Out of all of the Christian topics causing the greatest confusion is that of the nature of God. Who is God? What is God? Over the years, numerous people have voiced their various views with scriptural support, and you walk away wondering how in the world could there be such differences while referencing the same Holy Scriptures. How complex is the nature of God? Has man taken a simple fact and made it a complex ideology, a complex theology?
There is only One True God and that is God the Father who is in Heaven, as Jesus taught us to pray " Our Father who art in Heaven". God is the father of Jesus, (His only begotten Son). People pretty much agree on that point. So where does the confusion begin? Well, the whole begotten Son concept is foreign. Mankind procreates and bears offspring in their image. They are in the image of the parents because of shared DNA. Half from the mother and half from the father. They may not look like either parent because of the nature of DNA that has genetic characteristics that are the result of previous generations of DNA from both parents. Sometimes certain characteristics skip generations or are passed only from one gender to another. Genetics plays a huge part in having the likeness of a parent, but there are also various character traits that are mimicked through exposure. This is most commonly viewed in behavior. The way someone expresses themselves, various gestures, and so forth. Someone can almost "see" another person in the way another person behaves. When this happens, someone will say "that person" reminds me so much of "this person", in the way they express themselves. They may have "their spirit" as the saying goes.
In the Holy Scriptures, we are told in John 3:16 that Jesus is the only begotten son of God the Father. If we understand "begotten" as possessing the same substance or DNA, then there is a biological bond between the Father and the son, making them connected but not the same person. Interestingly enough, since the Father and Son interact with one another intimately, the Son developed a similar personality as the Father. They are united in their view of things and their thoughts are of one mind. It would then be very easy to see the nature of the Father in the very behavior of His son.
Immaculate conception is not a common occurrence in human biology, so this event becomes rather blurry within natural means. It was very confusing to Mary as well when this very real biological miracle happened to her. Asexual reproduction, now how does that work? Did baby Jesus have 100% of Mary's DNA? Not exactly sure how that could happen in the absence of sperm. There was only her human egg to work with. So at this point, we have a mystery. Not just a mystery, but a foundational mystery to the nature of Jesus. Since there was only Mary's DNA, Jesus would possess 100% of Mary's DNA and be 100% human. However, since this also happened miraculously and God the Father takes credit for being 100% the Father of Jesus, this would make Jesus 100% Divine. Logic dictates that for humans, you can only be 100% as a result of a 50/50 union of a father's sperm and a mother's egg. So perhaps we need to look at this another way. Perhaps the duality of Christ's nature was not a simultaneous expression, meaning, human and divine at the same time. Instead, His dual nature can be understood as a consecutive expression, meaning, divine, then human, then divine again. Jesus while in heaven was 100% divine, when He was conceived in Mary, He was 100% human, when He was resurrected He was 100% divine again. Baffling for sure, and not a pattern for humankind.
Many of us have much difficulty differentiating between Jesus, the son of God, and Jesus the son of man. In a recent study on "Creation" by yours truly, it was observed how God spoke things of non-existence into existence. (Hebrews 11:3) Yet, in regards to the things created upon this planet, everything "Came Forth" from pre-existing material. Vegetation "Grew" out of the pre-existing soil of the earth. (Genesis 2:5-6) Birds and sea creatures "Came Forth" out of the preexisting waters of the sea. (Genesis 1:20) Animals of all kinds "Came Forth" from the preexistent soil of the earth. (Genesis 1:24) Adam was "Formed" from the preexistent soil of the earth. (Genesis 2:7) Eve was "Made" out of one of the preexistent ribs of Adam. (Genesis 2:21-22) Could not the same apply to our view of Jesus? Jesus had a role to play before He became our Messiah. He was with His Father when the universe was created. (Proverbs 8:27,30) The role of Christ was to carry out the creative commands of His Father. This is why the Bible says that everything was created "Through" Him (Christ). (Colosians1:16)
Jesus, as the Son of God, was never once portrayed in scripture as a role. It was not a metaphorical relationship between a father and a son. The Bible has more than plenty of evidence that the father/son relationship was literal. (Bible References) There is no scriptural support to prove that the father/son relationship was metaphorical. Just as Adam was formed from the preexistent soil of the earth and Eve was brought forth from Adam's preexistent rib, Christ was brought forth from the Father who preexisted Him.
When Jesus became flesh, His nature (substance) changed from divine to human. His role, however, did not change. He always did the will of His Father both when He was in heaven and on earth. He was "The Angel of the Lord" interacting with mankind on behalf of His Father due to the fact that the sinful fallen race was no longer able to have direct face-to-face communication with the Father. God the Father communicated with humankind by way of His angel (Christ Himself who went by the name of Michael the Archangel). Before Christ became human, no one knew Him as Jesus. He was a divine being back then. When He became incarnate, He was given the name Jesus. Christ referred to Himself as Son of man to emphasize the fact that He was fully human.
During the Old Testament era, God the Father communicated with His people by way of His angel (Michael/Christ). This angel passed on God's messages to His prophets. The prophets passed on God's messages to the human populace at large. When Jesus became flesh, one of the intermediaries was eliminated, namely, the prophets. Christ became the direct line of communication between man and God. After Christ's resurrection, His divinity was reinstated. He once again became the Archangel He was before. At the resurrection of the second coming Christ calls up the sleeping saints from the grave with the voice of the Archangel. But until that time, we will still know Him as Jesus. He identified Himself as Jesus even after He went back up to heaven. But this name is temporary because in heaven we will learn His new name. New for us, but it's the name He always had, we just didn't know it.
It has been Christ's prime objective all along to direct men's attention to the one and Only True God of heaven. He diminished Himself in order to magnify His Father. The belief in multiple Gods is prevalent in all churches today. As much as we deny that we believe in multitheism, monotheism has lost its meaning. Only when we finally agree with the plain teachings of scripture, will we finally realize that God is truly "One". This single individual being has a Son, brought forth from His own substance, His "Only Begotten". The stone cut out of the mountain is a metaphor for Christ born of His Father. The stone and the mountain both consist of the same substance/material. The Father and Son both consist of the same divine material/substance. Yet the Father is greater than the Son because He existed first. Christ was not created as were the angels, or adopted as we were, He was given birth back in the ageless past of eternity.
“A complete offering has been made; for ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,’—not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Ellen White, The Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895)
Due to all that has been explained, God the Father stands alone. He is the only being in the entire universe that has never had a beginning. He had a Son, His only begotten Son. This Son came forth from the Father, a literal birth. It is only in this fact that we can believe there is only "One True God", not two, not three, only one, just as the scriptures teach. May we learn to understand the bible "As It Reads".