us to do. That's why we in the Messianic faith go through and we follow the Torah, all of scripture, the Seventh-day Sadducee, the feast days, things like that, because we are the sons and daughters of God. We follow after his attributes, what he tells us to do, but Yahweh doesn't follow after anyone else, and Yahweh is not a direct descendant of anyone else because Yahweh is uncreated. And that's just the God on his truth. We hope that you got something out of this. And if you did, let us know down in the comments below. If we happen to miss anything, also put that down in the comments below. And while you're down there, make sure to hit that like button, hit that share button, and hit that subscribe button, and also ring the bell so that you're notified every time that we go live or when we upload a new on-demand video. And make sure to share this around with someone that you may know who may be interested in this subject of the Godhead. Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries. We really do appreciate your time and hope that we have been of service to you. If you have any feedback, then please reach out to us by writing to team at godhonesttruth.com and make sure to visit our website for more information on our social media links, audio Bibles, teaching resources, and so much more. God Honest Truth Ministries.