Eternal Sonship

Some have said that Jesus was the Word and became the Son at His birth in Bethlehem. This is not true. He is the Word, but was also the Son in the Old Testament, in His various appearances, such as in the fiery furnace in Babylon. He has always been the Son.

There is debate whether the Old Testament appearances were of Christ or an angel, but He received worship on several occasions. Christ appeared to Abraham (Gen 18:3), as Jesus said in John 8:56. He appeared to Moses (Ex 33:11), to Joshua (Josh 5:14), to Samson’s parents and to others in the Old Testament (Jud 13:20).

These are called pre-incarnate appearances of Christ. It has been said that the one in the furnace in Daniel was “like the Son of God” only (Dan 3:25), but this term “like” is also used in Dan 7:13 describing the ascension of Christ to the Father’s right hand.

His title “firstborn” does not mean there was a time when He did not exist, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim (Col 1:15, 18). (They do not witness to the Jehovah of scripture.) Firstborn is a designation for the pre-eminent one. It means the superior one, the heir of the promises, the one who overcame.

In the Old Covenant the firstborn was the heir, not the one who was necessarily born first, as seen in the cases of Esau and Jacob (Ex 4:22) and Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen 48:7, Jer 31:9). Firstborn in Hebrew usage means He is Lord and inheritor of the kingdom. It is not talking about an actual birth at any time in history or in pre-history. It means pre-eminent one.