Many people think that the Sonship of God was given to the Lord Jesus Christ only after He was manifested in the flesh. Traditionally, Old Testament believers had never thought of the Messiah being the Son of God. On the other hand, the New Testament books have recorded the account of how the Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be the Son of God. It is important to take note that the declaration of Jesus Christ as the Son of God was not proclaimed only by His disciples such as Peter and Paul, but also God the Father Himself who testified on two occasions. He testified firstly, during the baptism of Jesus Christ (Matt. 3:16) and secondly, while Jesus Christ was praying on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark. 9:7). God the father knew His Son and declared Him to the people that they might believe in Him.
The only passage in the Old Testament that testifies the Sonship of God is found in the book of Psalm. However, although the revelation of the Sonship of God appeared only once in the Old Testament, various books have frequently recorded the appearance of the second person of the Trinity, often called “theophany” or pre-incarnation of Christ which testified His existence and deity.
The declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God did not occur only after He was manifested in the flesh. In the Old Testament, hundreds of years before Jesus Christ came to this world, God the father had declared that the Messiah was His Son. This is an absolute truth. Before the Messiah appeared as the Son of God in the New Testament, the Old Testament believers had seen the Lord’s theophany, or pre-incarnation which testified His existence and deity.
Ps. 2:7 says, “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath saith unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee.” What did David mean by this verse? Theologians may have different interpretations. However, it is a fact that the second person of the Trinity would no longer be in the form of a spirit as are the first and third person but He would be a visible person.
In addition, this verse declared to the Old Testament believers that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, is called the Son of God long before His manifestation in the flesh. Perhaps, it was hard for Old Testament believers to understand such a truth although God did not reveal His truth and revelation in just a single verse. God the Father had declared this in various parts of the Old Testament books concerning the first coming of His Son. It was their duty to search the Scripture in order to know this truth that the Son of God who was ‘in the form of God’ transformed into ‘the form of a servant and made in the likeness of men’ (Phil 2:6-7). Thus, Psalm 2:7 is one of the passages that tells us the second person of the Trinity would come as the Son of God in the human flesh. Christ is the only begotten and the well-beloved Son of the Father – “a relationship unshared by any other, and absolutely unique – a revelation of which was given to Peter by the Father leading him to exclaim, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Although Jesus Christ himself did not claim to be the Son of God, but rather the Son of man, it does not mean that He rejects the idea of being the Son of God. Jesus proved that He was the Son of God who came to bear the iniquity of all men through the life He lived, the truth He taught and the work He wrought. In fact Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, “If you do not believe in me, believe the works I have done” (John. 10:37-38).
The writers of the New Testament books such as Luke did acknowledge in their writings, for example in Acts 13:33 that “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.” Paul here explains to the people in Antioch that Jesus Christ is the One whom God the Father has promised to come to this world, and whom He declares to be His Son. Through this promised Messiah, those who believe in Him will be justified from all things (Acts 13:39). As Pounds rightly said, "Where is the evidence that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this passage? On three different occasions, the Gospel writers recorded the words from heaven, "this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." It is not "one of my sons, but "My Son, My only one."
On another occasion, the Apostle Paul, a Jewish scholar, shows no doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to fulfill what His Father had commanded Him to do. Paul said in Rom. 1:3-4 “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” The writer of Hebrews said, “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son” (Heb. 1:5).
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