When Christians refer to Jesus as the Son of God, we are not suggesting that he is a second or lesser God, somehow born in the way we would understand in human terms. The Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus on earth recognised that, when he referred to God as his Father, he was claiming equality with God. The title Son of God implies that Jesus, although fully human, also fully revealed God. 100% human – but also 100% God. It might not work mathematically, but there were many things about Jesus which didn’t fit into our human understanding. The next slide gives another example of God’s mathematics revealed through the coming of Jesus: 1+1+1 = 1!
Christians worship one God only, the Almighty God known also in the Jewish and Islamic religions. However, we believe this one God to reveal himself as three distinct persons who the Bible describes as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All are equal in status, and united in will, but different in the way they relate to us: The Father being the overriding majesty of the creator, the Son (also called the Word of God) being the one who took on human form and brought us the hope of salvation, the Holy Spirit being the one who comes to be God within us to guide and inspire our lives today. The word we use for this is “Trinity”: A Tri-Unity; One God revealed in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.