How are we to understand the name “Jesus Christ, the Son of God?”
“Son of God” is the name of the second Person of the Holy Trinity in respect of his divinity, that is, of the eternal and uncreated begetting of the Word and Son from the Father.
In Orthodox theology, “Son” does not refer merely to the incarnation of the Word from the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. It would be incorrect to say that the Word became the “Son of God” by virtue of his incarnation: “Son” refers primarily to the eternal origin of the Word from the Father (Psa 2:7; Heb 1:5). It is true, however, that this eternal sonship was manifested with new fullness at the Incarnation, at the Theophany “This is my beloved Son” (Mat 3:17), at the Transfiguration, and in the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord (cf. Rom 1:4).
This same Son of God was called Jesus when he was conceived and born on earth as a human being; and “Christ” (the Anointed One) is the name given him by the Prophets and the Scriptures while they awaited his coming upon earth:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives… to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor. (Isa 61:1–2, read by the Lord of himself in the synagogue of Nazareth, Luk 4:18–21)
Although there were other “anointed ones” before the incarnation, the kings, priests, and prophets of Israel, Jesus Christ is the great fulfillment of all these types. He is the perfect union of the incarnate Word and the divine Spirit, manifesting the fullness of the Truth: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Act 10:38; see Q043, Q307).
The Divine Liturgy reflects this same union of Word and Spirit: the proclamation of the words of institution (with the anamnesis) is joined to the invocation of the Holy Spirit (the epiclesis), so that from the fullness of the mystery, Christ becomes present in the Body and Blood of the Eucharist. As in the Lord’s own person, so on the holy table: the Word and the Spirit are never apart.
