MY SON

The first half of the psalm has climaxed with God’s anointed enthroned on Mount Zion. His enemies have been frustrated in their rebellious plotting.

In verse 7 the king speaks, quoting Jehovah’s decree about him in verses 7-9. The opening words in the decree are, ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee’.

Since this is a psalm by David we might think of 2 Samuel 7, where the Lord spoke to David of his seed who would succeed him on the throne: ‘I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him’, v. 14. This last sentence makes it clear that the immediate reference is to Solomon, not Christ. Thus, Israel’s king, ruling in a theocracy, ruling for God and with God’s authority, could be designated ‘son of God’. Perhaps a parallel is the designation of angels as ‘sons of God’, Job 38. 7. Angels, in performing their duties, act with full divine authority - ‘I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God’, Luke 1. 19.

In this sense we could see the last clause of verse 7, ‘this day have I begotten thee’, as a reference to the day of coronation. But the authority of Christ as Son of God did not begin at any point in time. Verse 8 refers to His universal sway. Verse 9 is quoted in Revelation with reference to His future reign. Christ fulfils all that is foreshadowed in ideal kingship in the Old Testament.

But His claim to be the Son of God surpasses the concept of delegated authority. What caused the hottest resentment among His critics was His constant reference to ‘My Father’. He called God ‘his own Father’, John 5.18, RV, ‘making himself equal with God’. He said, ‘I and my Father are one’, John 10. 30. In the ensuing debate He argued that it was unreasonable to accuse Him of blasphemy for saying, ‘I am the Son of God’, when mere men were called ‘gods’ in Psalm 82 verse 6, whereas He had been sanctified by the Father and sent into the world.

The debate on what day is referred to in the phrase ‘this day’ in verse 7, is of secondary importance compared with the fact that He has supreme regal authority as the eternal Son of God.