Is the idea that God has a Son pagan or scriptural?
I am reminded of the famous Mohammed Hijab vs David Wood debate which catapulted the former into prominence in the Muslim community. Mohammed Hijab of course did very terribly and said the most stupid things ever like “Allah prays FOR the prophet not TO the prophet!”, “Elijah means God with us” and “What Muslim scholars say Allah has body parts?”. One of his claims during the debate is however relevant for the discourse today.
Mohammed Hijab said for four thousand years of Jewish discourse, not a single Jew inferred the trinity. Now this is interesting considering even according to his Quran,
“The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah”…”
(Surah 9:30)
The wider question though is whether the idea that God has a son is a product of pagan influence.
First, Christianity was the product of a Jewish environment and the New Testament is a heavily Jewish document. The New Testament writers, particularly Paul and the writer of Hebrews did not view themselves as starting a new religion but rather testifying to the culmination and fulfilment of the Jewish religion in the person and ministry of Jesus. If this is the case, we would expect the idea of God having a son to be found in the Hebrew scriptures.
Do we find such ideas therein?
King Agur writes in Proverbs 30,
“Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,
If you know?”
(Proverbs 30:4)
The first four lines of the above are clearly referring to God (YHVH) and then the bombshell is the final line. YHVH does have a Son, the writer takes this fact for granted.
Again, David writes in the second Psalm,
“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.”
(Psalm 2:7–8)
Not only that, God expects His Son to be worshipped,
“Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little…”
(Psalm 2:11–12)
It is interesting that the Psalmist equates serving the Lord with fear and kissing the Son.
But I digress…
In the same Psalm, God expects the Son to be trusted,
“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”
(Psalm 2:12)
This is especially striking because the theme of the Psalms as a whole is that only God is to be trusted, For example,
“It is better to trust in the LORD
Than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the LORD
Than to put confidence in princes.”
(Psalm 118:8–9)
But here God says those who trust in His Son are blessed.
Further, the prophet Isaiah writes,
“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
(Isaiah 9:6–7)
A child is born from the perspective of US but from the perspective of heaven, a Son has been given. Now note that this Son will sit upon the throne of David. Why is this important? God had earlier promised David,
“And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.”
(1 Chronicles 17:11–14)
So putting all of this together
- YHVH (God or THE LORD) has a Son
- The Son has a name (Proverbs 30:4)
- The Son is given (Isaiah 9:6)
- The Son is given through the lineage of David (1 Chronicles 17:11–14)
- The Son is to be worshipped as part and parcel of serving YHVH (Psalm 2:12)
- Those who do not worship the Son perish (Psalm 2:12)
- The Son is to be trusted in as much as we trust in God (Psalm 2:12)
So what are the theological claims of the New Testament? What does Jesus say of Himself?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16)
And again,
“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
(John 5:22–23)
And again the angel Gabriel says to Mary,
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”
(Luke 1:31)
And again,
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:9–11)
How in the name of everything bright and beautiful does the New Testament contradict the Jewish scriptures? Every theological claim of the New Testament particularly around the Son of God was already present in the Hebrew scriptures. It should be audible to the deaf and visible to the blind that Christianity’s influence is the Jewish religion.
Now, a sceptic can say, “Well, that does not mean it is true!” and we can agree on something there. However, what it does mean is that you cannot say Christianity was inspired by the pagan practices of its time! You cannot say it was a product of pagan myths or the various “emperor cults” of its time. It is a product of the Jewish religion, which is precisely how its first authors viewed it hence there was no need to prove that God had a Son, the claim instead is that Jesus IS that Son with the divine name in Him. The idea that faith or trust in this Son (which is the heart of the gospel) is a blessed thing to do was already there way back in the Psalms as well as the idea that failure to worship the Son resulted in perishing. These were not new claims, they were, at least from the perspective of New Testament authors, ancient claims finding fulfilment in the historical person of Jesus Christ.
With these few points of mine, I hope I have been able not to confuse you but to convince you that the idea of God having a Son is not a first or third century pagan idea but firmly rooted in the Hebrew scriptures which are centuries(if not millennia) before any purported pagan influences.
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