Your idea belittles Jesus Christ by denying that He is the one God of the Bible. When you insist that Christ is the Son of God are you not denying His full divinity and making Him a lesser god?

Answer

The best way we can honor Christ is to believe His words. We actually belittle and dishonor Christ when we ignore His words of instruction.

When He was asked, Christ identified Himself as the Son of God. Why would it be belittling to Him if we repeat what He said? This is the identity He claimed for Himself. We believe He is well qualified to tell us who He is.

In John 10: 24 we read:

Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

In other words, the Jews were asking Christ to identify Himself, to tell them once and for all who He is.

After identifying Himself as the Son of God, and claiming to be one with His Father, the Jews picked up stones to stone Him. And when Jesus inquired the reason for doing so, this was their answer:

For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. John 10:33

The Jews understood what Jesus meant. They understood that by claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus was claiming divinity as His own. He was telling them that He is just as divine as His Father.

In reply to their accusations, Jesus said:

Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? John 10:36

Here we read Jesus Himself telling the Jews and the rest of the world who He is. Jesus never claimed to be the God of the Bible. Whenever He was asked, He always claimed to be the Son of God.

Furthermore, God the Father Himself twice spoke from Heaven declaring Jesus to be His Son (Mattew 3:17, 17:5)

Now the questions we would like to ask are: Why is it considered belittling to identify Jesus in the same way He identified Himself? If Jesus was not truly the Son of God, why did He tell us He was? Why did God the Father proclaim it twice from heaven?

The truth of the matter is that Christ is truly the Son of God, possessing by inheritance the very same nature as the Father. His divine nature is no less than that of the Father in any way, shape or form. He is God because He is the Son of God. The Bible testimony abounds with this truth:

Jesus said it (John 10:36; 5:18), Paul preached it (Acts 9:20), the disciples proclaimed it (Acts 5:42), Christ taught it to Nicodemus (John 3:16), He was crucified for admitting it (Mark 14:61-65), the Father in Heaven revealed it to Peter (Matthew 16:16) and proclaimed it audibly from heaven twice (Matthew 3:17; 17:5), the Roman soldier was inspired by the Spirit of God to admit it (Matthew 27:54), the Ethiopian had to believe it to qualify for baptism (Acts 8:37), and even the fallen angels confessed it (Luke 8:28).

As a matter of fact, any claim that denies that Christ is “the Son of God” is belittling Him. We do not honor Him more by attempting to elevate His position by denying His divine sonship. The Bible clearly presents the fact that there is only One God. (Deuteronomy 6:4; 4:35; Jeremiah 10:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10; James 2:19; 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Romans 15:6…etc). When we say that Christ is not the Son of this God, yet is still God, or a part of God, we actually take away Christ’s credentials and His right to divinity. We make Him into another God. In other words, we would belittle Him. Why? Because we are not acknowledging Him as the Son of the “only true God”.

Please consider the following illustration to further help us understand this matter:

Let us say England had a king by the name of Arthur. The law of the kingdom states that there is only one king, and if anyone else claims to be king other than the current king, he should be executed. It would be considered treason. Now when King Arthur had a son, Charles, he made a decree saying “my son is equal to me, whatsoever he says should be obeyed”.

Q – What do you think gave Charles his credentials or his right to royalty?

A – Of course it would be his relation to his father, King Arthur.

Now let us say, Charles’ friends loved him so much that they said “Charles is not the son of King Arthur, he is a king in his own right. There are two kings, Arthur and Charles.”

The question is, did the friends of Charles take away his right to the royal throne by denying his sonship or did they exalt him?

To answer the question honestly we have to admit that they not only took his royalty away, but made him a false king who, according to the law, should be executed because it is considered treason. In other words, they belittled Charles by taking away his sonship, his inheritance and his royalty.

In the same way, the Bible says there is only one God, the Father, and He has a Son, Jesus. Now if any person wants to say that Christ is not the Son of God yet is God in his own right, then this person is belittling Christ because by taking away His sonship, His inheritance, His credentials, and His very right to divinity. This makes Christ a false God because the Bible teaches that “to us there is by one God, the Father.”

The Spirit of Prophecy tells us:

“God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son. {8T 268.3}

It is plain here that His sonship is the basis of His “exalted position” of being “equal with the Father”. This is the highest honor we can pay to Christ, our beloved redeemer; to acknowledge His true identity as the divine Son of God.