Some of you wonder about the reason for the existence of the phrase "Son of God" in the Bible believed by Christians. In this article, we will explain to you why this phrase came about, what its origin is, and whether its meaning was distorted over time?!
It is well known that the Bible is divided into two parts: the ancient books called the Old Testament, which were written in Hebrew, and the new books called the New Testament, which were written in Greek.
All researchers and biblical scholars know very well that the New Testament quoted extensively from the Old Testament, to the extent that 248 chapters in the New Testament quote from the Old Testament, keeping in mind that the total number of chapters in the New Testament is only 260 chapters.
When we return to the Old Testament in its Hebrew language, we notice that the Old Testament used the phrase:
עֶבֶד יהוה
The Hebrew word (עֶבֶד) is pronounced (Ebed), and its primary and direct meaning is (servant) or (bondman) or (slave), or what is called in English: (slave/servant).
As for the word (יְהוָ֑ה), it is mostly pronounced (Yahweh), which is the name of God in the Bible.
And the phrase as a whole means "servant of God" or "slave of God."
So what happened after that?!
In the third and second centuries BCE, the Jews translated their sacred scriptures from Hebrew into Greek, producing a Greek translation known as the Septuagint. Here was the beginning of the catastrophe that accumulated throughout history and led millions astray. When the Jews wanted to translate the Hebrew word (עֶבֶד), which means servant or slave as we mentioned, they translated it into the Greek word: (παῖς), pronounced (Pais). This Greek word indeed means (servant), but at the same time, it has another meaning: (child, son, or boy) (child/boy/son); that is, it is a Greek word with multiple meanings.
And here began the confusion and ambiguity...
The phrase that meant only "servant of the Lord" could now potentially mean "son of the Lord" as well, which opened the path of misguidance for many to deify Jesus.
Let us take an example of this:
The Gospel of Matthew quoted a text from the Old Testament, specifically from the Book of Isaiah 42:1, where Isaiah says:
["Behold my servant, whom I uphold"]
However, when the manuscripts of Matthew 12:18 quoted this text from Isaiah, they used the phrase:
Ἰδοὺ ὁ παῖς μου
Which is found in translations as:
["Behold my servant..."]
So here ☝️ the word transformed from "my servant" in Hebrew to "my servant/boy" or "my son" or "my child" in Greek as a result of using the Greek word (παῖς), which carries two completely different meanings: (servant) or (son)!!!
This is confirmed by the famous Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
where it confirms that the Hebrew original in this context primarily means (servant), and that the meaning of "son" is a kind of explanatory addition (extravagant embellishment) that is not an accurate literal translation of the original.
Therefore, we conclude from all the above that the Greek phrase: [παῖς θεοῦ], pronounced [Pais Theou], does not originally mean: [Son of God], but rather: [Servant of God].
The bottom line is that we do not possess the original Gospel in Jesus's language in which he addressed his people, nor do we possess an original Gospel that quotes Hebrew texts verbatim. Rather, we merely have subsequent Greek translations and manuscripts that have no relation to Jesus or his language, and translations can err or alter the speaker's intent, as you well know.
The same thing happened in reverse; for example, when we open the Gospel of John, we find it speaking about Jesus and describing him as the "Lamb of God," and a lamb is a young sheep, as you know.
Most likely, in my view, the author of the Gospel of John took this title from the Aramaic word (טַלְיָא), pronounced (Talya), which means (lamb / young sheep). However, this Aramaic word sometimes means in certain contexts: (servant)... Therefore, the intended meaning would be that Jesus is the servant of God, not the lamb of God as Christians demean him by applying this offensive title. This point I raised about the origin of the phrase [Lamb of God] was previously proposed by the famous German theologian Joachim Jeremias, one of the most prominent New Testament scholars of the 20th century.
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In short:
When the Bible mentions the phrase [παῖς θεοῦ] [Pais Theou], it does not mean "Son of God," but rather "Servant of God." The Greek word "παῖς / Pais" also means "servant," and the Hebrew original spoke of a "servant." However, Christians deliberately translated the phrase according to their own preference as "Son of God" in an attempt to deify Jesus by any means, even through deception and falsification.
Up to this point, I have fulfilled my scholarly duty.
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