What is the doctrine of eternal Sonship, and is it biblical?

The doctrine of eternal Sonship simply affirms that the second Person of the triune Godhead has eternally existed as the Son. In other words, there was never a time when He was not the Son of God, and there has always been a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. This doctrine recognizes the idea of sonship is not merely a title or role that Christ assumed at some specific point in history, but is the essential identity of the second Person of the Godhead. According to this doctrine, Christ is and always has been the Son of God.

Yes, the eternal Sonship is biblical and is the most widely held view throughout church history. That said, there are evangelical Christians on both sides of this debate. Those who deny the doctrine of eternal Sonship are not denying the triune nature of God or the deity or eternality of Christ, and those who embrace the eternal Sonship of Christ are not implying that Jesus Christ is anything less than fully God.

The doctrine that Jesus existed as God’s eternal Son before the creation of the world is affirmed in the Nicene Creed (AD 325): “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” The eternal Sonship of Christ was also affirmed in the fifth century in the Athanasian Creed.

There is considerable biblical evidence to support the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ. First, many passages clearly identify “the Son” as the one who created all things (Colossians 1:13–16; Hebrews 1:2), thereby strongly implying that Christ was the Son of God at the time of creation. The most normal and natural meaning of such passages is that the second Person of the Godhead has always been the Son and, by extension, the Father has always been the Father and the Spirit has always been the Spirit.

Second, there are numerous verses that speak of God the Father sending the Son into the world to redeem sinful man (John 20:21; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 4:10, 14) and giving His Son as a sacrifice for sin (John 3:16). All these passages strongly suggest that Christ was “the Son” before He was sent into the world. According to Galatians 4:4–6, for example, both the Son and the Spirit were “sent forth.” The Holy Spirit did not become the Holy Spirit when He was sent to empower the believers at Pentecost, and neither did the Son become the Son at His Incarnation. All three Persons of the Triune Godhead have existed for all eternity, and their names, Father, Son, and Spirit, reveal who they are, not simply their title or function.

Third, 1 John 3:8 speaks of the appearance or manifestation of the Son of God: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (ESV). The verb appeared in this context means “made visible or brought to light.” The idea is that something that was previously hidden has been made manifest. The verse communicates not that the second Person of the Trinity “became” the Son of God, but that the already existing Son of God was “made manifest” or “appeared” in order to fulfill God’s predetermined purpose. See also John 11:27 and 1 John 5:20.

Fourth, Hebrews 13:8 teaches that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” This truth also supports the doctrine of eternal Sonship. If Christ’s divine nature is unchanging, and sonship is an essential part of His Person, then He has always been the Son of God. At the Incarnation the Son took on human flesh, but His divine nature did not change, nor did His relationship with the Father. This same truth is also implied in John’s purpose in writing his Gospel: “These [things] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). John does not say that Christ “became” the Son of God but that He “is” the Son of God.

One of the strongest evidences for the eternal Sonship of Christ is the triune nature of God and the eternal relationships that exist among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The unique Father-Son relationship can best be understood from the aspect of God’s eternal Fatherhood and Christ’s eternal Sonship. In fact, this relationship is key to understanding the full measure of God’s love for the redeemed. God the Father took His Son—the very Son He loved from before the foundation of the world—and sent Him to be the sacrifice for our sins. The doctrine of eternal Sonship makes God’s amazing grace seem even more amazing.

In John 16:28 Jesus speaks of the eternal relationship between the Father and Son: “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” Jesus clearly says that, at His Incarnation, He “came from the Father”; in the same way, upon His resurrection He returned “to the Father.” If God is His “Father,” then He must be the “Son”—and that relationship existed before the Incarnation. Other verses that support the eternal Sonship of Christ include John 17:5, in which the Father glorified the Son “before the world began”; and John 17:24, which speaks of the Father’s love for the Son “before the creation of the world.” The Father-Son relationship is eternal.

Those who deny the doctrine of eternal Sonship often hold the view of incarnational Sonship, which teaches the preexistence of Christ, although not as the Son of God. Those who hold this view affirm the deity and eternality of Christ but believe that He became the Son of God at some point in time. The most common view is that Christ became the Son at His Incarnation—when He took on human flesh, He also took on a new role as Son of God. Variant theories take the position that Christ became the Son at His baptism, at His resurrection, or at His exaltation.

Those who hold the view of incarnational Sonship do not see sonship as being an essential part of who Christ is; rather, they see it as being a role or a title or function that Christ assumed at His Incarnation. A companion teaching is that God became the Father at the time of Christ’s Incarnation. Throughout history many conservative Christians held to incarnational Sonship rather than eternal Sonship, including Ralph Wardlaw, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, Finis J. Dake, Walter Martin, and at one time John MacArthur. However, several years ago John MacArthur changed his position on this doctrine, and he now affirms the doctrine of eternal Sonship.

One verse commonly used to support the doctrine of incarnational Sonship is Hebrews 1:5, which quotes Psalm 2:7 and appears to speak of God the Father’s begetting God the Son at a specific point in time: “‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You[.]’ And again: ‘I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son’” (NKJV). In the NIV translation, God says, “Today I have become your Father.” Those who hold to the doctrine of incarnational Sonship point out that “begetting” normally speaks of a person’s origin, and that a son is normally subordinate to his father. Their rejection of the doctrine of eternal Sonship is an attempt to preserve the equality and eternality of the three Persons of the Godhead. So, they conclude that “Son” is simply a title or function that Christ took on at His Incarnation and that “sonship” refers to Christ’s voluntary, fleshly submission to the Father (Philippians 2:5–8; John 5:19).

One of the problems with the doctrine of incarnational Sonship is that it confuses the internal relationships that exist within the Trinity. If the Son is not eternally begotten by the Father, then neither does the Spirit eternally proceed from the Father through the Son. Also, if there is no Son prior to the Incarnation, then there is no Father, either. Yet throughout the Old Testament we see God being referred to as the Father of Israel. If we could not use the names Father and Son prior to the Incarnation of Christ, we would be forced to say that God chose not to reveal Himself as He truly is, but only as He was to become. Taken to its logical conclusion, denying the eternal Sonship of Christ reduces the Trinity from the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to simply the existence of “Number One,” “Number Two,” and “Number Three,” with the numbers themselves being an arbitrary designation.

We believe that the better view is that the Son of God is indeed God the Son. He has always been the Son, from eternity past. He is eternally begotten of the Father. Hebrews 1:5 (and Psalm 2:7) is best understood as a declaration of Jesus’ deity. The whole point of Hebrews 1 is that “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:4). Christ’s identification as the only begotten Son of the Father is not a title conferred upon Him but proof of His divine nature—a nature that is both eternal and unchanging.