The Father and the Son: A Literal Understanding

The relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ is not a metaphor, a title, or a role played out for the benefit of human history. Rather, it is the fundamental reality upon which all of existence is built. To understand the plan of salvation, we must first understand the literal nature of the Sonship of Christ.

The Literal Son: Begotten Before Time

At the heart of this view is the belief that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son in a literal and ontological sense. He is not a “son” by decree or adoption, but the only being who exists directly from the Father’s own substance.

While creation is a product of God’s will, the Son is the product of the Father’s very nature. This “begetting” occurred before the construct of time was introduced at creation. Therefore, Christ is both eternal (existing before time) and begotten (derived from the Father). He is as fully divine as the Father because He is of the same divine substance.

Self-Existence and the Life of the Son

The Son is not a dependent or “lesser” deity. As stated in John 5:26, the Father has “given to the Son to have life in himself.” This means Christ possesses self-existent, underived life. He is the source of life for all created things, acting as the bridge between the Father and the universe. All other “sons”—whether the angels or Adam—are sons by creation, brought into being through the Son.

The Human Parable: Image of the Divine

God embedded the truth of His relationship with His Son into the very fabric of human biology.

  • The Gift of Procreation: Unlike angels, who neither marry nor reproduce, humanity was given the ability to bring forth life from their own substance. This serves as a physical “image” or object lesson of how the Son proceeded from the Father.

  • The Lesson of Eve: The creation of Eve from Adam’s rib is a direct type of Christ’s origin. Eve was not a separate creation from the dust; she was taken out of Adam’s side, sharing his exact substance. In the same way, Christ is “God of God,” having proceeded from the Father’s side.

The Holy Spirit: The Eternal Presence of the Family

The Holy Spirit is not a third, separate person or a distinct entity with a different identity. Instead, the Spirit is the omnipresent life and personality of the Father and the Son manifested outside of their corporeal forms.

Because God exists outside the constraints of time, the Holy Spirit carries the full personality and experience of the Father and the Son eternally. While John 7:39 speaks of the Spirit being “given” after Jesus was glorified, this is a matter of human perspective and accessibility. In reality, the Spirit has always been more than a mere force; it is the personal presence of the Son, carrying His character and His human victory (His pain, suffering, and temptations) retroactively to all generations.

The Spirit is the Father’s life coming to us through Christ. It includes the personal presence of the Son as our “Comforter” and “Advocate” (), ensuring that the comfort we receive is not from a detached power, but from a Person who knows the human experience intimately.

The Goal: Restoring the Image

The plan of salvation is far more than a legal transaction to avoid punishment. It is about revelation and restoration.

  1. Revelation: Only the Son, the closest being to the Father’s heart, could truly reveal the Father’s character to humanity.

  2. Restoration: By receiving the Spirit—the literal life of Christ—we “partake of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). We do not become divine in ourselves, but by receiving the shared life of the Father and Son, we begin to reflect the Father’s character, restoring the “Image of God” that was shattered at the Fall.

I. THE ONE GOD, THE FATHER

1 Corinthians 8:6 “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

Ephesians 4:6 “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”

Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?”

II. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE SON

John 5:26 “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;”

Colossians 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”

2 John 1:3 “Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”

Proverbs 8:22-25 “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:”

John 8:42 “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.”

John 16:27 “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.”

III. THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST

Hebrews 1:8 “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”

Hebrews 1:3 “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power…”

Colossians 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Philippians 2:6 “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

IV. THE HUMAN PARABLE (THE IMAGE OF GOD)

Genesis 2:21-23 “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Genesis 5:3 “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:”

V. THE HOLY SPIRIT: ITS IDENTITY AND WORK

John 14:18 “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father… he shall testify of me.”

John 7:39 “(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”