The Bible teaches that God is One and clearly distinguishes between God and and His Son of God, but also says that all the fullness of Deity dwells in Jesus. How do we reconcile these facts?
This article has been replaced and expanded into a series of articles. Please see Jesus existed prior to His birth in the form of God.
Summary
The Bible does refer to the Son of God as “God”, but the Bible also refers to created beings as gods. Could Jesus be “a” god, and not “the” God? This article analyzes what the Bible says about the Son of God.
We must firstly acknowledge that humans are unable to understand God, for “His judgments are unsearchable and His ways are unfathomable“. It is our privilege to study about Him, but we must do it with humility.
Jesus is God’s “beloved Son”. The name “Son of God”, by itself, does not mean that Jesus is God, because human believers are also called “sons of God”. However, Jesus is the “one and only Son” of God. He is God’s Son in a unique sense.
His Son descended from heaven. He existed before he became a human being. He is “from … the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2); “before the world was” (John 17:5).
The Father is the Source of all creative power and wisdom, but He created everything through His Son, both things in the heavens and on earth. The Son also “upholds all things by the word of His power”. The Son is therefore very different from the created sons of God.
Since His Son created all things, he is before all things (Col. 1:17). The Bible writers refer to the mysterious “beginning”, saying that His Son was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). More emphatically, it is said that He is “the Beginning“ (Col. 1:18).
“It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him” (Colossians 1:19). This means, in the first place, that the Son is completely dependent on the Father. The Father has sent Him (John 5:36; 7:16), the Son can do nothing of Himself (John 5:19, 30) and also does nothing on His own initiative. He only says and does what the Father tells Him to do (John 7:16; 8:28, 30; 14:31). But secondly it means that “all the fullness of Deity dwells in Christ in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). This means, amongst other things, that the Son is the Judge, with “authority over all flesh” (John 17:2), and that He has “life in Himself” (John 5:26) to give “life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21).
“All things have been created … for him” (Col. 1:16). All must honor the Son even as they honor the Father (John 5:23). God commanded all the angels to worship His Son (Hebrews 1:6-8). While we are instructed to worship only God (Rev. 19:10), the Son is worshiped on earth and by heavenly beings (Rev. 5:8-9).
No one has ever seen God at any time, but His Son, who is the visible image of the invisible God—the exact representation of God’s nature, has explained Him (John 1:18; Col. 1:15; Hebr. 1:3): In His Son, appearing in a form that we can comprehend, God becomes known, visible and audible to the creatures of this universe.
Adam and Eve heard the sound of the “LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). The name LORD is YHVH, pronounced as Jehovah or Yahweh. Yahweh also appeared to Abraham in the form of a man (Genesis 18:1). It is proposed here that YHVH, who walked in the garden, and who appeared to Abraham, is the Son of God, that later became the human named Jesus. This proposal is based on the following:
God is the Creator, but His Son created everything.
Since the Son created the world, He would logically remain intimately involved in events on earth.
“No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). It therefore was not God who appeared in the form of a man; it must have been His Son.
God gave His name to Moses as “I AM” (Exodus 3:1-16). This name implies He exists without cause. By claiming, “before Abraham was born, I am”, Jesus identified Himself as the great “I Am” (John 8:58).
The voice calling, “Clear the way for the LORD (YHVH)” (Isaiah 40:3) is applied to John the Baptist (Mat. 3:1-3; John 1:23), who cleared the way for the Son.
Psalm 102:25-28, which says that the creation will wear out like a garment, but God—the Creator—will endure, is applied by Hebrews 1:8-12 to “the Son”.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 indicates that Christ followed the Israelites through the wilderness and provided for their spiritual sustenance. He is the One with which Moses spoke on Mount Sinai.
Jesus said that “the Scriptures … testify about Me” (John 5:39). The Scripture refer to the books of the Old Testament only.
Names used for YHVH in the Old Testament are also used for His Son. These include Bridegroom, Shepherd, Savior, Rock, True and Faithful Witness, Light, Alpha and the Omega, and the First and the Last.
It is therefore proposed that it was His Son that created the world in six days, that rested on the seventh day and whom Adam and Eve “heard … walking in the garden”. It was also the Son that gave the Law to Moses, and who led the Chosen Nation to the Promised Land.
In conclusion, the apparent contradiction that we have to explain is that the Bible maintains a clear distinction between God and His Son, but also says that “all the fullness of Deity dwells in Christ in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). There are things that we humans do not know because it has not been explained to us. There are also things that we humans simply are unable to understand, even if it is explained to us. With the knowledge that we do not understand God, the following is proposed:
This universe consists of time, space and matter, but God the Father exists outside time, space and matter. It is impossible for us to imagine what exists outside time, space and matter, but that is where the wisdom and power, that created our universe, came from.
Scriptures identify the Son as “the Beginning”. This is understood to say that He is the Beginning of time, space and matter. Consequently, one cannot separate the universe from the Son; God brought the universe into being by bringing His Son into being. His Son is that immense explosion of Energy that brought this universe into being. He is the “big bang”; not an uncontrolled explosion, but an incomprehensible planned and guided explosion. But He is also a Person, by which I mean that He is aware of Himself and aware of other living beings. He is not only a Person; He is an intensely loving Person. He was willing to become a human being and even to die at the hands of evil men, because He loves His sinful creatures.
It is hoped that this explanation maintains the distinction between God and His Son, but also explains the Son’s divine attributes: “By him all things were created” (Col. 1:15, 16). “He is before all things” (1:17). He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13).
(1) The Bible declares that there is only one God; God Is One.
“There is no other God besides Me …
For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:21-22).
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”. (Deut. 6:4-5)
When the scribes asked Jesus what the most important commandment is, He quoted Deuteronomy: “The foremost is, ‘hear, o Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord …” (Mark 12:28-30).
And James wrote: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19).
The Bible is a monotheistic religion.
(2) The Bible maintains a clear distinction between God and Jesus.
Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5)
“He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
The book of Revelation several times contrasts Christ with God, for instance “the throne of God and of the Lamb (Christ)” (Rev. 22:3; see also 14:4; 11:15; 21:23; 21:22; 22:1).
Paul also distinguished between “God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 6:13).
There is therefore a definite difference between Jesus and God. This implies that Jesus is not God.
(3) The Bible refers to Jesus as God.
The prophecy of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, given hundreds of years before He became a human being, refer to Him as “Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace”.
He would be called Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
“The Word was God” (John 1:1). A little later John refers to the “Word” as “the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18)
When Jesus showed his wounds to Thomas, Thomas responded: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
Titus 2:13-14 refers to Him as “our great God and Savior”.
How do we reconcile these facts?
So, on the one hand the Bible indicates that God is one and clearly distinguishes between God and His Son. But on the other hand Jesus is called “God“. The Bible does sometimes refer to created beings as gods (Psalm 82:6; John 10:34). Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Could it be that Jesus is “a” god, and not “the God? What is the relationship between God and Jesus? Is Jesus another God, subordinate to the Father, but of the same nature? Or is He a created being? We will now analyze the Bible text to provide answers to these questions.
This subject requires humility, for it is impossible to understand God.
The first thing we have to say is that we microscopic human beings are unable to understand God. The Lord warned:
“as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts”. (Isaiah 55:9)
Humans should therefore not think that they are able to understand God. His judgments are unsearchable and His ways are unfathomable (Romans 11:33). When this document talks about God, let it be with this knowledge. It is our privilege to study about Him, but we must do it with humility, for “the secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons” (Deut. 29:29).
Colossians 1:15-19
Colossians 1:15-19 is Paul’s most comprehensive explanation of the Son of God. This article often refers to this passage:
Col. 1:13 … His beloved Son … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
John 5
John 5 is another important chapter when discussing the Person of the Son. In that chapter Jesus heals a man who had been ill for 38 years (vv1-9). He told the man “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk” (v8). But it was the Sabbath (v9), and the Jews stopped the man, saying “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet” (v10). The man told the Jews that Jesus healed him (v15). When the Jews confronted Jesus, He responded, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” (v17) “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He … was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (v18). Jesus then responded to the claim that He made Himself equal to God. This article also frequently draws from this explanation.
He is the One and Only Son of God
Paul referred to Jesus as “His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). Similarly, during His baptism, God called Him “My beloved Son” (Mat. 3:17). Jesus also called Himself the “Son of God” (Mat. 16:16, 17; 27:43; John 9:35-37; 10:36). By itself the name “Son of God” does not mean that Jesus is God, because human believers are also called “sons of God” (for instance Luke 20:35-36; 1 John 3:1; Phil. 2:15; John 1:12; Mat 5:9; Romans 8:14; Romans 8:19; Galatians 3:26). The man Adam and certain heavenly beings are also called sons of God (Genesis 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Luke 3:38). However, Jesus is the one and only Son of God:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 – NIV).
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9 – NIV).
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father” (John 1:14 – NIV)
The NASB translates the phrase “one and only” in these verses as “only-begotten”
His Son existed before He became a human being.
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
He is “from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2), “before the world was” (John 17:5). He “descended from heaven” (John 3:13; 6:38, 62). Jesus also said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) and “I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
God created and still upholds everything through His Son.
John refers to Jesus as “the Word” (see John 1:14), and wrote that “all things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:1-3).
Colossians refers to “His beloved Son” (1:13) and reads, “by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (1:16-17).”
Hebrews 1:2 refers to “His Son … through whom also He made the world” and in Hebrews 1:10 God said of His Son: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands”. “He (His Son) … upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebr. 1:3).
The presentation of the Creator as consisting of more than one Person is not unique to the New Testament. On the first page of the Jewish Scriptures, describing the creation of this world (Gen. 1:1), God refers to Himself as “Us”, saying “Let Us make man in Our image”, which therefore included His Son.
The Father created “all things” through His Son. The word “through” indicates that the Father is the Source of all creative power and wisdom, but His Son created everything. His Son created this universe, including this world.
Since the Son created all things (not all “other” things, as some suppose), He is very different from the created sons of God. For this reason, and because He is God’s one and only Son, we may refer to Him as “the Son of God”, with a capital “S”, to differentiate Him from the sons of God.
He is The Beginning
Since His Son created all things, He “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). Colossians 1:18 is more specific, saying that He is “the Beginning“. This implies a high level of unity between the Son and this universe.
Fullness Of Deity
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:19). This may be analyzed into two points. The first is that the Son is fully dependent on the Father.
The Father is greater than the Son; God is the head of Christ.
The names Father and Son imply that the Son is not equal to God.
“The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing” (John 5:19).
“I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me” (John 8:28).
“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30).
“The works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 5:36).
“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16).
Jesus said, “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28) and “I do exactly as the Father commanded Me” (John 14:31).
Paul concluded, “the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ” (I Cor. 11:3).
All the fullness of Deity dwells in Christ in bodily form.
“All the fullness of Deity dwells in Christ in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).
The Son has “life in Himself” (John 5:26) and “gives life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21).
“The Father … has given all things into His hand” (John 3:35). He has “authority over all flesh” (John 17:2).
“The Father has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). The Son has “authority to execute judgment” (John 5:27). As stated in Matthew 25:31-33, “when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”.
Just like a human son is brought forth by his human father, the heavenly Father—the Source of everything—brought forth His Son. The Son received His power from the Father.
We must worship only God, but His Son is Worshiped.
In the book of Revelation John twice tried to worship an angel, and in both instances the angel’s response was the same:
“Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God” (Revelation 19:10; compare 22:9).
Notice this is an instruction to worship God alone. Also in Revelation 14:7 we are told to “worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters”. But then we find that the Son is worshiped:
Jesus said, “All will honor the Son even as they honor the Father” (John 5:23).
God commanded all the angels to worship His Son (Hebrews 1:6-8).
The “four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a … golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8-9).
Jesus was worshiped by His disciples after He walked on water (Mat. 14:28-33), after He was resurrected (Mat. 28:8-9; 16-17), and He did not prevent them from doing so.
“God highly exalted Him … so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:5-11).
This is related to the concept that “all things have been created … for him” (Colossians 1:16). He will always be King of this universe. The Father “rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (1:13). His “kingdom … will never be destroyed” (Dan. 2:44).
Christ Reveals God.
God, the Father, “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:18). The Son “is the (visible) image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). His Son in all respects looks exactly like His Father. Since the Father is invisible, the Son does not physically look like the Father, but “He (His Son) is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His (God’s) nature” (Hebr. 1:3):
The Son is the Father’s visible image. He is God’s visible face and the God’s audible voice; the Word of God (John 1:1, 14). God is unknowable, invisible and incomprehensible. Human beings cannot comprehend a Being that is everywhere, that exists without cause, and that is not limited by time and space. In His Son, appearing in a form that we can comprehend, God becomes known, visible and audible to the creatures of this universe.
When Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father“, Jesus said to him:
“Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:8-9)
YHVH
Adam and Eve heard the sound of the “LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). The name LORD is translated from YHVH (Strong 3068)—the proper name of the God of Israel—pronounced as Jehovah or Yahweh.
Yahweh also appeared to Abraham in the form of a man (Genesis 18:1). Abraham was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day (v1). When he looked up, he saw three men (v2). One was the LORD and the other two were angels (19:1). He invited them in (18:2-5). Sarah made bread cakes (18:6) and Abraham slaughtered a choice calf (18:7). After they ate, the Lord promised that Sarah would have a son within one year (18:9-15). The LORD also promised Abraham that he will become a great and mighty nation (18:16-19). The LORD further said that Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin is exceedingly grave (18:20-21). The two angels (see 19:1) went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD (18:22), negotiating with the LORD about Sodom and Gomorrah (18:23-33). The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate (19:1).
It is proposed here that YHVH, who appeared to Abraham, was the one and only Son of God, that later became the human named Jesus. This proposal is based on the following:
When God said, “Let Us make man in Our image” (Gen 1:26), He included His Son.
“Our Lord and our God … created all things” (Rev. 4:11; Eph. 3:9). “Fear God, and give Him glory … worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters” (Rev. 14:7). But, as we have seen, God created everything through Jesus.
Since the Son created the world, He logically remained intimately involved in events on earth.
“No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). He “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). It therefore was not God who appeared to Adam or Abraham in the form of a man; it must have been the Son.
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and gave His name to Moses as “I AM” (Exodus 3:1-16). This name implies that He exists without cause. By claiming, “before Abraham was born, I am”, Jesus identified Himself as the great “I Am” (John 8:58; also 8:24, 28).
The voice calling, “Clear the way for the LORD (YHVH) in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3) is applied in the New Testament to John the Baptist (Mat. 3:1-3; John 1:23), who cleared the way for the Son, which implies that the Son of God is YHVH.
Psalm 102:25-28 says that the creation will wear out like a garment, but the God, the Creator will endure. This is quoted in Hebrews 1:8-12, but the God, the Creator, is replaced with “the Son”:
| Psalm 102:24 O my God … | Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son He says … |
| 25 Of old You founded the earth | 10 You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth |
| And the heavens are the work of Your hands. | and the heavens are the works of Your hands |
| 26 Even they will perish | 11 they will perish |
| but You endure | but You remain |
| And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing | and they all will become old like a garment, 12 and like a mantle You will roll them up |
| You will change them and they will be changed. | like a garment they will also be changed. |
| 27 But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end. | but You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” |
1 Corinthians 10:1 reads “our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea … 4 and … were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ”. This refers to the exodus from Egypt, where they passed through the red sea (Exodus 14:29) and the LORD went before them in cloud by day to show them the way (Exodus 13:21). Once, when the Israelites became very thirsty, the LORD told Moses to “strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink” (Exodus 17:6). In 1 Corinthians 10 that rock is used as a symbol of Christ, saying that it was Christ that guided and taught them through Moses in the wilderness.
Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39). The Scripture refer to the books of the Old Testament, and Jesus therefore said that the Old Testament testifies about Him.
Names used for YHVH in the Old Testament are also used for His Son:
- In Hosea 2:19 the LORD (YHVH – v16) said “I will betroth you to Me forever”. In Mark 2:19 Jesus described Himself as the bridegroom.
- In Psalm 23:1 YHVH “is my shepherd”. In John 10:14 Jesus calls Himself “the good shepherd“.
- In Isaiah 43:11 YHVH says “there is no savior besides Me”. In John 4:42 the Samaritans declare that Christ is “the Savior of the world”,
- Psalm 18:31 describes YHVH as a rock. In 1 Corinthians 10:4 the spiritual rock from which Israel has been drinking in the wilderness, was Christ.
- In Jeremiah 42:5 YHVH is the “true and faithful witness”. Revelation 3:14 describes Christ as such.
- In Psalm 27:1 “the LORD (YHVH) is my light and my salvation”, but in John 8:12 Jesus said “I am the Light of the world”.
- The Lord God said “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. 1:8), but the one who is coming quickly (Rev. 22:12), namely Jesus (Rev. 3:11), said “I am the Alpha and the Omega ” (Rev.22:13).
- The LORD, the King of Israel, said, “I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me” (Is. 44:6; see also 48:12, Rev. 1:8). But in Revelation Jesus said “I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Rev. 1:17-18; 2:8; 22:13, 16).
It therefore was His Son that created the world in six days, that rested on the seventh day and whom Adam and Eve “heard … walking in the garden” (Gen. 1:8). It was also the Son that gave the Law to Moses, and who led the Chosen Nation to the Promised Land.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the apparent contradiction that we have to explain is that the Bible maintains a clear distinction between God and His Son, but also says that “all the fullness of Deity dwells in Christ in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). There are things that we humans do not know because it has not been explained to us. There are also things that we humans simply are unable to understand, even if it is explained to us. With the knowledge that we cannot understand God, the following is proposed:
This universe consists of time, space and matter, but God the Father exists outside time, space and matter. It is impossible for us to imagine what exists outside time, space and matter, but that is where the wisdom and power, that created our universe, came from.
Since God created everything through Him, the Son of God came into being before the universe. Scriptures identify the Son as “the Beginning”. This is understood to say that He is the Beginning of time, space and matter. Consequently, one cannot separate the universe from the Son; God brought the universe into being by bringing His Son into being. His Son is that immense explosion of Energy that brought this universe into being. He is the “big bang”; not an uncontrolled explosion, but an incomprehensible planned and guided explosion.
Since the Son created everything, He also created time. Scientists estimate the age of the universe at 13.8 billion years. Time started at the moment the universe came into existence. There was therefore NO time that the Son did not exist, because there is no such thing as time before He created time.
But He is also a Person, by which I mean that He is aware of Himself and aware of other living beings. He is not only a Person; He is an intensely loving Person. He was willing to become a human being and even to die at the hands of evil men, because He loves His sinful creatures.
The Son is the Word of God (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13). The Son is how God appears in this universe defined by time, space and matter. He is the revelation of God with whom His creatures may communicate as with a fellow creature; to be “God with us” (Mat. 1:26).
God brought the universe into being by bringing His Son into being, but the invisible God remained intimately involved in the universe. God was intimately involved in the creation of life on this planet, billions of years after the universe came to be (Gen 1:26). It is God that sent His only-begotten Son to become a human being, so that everybody that believes in Him would not die, but inherit eternal life (John 3:16). God is the Savior; the Son is the means by which He saves.
It is hoped that this explanation maintains the distinction between God and His Son, but also explains the Son’s divine attributes: “By him all things were created” (Col. 1:15, 16). “He is before all things” (1:17). He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13).