R.C. Sproul Quote
The Son of GodThe New Testament recounts few instances when God was heard speaking from heaven. When He did, it was normallyto announce something startling. God was zealous to announce that Jesus Christ was His Son. At Jesus' baptism, the heavens opened and God's voice was heard, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:17). Elsewhere, the Father declared from heaven, This is my beloved Son; listen to him (Mark 9:7). Thus, the title conferred from on high to Jesus is Son of God.This title has engendered a great deal of controversy in the history of the church, particularly in the fourth century, when the Arian movement, taking its cue from its leader, Arius, denied the Trinity by arguing that Jesus was a created being. References to Jesus as the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15) and the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14, KJV) led Arius to argue that Jesus had a beginning in time and was thus a creature. In Arias' mind, if Jesus was begotten, it could only mean that He was not eternal, and if He was not eternal, then He was a creature. Thus, to ascribe deity to Jesus was to be guilty of blasphemy, because it involved the idolatrous worship of a created being. The same controversy exists today between Christian believers and the Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses, both of whom acknowledge a lofty view of Jesus over angels and other creatures but deny His full deity.This controversy precipitated in the great ecumenicalCouncil of Nicea. The Nicene Creed provides an interesting answer to the charges of Arianism. The answer is found in the strange statement that Jesus is begotten, not made. To the Greek, such a statement was a contradiction in terms. In normal terms, begotten implies a beginning, but when applied to Jesus, there is a uniqueness to the way in which He is begotten that separates Him from all other creatures. Jesus is called the monogenes, the only begotten of the Father. There is a sense in which Jesus and Jesus alone is begotten of the Father. This is what the church was getting at when it spoke of Jesus being eternally begotten-that He was begotten, not made.
The Son of GodThe New Testament recounts few instances when God was heard speaking from heaven. When He did, it was normallyto announce something startling. God was zealous to announce that Jesus Christ was His Son. At Jesus' baptism, the heavens opened and God's voice was heard, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:17). Elsewhere, the Father declared from heaven, This is my beloved Son; listen to him (Mark 9:7). Thus, the title conferred from on high to Jesus is Son of God.This title has engendered a great deal of controversy in the history of the church, particularly in the fourth century, when the Arian movement, taking its cue from its leader, Arius, denied the Trinity by arguing that Jesus was a created being. References to Jesus as the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15) and the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14, KJV) led Arius to argue that Jesus had a beginning in time and was thus a creature. In Arias' mind, if Jesus was begotten, it could only mean that He was not eternal, and if He was not eternal, then He was a creature. Thus, to ascribe deity to Jesus was to be guilty of blasphemy, because it involved the idolatrous worship of a created being. The same controversy exists today between Christian believers and the Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses, both of whom acknowledge a lofty view of Jesus over angels and other creatures but deny His full deity.This controversy precipitated in the great ecumenicalCouncil of Nicea. The Nicene Creed provides an interesting answer to the charges of Arianism. The answer is found in the strange statement that Jesus is begotten, not made. To the Greek, such a statement was a contradiction in terms. In normal terms, begotten implies a beginning, but when applied to Jesus, there is a uniqueness to the way in which He is begotten that separates Him from all other creatures. Jesus is called the monogenes, the only begotten of the Father. There is a sense in which Jesus and Jesus alone is begotten of the Father. This is what the church was getting at when it spoke of Jesus being eternally begotten-that He was begotten, not made.
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About R.C. Sproul
Working as a staunch defender of Protestantism, Sproul saw emerging modern technologies as an opportunity to disseminate teaching on Reformed theology. Faced with an increase in ecumenical activity between evangelical and Roman Catholic figures in the 1990s, Sproul engaged in polemics to defend the evangelical doctrine of justification by faith alone. He has been described as "the greatest and most influential proponent of the recovery of Reformed theology in the last century."