son of God

A person or a people with a special relationship to God, often with a special role in salvation history. In the OT and pre-Christian Judaism there are four notable uses of the term “son of God.” First, it is predicated of Israel as a nation (Exod 4:22; Hos 11:1). Second, it is a title given to the monarch at the time of enthronement (Ps 2:7; a coronation psalm). Third, angels are called “sons of God” (Job 38:7; NRSV note). Fourth, in the apocryphal/deuterocanonical Wisdom of Solomon it is applied to the righteous individual (Wis 2:18, NRSV: “child”). In the NT, “Son of God” is used as a christological title for Jesus.