The Relationship Between the Father and the Son in Theology

The Father-Son Relationship in New Testament Texts

With particular attention directed toward the scenes of Jesus’s baptism and transfiguration, how do New Testament texts define the relationship between the Father and the Son?

• Matthew 3:17: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
• The Baptism: As Jesus enters the river with John, the New Testament records a voice from the heavens identifying Jesus as God’s beloved Son.
• The Transfiguration: On a mountain with his disciples Peter, John, and James, a voice from the heavens declares, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
• The Shift in Command: In the Transfiguration, God explicitly instructs the disciples to “listen to him.” This addition implies a deepening of trust in the relationship between the Father and the Son.
• The Wilderness: Following his baptism, Jesus is tempted by the devil in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. By overcoming these tests, Jesus earns his Father’s trust, which explains the slight evolution in the divine proclamation.

Fourth-Century Perspectives on the Divine Relationship

As the early church wrestled with these doctrines, the vocabulary and grammar used to describe God were transformed. Two primary figures held opposing views on the nature of the Son:

• Arius: Believed the Father created the Son out of nothing, emphasizing the Father’s divinity over the Son.
• Athanasius: Argued that the Son is begotten—a technical term for a natural process—suggesting that the Father and the Son are of the same substance, or homoousios.

The Council of Nicaea and the Definition of Monotheism

When Constantine reunited the Roman Empire, he convened the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 to address these theological divisions.

• Defining the Trinity: The council focused on defining the nature of the Trinity.
• Incarnation: The bishops concluded that Jesus was the incarnate Son, suggesting he was homoousios with both humanity and God the Father.
• Monotheism: This was later refined to describe God as having two natures in one person, establishing a new framework for Christian monotheism.