Paul calls Jesus 'God's own Son'. What are we to understand about the significance of this most profound title? Let us first understand what Paul means when he refers to himself and his fellow-Christians as those who have become God's sons.

We have already seen how the Old Testament describes the ideal relationship of the king of Israel to God as that of a much loved son to his father. The relationship which Israel ought to have with God is described in a similar way by the prophet Hosea (Hosea 11: 1, 4). This description has to be understood against the central teaching of the Old Testament that the holy and good God wants his people to be holy and good as well. They cannot be in the kind of close relationship with God which the comparison of son and father indicates unless they live according to his will. Those who turn away from evil and seek to live in a way pleasing to him, are accepted by him. They could be described as having been adopted by God, as his sons.

Paul knows that he and his fellow Christians have entered into a new relationship with God, best described as having become God's adopted sons. They can now pray, 'Our Father,' whereas this had been impossible when they had not known God.

But when Paul and other writers in the New Testament refer to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, something different and unique is meant in comparison with their understanding of themselves as the sons of God. They mean that Jesus was in a perfect relationship with God, in a way that no one else had ever been. Paul expressed it like this in Colossians 1:19: 'For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God.'

Many sayings of Jesus recorded in the gospels show his own knowledge of his unique relationship with God. Even at the age of twelve, on a visit to the Temple with Joseph and Mary (Luke 2:49) he spoke of it as his Father's house. In Matthew's gospel we find this tremendous claim: 'My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him' (Matthew 11 :27), In the gospel of John, the theme of the Sonship of Jesus is very important. Jesus constantly refers to God as 'Father' and seeks to give glory to his Father in what-ever he does. There are about one hundred references in the gospel of John to God as the Father. The Father carries out his will and his work in the Son. 'If you knew me you would know my Father also' (john 8:19). 'The Father and I are one' (John 10:30).

As we try to understand the meaning of the title 'Son of God' as it is given to Jesus Christ, it becomes clear that it is linked with the absolute sinlessness and obedience of Jesus. He did nothing that was not in accordance with the character and will of God. His Sonship was linked with his service and his obedience.