In the New Testament, Christ is referred to as ‘the Son of God’ over 40 times. This can be found in such as Matthew 8:29, 14:33, 26:63, 27:40, 43, 54, Mark 1:1, 3:11, 15:39, Luke1:35, 31, 4:41, 8:28, 22:70, John 1:34, 49, 3:16, 18, 5:25, 9:35, 10:36, 11:4, 11:27, 19:7,20:31, Acts 8:37, 9:20, Romans 1:4, 2 Corinthians 1:19, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:13,
Hebrews 4:14, 6:6, 7:3, 10:29, 1 John 3:8, 4:15, 5:5, 5:10, 12, 13, 20 and Revelation 2:18.
Jesus consistently referred to God as His Father (see Matthew 7:21, 10:32, 33, 11:27, 12:50,15:13, 16:17, 18:10,19, 35, 20:23, 24:36, 26:29, 39, 42, 53, Mark 8:38, Luke 2:49, 9:26,10:22, 22:29, 42, 23:46, 24:49, John 2:16, 5:17, 43, 6:32, 65, 8:19, 28, 38, 49, 54, 10:17, 18,25, 29, 30, 32, 37, 12:26, 27, 14:2, 7, 12, 14:13, 20, 21, 23, 28 15:1, 8, 10, 15, 23, 24, 16:10,17:24, 18:11, 20:17, 20:21, Revelation 2:27, 3:5, and 21).
There are a number of very important times when Jesus referred to Himself as a son. Ones such occasion was when He said to Nicodemus
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be
saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God.” John 3:16-18
Nicodemus was told by Jesus that it was “God” who was doing the giving and sending. He was obviously referring to the Father. Again we see the Father as having the pre-eminence
(He is the one doing the giving and sending). This is the pre-eminence of a father as in a true father and son relationship.
Ita also the reveals the love of the Father – also the sacrifice He made – in the giving of His only Son
There is no reason to suggest that Jesus intended Nicodemus to believe that He (Jesus) was a son in a metaphorical or figurative sense – or believe that for the sake of the plan of redemption He was only role-playing the part of a son (pretending to be a son). Nicodemus, because he was not told otherwise, would have taken Christ’s claim to Sonship as being literal. As Jesus said, God gave “his only begotten Son”. How else was Nicodemus to understand what Jesus was saying to him? Surely if the Father gave His only begotten Son, then He had a Son to give.
There is something here very important to note. This is that Jesus said to Nicodemus it was God who was doing the giving and sending. We must ask therefore, if the divine person doing this sending is not really a father then what right would He (the role-playing father) have to ‘give’ another Divine person? For ‘the Father’ to have this prerogative there would need to be a real Father and Son relationship. If no such relationship existed, then even the ‘giving’ of the Son (who was
not really a son) would be a complete charade (something which is make believe).
What I am saying, or asking, is if there are three co equal persons in the Trinity, how can one have authority over another except it be a genuine Father/Son relationship?