“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16 (BSB)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created… and in Him all things hold together.” — Colossians 1:15–17 (BSB)
“Long ago God spoke to our fathers by the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son… the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature…” — Hebrews 1:1–3 (BSB)
“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” — Matthew 16:16 (BSB)
This is why the Nicene Creed states: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God… God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”
Jesus’ Sonship is eternal and unique. Though believers become children of God by adoption (Romans 8:15), Jesus is the Son by nature—coequal and coeternal with the Father. As Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 proclaim, He is the exact image of God and the agent of creation.
The Thirty-Nine Articles, in Article II, declare: “The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God…”
This doctrine safeguards the full deity of Christ. To deny Jesus as the only Son in this sense is to deny the Trinity and the Gospel itself. As St. Athanasius insisted, “If Christ is not truly God, then He cannot truly save.”
J.C. Ryle emphasized: “Christ is not the Son of God in some vague spiritual sense—He is the eternal Son, equal with the Father in power and glory, very God of very God.”
Contemporary Anglican theologian Dr. Michael Bird writes: “Calling Jesus the ‘only Son’ distinguishes His divine identity. He is not merely a prophet or moral teacher, but the eternal Son of the living God.”
Knowing Jesus as the only Son also calls us into true worship. We do not worship a creature or servant—we worship the Son, through whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together. To confess Jesus as the only Son of God is to bow before His divine majesty and to trust in His saving power as the one Mediator between God and man.
Athanasius defended the eternal Sonship of Christ against Arianism.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD): “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The Son is not less than the Father, for they are of one essence, though He is eternally begotten.” — On the Trinity, Book I
Augustine articulates the eternal generation and equal divinity of the Son.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313–386 AD): “We do not call Him the Son of God as men are called sons, but as Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made.” — Catechetical Lectures, 11.3
Cyril distinguishes between Christ’s Sonship by nature and ours by grace.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–202 AD): “The Son is eternally with the Father… and He reveals the Father to us, for He is in the Father and the Father in Him.” — Against Heresies, IV.6.6
An Anglican Catechism (Expanded) offers over 350+ Scripture-based answers to the core truths of the Christian faith. Each entry includes biblical texts, theological insight, and reflections from historic and contemporary Anglican voices. Rooted in the classical tradition, it is designed for teaching, discipleship, and spiritual formation.
An Ancient Worship Movement invites readers into the rich, historic worship of the early Church rediscovered through the Anglican tradition. This book calls believers into a deeper, Spirit-filled encounter with Christ through timeless practices.
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