وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





Lastly, we point out that before being called 'Lord', 'my Lord', and '0 Lord, Christ attributed this title to Himself He did not object at all to being called 'Lord, Lord', or 'our Lord'. In the story of the passover, we find that when the Lord sent two disciples to prepare Him a colt to ride on, on entering Jerusalem, He said to them: "Say, 'The Lord has need of it' " (Mk. 11:3); (Lk. 19:3 1).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





The phrase 'The Lord Jesus' is used to terminate the New Testament. The last two verses in the Book of Revelation are: "'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" (Rev. 22:20,21). At the Lord Jesus Christ's Second Coming, we receive Him with the phrase: "Come, Lord Jesus!" and until He comes, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us. The word 'Lord' is an explicit testimony that Christ is God because we never say 'our Lord' to human beings.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



We are the Sons of God


With Respect to Him Being the Son of God
In this proof we are met with an important point:
Are not human beings also called children of God? Yes, human beings were called sons of God, but in a different sense than Christ's Sonship to God. It is written in the Book of Genesis that "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful" (Gen. 6:2). Here the sons of God mean the sons of Seth and his son Enosh, when "men began to call on the name of the Lord' (Gen. 4:26), while the daughters of men are the descendants of Cain.






That is why the Lord said in the Book of Isaiah the Prophet: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me" (Is. 1:2). It is also written in the same Book: "You, 0 Lord, are our Father; our Redeemer" (Is. 63:16), and: "But now, 0 Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our Potter, and all we are the work of Your hand' (Is. 64:8). This is a prophecy but it is said by human beings and does not at all mean sonship of the essence of God. The Lord said in the Book of Exodus: "Israel is My son, My firstborn" (Ex. 4:22), and in the Book of Proverbs: "My son, give Me your heart" (Prov. 23:26).
In the New Testament God is called 'our Father' in many situations, as we say in the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father in heaven" (Matt. 6:9). The phrases: 'your heavenly Father' and 'your Father who sees in secret' are numerous in the Gospels.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

However, the sonship of human beings to God is either through faith, or love, or adoption. With regard to faith, the Holy Bible says about Christ: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (Jn. 1: 12). The phrase 'children of God' here means the believers. St. John says in his first Epistle: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 Jn. 3:1) Therefore, it is an act of love from God to call us His children.
With regard to adoption it is written in the Epistle to the Romans: "But we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23). It is known that whoever is called son and is not a real son, is son by adoption or son in a spiritual sense.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





Although we are children of God, we are still called servants, The Lord Jesus Christ says: "When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do' " (Lk. 17: 10). All the virtuous were called servants; the Lord will say to him who fought the good fight and deserved the Kingdom of Heaven: "Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord" (Matt. 25:23). Despite our being children of God, we are all created beings and the created being is not to be called a God.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





The testimony of the Father to the Son at His baptism. God the Father testified to Christ at the moment of His baptism, saying:
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matt.3:17); (Lk. 3:22).This testimony was accompanied by miraculous signs: the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove and descended on Him, and a voice was heard from heaven, which was the voice of the Father bearing testimony. If Christ's Sonship were an ordinary sonship, and all people are children of God, what then was the need for all those signs? For the sake of this greatness which was manifested at the moment of Christ's baptism, we name this event Epiphany, that is, the Divine Manifestation.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





God the Father also testified to the Son at the Transfiguration. The Father testified to the Son at that moment which declared His Divinity in front of His three disciples when "His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses... And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"' (Mk. 9:2-7). If Christ were an ordinary Son, why would He need a testimony from the Father? And why was there need for all the glory of the Transfiguration; the light and the cloud? And why was there need for the voice of the Father? In addition to this, the phrase
'Hear Him' commands us also to submit to Him. If everyone were a Son of God, to whom did the Father testify with the same glory as that of Christ's baptism and transfiguration?

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





The Father's testimony to the Son is from old. The Father says to the Son in the second Psalm "You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron" (Ps. 2:7-9). This is Sonship with dominion over the ends of the earth, which St. Paul wondered at and mentioned when he explained how the Lord Jesus Christ is greater than the angels and even worshipped by them, saying: "For to which of the angels did He ever say, 'You are My Son, today 1 have begotten You'? " (Heb. 1:5)

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III





Christ's Sonship to God was the aim of writing the Gospel. The Gospel according to St. Mark begins with the statement:
"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mk. 1: 1). If Christ were a Son like all the children of God, what was the need for recording this statement and all the miracles which the Evangelist recounted thereafter? In the Gospel according to St. John, we see that the Evangelist, after having recorded miracles not mentioned by any of the other Evangelists and after having recorded all Christ's discourses that indicated His Divinity, concluded by saying: "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (Jn. 20:30,3 1). Therefore, Christ's Sonship is not ordinary, but a unique Sonship which is proved by verses emphasizing His Divinity. If He were an ordinary Son, what was the need for recounting all the miracles? They were written in order that we may believe that He is the Son of God and that our belief in this Sonship may give us life.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III






Christ's Sonship to God was the foundation of the Church,
The Lord Jesus Christ asked His disciples about their belief and the people's belief in Him, saying: " Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" When St. Peter answered Him: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God', He called him blessed, saying: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Then the Lord added, "on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:13-18).
If Christ's Sonship were an ordinary sonship, what was the need for this blessedness? And what was the need for the heavenly revelation from God the Father? What is the meaning of building the Church on this rock of faith?
This will be explained in detail when we will talk about the Divinity of Christ with respect to belief in Him as the Son of God.