Defining Speech
Every discipline has terms that are peculiar to their field. Such a term is known as an argot, the jargon or slang of a particular group. For example, it might be said of a golfer he got an albatross, meaning he made a hole in three under par on a single hole. Or, in baseball, he got a golden sombrero meaning a player struck out four times in a single game.
In medicine reference might be made to something being idiopathic, meaning a condition that appears as a result of treatment for another condition. Or, something being an exacerbation, meaning the deterioration of a condition.
Each discipline knows its own argots, but others don’t necessarily.
This is particularly true in religion. For example someone might say God spoke to me. By using it most Christians do not mean God orally articulated to them, but it means they were given a distinct impression regarding a certain matter. Or, perhaps a certain Bible verse impressed them regarding an action to be taken.
A very important religious expression that confuses some is “God’s Son,” or the “Son of God.” This leaves some people musing over who was Mrs. God?
The term is not used in the sense of prodigy, offspring. It speaks of association, not generation. The dictionary as well as Scripture recognizes the title “son” as referring to association, not generation.
The apostles James and John were called “sons of thunder.” Barnabas was known as “the son of encouragement.”
Following is how the word “Son” as used in the Bible for Jesus is understood within the Christian community.
In Scripture Jesus is called “God’s only begotten Son.” The word “begotten” is a compound of two Greek words used in Scripture. One word is mono, meaning “one.” The other is genes, meaning “kind, type, or species.” Combined they are used to speak of God’s only one of a kind son. The Greek monogenees is used to mean the only one of the same nature as. In Scripture Jesus is not spoken of as a Son of God, but the Son of God.
Two different Greek words are translated “son” in Scripture.
Teknon stresses the fact of human birth. It is used of homo sapiens.
Huios emphasizes dignity and character relationship. It is used of Jesus.
This is the line of logic that leads Christians to revere Jesus as the nexus of God.
As such, Christians believe Jesus was God manifest as a corporeal, touchable, human being: the man/God-God/man.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2: 9)
Godhead translates Theotetos meaning not just divine attributes, but the very essence, the nature of God, the totality of who God the Father is, His supreme nature.
II Corinthians 4:4 records: “Christ, who is the image of God…” EIKON, “the image of God” means He is the perfect visible likeness of the invisible God.
That enables persons to give the right answers to these questions raised by the brilliant Henry Van Dyke.
“Are you willing to believe love is the strongest thing in the world — stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death — And that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?