Page 159 - Prophet Jesus (Pbuh): A Prophet Not A Son, Of God

HARUN YAHYA 157

a son of God by anyone who thought that he was a particularly righteous
person." He also draws attention to how, within the Jewish tradition,
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important individuals and events were referred to by mythological and
metaphorical expressions, either individually or socially. 57
According to the concept of the Messiah in Jewish belief, the
Messiah, a king, would be descended from the line of Prophet David
(pbuh). The kings descended from that line were regarded as "the sons of

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God in the sense of being appointed to the rank of kingship…" Those
who believed in Prophet Jesus (pbuh) as the Messiah may have seen
nothing improper in referring to him by that term as an extension of this
belief.
In The Historical Figure of Jesus, Sanders also notes that the Jews
never understood the son of God in the literal sense. According to him,
they used the term the sons of God in a metaphorical sense for both men
and women and as a symbolic statement of one's devotion to God. 59

Sanders interprets the son of God by the first Christians in the following
way:
The early Christians, used "Son of God" of Jesus, but they did not
think that he was a hybrid, half God, and half human. They re-
garded "Son of God" as a high designation … The first followers of
Jesus, however, when they started calling him "Son of God," would
have meant something much vaguer: a person standing in a special
relationship to God, who chose him to accomplish a task of great
importance. When Gentile converts started entering the new move-
ment, they may have understood the title in light of the stories
about Alexander the Great, or of their own mythology. 60
As Sanders states, when Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) words and deeds
passed from the Jews to the Gentiles, at that time the pagan world, this
metaphorical expression began to acquire a new meaning and to be used
to refer to his alleged divine status. In this way, by being regarded as the

Messiah by the first Christians and as having a fully human identity, he