Akgo01, yes Jesus is God's Son not God. Jesus never considered himself equal to God. On the contrary, Jesus repeatedly showed that he was subordinate to Jehovah. For example, Jesus referred to Jehovah as “my God” and “the only true God.” (Matthew 27:46; John 17:3) Only a subordinate would use such expressions in referring to another. A worker who refers to his employer as “my boss” or “the one in charge” is clearly assuming an inferior position. Jesus also showed that he was separate from God. Jesus once said to opposers who challenged his authority: “In your own Law it is written, ‘The witness of two men is true.’ I am one that bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” (John 8:17, 18) Jesus must be separate from Jehovah. How else could they be viewed as two witnesses?
Jesus knew his roots. His life actually began long before his birth on earth. “I have come down from heaven,” he explained. (John 6:38) Jesus was God’s first creation, and he helped in the creation of all other things. As the only one directly created by God, Jesus could rightly be called “the only-begotten Son of God.”—John 1:3, 14; Colossians 1:15, 16.
Jesus many times referred to himself as “the Son of man,” using an expression that occurs about 80 times in the Gospels. This expression indicates that he was fully human and not God incarnate. How did God’s only-begotten Son come to be born as a human? By means of holy spirit, Jehovah transferred his Son’s life to the womb of the Jewish virgin Mary, causing conception to take place. As a result, Jesus was born sinless and perfect.—Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35; John 8:46.
Jesus made it clear that his God-given work was “teaching . . . and preaching the good news” about God’s Kingdom. (Matthew 4:23; Luke 4:43) With remarkable clarity and simplicity, he explained what God’s Kingdom is and what it will do in fulfilling Jehovah’s will.—Matthew 6:9, 10.
As a sinless man, Jesus did not deserve to suffer. Neither did he deserve to be nailed to a stake as a common criminal and be left there to die a shameful death. Still, Jesus expected such mistreatment and willingly submitted to it.—Matthew 20:17-19; 1 Peter 2:21-23. Messianic prophecies foretold that the Messiah would have to suffer and die to cover the sins of others. (Isaiah 53:5; Daniel 9:24, 26) Jesus himself said that he came “to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Those putting faith in the redeeming value of his sacrificial death have the prospect of being rescued from sin and death and living forever in Paradise on earth.—John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, 10.
