Page 154 - Prophet Jesus (Pbuh): A Prophet Not A Son, Of God

152 Prophet Jesus (pbuh): A Prophet, Not A Son, of God

The word "son" in the New Testament
was not used to support the Trinity

At the heart of the belief in the trinity lies the erroneous belief that
Prophet Jesus (pbuh) is the son of God. (Surely God is beyond that!)
However, when one examines how and why son was used when

Christianity was born and in earlier periods, a very different picture
emerges.
Son is used to refer to Prophet Jesus (pbuh) in four very different
ways in the New Testament: the son of Mary, the son of David, the son of
man, and the son of God.
The term son of Mary refers to the fact that Prophet Jesus (pbuh) was
physically born through by Mary, and the son of David denotes his lin-
eage.

The term the son of man is of enormous importance, both from the point
of view of how he described himself and how those around him regarded
him. In fact, this term appears more frequently in the New Testament than
the Messiah and the son of God. The term the son of man is unique to Jewish
theology and is used far more in the Old Testament, particularly in the Book
of Psalms. It refers directly to human beings and is a very familiar expres-
sion. For instance, it is used 90 times in reference to Prophet Ezekiel (pbuh),
who is certainly depicted as a mortal human being.
The Aramaic equivalent of this term, bar nash(a), was used for every-
one also at the time of Prophet Jesus (pbuh). However, the New

Testament term the son of man is not used for everyone, as in Judaic scrip-
tures, but is employed many times to refer to Prophet Jesus (pbuh) . The
49
term the son of man is used 69 times in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and 13
times in John. In only one place it is used for humanity in general
(Hebrews, 2:6-8). The description is used several times both regarding
and by Prophet Jesus (pbuh), in the sense of I. Some of these passages are