Will the Sonship of Jesus End?

Paul's description of the end of the age in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 has confused many readers. The apostle wrote, “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power” (verse 24). He later added, “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all" (verse 28). Taken at face value, Paul seems to imply not only a distinction between the Father and the Son, but also a subordinate role for the Son. 

Dr. David K. Bernard reviews what the Bible says about the sonship of Jesus Christ and explains how Paul's description of the end of the age fits within that framework.

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1 Corinthians 15, 24 through 28 has confused many Bible readers over the years. This passage seems to imply not only a distinction between the Father and the Son, but also a subordinate role for the Son. Dr. David K. Bernard explains what Paul meant in these verses next on Apostolic Life in the 21st Century. Welcome to Apostolic Life in the Twenty First Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern-day believers live out the teachings of the first century church. This podcast is part of the teaching ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard. Dr. Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping believers apply its message to their daily lives. In Apostolic Life in the 21st century, Dr. Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those teachings apply to everyday life. Thank you for joining us for this episode. If you enjoy this podcast, we encourage you to check out Dr. David K. Bernard's books. Dr. Bernard has written more than 30 books on biblical theology and Christian living and leadership. Visit Pentecostal Publishing.com and search David Bernard for a list of available titles. Enter promo code DKB10 at checkout to save 10% on your order. That's Pentecostalpublishing dot com. Promo code DKB10 to save 10% at checkout. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul said something that I think has confused a lot of people. He in writing about the end of the age, he said, and this is from verse 24, he said, Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. And then in verse 28, Paul said, And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. That's quite a mouthful, but the initial reading of this verse does seem to imply that not only is there a distinction between the Father and the Son, but also a subordinate role from the S for the Son. How do one as Pentecostals explain this passage?

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I will certainly acknowledge that this is one of those difficult passages of scripture. And if you think it's difficult where you're in good company, 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter, the great apostle, uh, talked about we love the Apostle Paul. He's got great writings. His writings are scripture, but some things are hard to understand. And some people twist them uh into error into their own devices. Well, I think this is probably a candidate for that statement. So if you only had this in the Bible, uh you might conclude God and the Son or Father and Son are two different persons. But then if you said that, you'd also have to conclude that the Son is clearly inferior to the Father. Now, classic Trinitarianism does say there are two persons, in fact, three persons, but they're all equal. So if you want to promote Trinitarian theology against oneness theology, this verse, this passage doesn't help because it proves too much. If it proves father and son are two different persons, it proves that the son is inferior to the father. Now, the Jehovah's Witnesses have this very teaching. They deny the Trinity, but they believe that there's one God Jehovah, but they believe Jesus is the Son of God. He's not the one God Jehovah, but he's a second subordinate being, like a glorified angel. Well, if you only had this passage, that might seem to be falling into their supporting their ideology. However, if you read the rest of the Bible, that's clearly not the case. Uh, and I won't take the time to mention that, except the Bible repeatedly speaks of Jesus Christ as the one true God manifest in the flesh. So 1 Timothy 3.16, John 1.14, uh, John 20, 28, uh, and even identifying him as the Jehovah or I am of the Old Testament, John 8.58, Isaiah 9.6, on and on and on. Jesus is the true God manifest in the flesh. He is Jehovah, Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, the I am manifest in the flesh. So in fact, Colossians 2.9 says, in him, the Lord Jesus Christ, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And as I mentioned a moment ago, when I mentioned uh John 20, 28, Thomas, when he saw the resurrected Christ, simply identified him and confessed him as my Lord and my God. And Jesus, of course, accepted that confession. So if any explanation is doesn't fit the whole of Scripture, it would be that idea that Father and Son are two persons and the Son is subordinate to the Father. So once that has been eliminated by the whole of Scripture, what's left? Well, we need to go back and look at these terms of God, Father, Son in their scriptural context, not from later centuries, not from the creeds and councils of the fourth and fifth centuries, not from the standpoint of the doctrine of the Trinity or from the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, which really the ancient term is Arianism, which was also a fourth century doctrine. So we can't look at it from that context, but look at it from the Bible. So we look at it from the Bible. First, God is one. He's eternal, he's spirit, he's invisible, he's the sovereign of the universe. There's none like him, none beside him, he's the only one. Deuteronomy 6.4 and many, many other passages of scripture. The term Father is speaking of that one God in relationship to the human race. The term Son is more focused. A short way to define this term in Scripture as used of Jesus Christ, the only begotten or unique Son of God, is God manifested in the flesh. You see this in Luke 135, when the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus, she said that he said to her, The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. Therefore, and here's the reason the child that will be born of you shall be called the Son of God. So he's called the Son of God because the Spirit of God caused him to be conceived. He's not the son of Joseph or any earthly man, he's a son of God by miraculous conception. And so when we speak of the Son of God, we're speaking of Jesus Christ, the human being born of a virgin, who the God's Spirit is in him. So he's the true God, but he's manifest in the flesh. So that term son would not mean a second person, but it means God in the flesh. And you can see this in John 14, 9 through 11. Jesus said, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. The Father dwells in me. You could see this in 2 Corinthians 5, 19. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Now, more particularly, the Son then refers to the incarnation, God manifests in the flesh. This passage of Scripture is talking about the rule of the Son, the reign of the Son, where the Son has dominion. It connects to Psalm 110, where the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So that prophecy, it's a prophecy of the Messiah. The Lord, the one true God, the God of the universe, Jehovah, Yahweh, says to my Lord. David the psalmist is saying, He's my Lord, my king. That's talking about the Messiah, the anointed king who would come to deliver Israel and by extension the human race. So it's a prophecy of Jesus, not as a preexistent second person, but looking down through time, saying, a king will be born. He will be anointed, and he will conquer the enemies of Israel and the enemies of the human race, which would include the devil, and I will put him in the right hand position, the position of authority and power. So God is saying, I will give this man divine authority and power until he defeats his enemies. Well, until implies a limited time. It's not talking about deity because deity is unchanging. But basically, this is a prophecy saying that anointed king will have my power, he will do my work, he will defeat all the enemies of the human race, and then he'll be finished. So that's what you might call the rule of the Son. So what you're seeing in 1 Corinthians 15 is the rule of the Son or the reign of the Son. So think about it right now. Right now, we in the church were saved from sin, we're saved from the devil, we're saved by the grace of God. How? Because Jesus Christ died for us, shed his blood, he was buried, he rose again. So we have victory specifically because of Jesus Christ. Not just because God is our Father or God created us, but because Jesus Christ, as God manifests the flesh, redeemed us. So we can say right now, we're in the church because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, because he was a real human who died and rose again. That's why we have victory. That will continue until the last judgment. At the last judgment, Jesus Christ, as God manifests in the flesh, will sit on the throne. He will judge all the enemies. The devil will be cast in the lake of fire. Sinners will be cast in the lake of fire. The saved will be will be ushered into the eternal state of the new Jerusalem, the new heaven, new earth, and will live forever. And that will complete the work of the Son. And so the role of the Son or the reign of the Son will end. Does that mean Jesus will cease to exist? Of course not. He's God. Does that mean the body of Jesus will cease to exist? No, because even our bodies are going to be glorified, will be eternal human bodies. So Jesus is no less human than us. He'll rule and reign as the one God, but manifested in the eternal, glorified body of a human being. So, but what will happen is Jesus will no longer act as the humble servant, no longer act as the son who died, no longer act as the mediator. That will all be done. Everybody that's been saved will be saved. Everybody that needed their sins forgiven will have had their sins forgiven. Every force of evil will be destroyed. And so the son will no longer act as son. He will no longer be the mediator, the sacrifice, the intercessor, or even the judge, but simply God will be all in all. So God will resume being what he was before he created the worlds. He will simply be the one true God of eternity, only now revealed in Jesus Christ. And so you see the eternal state in Revelation 22, 3 through 4. You see in heaven one throne, one divine throne, one person on that throne. He's called God and the Lamb. Not two thrones, not two persons sitting side by side on one throne, not one person in another's lap. It's one person because his servant shall serve him. They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And of course, if you study the New Testament, Jesus is the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 4 through 6. Christ is the image of God. Colossians 1:15, the Son is the image of the invisible God. And of course, the supreme name is the name of Jesus. It's the only name of salvation. Acts 4.12, it's the name that's above every name, Philippians 2, 9 through 11. So in Revelation 22, we see one God on one throne who's simultaneously God in the Lamb. He's the sovereign of the universe, he's the sacrifice of sin. That can only be Jesus Christ, but he's presented as one personal being on one throne throughout eternity. So in other words, uh 1 Corinthians 15 is kind of like a parable or an illustration saying Jesus Christ will work as the Son, saving us, being our mediator, being the judge of evil until he finishes the work. When he finishes the work, the Son will submit the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all. So Jesus will cease acting in this role, but he will simply resume the original role that he had before the incarnation. He will be God, not as another person. Now, if that sounds a little bit far-fetched, well, compare it with other scripture. As I've already mentioned, so if you look at this, the son submits the kingdom to the Father that God may be all in all. Well, 2 Corinthians 5.19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So the Son is not a second person, but God is in the Son. And the Son does not bring us to somebody else, the Son reconciles us to himself. Another passage is Ephesians 5.27, talking about Jesus Christ in the end, he will present it to himself, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. So there Jesus presents the kingdom to himself. And if you think about it, it would be kind of weird if we're the bride of Christ, and you know, Jesus purchases the bride, and then at the climactic moment, he gives his bride to his dad. You know, that's not what's going on. But Jesus is giving the church to himself. So when you look at all these passages together, 1 Corinthians 15, the Son gives the kingdom to the Father. Ephesians 5, Jesus gives the kingdom to himself. 2 Corinthians, God's in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. We put it all together. What 1 Corinthians 15 is simply saying, there's one God who simultaneously fulfills the roles of Father and Son for the purpose of our salvation. The Son is God manifest in the flesh. When God finishes all his work as the Son, the reign of the Son will end, the role of the Son will end. The glorified human body of Jesus Christ will be forever. He's a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So he'll still be Jesus. He'll still be who he is, but now he will simply reign as he did from the beginning. God will be all in all.

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