Is it a problem, scripture addresses, for God the Most High to have a Son, literally called the Son of God? Psalms which addressed it are especially relevant because it was someone, king David, writing the psalms who was himself given promises of having a future son who would be called God’s son. The ancient Israelite king David who wrote many of the psalms wrote how the Most High said to David’s lord “Sit at my right hand” and told this lord that his throne would be forever. This Most High also said to this lord “You are My son”. It might all have been a little ambiguous, though, in the later time of Jesus, so Jesus addressed it diligently, as John’s gospel records. Jesus claimed to actually be this lord who had been spoken of by David centuries earlier in those psalms. So Jesus was clearing up ambiguities about himself. The miracles God gave him to perform were God, the Father’s, way to back up this self-testimony of Jesus, to make it more appropriate for Jesus to be preaching a testimony about himself. Jesus addressed a real problem: This was the problem later described as the problem of two powers in heaven. Scripture ostensibly did not allow for it, unless you dug down into these psalms where it is clear that there is this lord, the lord psalm-writer King David called “my lord” who is addressed by the Most High and thus distinct from the Most High, but nevertheless there at the right hand of this Most High God. It is remarkable that Jesus solved this problem by stated unequivocally that he and the Father are one. It is as if he was going beyond the mere problem of his claim to be Son of God by addressing the even deeper problem that if God did have a son, and this son was given to reign forever at God’s right hand, it would imply two powers in heaven, and make certain scriptures about God saying “I alone am God”, and “there is none apart from Me” rather difficult to reconcile with the existence forever of such a son. Jesus reconciles it by pointing out his unity with the Father, and by emphasising that the Father is still alone the Most High God. Humans can be called gods. Jesus appealed to this to reconcile the further problem of this son being a human. How, one might argue, can there be a human called by God His Son, right there forever reigning with God? Jesus addressed it by showing how it is all right there in the scripture psalms, but clarifies these with other relevant scriptures by pointing out his deep unity with the Father who is forever the Most High God. He, Jesus, is not a second power in that he is fully at one with the one true Most High, and not a challenger to that highest claim. Later he clarified the nature of this unity by praying for the same kind of unity to be given by God to Jesus’ disciples. Being one with the Father in such unity meant he can be forever there beside the Father and the Father still to be the Most High God. It also meant that there can be one who is human in this exalted position with the Most High. And Jesus would forever subject himself to this Most High, as Paul later put it, so this God is still forever the God who is all in all. Then, as John in Revelation later put it, the Son would be forever reigning from the throne of the One seated in heaven: The human Son of God, is seen forever there with the Father, and it is this Father alone who is called “the One”. The Father has the throne and forever it is He who shares it with His human Son. He has it and has power to share it even with a human, who He calls His Son. Jesus clarified it all and reconciled the scriptures which seemed in tension, and he did so first personally and then through apostles he sent out to proclaim him. He testified to the truth of it all, and sent others to do so, and the Father gave testimony too in the miracles given to these to do.
References
Note that AI was used to list and organise these references, and the text accompanying them and explaining them is AI-generated (by ChatGPT, June 2026). See https://chatgpt.com/share/6a40a3bf-046c-83ed-8668-1bd09a1e78e3 .
The Most High declares His King to be His Son
Psalms Psalm 2:6–12
"Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance...
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry..."
Relevance: The foundational Psalm declaring God's anointed king to be "My Son."
David's Lord seated at God's right hand
Psalms Psalm 110:1–4
"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool....
The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
Relevance: David distinguishes "the LORD" from "my Lord," yet this Lord sits forever at God's right hand.
David's promised son
2 Samuel 2 Samuel 7:12–16
"I will set up thy seed after thee...
I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son...
Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever."
Relevance: God's covenant with David promises a royal son who is called God's son.
1 Chronicles 1 Chronicles 17:11–14
"I will be his father, and he shall be my son...
I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever."
God's uniqueness
Isaiah Isaiah 43:10–11
"Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour."
Isaiah Isaiah 44:6
"I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."
Isaiah Isaiah 45:5–6
"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me."
Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 6:4
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD."
Jesus identifies David's Lord
Matthew Matthew 22:41–46
"If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?"
Relevance: Jesus explicitly identifies himself with Psalm 110.
Parallel passages:
- Mark Mark 12:35–37
- Luke Luke 20:41–44
Jesus claims unity with the Father
John John 10:24–38
Especially:
"I and my Father are one."
and
"The Father is in me, and I in him."
Relevance: Central passage for the unity of Father and Son.
The Father is greater
John John 14:28
"My Father is greater than I."
The only true God
John John 17:1–3
"...that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
Jesus explains "gods"
John John 10:34–36
"Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
If he called them gods...
Say ye of him... Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
Jesus is quoting:
Psalms Psalm 82:6
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High."
The Father's testimony through works
John John 5:31–37
"The Father himself... hath borne witness of me."
John John 10:25
"The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me."
Acts Acts 2:22
"Jesus... a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him...."
Unity extended to believers
John John 17:20–23
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee...
that they may be one, even as we are one."
The Son remains subject to the Father
1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 15:24–28
Especially:
"Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him...
that God may be all in all."
God exalts the Son
Philippians Philippians 2:8–11
"God also hath highly exalted him...
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Hebrews' use of the Psalms
Hebrews Hebrews 1:1–13
Especially:
"Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son..."
and
"Sit on my right hand..."
This chapter explicitly joins Psalm 2 and Psalm 110.
Stephen sees the Son beside God
Acts Acts 7:55–56
"I see... the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."
Christ at God's right hand
Ephesians Ephesians 1:20–23
"...set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places."
Colossians Colossians 3:1
"Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."
The throne in Revelation
Revelation Revelation 3:21
"I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
Revelation Revelation 5:6–13
The One seated on the throne and the Lamb are both present in heavenly worship.
Revelation Revelation 7:10
"Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
Revelation Revelation 22:1–5
"The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it...
and his servants shall serve him."
Supporting passages
- Daniel Daniel 7:13–14 — the Son of Man receives everlasting dominion from the Ancient of Days.
- Acts Acts 13:32–39 — Paul applies Psalm 2 to Jesus.
- Romans Romans 1:3–4 — Jesus declared to be the Son of God.
- 1 Timothy 1 Timothy 2:5 — "one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
- Hebrews Hebrews 5:5–10 — Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 brought together again regarding Christ.
Taken together, these passages form a coherent scriptural chain: God's covenant with David (2 Samuel 7), the royal Psalms (especially Psalms 2 and 110), Jesus' own interpretation of those Psalms (Matthew 22; John 10), his teaching on his unity with the Father (John 10; John 17), the Father's testimony through Jesus' works (John 5; Acts 2), Paul's teaching that the Son remains subject to the Father so that "God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15), and John's vision of the Father and the Lamb sharing the divine throne in Revelation.
