SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service
Theologian
THE LORD FROM HEAVEN
THE MEANING OF "SON" IN SCRIPTURE
IT is unnecessary to notice passages where the word "son"
stands for remote descendant, as, for example, in the first verse of the First
Gospel, or in the familiar phrase "Children of Israel," or again, when the Lord
declared that in building the tombs of the prophets the Jews bore witness that
they were the "sons" of those who slew them. Still less need we notice the
numerous occurrences of the word in its primary and common acceptation. But
such is the influence of our English Bible upon our habits of thought and
speech that when we are told that James and John were "sons of thunder" the
phrase seems as natural as when we read that they were sons of Zebedee. Our
English Bible, I say advisedly; for when the Revised Version first appeared,
people were inclined to resent such unfamiliar phrases as "Sons of the
bride-chamber," "sons of disobedience," &c. And yet the distinction between
"son" and "child" is of great importance; and in ignoring it our version, the
translators have sometimes obscured, or even perverted, vital truth.
In the
Sermon on the Mount, for instance, the Lord is made to say that by loving their
enemies men may become children of God. But this is utterly opposed to
Christian teaching. It is by birth, and only by birth, that the relationship of
father and child can be created. Moreover the Lord was there addressing His
disciples, who had in fact experienced the new birth and were already children
of God; and to them it was He said, "Love your enemies, and pray for them that
persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven."
Again, the A.V. reads, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born
. . . of God." But this is no less inaccurate. Thus it is indeed that we become
children of God, and "children" is the word here used; but sonship connotes
what children ought to be. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are
sons of God."
To many the statement may seem startling, but its truth can
be easily tested, that in the New Testament believers in Christ, as such, are
never designated sons of God. In other words, that phrase never occurs as a
mere synonym for "children of God." The words of Galatians iii. 26 may seem to
be an exception to this, but in fact they afford a striking illustration of it.
For when the Apostle writes, "Ye are all the Sons of God, through faith, in
Christ Jesus," he uses the word "sons" in a peculiar sense, his purpose being
to mark the difference between the position of children under age, and of those
who have attained their majority. In this Christian dispensation the people of
God are no longer treated as in a state of nonage, "under tutors and
governors," but are now deemed to be of full age, and take rank as sons.'
In Hebrews xii. 8, again, the word "sons" occurs in a sense equally foreign to
our English use; for it marks the distinction between the legitimate offspring
and the illegitimate, to the latter of whom the status of son is denied.
These two passages are quite exceptional, the word "son" being employed to
connote dignity or privilege, whereas it is generally used to indicate
character or nature. And it is noteworthy that when the word is employed in
this ethical sense, no thought of parentage is involved, unless, perhaps,
remotely, and by way of a poetic figure. The Gentile Galatian converts, for
example, could have no possible claim to be "children of Abraham," nor would
the Apostle have thus described them; but, though not "sons of the stock of
Abraham," he tells them that "they which are of faith, the same are sons of
Abraham." The word is here used as definitely in a figurative sense, as in the
phrase "sons of thunder."
And that phrase might teach us to distinguish
between the traditional "St. John" and the Apostle of that name. The one was a
soft, womanly creature, whereas "the beloved disciple" was a bold and manly man
who used strong, stern words. For with him those who cherish malice are
murderers; and those who belittle the Lord Jesus Christ, or deny His glory, are
liars and antichrists. And remembering that his brother, the Apostle James, was
a man of the same type, we can well understand why his death was specially
pleasing to the Jews when he fell as a victim of Herod's malignity.
If
Joseph (or Joses) had been called "a child of consolation," we might suppose
him to have been the recipient of very special comfort; but when we read that
the Apostles surnamed him Barnabas, or "son of consolation," we conclude that
he was a man of intensely sympathetic spirit.
In the same way "Sons of
wrath" would be "sons of Belial"; but when the Epistle to the Ephesians tells
us that by nature we are "children of wrath," the words are meant to express
our condition and destiny. So, again, the phrase "a child of disobedience"
might perhaps imply that the individual was the progeny of a parent's sin,
whereas "sons of disobedience" describes what men are essentially and as to
their very nature.'
The fact that the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians to walk
as "children of light," whereas "sons of light" is his word to the
Thessalonians, may seem to indicate that in this instance, at least, the words
are used as synonyms. But an examination of the passages will make it clear
that here, as elsewhere, the words carry their distinctive meanings. The one
statement describes the normal condition and environment of the Christian; the
other relates to his character and nature. There is a double parallel:
"Watch and be sober" answers to "Walk as children of light," but "Ye are all
sons of light" answers to "Ye are light in the Lord."
This may remind us of
the Lord's words in explaining the Parable of the Unjust Steward: "The sons of
this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light." The
comparison here is not between earth and heaven, but between those who belong
morally to the present economy and those who are "light in the Lord." But in
another passage, where the Lord speaks of "sons of this world" and "sons of the
resurrection," the contrast is merely between our condition in the present
economy, and what we shall be when we "attain to that world." He thus uses the
phrase in a double sense. In the one case, "sons of this world (or age)"
includes all who belong to this economy in the sense of being in it, whereas in
the parable it indicates those who are of it.
Nor will this seem strange if
we keep in mind that in Scripture the word bears an Oriental and essentially
figurative meaning. And this is true, even where a literal sense might seem
possible, as, for example, when the Apostle Peter appeals to the Jews as "sons
of the prophets." His audience may, of course, have included some who were
actual descendants of the prophets; but the words he added, "and of the
covenant," make it clear that no such thought was in his mind. In addressing
them as "sons of the prophets and of the covenant," he was appealing to them as
heirs of the hopes and promises of which the covenant and the prophecies
spoke.
So again, when the Apostle Paul denounced Elymas the sorcerer as
"Thou son of the devil," his Oriental hearers would understand his words as
describing the man's character and nature. And in this same sense it was that
the Lord Himself branded the typical proselyte of the Pharisees as a "son of
hell."
Chapter Three
Literature | Photos | Links | Home