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quoted above: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance” (Matthew 21:38). The fact of Christ’s heirship is clearly laid down in Scripture for it is said: “ [the] Son, whom he has established heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2).

That Christ is God’s Son in a very special way is fundamental to Christianity. John’s Gospel was “written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). To deny that Jesus is the Son of God is a most serious error (1 John 2:22/23), and as John says elsewhere: “He that has not the Son of God has not life” (1 John 5:12). However, the question arises as to what we mean when we say that Jesus is the Son of God. He is clearly stated to be Son by birth. He is never said to have been adopted, that is, receive sonship. He did not become Son, as if it were an appellation he took at a certain point in time. For instance we have it said that He is the only-begotten Son twice in John 3: in verse 16 and then again in verse 18. In the latter verse the words “of God” are added. See also 1 John 4:9. We also have the fact stated in John 1 verse 14 and then again in verse 18. In the first case the word Son is omitted and there is a strong possibility that it should not be there in verse 18 either. The insertion of Son in the latter verse gives the sense in English. The word God which appears after only-begotten in verse 18 in some translations is out of accord with the rest of the references to Christ as begotten. The emphasis is on only-begotten (monogenes, that is single generation). Compare also Hebrews 11:17 as to Isaac, who is really a type of Christ as Son. In this last case son is added in brackets in the JND translation to complete the sense in English. See also Genesis 22:2. The thought of Christ being begotten using a different Greek word is also found in Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5.

Christ was Son of God from the day He was born as a babe into this world (Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:35). His Father was the supreme ruler of the universe, that is, omnipotent (1 Chronicles 29:10-12). His Father was all-knowing, that is, omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6) and everywhere present, that is, omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-13). These things did not apply to Christ as a babe in Bethlehem’s manger. To say that they did is unreal. A person’s power, knowledge and sphere of influence are not himself. Similarly as to Christ. What

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