Is Jesus the only son of God?
Q. I grew up believing that Jesus was the only son of God. In your faith do you believe differently?
Short answer: Yes and No.
Long answer: You might think this question would have a straightforward answer, but turns out it doesn’t. Entire ecumenical councils have been convened to address the relationship between Jesus and the Father. It’s a sticky question, and this is why:
The Bible uses the term “Only Begotten” four times in reference to Jesus (the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures tack on a whopping forty more). So it seems pretty straightforward; he must be the only one. At the same time, however, there are many other scriptures that seem to indicate there are more children of God—namely us. Those scriptures refer to the human race as either being the children of God already (Acts 17:29: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God…”) or having the potential to become the children of God (John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God”). Furthermore, sometimes Jesus refers to the Father only as “my Father” (Luke 2:49), and sometimes as “your Father” (Matt 5:48), and sometimes both (John 20:17).
So which is it? Is Jesus the only son of God, or are we all sons and daughters of God? And if we’re not now, is it possible for us to become so?
I don’t pretend to understand how the majority of Christianity answers those questions, especially since the early creeds seem confusing on what exactly the relationship between the Father and the Son is. Luckily you just want to know what Mormons believe and that is, by comparison, pretty straightforward.
1. All of us (including Jesus) are spirit children of God.
To suggest that Jesus is always and ever was the only son of God is to ignore a whole lot of scripture in the Bible. In one sense, we are all children of God. God is the Father of our spirits. This is why Paul calls us all “the offspring of God.” We have that piece of divinity inside us. Jesus is special because he was, as the author of Hebrews calls him, “the Firstbegotten.” The same author calls His church the “church of the Firstborn.” Just the use of the words Firstbegotten and Firstborn imply that there are others. Not only that, we were all with God and Jesus before the world was. (See the posts on the pre-mortal life of man for a better explanation). In short: all of us are children of God, but Jesus is the first.
2. Jesus is the only begotten of the Father in the flesh.
If we all are children of God, why are the scriptures so adamant that he is the “Only Begotten Son”? To beget someone is to father them. Everyone born on earth has been begotten by an earthly, mortal father. That is, everyone but Jesus. Jesus was born to a virgin. His father is God. We don’t pretend to know the details of all that, but Jesus is the only one for whom that is true, and that’s why He is called the Only Begotten.
3. We become the sons and daughters of God in a different sense by accepting the gospel.
If we are all already the children of God, what is all this scriptural talk of becoming the children of God? Turns out sometimes salvation is spoken of as becoming the sons/daughters of God, or of Christ. When Jesus came to earth and atoned for our sins, he opened the way to be saved. He gave us power to become the sons of God, as John said. Maybe it’s confusing to describe it that way, but hey, it wasn’t my idea. Besides, it’s a good way to describe the spiritual change that happens when we accept Jesus Christ. I think the Book of Mormon king Benjamin described it best to his people, who had just accepted Jesus Christ with a covenant to follow Him:
“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.” (Mosiah 5:7)
So we see that if there were only one sense in which a person could be a child of God, the Bible would remain ambiguous on the question. But if they are referring to different relationships, we get a coherent picture of our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. In one sense everyone is a child of God, in another sense only Jesus is, and in a third sense, we start out not children and then have the option to become children of God.
An important footnote: Do Mormons believe Jesus and Satan are brothers?
One of the more shocking things you’ll hear about Mormonism is that we believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Now that we’ve outlined our relationships to God, we can address that claim in the proper context. It’s true that they are brothers in the first sense that I described above, but saying it out of that context is intentionally misleading, because almost everyone is thinking in the second sense. When you’re coming from the position that Jesus is the only son of God, putting Satan up there with him not only seems like a blatant contradiction of the “Only Begotten” scriptures, but also makes it seem like we consider them to be equals. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Jesus Christ, the Greatest of all, who personifies goodness and grace, and Satan, the father of lies, who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, are not equals. They are brothers in the sense that we are all brothers and sisters, spiritual offspring of the same Father. Aside from that, they couldn’t be more different.
Great article, Dave. I really enjoy your style.
Brigham Young tried to explain this very thing for 20 – 30 years. The people proved not ready for it so it was finally withdrawn and watered down to the level they could handle.
It’s called the Adam-God doctrine.
Just sayin……
Bruce,
The Adam-God theory is a slightly different claim than the one Dave has tackled here. I invite you to take a closer look at what Brigham was saying by visiting the FAIR Wiki.
Dave,
Maybe the third example (becoming children of God or of Christ) makes more sense in a certain ancient cultural context than 21st-century America. Here is an analogy from the Book of Mormon:
These people rejected their wicked biological fathers and chose to become “children” of Nephi. In the same sense, when we’re baptized we take the name of Christ on us and opt to become His children.
Thad,
I think you’re right there, and I like the example.
Similarly Jews always thought of themselves as children of Abraham, because of the covenant that God made with him. They’re always calling Abraham their father. So I agree that the concept of childhood and fatherhood in the third sense wouldn’t seem so confusing to them.
I Beg to differ . Jesus was not the only begotten son of God ! if one reads in the Old Testament Bible , it states ( Jacob) was a Son of God so was — ( Solomon) -AND GOD said to David—- iam pleased with you David you are my Begotten son and i’m your Father. Jacob– you are my son from this day forth your name will be ISRAEL. and my throne will be there . THE SON OF GOD WAS ONLY A TITLE. NOT A DEVINE PERSON. Jesus was no more a GOD then any other Child of God We are all sons of God !! Religion is nothing but a means to Enslave the Human Mass by Brainwashing , Fear & Punishment. its all a Money Making pious Fraud .
Dear Paul,
Thank you for expressing your opinions, but we firmly maintain that Jesus Christ was and is the only person whose biological father is God the Father. As far as religion is concerned, I guess we will just have to wait and see, but I see no harm in believing in a higher power and supreme being, especially if that belief promotes respect of each other and doing good in the world.
Everyone, I am babtist and I just want to know one thing. Do Mormon people believe that Jesus is the son of god?
Paul,
If you read the above article (under #1), you will find that we agree with you that Jacob, Solomon, and David are all sons of God. Indeed, we agree that, as you say, “we are all sons of God.” Like Ben said, though, we do maintain that Jesus is special in that he is the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh.
Jasmine,
Yes. Mormon people believe that Jesus is the son of God.
One more thing I’d like to clear up. Sometimes Psalms 2:7 is used to show that David is another begotten son of God. Though admittedly it’s a confusing verse, the “begotten” in it is referring to Jesus Christ, not David.
Even Yahoo Answers has tackled this one; click here to see what they have to say on the matter.
Great article! I always enjoy coming here and hearing other people’s faith and testimonies. As a recent father of two, getting used to the new experience of sibling dynamics, I’ve often thought about the fact that, in a very real sense, we are all brothers and sisters. This puts a very different perspective on “loving the sinner and hating the sin.” All of our quarrels, fights, debates, wars, crusades, gossiping, spite, etc, amount to little more or less than sibling rivalry. Even when Satan, the worst, most rebellious one ever, was cast out “the heavens wept over him.” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:26) We know God truly weeps when we suffer, and especially when we bring suffering upon ourselves or others, most notably through our sins. (See Moses 7:28-37) If we really remembered who we are and whose we are, perhaps it would help us “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart” and “[our] neighbor as [ourselves]“. (Matthew 22:37-40)
Very nice work. Thank you for your effort and research.
The one and only son of God
Many challenges. If Jesus is not God, he can redeem no man for it is written:
Psalm 49:8-10 “A man can not at all redeem (release) a brother (from the righteous demands of the law); and give not to God a ransom (a sacrificial payment) for him- for the redemption of their soul (from the consequence of sin) is precious, and it (the unredeemed soul) ceases forever- for he (the redeemed man) shall yet live forever; not he shall see corruption (of the soul in the grave).”
This is the dilemma the early Christians faced.
Let’s go back to where it all began in the Garden of Eden. Virtually God said to Adam and Eve via the judgment, “the wage of sin, is eternal death.” The sin is identified as “disobedience” to God. God then become the standard, His word then paramount.
With the Fall of Man comes the problem of how to obtain eternal life. The thing to prevail over forth ward is the “eternal death sentence” for both saint and sinner. Someone must pay the price for the Fall of Man, or there is no hope for eternal life.
The Israelites tried to deal with the daily sins of man by the Sacrifice which God declared to be an “iniquity”, placing the burden of guilt upon the priesthood.
(Quoted Out of Context) “To believe in the crucified one is to want no other victims of ritual killing. To depend on the blood of Jesus is to refuse to depend on the sacrificial blood offerings of the Levitical priesthood. It is to swear off scapegoats. Sacred redemption promises offerings of future atonement within the priesthood in accordance to righteousness.”
“Seen from this perspective, the somewhat obscure actions of Christ make complete sense. Jesus, in the role of a victorious Messiah defeated the opposing evil of the “iniquitous gift” by a direct battle. God would never build a new world on “ritual murder”. God found a way- once and for all- to turn to good what man had founded in evil.”
“Jesus steps into this double bind and overcome it. No other than the Messiah could. This task is appointed to him alone. No ordinary victim could change the process, could uncover what was obscured in the constant practice of scapegoating.”
“To submit passively to the sacrificial mechanism would do nothing to change it. That only smoothes the way for future victims and condemns them to invisibility. Such is the dilemma, the malignant wisdom of an evil that we seem doomed to serve whichever way we turn. Humanity is caught in this bondage, caught without even being able to name it directly. We know not what we do.”
“Redemptive violence- was a means of overcoming eternal punishment for the sin, removing the pollution and punishing the transgression on the people that has brought disaster on the community. The sin that the Messiah overcame was the offense of the scapegoat, for it was the sin of the one that jeopardized the many.”
“Only a Jew, representing the “guilt” of the nation of priests could undeniably vindicate many, by suffering this sacrifice, to reverse it. The work of the cross is the work of a transcendent (awe-inspiring) God, breaking into a cycle we could not change alone. It is a saving act of God, a victory over the powers of this world, a defeat of death.”
God hates the plunder in a burnt offering.
The Lamb of God
Jesus is the Christ, yet a man born through the blood-line of David, a necessary requirement for the fulfillment of scripture. Thusly, his humanity is established. At most at this stage he could only be deemed half a God. We are confronted with many sons of God but only ONE son of God. The One son of God is the Mighty God, manifesting the ucorruptible Word of God and His plan for Salvation.
Jesus set the way, as witnessed through the salvation of God, manifest in his ascension, thusly, becoming the way to truth and life walking in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice.
JESUS TAUGHT – Matthew 9:13 “…’No need have those being strong of a healer, but those having (physical, spiritual, or moral) illness. But learn what it is: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;’ for not I (Jesus) came to call righteous (ones) but sinners to repentance.’”