Here's what I mean when I say I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Let me preface this, however, with a word about belief.
What I believe I know, but I do not have visual, tangible, measurable evidence to support that knowledge. I have it on the word of another. I know it because it has been disclosed or communicated to me by an authority I can rely on, an authority I trust. I know it on faith and I understand faith to be an unmerited gift for which I can only be grateful.
In this case the authoritative source is a combination of the four Gospels and the teaching Church that preserves and presents those Gospels as part of divine revelation.
I accept as true that God is triune--three persons in one God, in one divine nature--and that these persons are Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I relate to the Son, Jesus, as both person, power, and principle (source) of love and goodness in my life.
"Son" is easy to understand, as is "Father," from my own life experience. "Spirit" is not so easily grasped, so I take the Scriptural similes--like a flame, like a gust of wind--to help me understand the immaterial reality of the Holy Spirit--the spirit of love between Father and Son; that spirit refreshes, inspires, motivates, lifts, energizes, moves where it will.
I have the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels where I also find examples of his power and goodness. He is both divine power and divine presence in my life. I find in the Gospels a pattern of the good life, a roadmap or interpretative framework for a life lived generously in the service of others. This is how I see Jesus as Son of God, as a divine person, as the second person of the Holy Trinity.
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