[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


This Sonship was the subject of the Annunciation. The angel said to the Virgin Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God' (Lk. 1:35). If Christ were the Son of God in the same sense as the children of God, then there would have been no need for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin and for the power of the Highest to overshadow her, in order for Him to be called the Son of God. Therefore this Sonship is the Sonship of the Holy Spirit, as the angel said to Joseph: ':for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:20). Also, the angel said to the Virgin Mary that her Son "will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end' (Lk. 1:32,33). No one among men rules forever and has a kingdom which has no end; but this is attributed to God alone. Therefore the Annunciation to the Virgin about the Sonship to God carried a Divine meaning that He reigns forever and that His kingdom will have no end.
There is a possibility that the angers announcement was taken from Daniel's prophecy about Christ as the Son of Man, which says: "Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed' (Dan. 7:13,14).