Adam and Jesus were both "sons of God"
Response to comment [from a Jehovah's Witness]: "Adam was the Son of God, that is the Elect of God in their Natural state!"
As a reminder, Beloved
57 (Jehovah's Witness) is number 16 on
Satan, Inc. (TOL's heretic's list)
in the 'Jesus is not God' people (Non-trinitarians)
category.
"[T]he writer of Hebrews wants it clear that
Jesus is superior to angels on the basis of
His rank, not just His name. Notice in verse
6. When he again brings the firstborn into
the world he says, "Let all the angels of
God worship Him." Let me just briefly say
this. The word "firstborn," prototokosis not
a word of chronology, it's a word of
preeminence. It really could be translated
"the premier one, the prominent one, the
highest ranking one, the preeminent one, the
highest one." It wouldn't be necessary to
identify the Son of God with a number
because there aren't any more. It wouldn't
be necessary to say He was the firstborn Son
of God to distinguish Him from the second or
third born son of God since there is only
one. The firstborn is not a numeric term. It
is not a chronological term to indicate some
kind of sequence in birth. It is a term
meaning preeminence, prototokos, the premier
one, the preeminent one, the most prominent
one, the highest of all. And that indicates
the rank of Jesus, that He is the ranking
one, He is the supreme one.
In Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 it says
this, "He is the image of the invisible God,
He is the prototokos, the preeminent one
over all creation." That is His preeminence
is established not within the...not within
the trinity, as such. Not that He is the
preeminent one within the trinity or that He
is the preeminent one of some other...some
other elements, or some other deities that
have come in procession from God, but rather
He is the supreme one of all over all
creations. Or it's simply identifying His
rank. To prove that, in verse 6, he...and by
the way, you'll notice if you have a Bible
that identifies quotes, there are seven
quotes from Old Testament passages here, I
don't have the time to go into those this
morning. And you'll see another one in verse
6 because there were two in verse 5. And
here it is, verse 6, taken from Psalm 89,
"Let all the angels of God worship Him."
That establishes His rank. He is the premier
one over all creation. Angels are created
beings, therefore He is superior to them and
all the angels of God worship Him..." Full
text:
The Nature of the Incarnation Part 3 Hebrews
1:4-14 by John
MacArthur
See also:
Jehovah's False Witnesses
What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of
God?
