The Bible’s Answer
The most well-known Bible passage, John 3:16, gives Jesus a significant title which he alone possesses in the entire Bible. It says:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, ESVUK)
The title, or position, that Jesus possesses here is that he is God’s “only Son“. Other translations say “one and only Son” (NIVUK) and “only begotten Son” (KJV). This title or position is not attributed to anyone else. As Christians, though, we might stop and pause at this statement. We might ask ourselves, “But aren’t we also sons and daughters of God?” The answer is: yes, we are. The Bible says:
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13)
This clearly says that Jesus (who is God’s only Son) gives those who believe in him the right to become children of God. This means that there are, indeed, many sons and daughters of God, as many as those who are baptised and believe (Mark 16:16). So, in what way is Jesus God’s only Son?
Let’s take a look at the New Testament’s Greek word for “only” here. It’s the word “monogenes” (μονογενής). This comes from two different words. “Mono” means “one”, while “genos” means “kind, offspring, or kindred”. So, the word “monogenes” means “one of a class”, “one of a kind”, or “one and only”.[1] What this means is that yes, there can be other sons and daughters of God, but Jesus is set apart from the rest of them; Jesus has a special relationship with the Father that is exclusive to him alone.
Jesus Has Always Been the Son of the Father
In what ways is it exclusive? Here’s a few examples. Firstly, the Bible says that we become God’s children by adoption to experience a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Paul says:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:14–15)
But when it comes to Jesus, the Bible does not say that Jesus became God’s Son at any point, because he has always been God’s Son, and has always experienced a relationship with the Father. Not just for a long time, but for all eternity. In Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, he says:
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, … 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:13, 16–17)
When Paul says, “by him all things were created”, “he” refers to “the Son“, in whom we have the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13–14). The entire section from verses 15–20 is about Jesus the Son, and shows the supremacy of Jesus over all creation.
This is significant, because Paul is saying that even before creation itself occurred, the Son was there with the Father—so Jesus was God’s Son before creation occurred. And since Jesus created “all things” according to Paul, Jesus can’t have been created, otherwise he would not be the Creator of “all things”. So, Jesus is God’s uncreated Son. Christians become God’s children through conversion; but Jesus has enjoyed a relationship with the Father as his only Son for all eternity.
God’s Only Son Is Equal with the Father
Secondly, as created beings, we are not, and will never be, equal with God. God will always be infinitely greater than us, even when, through faith in Jesus, we enjoy fellowship with him for eternity in Heaven. The Prophet Isaiah makes this perfectly clear, when God says:
To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? (Isaiah 46:5)
To compare an infinite being that created everything with a mortal being that lives within the infinite being’s creation is absurd. This is why it’s so significant that Jesus claimed to be equal with God when he called God his own Father, according to John:
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:17–18)
Whenever Jesus speaks of God, he always refers to God in exclusive terms, calling God “the Father”, “my Father”, or “your Father”, but never “our Father” or “our God” (the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9 does not count, because Jesus says this is how Christians are to pray, not Jesus himself. Likewise, in Mark 12:29, Jesus is only quoting Deuteronomy 6:4, and is not actually describing his relationship with the Father).
This emphasises Jesus’ unique relationship with the Father. For example, Jesus says to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). According to John, when Jesus set himself apart as God’s Son in this way, he was making himself equal with God—and indeed, Jesus is fully equal with the Father.
So, while we enjoy a father-to-son, father-to-daughter relationship with the Father as Christians—God’s children, Jesus is equal with the Father as God’s only Son. Because just as the Father is infinite, uncreated, and almighty, so too is Jesus the Son infinite, uncreated, and almighty, as the Creator of all things. Jesus is indeed God himself (John 1:1, 14), of one being with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 10:30; Matthew 28:19–20).
But Isn’t John 5:18 the Lies the Jewish Leaders Believed About Jesus?
Some have claimed that in John 5:18, John was actually listing the lies the Jewish leaders believed about Jesus—after all, Jesus never broke the Sabbath. So, Jesus never really claimed equality with God, but this was a lie that the Jewish leaders invented about Jesus. But that’s a misreading of the passage.
A correct understanding of the passage, based on the context, is that yes, the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, but Jesus proved that he was justified in working on the Sabbath, because the Father himself is working on the Sabbath, and Jesus can only do whatever the Father does. The Jewish leaders did not realise that the Father was in Jesus, and that Jesus was fulfilling the Law as God’s Promised Messiah.
Furthermore, yes, the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of claiming equality with God, but Jesus again proved that he could claim this, because again, the Father himself has given all judgement over to the Son, so that all may honour the Son, just as (i.e. as equally as) the Father himself is honoured (John 5:22–23). As proof of this, Jesus says, “as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21).
John 5:18 is not the lies the Jewish leaders believed about Jesus. Rather, according to John, it is the reasons the Jews had for wanting to kill Jesus, based upon misunderstandings of who Jesus is, all of which Jesus clarified in the next few verses.
God’s Only Son Can Bring Others into a Relationship with the Father
We read before that Jesus grants the right for those who believe in him to become children of God (John 1:12–13). And indeed, Jesus can do this, precisely because of his unique, one-of-a-kind relationship with the Father, which he could not do if he were not God’s only Son. A very similar passage to John 1:12–13 is found in Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus says:
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 11:22)
Before we were Christians, we were children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). We were enemies of God who did not know God, pursue him, or seek him (Romans 3:9–12). Jesus, however, was never a child of wrath, but has always been a child of God. And because of Jesus’ unique relationship with the Father as his only Son, Jesus alone can reveal the Father to those whom he chooses.
According to Jesus’ own infallible and inerrant words, Jesus and the Father know each other in a way that no one else can know them. But in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son, he allows others to join his relationship with the Father. When we become sons and daughters of God, we become sons and daughters of God in the Son, not in and of ourselves. This is exactly what Paul says:
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (Galatians 3:25–26, emphasis added)
So, because we are only God’s sons and daughters in the Son himself, we will never be equal with the Son or the Father, or as great as them. But in the Son, we experience true intimacy with the Father, and become part of the eternal communion that Jesus and the Father share, in the unity of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14).
Conclusion
The bottom line is that when the Bible calls Jesus God’s only Son, it is saying that he has a unique relationship with the Father that is exclusive to him alone. People become God’s sons and daughters by adoption in the Son, when the Son chooses to reveal the Father to them. But Jesus has been the unique Son of God for all eternity. Jesus is God’s only Son who has always enjoyed fellowship with the Father, who is fully equal with the Father, and who is the almighty Creator of all things.
As Christians and mortal beings, we will never be a son or daughter of God in the same way that Jesus is. But in his grace, Jesus invites us into full fellowship with him and the Father, so that we too can experience true and eternal intimacy with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Jesus does all this for us as a free and undeserved gift, when we put our trust in him as the only Son of God—the one who alone reveals and provides access to God the Father.
See Also
- In What Sense Is Jesus the Son of God?
- Was Jesus Created by God?
- Is Jesus Equal with God?
- Who Is Jesus Christ? (Summary)
References
[1] Bible Hub. “Greek: Μονογενής (G3439) — monogenēs.” Bible Hub. Accessed July 30, 2025. https://biblehub.com/greek/3439.htm.