← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 63: The Only Son of God (2025)
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As we continue to learn about the name of Jesus and the titles given to him, we encounter in today’s readings the unique title that belongs to Jesus as the only “Son of God.” Fr. Mike clarifies how this title is different from the term “son of God” found in the Old Testament and explains the meaning of Jesus’ Divine Sonship. Lastly, Fr. Mike encourages us to profess with our lips and our lives this beautiful reality that Jesus is truly the only begotten Son of God. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 441-445.
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Fr. Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in the Year is brought to you by ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. It is day 63. We're reading paragraphs 441 to 445, a short section about Jesus as the Son of God. Yesterday we talked about Jesus as the Christ before the name of Jesus. Yeah, so it's day 63, as I said, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. All the same words are in there. If you want to download your own Catechism in a Year Reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com ciy and also you can click Follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. As I said, yesterday we talked about Jesus as the Christ. How important that is, that is absolutely vital that Jesus reveals himself fully to be the anointed one. Not just another one of the anointed ones, but. But the anointed one. And also the day before the name of Jesus. This is article two, right, where we talk about Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. And so today we're talking about Jesus being the only Son of God. Now, as was kind of obvious from yesterday and the day before, to talk about the name of Jesus, we just had, I don't know, maybe six paragraphs. And yesterday to talk about Jesus as the Christ, we had about six paragraphs, give or take. I think it was five. Maybe today there are again, only about five paragraphs. So we're not plumbing the depths of the reality of the name of Jesus or the title Christ or even the title today, the only Son of God. But one thing to note is that just like let's say Jesus, well, you know, Jesus has his root in Hebrew, which means God saves Christ, which again, root in Hebrew is Mashiach, right? Messiah, which is anointed, or, you know, Christos in Greek, anointed, the anointed one. So there's rooting in that. So in a similar way, the title, the term son of God is a term that's used in the Old Testament It's a term that is used. It's given to the angels, it's given to the chosen people, it's given to the children of Israel, given to their kings. So many of them are called Son of God. It's only in Jesus, when he fulfills the life, death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, that that title, that term, reaches its fulfillment. I mean, at one point, we're going to hear about this today. Peter recognizes the unique character, the transcendent character. In fact, paragraph 443 says the transcendent character of the Messiah's divine sonship, because Jesus allowed him. That was in Matthew chapter 16. Remember when we talked about this yesterday in paragraph 440, that Jesus accepted Peter's profession of faith in Matthew 16 when he asked the question, who do you say that I am? And Simon responded, you are the Christ again, the Son of the living God. So both of those titles, the Christ Messiah and the Son of the living God, the only Son of God, those two titles Jesus accepts from Peter because he affirms something unique. He says, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father has revealed this to you. Which tells us something. One of the things it tells us is that, oh, Jesus as Christ, or Jesus as the Son of God is unique. This is not just like the other anointed ones. This is not just like the other ways in which that term Son of God has been used in the past. It's a completely unique thing. And then, as we said yesterday, the term Christ, the anointed one, reaches its fulfillment when Jesus is lifted up on the cross. Similarly, the title Only Son of God only reaches its fulfillment in Jesus at his resurrection. Paragraph 4, 45 says, after his resurrection, Jesus divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. And it's so important. Right? So this makes sense. Right? So again, when we talked about the name of Jesus, it was, yeah, if rooting is in Hebrew, God saves, then when we have the name Christ. Yep, rooted in Hebrew, anointed one completely. Now, today, the Son of God, again, rooted in Jewish life and rooted in Jewish scripture. But every one of those words, Jesus Christ and Son of God, those terms, every one of them are reaching their fulfillment in Jesus. So it's remarkable to recognize they all have a background, but they all have a fulfillment in Jesus. So I think that's fascinating. As we begin this day today, let's turn to our Father and pray. Father in heaven, in the name of your Son, Jesus, Jesus, the only Son of God, we ask that you send your Holy Spirit to enter our minds, to penetrate our hearts, so that we can know you more clearly, so that we can love you more accurately and love you more fully. Lord God, we entrust ourselves to you because we know that in time you revealed yourself as the one who saves in time. You revealed the anointed one priest, prophet, and king. You revealed yourself in your Son, Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father. And then by sending your Holy Spirit to us, you allowed us to participate in his divine sonship. You allowed us to participate in his being able to cry out, abba, Father. And so today we do. You have made us who've been baptized your children, and so you are our dad. We cry out to you today, Father, hear our prayer in the name of Jesus, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Again, it's day 63. We're reading paragraphs 441 to paragraph 445. The only son of God in the Old Testament, Son of God is a title given to the angels, the chosen people, the children of Israel and their kings. It signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular intimacy between God and his creature. When the promised Messiah king is called Son of God, it does not necessarily imply that he was more than human. According to the literal meaning of these texts, those who called Jesus Son of God as the Messiah of Israel perhaps meant nothing more than this. Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as the the Christ, the Son of the Living God. For Jesus responds solemnly, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Similarly, Paul will write regarding his conversion on the road to when he who had set me apart before I was born and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles and in the synagogues. Immediately Paul proclaimed Jesus, saying he is the Son of God from the beginning. This acknowledgment of Christ's divine sonship will be the center of the apostolic faith first professed by Peter as the Church's foundation. Peter could recognize the transcendent character of the Messiah's divine sonship because Jesus had clearly allowed it to be so understood to his accuser's questions before the Sanhedrin are you the Son of God? Then Jesus answered, you say that I am well. Before this, Jesus referred to himself as the Son who knows the Father as distinct from the servants God had earlier sent to his people. He is superior even to the angels. He distinguished his sonship from that of his disciples by never saying Our Father, except to command, then pray like this, Our Father. And he emphasized this distinction, saying My Father in your Father. The Gospels report that at two solemn moments, the baptism and the transfiguration of Christ, the voice of the Father designates Jesus, his beloved Son. Jesus calls himself the only Son of God and by this title affirms his eternal pre existence. He asks for faith in the name of the only Son of God. In the centurion's exclamation before the crucified Christ, truly this man was the Son of God. That Christian confession is already heard. Only in the paschal mystery can the believer give the title Son of God its full meaning. After his resurrection, Jesus divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. He was designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness. By his resurrection from the dead, the apostles can we have beheld his glory, Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. All right, this had only five short paragraphs today on Jesus as the only Son of God. As we said, paragraph 441 establishes the fact that in the Old Testament, the term the Son of God is a title given to a number of different figures. Right to the angels, the chosen people are called the Son of God. The children of Israel are called the Son of God. Kings are called the Son of God. And it signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of closeness between God and his people. And so again, when the promised Messiah King, when Jesus is called the Son of God, it doesn't necessarily imply that he was more than human. And yet we ultimately realize that that is what it indicates later on. So that's why paragraph 442 says that again, there are people who call Jesus the Son of God. They might have meant no more than just, yeah, it signifies a special closeness, special relationship between God and this particular individual. And yet in paragraph 442 it says, such is not the case for Simon Peter, right? In Matthew 16 we mentioned this when he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. When we know that because Jesus responds by saying, yeah, flesh and blood is. He didn't say, yeah, but I added, the flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And then again, St. Paul, talking about his conversion, when Jesus revealed himself to him, he says that he had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me. And then of course when he proclaimed Jesus Christ In Acts chapter 9, St. Paul would also say in the synagogues, he proclaimed Jesus, saying he is the Son of God. And so after the resurrection, this term Son of God didn't just indicate the closeness with God, closeness with the Father, but it revealed Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God. That this is a unique term. Now when it's applied to Jesus in his divine sonship, which is just remarkable. And again, one of the things that paragraph 4, 43 highlights is that Jesus even distinguishes his sonship from that of his disciples because he never says Our Father. Well, you know, if you ever noticed that when Jesus is praying to the Father, he. He never says Our Father, he would say My Father. But the apostles tells his disciples, when you pray, say Our Father, because he has a particular relationship with the Father as the only eternal, divine, only begotten Son of God. This is really remarkable. Now, moving on, there's also a couple times when the Father himself claims Jesus as the Son of God. In paragraph 444, it states, the Gospels report that at two solemn moments, the baptism and the transfiguration of Christ. Remember the baptism at the Jordan river, transfiguration of Christ later on with the James and Peter and John, that the voice of the Father designates Jesus, his beloved Son. And this is really remarkable because it indicates that this name or this title, right Son of God has transformed. It's changed. It has its. As I said before a couple times now today it has its root in the Old Testament, indicating this particular closeness, but it reaches its fulfillment in Jesus with the Father, this is my beloved Son. And then even, you know, the centurion, after Jesus dies on the cross, he says, truly this man was the Son of God. And so we can get this last line of paragraph 444. Only in the Paschal mystery can the believer give the title Son of God its full meaning. It had a partial meaning in the Old Testament. It had, you know, hints of this fuller meaning throughout the course of Jesus. Jesus as Life. But only in the Paschal mystery, which is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, can the believer give the title Son of God its full meaning. Because, as we noted before, paragraph 445 says, after his resurrection, Jesus divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. That, that recognition that now there's been a transformation that Jesus is fully human, but it is also revealed that he is fully divine. We talked about this, you know, in the last chapter, the first chapter of About God the Father that recognition that here is God, who is a trinity, Trinity of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co equal, Co eternal, not mixed together, but separate and distinct from each other, but always united in their divinity, united in their being. So here is this again, another piece of this revelation of God as Trinity in Jesus's divine sonship, which is remarkable. And one of the things I just, I love. It's one of my favorite sections of the New Testament in John's Gospel chapter one. Because in John's Gospel chapter one it does say, you know, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then later on it indicates, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then we have this line From John chapter 1, verse 14. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And this is our destiny. This is what the apostles have been able to witness. Bear witness to the glory of the only Son of God, the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. And this is the One in whom we place our faith and the one to whom we point, the One to whom we direct all of our love, all of our lives, is the only Son from the Father. Now tomorrow we're going to talk about the title Lord. So here we have these four titles. One is the name of Jesus. The next is that term Christ, today the only Son of God or Son of God. And tomorrow we'll talk about what is it even to begin to understand, what is it to say that Jesus is the Lord. But today we get to just once again sit in this place where we get to declare, proclaim and affirm that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. It had its hints in the Old Testament. It had even more revelation in the life of Jesus and reaches its full understanding and full revelation in his life. Then his death and his resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father. It is remarkable that we get to declare that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God. Anyways, you guys, let's pray for that because we want deeper understandings. Pray for each other. That we continue to plumb the depths of these mysteries. That we continue to rise to this challenge of being able to profess, not just with our, with our lips, but with our lives, that Jesus is the Son of God. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.