The title “sons of God” is used several times in the Bible. The most prominent are the words of Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). The Apostle Paul says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are “sons of God.” (Romans 8:14). Then he looks forward to the eschatological times, and exclaims, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19)
Human beings, in the creation narrative, are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27; Genesis 5:1, 2). The genealogy of Jesus in the Book of Luke ends with the words, “son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.” (Luke 3:38). This understanding of human beings in a unique Father-child relationship with God is a powerful image. Based on this image, the Bible’s standard of ethics for humanity is God himself. The preamble to the giving of the 10 Commandments states, “You shall be to me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). It is a constant refrain found in the Torah. “Be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45; Leviticus 19:2; 20:7). For this reason, when God delivers Israel from Egypt, he says to Moses, “Tell Pharaoh that Israel is my Firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22).
Human beings are therefore given a very high status in creation. They are supposed to be vice-regents of the King, God himself. They are given the mission to be the stewards of all creation. This was the good creation that God had created. (Genesis 1:26-28)
Unfortunately, instead of being the “sons of God” that God intended human beings to be, they began doing “evil.” This resulted in much sin and violence. Mostly, this sin and violence was done in the name of religions. In Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions, e.g. the royalty, were considered to be “sons of gods.” These were the Pharaohs and the such. In the name of religion, they enslaved the common populations of their kingdoms. They owned the girls and boys in their kingdoms, and abused them, in whichever way they wished. The Bible discusses these kinds of “sons of the gods.” Genesis 6 begins the narrative of Noah’s Flood. What is often overlooked is the prologue to Noah’s Flood. “The sons of gods saw the daughters of men, that they were good; they ‘forcibly’ took women for themselves of all that they chose” (Genesis 6:2). These “sons of gods” are royal and priestly human beings in ancient religions. They were treated as divine beings, gods, in ancient religions. They raped common women in the name religious practices.
Sadly, I have seen this kind of abuse of women in India, by religious and political leaders, in the name of religious practice. These are people who are called “gurus,” or “sons of gods.”
Noah’s flood was to cleanse humanity from this kind of rampant evil practices, in the name of religion.
What is the solution to this awful problem in human history?
In the New Testament, God himself became human. He is the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. In Christian theology, this is called incarnation. God the Son became human, so that human beings would become “sons of God.”
In the Book of Matthew, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, in the wilderness, three times the Evil One, Satan, seeks to tempt Jesus, with the words. “If you are the Son of God . . .,” do this and that religious practice (Matthew 4). These are all the temptations to which humanity had fallen in the history of humanity, and in the history of religions. Jesus, the Son of God, did not have to prove anything to Satan. He was the Son of God. In his ministry, even the evil spirits recognized him to be the Son of God (Mathew 8:29). In his famous confession, Simon Peter confessed to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:16). When Jesus was brought before the religious leaders of the day, their main question was, “tell us, if you really are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). Finally, at the cross, when Jesus died, all those around him, including the Roman centurion acknowledged, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). This is the main thesis statement of the Gospel of John. The conclusion of the Gospel of John says, “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
In this Messiah, the Son of God, all humanity is invited to become “sons of God.” Those that are transformed by his person and sacrifice on the cross are called the “sons of God.” And, so the Apostle Paul exclaims, “for in Jesus the Messiah, you are all ‘sons of God’ through faith.” (Galatians 3:26; also, Romans 8:14; 9:26). Of these transformed people, Jesus the Messiah himself says, “Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the “sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). These are not like the “sons of the gods” of Genesis 6. Those religious leaders practiced sin, abuse, and violence. The “sons of God,” of the New Testament, are transformed children of God, who live the Gospel of Jesus the Son of God, so that the world would return back to the Shalom of Genesis 1.
This is the mission of God for the Church, the “sons of God.”
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