Eternal Sonship

An example of William Branham's lazy theology is his approach to the concept of the eternal sonship of Christ.

He ridiculed the idea throughout his ministry as being a Catholic doctrine:

Not eternal Sonship, 'cause the words don't go good together. That's Catholic doctrine, but... Eternal, how could it be a Sonship and be eternal? If He's a Son, he'd had to have a beginning of time. Eternal's forever. See? So eternal Sonship, there's no such a word to make that sensible. But it was the Logos that went out of God. And there He was playing out there in space just like a child before the door. I can see Him draw the whole picture in His mind of the Kingdom and what it might be.

Want to ask you, some of you precious Catholic people who call that the eternal sonship of God. God, eternal sonship of Jesus Christ with God, how can you say such a word? I'm a dummy with a seventh-grade education, but I know better than that. The word "Son" has to have a beginning. So how can He be eternal and be a Son? Eternity has no beginning or end. So He can't be a son, an eternal son, and then have a beginning, 'cause there is no such a thing as a eternal son. A son had a beginning, so he can't be eternal. You see, He is the eternal God, not the eternal son...

A Son, as the Catholic puts it, "Eternal Son," and all the rest of the churches; the word don't even make sense. See? There cannot be Eternal, and then be a Son, 'cause a Son is something that's "begotten from." And the word Eternal, He cannot be an Eter-... He can be a Son, but He cannot be an Eternal Son. No, sir. It cannot be an Eternal Son.

However, while he states that the concept doesn't even make sense, he provides no scriptural support for his position.

He also makes repeated statements that can only be considered confused given his position as stated above:

I've always thought that Jairus was a secret believer. He believed in his heart, kind of a borderline believer. He believed in his heart that that truly was a Man of God. He believed that that was God's eternal Son, His Prophet, Priest and King...

If they've been all mixed up and their minds so confused, may they look back and take the reliable. Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." How much more reliability could we place upon anything than the Words of the eternal Son of God.

Give Him praise now, and bless His holy Name. We love Him. We praise Him. We adore Him, the matchless One, the Eternal One, the Son of the living God.

Is there such a thing as eternal sonship?

Every son has a beginning. Jesus could not be a son without being born, just as he could not be a saviour without dying. A son has no knowledge of his father's experiences, and Jesus had no understanding of God at his birth, but "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52)

Why did Jesus say "before Abraham was, I am", if he was not the eternal son?

God made Jesus "both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). "Lord" refers to the word "Jehovah", which is the self-existent one. Jesus was Jehovah in flesh, born of a woman. "Christ" is the Greek word for Messiah, which means "anointed" Messiah by God. There are examples in the Bible of when God had entered flesh before, but never as the son of God. Here are two examples:

   When King Nebuchadnezzar threw three Hebrews into a furnace, he saw four "men" walking around, and declared that the fourth man was "like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25). This man was "like" the Son of God as he was God in the flesh, but he was not the Son of God as he was not born of a woman.
   Melchizedek ate bread and drank wine with Abraham, just like Jesus had communion with his disciples (Genesis 14:18). The Bible says that Melchizedek was made "like unto the Son of God" and was without beginning or end (Hebrews 7:3). Melchizedek was also God in flesh, but he was not the Son of God as he was not born of a woman. 

When Jesus said "before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58) and referred to the glory he had with the Father "before the world was" (John 17:5), he was revealing that he was the possessor of the soul and spirit of God. Jesus' body was the temple of God (John 2:19) made of a woman, but inside he was the invisible God, Jehovah, of the Old Testament. His body was irrelevant to his existence, but relevant to the process of our redemption. Those who believe are also called the temple of the living God (II Corinthians 6:16). Just as the Woman was from the flesh of Man, those who believe are from the Spirit of God, and are eternal.